Last week: three tires.
One took a bolt-hit 2 years back and the replacement still had 70% tread, so I left it.
Booked for Monday. Went in, they said the tires had been delivered 2 states south. Apologized his butt off. Came back Thursday, the kid got me right in, the owner carried the tires from the dock, and a senior tech went right to work.
Was not cheap, but I am getting >9 years on Blizzak ice/snow tires running them all year round (I don't drive much), so I can't really complain. They were OK/fine summer tires for the first 7 years, and not bad at the end.
One took a bolt-hit 2 years back and the replacement still had 70% tread, so I left it.
Booked for Monday. Went in, they said the tires had been delivered 2 states south. Apologized his butt off. Came back Thursday, the kid got me right in, the owner carried the tires from the dock, and a senior tech went right to work.
Was not cheap, but I am getting >9 years on Blizzak ice/snow tires running them all year round (I don't drive much), so I can't really complain. They were OK/fine summer tires for the first 7 years, and not bad at the end.
Yes, I need to buy a set of tires for our Malibu. Ouch! I like the Michelin tires, so they are around $1K for a set. Well worth it though.
Tonight I bought a new KSGER soldering station unit (no iron) so I can leave it loaded with a surface mount tip. These are extremely small stations that stack and heat up rapidly. All kinds of pluses, but they are basically one of many T12 type handles + controller. They are really worth checking out, and they are not expensive at all.
-Chris
Tonight I bought a new KSGER soldering station unit (no iron) so I can leave it loaded with a surface mount tip. These are extremely small stations that stack and heat up rapidly. All kinds of pluses, but they are basically one of many T12 type handles + controller. They are really worth checking out, and they are not expensive at all.
-Chris
Bought a few nifty little programmed PIC chips from a clever fellow across the pond who goes by The Electric Druid. Hopefully these will simplify the Frankenstein project I've begun, involving the unseemly joining of a Bozak Celeste 900 and a Sony SDP-505ES. (I've begun jabbering about this in another forum.)
I was checking in a few days ago and BOY, what a lot of interesting chips he was offering!!!!
I think it's gonna be fine. They did a 30 min vacuum test before filling gas, oil and dye. They said that it scored 100% on the vacuum test.
I hear you brother. Since when did rubber doughnuts become such a commodity? The Edge tires are over 300 a pop and the Escape are not that far behind. Crimminy, they're just tires!
Tyres for my Ford Mondeo are about £80 each.
If I look for deals online they can be as little as £60 each.
Cars tend to be smaller in UK than in USA or Canada.
Hi Nigel,
Yes, so true. Some cars can use the tires made for the small trailers here in Canada. Those would be in the UK. Over here we like out tanks. Where I live, full size pickup trucks are about 50% of the vehicles here. Just imagine how much those tires are!
Hi Calhoun,
I don't know, but you need a bank loan these days to buy a set of 4.
-Chris
Yes, so true. Some cars can use the tires made for the small trailers here in Canada. Those would be in the UK. Over here we like out tanks. Where I live, full size pickup trucks are about 50% of the vehicles here. Just imagine how much those tires are!
Hi Calhoun,
I don't know, but you need a bank loan these days to buy a set of 4.
-Chris
My Mondeo is only a 1500cc straight four engine. It gets me around fine but no racing car. Get about 60 MPG. The fuel prices are higher here than USA and Canada.
My 1993 5.7 L Buick Stationwagon got an honest 29 mpg. I'm still very happy about that. I can't figure out the metric way of doing this, so I ignore it.
I recently got a Toyota Matrix (used), and our GM Malibu gets slightly better fuel economy. Why would anyone buy a smaller car that gets the same fuel economy as the larger, more comfortable car? That Buick? Same fuel economy as the Toyota Camry wagon of the same year. I took the Buick in a heartbeat. I did discover one important thing though. If you really have to take off, that Buick would leave a lot of other cars in the dust, but you really paid for it at the pump. You learned to be nice on the accelerator unless there was a good reason to blast off.
It was amusing to see the looks on people's faces when they couldn't understand why the big car kept pulling away even though they had it floored.
-Chris
I recently got a Toyota Matrix (used), and our GM Malibu gets slightly better fuel economy. Why would anyone buy a smaller car that gets the same fuel economy as the larger, more comfortable car? That Buick? Same fuel economy as the Toyota Camry wagon of the same year. I took the Buick in a heartbeat. I did discover one important thing though. If you really have to take off, that Buick would leave a lot of other cars in the dust, but you really paid for it at the pump. You learned to be nice on the accelerator unless there was a good reason to blast off.
It was amusing to see the looks on people's faces when they couldn't understand why the big car kept pulling away even though they had it floored.
-Chris
The industry is moving to a monopoly. My Blizzaks used to be from Bridgestone, but the last one had another brand on the sticker, and this new set actually shipped from Firestone, but Firestone is now owned by Bridgestone, which is now the largest manufacturer of tyres in the world, followed by Michelin, Goodyear, Continental, and Pirelli. Michelin owns BFGoodrich, Kleber, Tigar, Riken, Kormoran and Uniroyal. Goodyear owns Dunlop, Kelly Springfield, Douglas Tires, and Wingfoot. Continental owns General Tire. There's 20+ smaller tire brands. It would not shock me to learn they get some of their products from The Big Guys. So one way or another 5 managements steer the industry's prices. They don't have to actually collaborate to "cooperate".
I paid $335 for 3 rubbers mounted and balanced. TireRack is showing $94/each on close-out. I'm happy to pay <$20/skin for local service.
Blizzak WS80 - Size: 205/65R15 $94.43
Can you house 10 millions Swedes???? Over here we pay USD 1.80 a litre just over USD 8 a gallon ....
First fill up on the new toy shows 58.6 Miles/Gallon.
I think the computer is slightly off. I calculated 57.5 M/G
Either way, I am loving this bike.
Gas in the USA has always been cheap. We need to tax the crap out of it and use the money for highway infrastructure. Up the tax by an additional 1$ per gallon in incremental increases of 2cents/gallon per week for the next year.
Fuch the whiney people. we are currently paying just $2.28/gallon. This promotes humongous gas guzzling behemoths which no one really needs.
I think the computer is slightly off. I calculated 57.5 M/G
Either way, I am loving this bike.
Gas in the USA has always been cheap. We need to tax the crap out of it and use the money for highway infrastructure. Up the tax by an additional 1$ per gallon in incremental increases of 2cents/gallon per week for the next year.
Fuch the whiney people. we are currently paying just $2.28/gallon. This promotes humongous gas guzzling behemoths which no one really needs.
Not to mention the biggest idiots.
Conservatives Purposely Making Cars Spew Black Smoke - Business Insider