tires « white male consumer

New Wheels, Tires

Posted April 19th, 2008 at 12:46PM

So early last week, before the autocross, I took a little detour and picked up some new wheels and tires. They’re OE wheels, popularly called “holies,” with 205/50 Falken Azenis. I needed something and got a good deal, although in an ideal world I would have found some nicer 16″ or 17″ wheels for daily driving.

The 205/50/15 tires result in a really small overall diameter, so my speedometer is way optimistic. It’s kind of a pain in the ass, I end up watching the GPS when I need to tell what speed I’m actually going.

First Autocross & First Set Of R-Comps

Posted April 16th, 2008 at 7:14AM

Went to the first autocross of the season last Sunday and nabbed 4th place out of a Street Mod field of 10. I was 2.5 seconds off of first and 1 second off of third, which was a similarly prepped MINI running RA1s. I picked up a set of Azenis, which have proven to be very nice, grippy tires. (And you’ve got to love the tread pattern on them.)

My times listed on the website are a little off (the first run, for instance, was not supposed to count as I got a re-run.):
77.442+OFF
63.882
62.780
60.889

I could have broken 60 if I had a few more runs. As is, I received three re-runs though, so I certainly can’t complain. That 4th place was good for a trophy, but I didn’t stick around since I didn’t realize my last run was that strong. Plus it was a long drive home and I was beat.

But even more exciting than the first autocross, is the fact that I have a set of Kumho V710s coming to me in the mail. They’re 215/40/16 tires which I’ll be mounting to my Kosei K1 wheels. I’m excited as these are my first set of r-comps, and should help me become a wee bit more competitive in SM. They’re used, but only barely scrubbed in, and have a pretty recent production date, so they’re probably fresher than if I ordered new from Tire Rack.

My next priority is getting an alignment before I blow through the Azenis. I’ve found a place nearby that should be just the ticket. Stay tuned, ladies and gents.

First Snow & New Buzzsaw Issue

Posted November 2nd, 2006 at 7:35PM

Quantifiable snow today, enough to coat the ground briefly. By the time I got to campus, it had stopped and melted on all but a few cars. But it’s only downhill from here. I’m going to need to mount my snow tires soon. I was hoping to take one trip back home on the tires that came with the car, put as much mileage as possible on them. The fronts are pretty worn, past the wear bars. The rears still have a few thousand miles probably.

The November issue of Buzzsaw was put out last night. The design is nice and the writing is consistently good. My article came out pretty well, no huge glaring copy-edit problems and so it’ll work as a clip.

At 7pm there’s a free showing of An Inconvenient Truth on-campus. I haven’t seen it yet so today might as well be the day.

Otherwise it’s same old, same old. I’ve got a lot of work piling up, and not enough time to do it all.

5000 Miles In Two Months

Posted August 9th, 2006 at 10:40PM

The MINI hit the 5k mark today, two months and three days after I picked it up from the dealer. A joyous occasion that I neglected to photograph. I meant to, but forgot, and the next moment: “5009.”

At this rate, I should get serviced sometime this year! I’m sure the amount of driving will decrease, but the computer is indicating its first service at approximately 11k miles. Joy. Completely free maintence till 36,000 miles.

Yesterday I rotated the tires. Kind of a PITA, there was no great place to put jack stands and I couldn’t use the jack under the front central location because it was too far back. So I ended up scraping one of the bottom side plastic trim pieces. It didn’t scratch the metal and it’s not visible or obvious, but my concern is that it might still be a beginning point for rust, because while the area now open to road grime is painted, it doesn’t have the same undercoating as the rest of the vehicle underside. I’ll have to watch it in the months / years to come.

A day or two earlier, I finally mounted my amp to the back of the backseat. It’s a very nice-looking set-up now. I also secured the sub so that it won’t shift over. For autocross / track days, I’ll be taking the sub out. I’ll be leaving the amp in, however, because my plan to use wing-nuts didn’t work out.

A post about my first autocross will be coming shortly.

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New Wheels, Tires

First Autocross & First Set Of R-Comps

First Snow & New Buzzsaw Issue

5000 Miles In Two Months