Random Thoughts Thread

[Drew Dowdell]

8 minutes ago, ccap41 said:

I have also heard really good things about the General Altimax RT43. When I was more active on bobistheoilguy.com a ton of people used that and liked it as well. It's one of the few 225/70R15's that isn't a truck tire, too. 

No whitewall ?

I know whitewalls are no longer popular, but that's what goes on this car. 

[ccap41]

3 minutes ago, Drew Dowdell said:

No whitewall ?

I know whitewalls are no longer popular, but that's what goes on this car. 

Ohhhhh is that how you narrowed it down to those three tires?? I didn't even notice lol. 

[G. David Felt]

1 hour ago, Drew Dowdell said:

No whitewall ?

I know whitewalls are no longer popular, but that's what goes on this car. 

My parents Olds came with Whitewall tires and my dad changed them to all black due to my mom always hitting the curb and messing them up. I ended up liking the black better, but I get the look for it.

So hard to find them anymore.

[Drew Dowdell]

18 minutes ago, dfelt said:

My parents Olds came with Whitewall tires and my dad changed them to all black due to my mom always hitting the curb and messing them up. I ended up liking the black better, but I get the look for it.

So hard to find them anymore.

I know. The last set I bought were no-name chinese tires and they've been nothing but trouble. The only thing they did right was stay round and not lose air. I could never get them to balance properly.

That's part of the reason I'm trying to stick with big(ger) name brands like Uniroyal or Toyo. I wish I could get Michelins for it as I've always had great results from them... but no whitewalls. 

[trinacriabob]

What was really nice was a whitewall that I once bought that had a very thin white stripe.  I think it was one of the Michelin replacements.  It was the best of both worlds, looks wise.  I recall that it was durable.  I had a set on the Regal coupe that I had before the LaCrosse.

Sadly, even though Consumer Reports touts the Michelin Defender, the personal reviews of them on other sites are far from stellar.  I am now at the point that I am more open to other tire brands.  I do want to see that some people have had good experiences with them before buying, though.

As far as plane seats go, I usually end up in the very back of the aircraft on Southwest because of my boarding sequence number.  I go right to the penultimate window seat and pick a side of the aircraft depending on what I might want to look at when taking off or landing.

[Robert Hall]

With Southwest I always get into the A boarding group then pay a few bucks extra to get in A1-A15.    

As far as tires go, I got a set of the Michelin Defender LTX M/S tires for my Jeep last fall, they were fine this winter...huge tires--265 50R 20s.   My sister had Michelins on her Mercedes in Arizona, always liked them. 

Edited April 18, 2018 by Cubical-aka-Moltar

[Drew Dowdell]

27 minutes ago, trinacriabob said:

What was really nice was a whitewall that I once bought that had a very thin white stripe.  I think it was one of the Michelin replacements.  It was the best of both worlds, looks wise.  I recall that it was durable.  I had a set on the Regal coupe that I had before the LaCrosse.

Sadly, even though Consumer Reports touts the Michelin Defender, the personal reviews of them on other sites are far from stellar.  I am now at the point that I am more open to other tire brands.  I do want to see that some people have had good experiences with them before buying, though.

As far as plane seats go, I usually end up in the very back of the aircraft on Southwest because of my boarding sequence number.  I go right to the penultimate window seat and pick a side of the aircraft depending on what I might want to look at when taking off or landing.

I have defenders on the Honda CR-V and while they're a bit loud, they're good otherwise.  Plus, with a 90k treadlife warranty backed not only by Michelin but also by Costco, they are a good long term tire. They're actually my second set because the first ones didn't even get close to the treadlife warranty and Costco prorated more than 60% back to me toward the purchase of a new set.

I have Goodyear TripleTreds on my Encore, they have been pretty much perfect. We've been putting some mad miles on it in the past year.

As for boarding... this is the first year I am not Exec Platinum on American, not even gold this year.... I'm going to be sad having to board with the peasants now. My upgrades to First Class were generally at 80% on flights that had a first class cabin. I get silver with United because I'm Platinum at Marriott, so I may switch all my flying to them.

[G. David Felt]

 for both American and United. Two airlines I would not want anyone especially you Drew flying on.  They suck as airlines go, is there not any other better options you have there?

Sorry but bad experiences on both of them have soured me for life.

[ccap41]

I flew American last month and it was a pleasant experience.. Nothing to complain about. 

[Robert Hall]

I do like having TSA Pre to go through the shorter lines.  I need to get Global Entry.   I'm looking forward to trying the new Iceland Air flights out of Cleveland.  

Edited April 18, 2018 by Cubical-aka-Moltar

[balthazar]

4 hours ago, ccap41 said:

No, incorrect... That's the aspect ratio. 

The 75 is a taller sidewall. 

Not here. 205/75 is 153.75 mm tall sidewall, 225/70 is 157.7 mm tall. Smaller percentage, but of a larger measurement.

The 225 is 0.3" taller overall, a negligible difference. I would always go with a wider tire. Tread design is paramount to determining noise (unless it's a wider tire of the exact same brand/model).

DD, have you ever looked to Coker Tire for WWs?

[G. David Felt]

58 minutes ago, Cubical-aka-Moltar said:

I do like having TSA Pre to go through the shorter lines.  I need to get Global Entry.   I'm looking forward to trying the new Iceland Air flights out of Cleveland.  

Totally agree, TSA Pre and Global Entry are the only way to go for air travel.

 

Found this cool story, did not know that Toyota was adding a Launch Gear to their CVTs. Seems a real gear is the only way to go from a dead stop but then CVT for top end.

https://www.roadandtrack.com/new-cars/car-technology/a19431445/toyota-cvt-with-1st-gear/

[Drew Dowdell]

45 minutes ago, balthazar said:

Not here. 205/75 is 153.75 mm tall sidewall, 225/70 is 157.7 mm tall. Smaller percentage, but of a larger measurement.

The 225 is 0.3" taller overall, a negligible difference. I would always go with a wider tire. Tread design is paramount to determining noise (unless it's a wider tire of the exact same brand/model).

DD, have you ever looked to Coker Tire for WWs?

lol, so now I'm getting lost.... which one is the wider tire?  The Uniroyals seem to have the best reviews regarding road noise.  I'm looking for somewhat more compliant tires though. Modern tires seem so much stiffer than the ones this would have come with.  Stiff tires are fine if the suspension is setup to absorb the harder initial hit.  Right now, it feels like it slams over more severe road imperfections.  Wouldn't a taller sidewall help with that?

1 hour ago, dfelt said:

 for both American and United. Two airlines I would not want anyone especially you Drew flying on.  They suck as airlines go, is there not any other better options you have there?

Sorry but bad experiences on both of them have soured me for life.

American has always been fine for me. United is "eh", but Albert gets to fly them for free now, so I imagine that's who we'll use going forward.

We don't have Alaska here. Southwest doesn't impress me because I can't get upgraded to first class on them.

 

[Robert Hall]

17 minutes ago, Drew Dowdell said:

lol, so now I'm getting lost.... which one is the wider tire?  The Uniroyals seem to have the best reviews regarding road noise.  I'm looking for somewhat more compliant tires though. Modern tires seem so much stiffer than the ones this would have come with.  Stiff tires are fine if the suspension is setup to absorb the harder initial hit.  Right now, it feels like it slams over more severe road imperfections.  Wouldn't a taller sidewall help with that?

 

I wasn't sure how tor measurements worked, googled and found this.

http://www.justtires.com/content/content.jsp?pageName=TireSize

So a 225 is wider than a 205. 225mm vs 205mm.   A 70 means the width is 70% of the height(aspect ratio).     So on my Jeep, the tors are 265mm wide and the width is 50% the height.   That link says the other way around--height is X% of the width--- but that makes no sense--tires are usually taller than they are wide, right?   Confused. 

Edited April 18, 2018 by Cubical-aka-Moltar

[balthazar]

'225' is tread or sectional width, so it's wider. It's sidewall is proportionally shorter, but 70% of 225 is actually a taller sidewall than 75% of 205. Yes, a taller sidewall should give you a bit more compliance, but the diff here is minuscule. BTW- sidewall height is measured from the tire bead to the tire tread, so in calculating overall tire height, it's rim diameter + (sidewall x 2). Here the sidewall is only 4 mm taller on the 225, or 8mm taller overall. You'll never notice a difference in compliance on that alone.

[Drew Dowdell]

Okay, but it still sounds like the 225 is the better way to go, both a wider tread and a slightly taller sidewall. Even if the advantages are small, I'll take them.

Are there disadvantages to going this route?

[balthazar]

3 minutes ago, Cubical-aka-Moltar said:

That link says the other way around--height is X% of the width--- but that makes no sense--tires are usually taller than they are wide, right? 

Aspect ratio measures the tire's sidewall, not the overall tire height. In other words; from the tire bead to the tread.

[Robert Hall]

3 minutes ago, balthazar said:

Aspect ratio measures the tire's sidewall, not the overall tire height. In other words; from the tire bead to the tread.

Ahh...so a 70 would be a bigger sidewall than a 60 than a 50.  And thus taller for the same wheel diameter.  Ok, that makes sense.    So the 2019 Corvette ZR-1 tires--Front: P285/30R19, rear: P335/25R20...very wide, very narrow sidewalls...

Edited April 18, 2018 by Cubical-aka-Moltar

[balthazar]

Disadvantages? Unless the 225 rubs at full steering lock; no. It's not like we're talking going from a 205 to a 325.

The slight height increase will have your speedo reading very slightly slower- the taller tires will cover more ground at the same "driveshaft" speed.

[Drew Dowdell]

2 minutes ago, balthazar said:

Disadvantages? Unless the 225 rubs at full steering lock; no. It's not like we're talking going from a 205 to a 325.

The slight height increase will have your speedo reading very slightly slower- the taller tires will cover more ground at the same "driveshaft" speed.

The speedo has never been accurate anyway.

thanks for the advice.

[balthazar]

2 minutes ago, Cubical-aka-Moltar said:

Ahh...so a 70 would be a bigger sidewall than a 60 than a 50.  Ok, that makes sense.    So the 2019 Corvette ZR-1 tires--Front: P285/30R19, rear: P335/25R20...very wide, very narrow sidewalls...

Holy crap- 25 aspect ratio tires- must be able to feel it when you run over a paper clip.

Remember- aspect ratio is a percentage, USUALLY what you stated is correct but it's totally possible to have a 60 that has a bigger sidewall than a 75. I have 60s on the back of my B-59.... but they're 315/60-15s... that's a sidewall 189mm; Drew's 205/75 has a sidewall only 153 mm tall.

[Robert Hall]

5 minutes ago, balthazar said:

Holy crap- 25 aspect ratio tires- must be able to feel it when you run over a paper clip.

Remember- aspect ratio is a percentage, USUALLY what you stated is correct but it's totally possible to have a 60 that has a bigger sidewall than a 75. I have 60s on the back of my B-59.... but they're 315/60-15s... that's a sidewall 189mm; Drew's 205/75 has a sidewall only 153 mm tall.

Ah, makes sense..  wonder what the lowest aspect ratio tires available are..I did see some Kumhos that are 15 aspect ratio.

I know in the pre-metric era tire measurements were different, was the number like 60 or 70 also aspect ratio back then?   I've seen photos of tires referred to as L60 or G60...like Goodyear Polyglas GT or Firestone Wide Ovals, say 1969-1970...

[Robert Hall]

My yard has dried up, but supposed to rain and maybe snow again tonight.    Spotted a deer out in the yard. One night last week I went out there w/ the dogs (and no camera) and there were 8---3 on my side of the fence, and 5 in the yard behind me... 

[balthazar]

There have been a couple of systems- I keep a 1960s Firestone consumer guide to keep me straight on this.

A metric 225 is equivalent to a J78 is equivalent to a 8.85. Or supposedly. Go back to bias ply tires and the sectional width is far greater than the tread, whereas modern radials -especially lower profiles- have sectional & tread widths fairly close.  

[Robert Hall]

9 hours ago, trinacriabob said:

It was really weird to learn about yesterday's Southwest flight 1380 (NY-La Guardia to Dallas - Love Field) that made an emergency landing at PHL when it lost one engine and after my being on a Southwest Boeing 737 flight about 1 hour earlier yesterday and sitting by the window.  I try to sit by a window almost all the time. 

Yeah, it's sad and bizarre....made me think about my sister who does business travel most every week (off and on since 2001).  Some years, she did 500k miles or more, mostly on Southwest.   Her new gig (started this week) has her flying to Minneapolis on Delta every week with probably occasional trips to Denmark and Belgium.  Her previous gig was in Columbus, she would drive down for the week.   She once was on an SW flight and saw an engine catch fire on the way to Sacramento. 

Edited April 18, 2018 by Cubical-aka-Moltar

[Drew Dowdell]

4 hours ago, balthazar said:

Not here. 205/75 is 153.75 mm tall sidewall, 225/70 is 157.7 mm tall. Smaller percentage, but of a larger measurement.

The 225 is 0.3" taller overall, a negligible difference. I would always go with a wider tire. Tread design is paramount to determining noise (unless it's a wider tire of the exact same brand/model).

DD, have you ever looked to Coker Tire for WWs?

Coker tire = $255 per tire

The others are all $70 - $80 per tire.

.... so no, I won't be going with Cokers.

The Uniroyals don't come in a 225/70r15 with ww... ?  Any reason I can't do a 215/70r15?  They do make those.

[balthazar]

Oh come on- it's for a TORONADO! [spending other people's money = WHEE!!]
Kinda why I kept the dry-rotted Atlas PlyCron 20" tires on my '40, and there's SIX there!

No prob on the 215/70s- 6 mm shorter tire than the 205/75.

[daves87rs]

I would go with the AWPs....seem to work quite well on the 70/75 series tires.

 

Neighbor has had good luck with her son's tires (195/70/105) on their 00 Cavalier...

[trinacriabob]

7 hours ago, Drew Dowdell said:

I have defenders on the Honda CR-V and while they're a bit loud, they're good otherwise.  Plus, with a 90k treadlife warranty backed not only by Michelin but also by Costco, they are a good long term tire. They're actually my second set because the first ones didn't even get close to the treadlife warranty and Costco prorated more than 60% back to me toward the purchase of a new set.

I have Goodyear TripleTreds on my Encore, they have been pretty much perfect. We've been putting some mad miles on it in the past year.

I also went with Defenders after the OEMs wore out on the current sled.  The OEMs wore out too quickly compared to those on the last car ... the Regal.  Tread life that comes nowhere close to 90,000 miles is what the personal reviewers were complaining about.  Let's see how mine do.  Past sets of Michelin have made good on their longevity.  They came so close to the stated tread life that I didn't even mess with the minor proration remnant and, generally speaking, I'm cheap.  In my mind, Michelin has always been the gold standard for American tires.  I hope that they haven't stopped carrying that torch.

Edited April 19, 2018 by trinacriabob

[trinacriabob]

6 hours ago, dfelt said:

 for both American and United. Two airlines I would not want anyone especially you Drew flying on.  They suck as airlines go, is there not any other better options you have there?

Sorry but bad experiences on both of them have soured me for life.

I have never had a bad experience with either United or Delta.  Delta used to be outstanding but has become less so over the years.  In terms of alliances, United's Star Alliance is the best, followed by Delta's SkyTeam, and then American's One World.  One World has both British and Iberia.  I dislike both of them. 

As far as American carriers go, I'd have to say Alaska and Southwest have been the best and I've been flying on them for about 20 years.  As far as international carriers go, my nod goes to both Air France and Alitalia, and they are both in SkyTeam.  The former has never been arrogant, as the French are reputed to be, and the latter has really been getting their act more together.  Good food in steerage on both Air France and Alitalia. Just tonight, I was discussing with someone how I never like to cross an ocean on an American carrier.  It's not exciting to me.  I want to be on a foreign one from the get go.

4 hours ago, Cubical-aka-Moltar said:

Yeah, it's sad and bizarre....made me think about my sister who does business travel most every week (off and on since 2001).  Some years, she did 500k miles or more, mostly on Southwest.   Her new gig (started this week) has her flying to Minneapolis on Delta every week with probably occasional trips to Denmark and Belgium.  Her previous gig was in Columbus, she would drive down for the week.   She once was on an SW flight and saw an engine catch fire on the way to Sacramento. 

I have to bite my tongue here.  That would be very scary but I'm thinking the plane might not have wanted to go to Sacramento.

[G. David Felt]

17 minutes ago, trinacriabob said:

  In my mind, Michelin has always been the gold standard for American tires.  I hope that they haven't stopped carrying that torch.

They still are, I have new Michelin's on both my Trailblazer SS and Escalade ESV and they rock, handled snow better than any other tire.

[balthazar]

In my mind, Michelin has always been the gold standard for American tires.

When did Michelin stop being French?

[balthazar]

[trinacriabob]

7 hours ago, balthazar said:

When did Michelin stop being French?

I once looked up their address on the back of a leaflet from Costco, and their address has been smack in the middle of Long Island and, on one publication, somewhere in SC.  But then, Hyundais are produced in Alabama.  So, I don't know how French they are anymore.  Much like Cunard is a lot less English, in a way, for not standing on its own and being a part of Carnival Lines.

[Robert Hall]

They are still headquartered in France (in Clermont-Ferrand, former home of the French Grand Prix), but have US manufacturing (presumably through the BF Goodrich and Uniroyal acquisitions in '89). 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michelin

[ccap41]

15 hours ago, balthazar said:

Not here. 205/75 is 153.75 mm tall sidewall, 225/70 is 157.7 mm tall. Smaller percentage, but of a larger measurement.

The 225 is 0.3" taller overall, a negligible difference. I would always go with a wider tire. Tread design is paramount to determining noise (unless it's a wider tire of the exact same brand/model).

DD, have you ever looked to Coker Tire for WWs?

Correct, it's a ratio of the width. 

[ccap41]

14 hours ago, Drew Dowdell said:

Are there disadvantages to going this route?

It's probably something you wouldn't care about in this car but fuel economy could drop a tad spinning a heavier tire with more tire touching the ground. For something like this, I doubt you're looking to eek out the best fuel economy possible anyway. 

[Drew Dowdell]

4 minutes ago, ccap41 said:

It's probably something you wouldn't care about in this car but fuel economy could drop a tad spinning a heavier tire with more tire touching the ground. For something like this, I doubt you're looking to eek out the best fuel economy possible anyway. 

Lol a slightly larger tire would be the least of this car's mpg concerns, but thanks

1 hour ago, trinacriabob said:

I once looked up their address on the back of a leaflet from Costco, and their address has been smack in the middle of Long Island and, on one publication, somewhere in SC.  But then, Hyundais are produced in Alabama.  So, I don't know how French they are anymore.  Much like Cunard is a lot less English, in a way, for not standing on its own and being a part of Carnival Lines.

Those are just the US main offices for Michelin.

I work for a UK owned company, but our US headquarters is in Houston and where you would be referred if you had company questions.

[Robert Hall]

Yeah, multinational companies doing stuff all over the globe... like my client--established and headquartered in Barbados, offices in Jamaica and several other Caribbean countries, US headquarters in Scottsdale.    I took a dull GDPR CBT course yesterday...

[balthazar]

Michelin bought out another rubber company's site 10 minutes from me, in 1907. They expanded the facility, plus built a number of 'bungalows' for workers (my brother-in-law lives in one). At one point they employed over 2000 locals. There was also a large building across the main street with a connecting elevated passage, tho I never saw that.

Michelin moved back to France in 1930 when the depression hit.

It's been empty much longer than the 25 years I've been in the area. Just this year everything was demolished except the smokestack & water tower (which are staying). I've poked around the site in the past- that roofless building right by the stack had a fascinating bunch of machinery- the original powerplant. All gone now.

Sometime I believe in the 1980s, Michelin paid for lights to illuminate a ball field/park a few blocks away. At least, that's what I heard- hard to believe on the face of it.

[ykX]

13 hours ago, balthazar said:

 

 

When did Michelin stop being French?

Too bad that it seems best all-season tires to go to are from Michelin and Continental.  I didn't see anything from Goodyear that even close to them in price and performance.

[ccap41]

I know Continental at least has some factories here. I'd hope Michelin does as well. 

[Drew Dowdell]

16 minutes ago, ykX said:

Too bad that it seems best all-season tires to go to are from Michelin and Continental.  I didn't see anything from Goodyear that even close to them in price and performance.

I've been pretty happy with my TripleTreds. I don't know how they are for true performance driving (Encore, 138hp), but they've been a great all-around tire. One of the reasons I picked them was for their superior snow performance.  Not quite a snow tire, but better than most other All-Seasons in that regard.   The downside to them is that I've never gotten the same MPG out of the car since they went on.

[G. David Felt]

@balthazar Thought you would find this interesting, EV conversion on a 1957 Ford Fairlane and how the company the paid for this made sure to keep the core of the auto intact. Conversion gave this classic 228 HP and 391 LB-FT of torque. A considerable improvement over the factory OEM Power train.

 

http://www.thedrive.com/news/19540/if-electric-cars-are-the-future-what-about-our-classics

At the end is an interesting EV conversion on a Jaguar E-Type

[balthazar]

1 hour ago, dfelt said:

@balthazar Thought you would find this interesting, EV conversion on a 1957 Ford Fairlane and how the company the paid for this made sure to keep the core of the auto intact. Conversion gave this classic 228 HP and 391 LB-FT of torque. A considerable improvement over the factory OEM Power train.

Well, I'm not an advocate of this sort of thing, usually. Changing the character so much.

But while we're changing out powertrains, could've also put a '57 Thunderbird Special engine in there; 340 HP supercharged.
Or a SOHC 427 from the early '60s with 425 HP.
Or a Ford FE 511, and go 8.7's in the quarter @ 147 MPH. This is solidly over 700 HP :

 

[balthazar]

 

[oldshurst442]

I was always a Goodyear tire guy. The 1980s made me be a Goodyear tire guy. Because of General Motors. Id say 99.9% of GM cars in the 1980s came with Goodyear tires and because I was so far up GM's tushy then, Goodyear was it for me. 

And they were good tires.

I recently have liked more and more the tires of Michelin and Yokohama for winters. (Bridgestone Blizzaks are good too. I prefer the Yokohamas though.) At the same time, I like less and less Goodyear. 

[daves87rs]

23 hours ago, balthazar said:

 

 

When did Michelin stop being French?

 

When everyone bought their tires....?

That said- Cooper is my tire of choice. Threw some CS5's on my Cobalt- best handling tire I have seen yet on an all season tire. Should also get close to the 80k promised as well...

A set of Cooper will go on my other Cavalier as well.....

[G. David Felt]

19 minutes ago, oldshurst442 said:

I was always a Goodyear tire guy. The 1980s made me be a Goodyear tire guy. Because of General Motors. Id say 99.9% of GM cars in the 1980s came with Goodyear tires and because I was so far up GM's tushy then, Goodyear was it for me. 

And they were good tires.

I recently have liked more and more the tires of Michelin and Yokohama for winters. (Bridgestone Blizzaks are good too. I prefer the Yokohamas though.) At the same time, I like less and less Goodyear. 

Agree Goodyear was good in the past, suck today, never have heard a new Goodyear that did not scream bloody murder on cement. Michelin are just awesome, quiet and long lasting tires. Plus they rock in snow and rain.

[ccap41]

Goodyear isn't sucky, they just make a few sucky tires that they sell at the cheap-o stores like Walmart(Like John Deere selling at Home Depot/Lowes). they still make very high end stuff to compete with Michelin, Bridgestone, and Continental. People just tend to talk about their bad experiences more than their good ones.

Also, fwiw, saying a whole brand is good based on a couple models is like saying all of Ford is great because they make the GT. I've heard plenty of complaints about OE Michelins, Cotinentals, Pirelli, and Bridestones as well... Some people just don't like OE tires and will complain no matter what.