Saturday, November 03, 2007
Thursday, November 01, 2007
New Set of Wheels
At the fag end of the tumultous month, i decided to leave home early from work and left at 4:00. So i was driving down on 92W at around 60mph and of all the god forsaken things to happen, my front right tire hit a stone and burst. The automatic traction control kicked in but could do little to control my steering from veering to the right on the gradient and into the grass.
So i get out on the grass and look at the remnants of my stock michelin tire splattered over the rim, in disgust. Changing tires while jacking up a car on the grass on a gradient in rush hour traffic, surely features on the list of the 10 worst things to do in life. Limping back home with my donut spare tire, i was dejected that my precious vehicle actually backfired on me for the first time since i'd owned it. Kickstarted my tire research and realized that the stock Michelin Energy tires that come fitted on Pre 2003 hondas actually suck, and my car used slide better than a figure skater on the icy roads in Chicago (but to be gracious enough, dem' Michelins lasted for 60,000 miles ). After a bit of googling and asking around i had a fair idea that i needed Yokohama Avid 4S or Falken Ziex 912 all season tires for my Honda with dimensions P205/60R16. Went to this wheel store and the guy at the counter sucessfully pimped out the Falken to me. Being a typical male my decisiveness and bargaining ability went to the dogs and i blindly accepted the tire talk. So my car was hoisted up and all four tires were replaced, with Falkens. While watching it i guess i had the good sense to measure the tread depth on those ones and saw, that it was just 8" instead of the standard 10" on a fresh set. Thats something to watch out for while you tire shop! So i had this guy remove all of em and replace them with Yokohamas and had them wheel aligned. Yokohamas had 10"/32". Another interesting thing i got done with the Yokohamas, is an inch up adjustment which is extremely useful for fast cornering on curvy exits/entry ramps especially with V6 engines . Any good tire shop worth its name should understand what this is all about. So 4 Tires, Labor and Wheel Alignment included, i spent around 620 greeners, not exactly a bang for the buck, but hey Yokohamas are the top of their class. The handling seemed pretty good later on, and i could test out hydroplaning on the stangnant water pool outside the store at around 45mph. Felt good on the freeway, (kinda hard though probably because the tires hadn't heated up enough?) . Comes with a 60,000 miles warranty (provided you get your tires rotated and wheels aligned every 5000 miles) . Hmm so that took care of my precious car tires, and now the transmission seems like its programmed to groan after 60K miles. Damn these expenses.
So i get out on the grass and look at the remnants of my stock michelin tire splattered over the rim, in disgust. Changing tires while jacking up a car on the grass on a gradient in rush hour traffic, surely features on the list of the 10 worst things to do in life. Limping back home with my donut spare tire, i was dejected that my precious vehicle actually backfired on me for the first time since i'd owned it. Kickstarted my tire research and realized that the stock Michelin Energy tires that come fitted on Pre 2003 hondas actually suck, and my car used slide better than a figure skater on the icy roads in Chicago (but to be gracious enough, dem' Michelins lasted for 60,000 miles ). After a bit of googling and asking around i had a fair idea that i needed Yokohama Avid 4S or Falken Ziex 912 all season tires for my Honda with dimensions P205/60R16. Went to this wheel store and the guy at the counter sucessfully pimped out the Falken to me. Being a typical male my decisiveness and bargaining ability went to the dogs and i blindly accepted the tire talk. So my car was hoisted up and all four tires were replaced, with Falkens. While watching it i guess i had the good sense to measure the tread depth on those ones and saw, that it was just 8" instead of the standard 10" on a fresh set. Thats something to watch out for while you tire shop! So i had this guy remove all of em and replace them with Yokohamas and had them wheel aligned. Yokohamas had 10"/32". Another interesting thing i got done with the Yokohamas, is an inch up adjustment which is extremely useful for fast cornering on curvy exits/entry ramps especially with V6 engines . Any good tire shop worth its name should understand what this is all about. So 4 Tires, Labor and Wheel Alignment included, i spent around 620 greeners, not exactly a bang for the buck, but hey Yokohamas are the top of their class. The handling seemed pretty good later on, and i could test out hydroplaning on the stangnant water pool outside the store at around 45mph. Felt good on the freeway, (kinda hard though probably because the tires hadn't heated up enough?) . Comes with a 60,000 miles warranty (provided you get your tires rotated and wheels aligned every 5000 miles) . Hmm so that took care of my precious car tires, and now the transmission seems like its programmed to groan after 60K miles. Damn these expenses.
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