Tony Prodigy

Tell that to the bean counters lol. They'll always have some justification for the stupid decisions that befall the car industry. I remember the first time I saw a space saver wheel and I laugh my head off. It was even funnier when you saw one on a car getting around town. They are not for highway driving as you mentioned Ash, more of a band aid to get you to visit a tyre shop asap. If You were planning a highway trip with a car equipped only with a clown wheel, I'd buy a full sized spare and throw it in the boot in defiance of the manufacturer. You never know when you'll need it.

At least your Dad's car got the run flats. My friend's E46 M3 has neither a spare and run flats are ridiculously impossible for a high performance BMW, so the latter is no option. If he ever gets a flat, he'll either have to do a tyre repair on the go or call road service. I do believe they provide a small air compressor too If I remember correctly. My M3 was the last Gen to his E46 (E36/ 90's car) to carry a full sized ///M wheel ( it's a front wheel actually cos the rear are much larger) so it can fit either end.

I would be happy to keep them inflated more for even tyre wear if that is even a possibility. Roads here are generally ok with the odd corrugation here and there so to have them dialed in just for these isn't justified to be honest. Highway runs are always nice regardless of pressures.

Wow, that looks dodgy. You think they'd make it more discreet wouldn't you ??

We are the privileged few who still have a full sized spare these days as we're heading into this era of so called "space saver" tyres. The notion that it is called a space saver is ridiculous because it isn't really about saving space is it ? It's cheaper to give you a clown wheel and it also compensates for the increase in weight the cars get from the overload of techy gadgets. I like having a proper, full sized spare wheel. The only downside of having the full sized spare, that is fair to say, is that some may not be able to handle the weight while trying to lift it out of the boot. That's probably the only con. Foose is a Legend. I think he'd get bored pretty quickly here compared to the U.S. The Yanks sure know how to build cars. They are the Kings of Custom. The Count, Danny Koker from Count's Kustoms is one that comes to mind, including Richard Rawlins from Gas Monkey Garage. Amazing stuff. Ah so you're a de-badger. I have a mate who debadges everything too, except his M3. It's sacrilege to debadge an original M3 actually, that's why he's never attempted that. Same goes for mine lol.. I'm the opposite, I actually love the badging. I even have several spare badges I purchased from Toyota to replace any that may need replacing for whatever reason.

I use imgur too and have always used 'direct link' for posting images directly to a thread and you can use 'image link' to create an image link using the provision top of field in the second grouping from the left. Copy image link, highlight the word you want to use for link, then click the link symbol above and paste your URL into the field and your good.

The mystery of the header pics is solved. I see a nice new Corolla now. I wonder if the images will alternate, get a new pic weekly ??

Haha. Nice one Ash 😜 I'd love to see a 50% off sale on everything !!

Nice pics. Brings back memories of that era. I recall the Alan Grice Commodore from the same period with that chickadee livery on it. Remember when Bathurst was called the Tooheys 1000 ? Supercheap have ended their partnership after this year and wondering who gets it after them I wonder..

Will do Ash. Thanks for the document too.

Look forward to the update for sure !

SCA are doing 30% off oil for 7 days only https://www.supercheapauto.com.au/7-day-deals?prefn1=adArticleType&prefv1=Full Synthetic Engine Oil#main

SCA have a 30% off sale on Jacks and related items. https://www.supercheapauto.com.au/7-day-deals?prefn1=adArticleType&prefv1=Car Stands|Trolley Jacks|Scissor Jacks&j=4603367&sfmc_sub=822401467&sub=206595815_SCA01_CRP&l=333_HTML&u=96132655&mid=6010680&jb=1421&utm_source=email-subscriber&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=au-sca-2021-wk17-7dd#main or the whole enchilada here https://www.supercheapauto.com.au/7-day-deals?prefn1=adArticleType&prefv1=Full Synthetic Engine Oil&j=4603367&sfmc_sub=822401467&sub=206595815_SCA01_CRP&l=333_HTML&u=96132656&mid=6010680&jb=1421&utm_source=email-subscriber&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=au-sca-2021-wk17-7dd#main

Not sure if anyone has asked but how are your lower control arm bushings ? Have you had a chance to inspect them ? When I have my front end off the ground with the suspension fully extended I can see small cracks in the rubber for the lower control arm. Not too bad to warrant any drastic surgery, but I'm keeping an eye on it. I have soaked them with 303 Aerospace to keep them from drying out. I wished I gotten to them earlier. No big deal. If it means new bushings, then I'd be more than happy to replace them.

Nice one Luke. Genuine parts do instill a bit of confidence overall, not to say aftermarket is anything less. There are plenty of decent aftermarket manufacturers that offer quality products too. I'd avoid the cheap imports too, most definitely. Some pics would be great.

Somehow I doubt it. My car has always had the left side chew tyres faster than the right side. The tyre placard in the drivers door jamb says 240 kpa both front and rear. 34.8 psi. Shop reckons 36 psi, others are saying 38 psi. Who do you go with ??

Thanks for that Ashley. I'll have to have a good read of this.

I definitely didn't want to go down that route. That little tool saved me a lot of grief and time that's for sure. I'm sure the second time around will be much easier now I have my head around the process and procedure. Doing my Dad's car when it's due will be a breeze.

Thanks for putting my mind to rest Ash. So 36-38 would be the sweet spot. I haven't got a decent air compressor at this point and regular pressure checks are difficult unless I drive to a local garage, if I remember... My compressor is back home at my folk's place and have no intention of moving it from there because I use it there for other things, so I have to purchase another one for my garage here at some point. That will make it a lot easier for me having a decent tyre inflator. I have one of those little portable 12v dragon tyre inflator (with digital readout) but it's a little painful to use and slow. I just keep it in the Aurion's boot in case my wife has a small emergency, she can pull up anywhere and put air in the tyre. For a full inflation it takes too long. I wonder if the alignment can be made so that it can add some more negative camber above and over what the spec calls for so that it can even out with time. Not an easy thing this suspension geometry..

It was pure luck I had this tool and it fit to be honest. I hadn't been under there previously to investigate that pesky bolt and it wasn't until I had it up and took a good look at it I tried the conventional way with an open ended spanner and quickly realised what you were all on about. Then I remembered my little snap-on tool and had a Eureka moment. What a fluke it fit. I was relieved. I needed the clearance to be able to work under there reasonably comfortable so I had to raise it from all four corners and then I used a scissor jack at the right rear to act as my 'pivot' to get it laterally level whilst getting the longitudinal level sorted. It was frustrating but I eventually found the sweet spot.

Yeah, I wondered that too. Maybe it's still work in progress, but the rest of the forum upgrades have a nice touch to them.

Haha yeah I got that too. I just left it as it was. "incomplete" I don't have time for meets unfortunately. Have enough to do in my busy life.

I would go as far and say that all Michelin Tyres by virtue of their design are quiet compared to most other brands. Other brands will have a mix of quiet and "noisy" tyres depending on the type of tread design too. Michelin have worked hard in this dept and this is what makes them stand out from the rest in my opinion. I'm happy to pay the bit extra. Unfortunately, the larger the diameter, the more expensive the tyre. I would also think that tyre degradation would also be accelerated due to the higher performance aspect of these too. Would this be true ? I've never had 18' wheel/tyre combo to know this. True. The 50 series has electric assisted power steering. No more hydraulic issues to worry about. One less service job too lol. Just on the 38 psi thing again. I'm going to try this pressure on and see how it feels. My wife drives our car 95% of the time so I'm not expecting hard feathered edges 😂 so I always expect good mileage if it weren't for the damned front left edge wearing out prematurely. I'm going to make this bone of contention with my tyre guy and see what he reckons. I'll also mention tyre pressure too. Would I be paranoid thinking him wanting 36 psi so the tyres can wear out faster ?? Is 38 psi the magic number I wonder.. The inside edges have bugger all wear. It's just the outers more so. The left rear is also as bad the front left. Only the left side it seems.

So the 40 have a different geometry to the 50 ?? I wouldn't think the size of the wheels would make for a different set of adjustment parameters. I've never heard of such a thing to be honest. I always though the wheels are just set up on a certain axis and that was it. Tyre pressure is also another interesting thing. I had a look over my Bob Jane tyre service records and they wrote 36 psi in there when they fitted my Primacy LCs. I forgot about this and have been following the tyre placard info in the door jamb, which requires 240 kpa (34 psi). Maybe this uneven wear was underinflation even though the factory recommend something lower. Strange. So you reckon 38 psi would be the magic number then ?? I love to learn how to be able to do this but you need specialised tools wouldn't you ? Wheel alignments are getting more expensive these days. Between $60 and $75 now.

Haha yeah. I am fussy. I like to be organised and work as cleanly as possible. Have the plan set in place and everything else just flows nicely then. Getting the car level took quite some time and it was probably the most frustrating part actually. I didn't show it in my pics but I also got it level laterally, not only longitudinally just to be precise. This would mimic the car being on a workshop hoist. I had a good feeling about the condition of the transmission because I've never had any shift issues at all. It's always behaved perfectly to be honest so there was no trepidation about any muck build up. I was probably expecting the colour of the fluid to have been more brown given the kays, but was pleasantly surprised to see the WS was still in good shape after all this time. Like I mentioned before, It has a lot to do with how you drive it too. It's had an easy life and the old fluid was the proof. I'm very happy it's done now and I can move on to other aspects of maintenance.