(not quite) like a shitty mexican carnival ride

so, the last time i swapped wheels and tires on a car (mr. grey) it didn’t go well…

…but i learned a lot.

i got the tires and wheels put on at a place in east austin, and i actually balled on a real budget on that one – i got four motegi matte black rims for $450 (for the set, not a piece) and got them seventeen inches in diameter so i could just use the four run flat tires i already had.

but for two weeks after he shook like a shitty mexican carnival ride. i went back to the place that put them on and all the balance checked out. so i went to the firestone near the house and had the balance RE-done and they said all was well…but it still shook like hell over sixty.

what was annoying was between the two tire places and the several “experts” that were baffled by this shit it turned out that the culprit was that there was a slight (1.5mm) difference in the size of the hubs on the car (72.6mm) and the actual wheel (74.1) and they didn’t catch that. once these five dollar plastic rings were put on (later swapped for ten dollar aluminum ones) it rode smooth as silk.

and i learned something.

the recent wheels i got came with the plastic rings, but when the actual wheel shipment was delayed a few days compared to what i originally heard i took advantage and ordered the aluminum ones up front. i thought all was well. apparently all was not well. it took two runs to san marcos on thursday to get everything swapped out since the ufc’s x1 would only hold two old wheel/tire setups plus one new set of tires and wheels at once but when i road tested it shoot at sixty. not as bad as the sans rings thing i dealt with before, but bad enough to make me wanna fix it.

i went back to where i got all installed this time and they said they noticed the back tires were feathered and i had mounted em to where i was working AGAINST “the grain” as it were, so they reversed em and said that should calm it down. it did a little, but not by much. so as i’m typing this (friday at 12:40) i’m waiting for a 1pm at lockhart firestone so they can check the balance, identify and therefore DOCUMENT any problems on a thing i can then attach to an eBay complaint should any of the tires actually be the problem. we’ll see how this goes and i should be able to update before you see this.

the monday update

so, as cool as the guys at the place in san marcos are (and as cool as the graphic i did for them as a tip to the owner is…)

it turns out that that bit of fun for the guy that shaved twenty off his original price has a son (who i tipped the twenty since he was doing all the labor) that can’t balance tires worth a shit. lockhart firestone found all the wheels needed weight added to balance (on one almost three ounces, which in the world of tire balancing is a LOT) and that road test proved to be legit. not only that, but today i got her up over 100 on the toll road and she’s smooth as glass. also, she’s starting to look pretty mean:

now i just gotta fix that door leak that popped up in the storm insanity of the weekend and we should be good!

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