Road Trip!

kyfdx

For $1.50, most of the stations near me have a pump that measures the tire pressure as it inflates. You set your pressure, and it dings when your tire is inflated. Usually about two minutes to do all four tires.

Once inflated, resetting the TPMS monitor is just a couple of taps on the touch screen.

My new tires were inflated with nitrogen, but I didn't notice them maintaining pressure any better than regular air (though of course, I haven't sent the samples off to the lab.. lol)

imidazol97

Since the air in the tire is already 78% nitrogen, I wouldn't wait to see any difference in how alleged 100% nitrogen acts in an automobile tire.

Actually several years ago I started reading the ads for various machines that enriched the nitrogen in the air for tire stores. Most were theoretically able to "enrich" the percentage of nitrogen to a certain level, let's say 90%, but that was when tested under ideal circumstances by the manufacturer. The biggest part of the advertising was how they could make a lot of money selling the idea to the customer.

The only benefit was for trucks where the tire casings are reused many times. The reduction of oxygen inside the tire supposedly extended the life of the rubber and the fibers. This is over hundreds of thousands of miles and years.

xwesx

It makes a surprising difference. Not scientific at all, but tire pressure for the winter wheels on my Forester were set at 35 when they were installed September of 2019. The pressure is still at 35 (not a nitrogen thing, just no leaks, so I haven't had to add any "air" in that time), and the one time I checked one at -30F, it was 33. So, that's pretty good. Straight air will drop by around 10 psi over that interval (100 degrees).

I suspect that the biggest difference isn't the gases themselves, but moisture in compressed air. The temperature changes have a huge effect on water vapor, so if that drops out of the equation, then the pressure will drop substantially when the tires are below freezing.

imidazol97

Nitrogen along with the oxygen fraction in normal air follow the ideal gas law for pressure change with temperature.

The one other factor the companies selling the nitrogen concentrators use is the concept of water vapor inside the tire and how nitrogen has no water vapor. Neither does "air" if it's been pumped in through a dehydrator to remove much of the water vapor just like the concentrators for nitrogen remove water vapor.

However besides this changed variable for comparing the two gas mixtures in tires, the companies selling try to pretend there's liquid water inside the tire carcass. And that this water turns to vapour due to the tire temperature during high speed runs and the change from liquid to vapour causes the water to expand (without looking up I think it's on the order of 1000 times in volume under STP) and that expansion causes all sorts of failures on race cars.

Note the link is from a company pushing , daaah, daaah, wait for it... nitrogen concentrators.

https://www.getnitrogen.org/sub.php?view=nascar

cdnpinhead

The key to this whole thing (seems like we've been through this before) is DRY nitrogen, which is defined in the industrial world as having a dew point of something like -50 or -70 degrees F. The cheap "concentrators" that increase the N2 percentage in ambient air do nothing for the humidity or dew point. Yet another scam. Dry nitrogen is available in bottles, but not in the kinds of tire stores that are being discussed here. Dry ambient air would work just as well.

kyfdx

I don't know how much of a scam it is, any more. Since almost everyone has it, no one is able to charge extra for it. Maybe, they paid for their machines in the first couple of years with extra charges.

Tire Discounters, Discount Tire, Sam's, Costco.. all have it.

fintail

Looks like the weekend after the weekend after next, I'll be going west for a few days - driving, not flying, as there should be no real risk in the pass. Looking forward to putting some miles on one of the most mellow comfortable cars on the market.

xwesx

Yeah, I couldn't give a good gol'darn either way. The tires have nitrogen in them now, it works well. When it's time to add pressure, they'll get the same treatment all my other tires do: My cheap-hiney compressor pushing whatever it finds in the surrounding atmosphere.

The only reason I care about 35 psi versus 25 psi during winter driving is if it causes the TPMS to act up (which it will). The Q7 is no issue: I just reset it and the system says "are you SURE you have the right pressure in there?!" I say, "yep." done. In the spring, I must do the same thing when I swap to the summer set, but, again, it's surprisingly easy (for an Audi). On the Forester, the stock set of wheels is the only set that has TPMS in it. The sensors will probably start to go bad within the next couple years, so once they do and the light just stays on all the time, then I can tell my wife that it's a forever thing and to just ignore it.

In the meantime, I do like that the tires keep a closer-to-constant pressure.

tjc78

kyfdx said:

For $1.50, most of the stations near me have a pump that measures the tire pressure as it inflates. You set your pressure, and it dings when your tire is inflated. Usually about two minutes to do all four tires.

Once inflated, resetting the TPMS monitor is just a couple of taps on the touch screen.

My new tires were inflated with nitrogen, but I didn't notice them maintaining pressure any better than regular air (though of course, I haven't sent the samples off to the lab.. lol)

Up here in Jersey our Wawa stores have a free air machine with the beep. It’s very convenient.

One thing I miss on our Volvos is the individual tire pressure read outs. It only has green dots to indicate “ok”. They cheaped out.

kyfdx

tjc78 said:

kyfdx said:

For $1.50, most of the stations near me have a pump that measures the tire pressure as it inflates. You set your pressure, and it dings when your tire is inflated. Usually about two minutes to do all four tires.

Once inflated, resetting the TPMS monitor is just a couple of taps on the touch screen.

My new tires were inflated with nitrogen, but I didn't notice them maintaining pressure any better than regular air (though of course, I haven't sent the samples off to the lab.. lol)

Up here in Jersey our Wawa stores have a free air machine with the beep. It’s very convenient.

One thing I miss on our Volvos is the individual tire pressure read outs. It only has green dots to indicate “ok”. They cheaped out.

Yeah, the BMW has individual read outs, but the GTI just shows which tire is low.

fintail

Drove last night, no TPMS warning - the sensor not responding must have been taking a nap. I should check the pressure on the "low" tire and see if it is now overinflated. This car gives pressure and temperatures.

xwesx

tjc78 said:

Up here in Jersey our Wawa stores have a free air machine with the beep. It’s very convenient.

One thing I miss on our Volvos is the individual tire pressure read outs. It only has green dots to indicate “ok”. They cheaped out.

It seems that most convenience stores around here "have air," but it's a rare thing to find one where the machine actually works. Both of our local Fred Meyer (Kroger) stores have one of the automatic machines that were mentioned, but I cannot even remember how many years they have both had cones in front of them with "out of order" taped on the front.

kyfdx

xwesx said:

tjc78 said:

Up here in Jersey our Wawa stores have a free air machine with the beep. It’s very convenient.

One thing I miss on our Volvos is the individual tire pressure read outs. It only has green dots to indicate “ok”. They cheaped out.

It seems that most convenience stores around here "have air," but it's a rare thing to find one where the machine actually works. Both of our local Fred Meyer (Kroger) stores have one of the automatic machines that were mentioned, but I cannot even remember how many years they have both had cones in front of them with "out of order" taped on the front.

The ones near me all work, and take credit cards, which saves me from going in and asking for quarters.

xwesx

kyfdx said:

The ones near me all work, and take credit cards, which saves me from going in and asking for quarters.

Not fair! Hahah

I'll remember that when I'm in the region this summer. "Honey, we need to divert to Cincinnati for the afternoon.... I know it's out of the way, but I need to add some air to the left rear, and I have it on good authority that the air stations work there. Plus, they will take our card!"

Seriously, though... even the "fancy" ones at Fred Meyer (fancy, yet broken), take quarters. At least, it did the last time one worked!

fintail

I guess I am lucky that the somewhat old school Chevron here has free air. No gauge though.

On foot today, I am still amazed by the amount of cars with studded tires - and people wonder why the roads here can be rough. Freeze/thaw doesn't help, but neither does 4 studs on a Yukon.

fintail

Heading to the west side late next week for a long weekend, family is selling grandma's house and I want to get a last look, along with visiting some friends. Will probably put more miles on the car in 4 days than I've put on it in 2 months. Snow tires are off, I hope mother nature doesn't troll me.

cdnpinhead

Snoqualmie Pass can be tricky, even in April. Good luck.

In reality, even if it snows they'll probably be able to keep the road open this late in the season.

fintail

Weather models/forecasts look pretty benign. But yeah, Snoqualmie is low enough where even if it did snow, it probably wouldn't be a big deal, all seasons and AWD would suffice.

cdnpinhead said:

Snoqualmie Pass can be tricky, even in April. Good luck.

In reality, even if it snows they'll probably be able to keep the road open this late in the season.

xwesx

fintail said:

Weather models/forecasts look pretty benign. But yeah, Snoqualmie is low enough where even if it did snow, it probably wouldn't be a big deal, all seasons and AWD would suffice.

cdnpinhead said:

Snoqualmie Pass can be tricky, even in April. Good luck.

In reality, even if it snows they'll probably be able to keep the road open this late in the season.

Have a great trip! I think mine is longer, even though I'm only going to the next town over.

fintail

Population density is a bit different here, even east of the mountains

Funny thing, I am living in what is effectively the NYC of the inland northwest, and it still has a small town vibe compared to the Puget Sound rat race, even though in population it is definitely not small.

xwesx said:

Have a great trip! I think mine is longer, even though I'm only going to the next town over.

xwesx

Well, I made it round trip, though it was NOT smooth.... Quite a fun story, actually.

xwesx

So, I *intended* to leave home at about 0800 Sunday, head to my office for a couple hours, then leave town at 1000 to arrive in Anchorage around 1600 - 1700.

I woke up at 0630, went outside, and switched the electrical cord from the built-in battery trickle charger, which had been plugged in for the last six weeks as the car sat, over to the block heater. After packing a few things for an overnight and getting ready for the day, I headed outside to start the car and give the animals water. However... car was totally dead. Like, it was TOTALLY dead. So, lesson #1: Don't assume that your trickle charger is worth a darn.

I then had to start up the Forester and bring it over to jump the Q7. But, Q7 takes a lot of amps to crank it, and the Forester cannot do this without help from the Q7's monster battery. After an initial try, I let it sit for 30 minutes or so to give it some charge. Afterward, I got an effort to crank, but it just wasn't there yet.

I tried the battery-based instant starter, but it wasn't able to juice it either. I took that inside to recharge it while the Forester was still charging the car's battery. Then, 30 minutes later again, I tried once more. At this point, it's around 10am, and I'm getting a little nervous about the time (remember I was trying to get the car to Anchorage before 1800 just in case I ran out of miles for the restart lockout before I arrived). I try to start it again, and I'm getting nothing - it's not even turning 'on' when I press the button or turn the key.

Reading up on that issue, I find out that, most likely, the immobilizer kicked in due to it not recognizing the key. Seeing a little red light flashing on the fob, I decided to swap out the battery in the fob unit; this makes no difference on the car. More reading online, I am starting to get frustrated because many "sources" are saying that an Audi lockout requires a flatbed to the dealer for recoding the car and keys. I'm partly disbelieving, because not even VAG could do something that moronic! I read up on several other DIY reset procedures, most of which involve jumping on one leg and barking like a dog, and none work. Finally, in desperation, I decided to disconnect the onboard battery, which is located under the driver's seat. Only trouble is, the car was not in a particularly accessible location for doing that job because the driver's door could only open about 1/3 the full distance due to having it tucked up against my pickups to keep it out of the way.

However, perseverance paid off because after disconnecting it for about 10 minutes and letting the whole system reset, not only would the car turn on again, but it also started up! For five seconds, then it died.... And, it didn't have enough juice to try to start again. So, ANOTHER 45 minutes of charging later, I first tried to start it with the instant starter, the car sputtered a lot but no connect. Then, I hooked the Forester up to it again, revved the engine to about 3500 RPM while I was trying to start it, and success. But, it ran really, really rough for a few minutes, smelled awful, and finally leveled out. Check engine light came on, TMPS, traction control.... pretty much every light. I said, "screw it," hopped in, and drove to Anchorage.

xwesx

No issues, except a couple times while trying to pass: The car would sort of choke out at 2,500 RPM and start shuddering, a bunch of white smoke would pour out the exhaust, and I had to back off. Then, it smoothed right out, I tried again, and it worked fine. I dunno; it's the dealer's problem for now!

They gave me a 2021 Q5 for a loaner in a really pretty dark blue. My favorite shifter type; but, I only put it into reverse while trying to put it into park, um, EVERY time I tried to park it. LOL /facepalm

The drive home was a whole different world than the drive down: Yesterday, the weather was good, roads clear, trip took about 6'45" in total time with 45 miles remaining before the countdown timer ended. Today, it was freezing rain from Anchorage all the way to Trapper Creek (about 120 miles) and reasonably slippery, especially on all-seasons. I saw dozens of VIDs (vehicles in distress), about a dozen with people in them (e.g., just happened), and a couple dozen older incidents with nobody on site any longer. I saw two people go off the road in front of me, with one guy nearly rolling his pickup, but somehow not, amazingly. I stopped for him, he had a cell and called for a pull out. I had my ropes on board, but I'm in the loaner, so.... A mile down the road a little Suzuki Vitara starts wagging the back end for no apparent reason, loses it just as I'm by him, and does a couple 360s before coming to a stop in his own lane, facing the correct way, and somehow everyone else on the road (and there were lots of us!) did not hit him. Lucky guy.

After Trapper Creek, it was snowing heavily for about 100 miles.... and lots of snow! Wet, heavy, slow, white-out conditions. What a mess. Much of it was 25-45 miles per hour, and sometimes that even seemed to be pushing it.

The car doesn't look quite as pretty now as it did when I picked it up this morning with a whopping 270 miles on it. I've more than doubled those already....

xwesx

For your viewing pleasure. LOL

Video is raw, so sorry for the crude sound, etc. This was after an hour of this weather and limited progress, with at least another hour to go.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SstLlGN03_U

xwesx

oops

xwesx

@fintail I hope your run through Snoqualmie Pass next week is less interesting.

fintail

Exhausting trip, I don't envy you needing to go on a real journey just to get a car repaired. I have a feeling you'll have the Q5 for a bit/

Chances are pretty decent I'll have wet roads at worst. Tires are still good and I have AWD, not too worried. I am heading out first thing Friday also will be driving around the sound a bit, not looking forward to the old rat race traffic.

xwesx said:

@fintail I hope your run through Snoqualmie Pass next week is less interesting.

xwesx

fintail said:

Exhausting trip, I don't envy you needing to go on a real journey just to get a car repaired. I have a feeling you'll have the Q5 for a bit/

I think it will be a couple weeks. They said, "It should be ready on Friday, but we'll give you a call once we can get into it." I agree; it's a real PITA to take it down there. But, it's either that or pay $$$$$ out of my own pocket to keep fixing these reductant system issues.

I swear, once the scandal warranty runs out in another 15,000 miles, the first system failure I have on it will result in me disabling it for good. I like the addition of the reductant, but not that much.

fintail

I am surprised she who must be pleased is OK with you keeping that thing around - IIRC she wasn't on board with it in the beginning? You must be in love with that rig

Speaking of the scandal, I got a couple MB Bluetec class action forms in the mail - even though I only leased, the cars never needed a modification or had any mechanical trouble at all. Ambitious lawyers, gotta love it.

xwesx said:

I think it will be a couple weeks. They said, "It should be ready on Friday, but we'll give you a call once we can get into it." I agree; it's a real PITA to take it down there. But, it's either that or pay $$$$$ out of my own pocket to keep fixing these reductant system issues.

I swear, once the scandal warranty runs out in another 15,000 miles, the first system failure I have on it will result in me disabling it for good. I like the addition of the reductant, but not that much.

xwesx

fintail said:

I am surprised she who must be pleased is OK with you keeping that thing around - IIRC she wasn't on board with it in the beginning? You must be in love with that rig

Well, she's never wanted it around. I tried to sell it a couple times, but folks just kept flaking out on me, so I finally decided that it wasn't worth the frustration just to get it out of the driveway. I don't really want a Subaru as my only car, and I suspect that's the only brand that would meet with her approval.

fintail

At least she lets you keep the old timers, I guess

These days with wacko trade in values, I wonder what it could score.

xwesx said:

Well, she's never wanted it around. I tried to sell it a couple times, but folks just kept flaking out on me, so I finally decided that it wasn't worth the frustration just to get it out of the driveway. I don't really want a Subaru as my only car, and I suspect that's the only brand that would meet with her approval.

fintail

Back home now. Trip over was easy - left early, had the cruise set at 77-78, didn't get passed until around Snoqualmie Pass, low traffic volumes. Of course by the time I was on 167 it was a gongshow - 1 pm volumes and a stalled truck made for Friday fun. Weekend driving on Puget Sound highways wasn't bad, but the suburban arterials can be hellish, I forgot how much I disliked driving on those roads - poorly managed suburban sprawl. Driving back yesterday afternoon wasn't as nice. Traffic volumes must be 99%+ pre-pandemic. LLC trucks seemed to be far more common than in the past, and also had a close call with an inattentive truck that had to lock 'em up behind me when traffic slowed (he was also in the left lane where he didn't belong). The pass was like on a summer weekend day, tons of traffic. Volumes created rolling slowdowns from Ellensburg to the Columbia, but once past Moses Lake, things opened up again. I probably won't go west again til well into the summer, I'm OK with that.

xwesx

Eech. No envy here. I still remember the good old days when one could drive I5 between Portland and Canada with only minor slow downs in heavy traffic through Seattle proper... with the sun shining! I haven't driven I90 all that much on the stretch between Seattle and Spokane, and never with that sort of traffic.

fintail

I've always avoided holiday drives, so I haven't seen the huge backups on the pass, but this was as busy as I've ever seen it. Pretty crazy for mid afternoon on a Monday.

Just remembered an odd thing - I was passing I think an older Dodge truck or Durango around Ellensburg, flow of traffic so moving by slowly (maybe had even been passed and was passing again), and I noticed the driver moving around. He was looking at me and doing something, I first thought flipping me off or some other gesture, but then realized he was giving me a peace sign and didn't have an unhappy look on his face - maybe he liked the car or one of the couple (small) window stickers or something? Not a typical sight.

xwesx

A driver being friendly? In what world does THAT guy live!? LOL

andres3

xwesx said:

A driver being friendly? In what world does THAT guy live!? LOL

I beat a Camry SE that was probably floored from 65 to 81 pretty easy, but I stopped accelerating, and gladly let him blow by me on the left. Does that count as friendly?

fintail

The speeding up while being passed thing is real here. I seriously think it is subconscious by people who don't use cruise control and don't know how to control their speed. Those who do it don't seem to exhibit any aggression or similar, they just speed up a little then back off when passed.

kyfdx

fintail said:

The speeding up while being passed thing is real here. I seriously think it is subconscious by people who don't use cruise control and don't know how to control their speed. Those who do it don't seem to exhibit any aggression or similar, they just speed up a little then back off when passed.

It's been that way, even before you were born...

tjc78

kyfdx said:

fintail said:

The speeding up while being passed thing is real here. I seriously think it is subconscious by people who don't use cruise control and don't know how to control their speed. Those who do it don't seem to exhibit any aggression or similar, they just speed up a little then back off when passed.

It's been that way, even before you were born...

All the time here in NJ.

imidazol97

Had a left laner slow down slightly when I came up behind him, then speed up when I decided to pass in the #3 lane on his right. Then after a minute, he moved to #3 and went around me on the right and proceeded on at a higher speed. Guess his fairly new Jeep doesn't have cruise control?

Worse than those who speed up while you are passing are those who come up behind at a few mph faster.
I move to right for them to pass and they continue but slow without passing so they stay abreast or at my
rear bumper. They don't want to be first in case there's a policeman ahead, but they want to push someone
from behind. I often look for a lapse in their car's speed giving a little room, then I pull over back where I was in front of them. Continue for a minute at my previous speed and then slow by 1 mph on the cruise if they
don't decide they actually wanted to go faster than I'm going, which I had pulled over earlier to enable their doing.
LOL

fintail

I think some people don't know how to use cruise control - I suspect just about every late model car has it now, even 10 years ago, only the most basic entry level cars lacked it.

Yeah, those who camp out in the blind spot are irritating, too. I recall one of those over the weekend, I moved over to let them by (cruise on), then they got about even with my rear wheels, and sat there. I'll admit I do like to have a speeder or two in front of me, with a gap - let them "run interference", so to speak.

ab348

I was just out for a little 40-mile round trip on the expressway and realized that using cruise is only slightly helpful if there is any traffic at all. There are enough drivers who slow down/speed up, pop in and out of lanes in front of you and generally get in the way where even a moderate speed set on cruise still requires a bunch of intervention. I tend to set it and then use it as a sort of minimum acceptable speed, and use the accelerator where needed to get past the rolling roadblocks.

xwesx

ab348 said:

I was just out for a little 40-mile round trip on the expressway and realized that using cruise is only slightly helpful if there is any traffic at all. There are enough drivers who slow down/speed up, pop in and out of lanes in front of you and generally get in the way where even a moderate speed set on cruise still requires a bunch of intervention. I tend to set it and then use it as a sort of minimum acceptable speed, and use the accelerator where needed to get past the rolling roadblocks.

Yeah, same here. I find winter drivers up here on the Parks Highway particularly annoying when I have my cruise set at 69/70 for hundreds of miles, and I come up on them as I'm cruising. At first opportunity, I will make the pass and then settle back in to my speed. Now, keep in mind that I rarely touch the cruise, even when taking curves, so my speed doesn't change. And, yet, somehow, they magically want to go faster than me, so they ride my rear for miles and miles, never passing, and frequently slowing down on the curves.

Well, sorry, Mr. Inconsistent Driver, but if you were going faster than me on the whole *before* I passed you, I never would have caught up to you. Sometimes, they will finally pass and just move it on out, which is great (I'm happy I could help wake them up!). Other times, they will pass when there's an extra lane or something, only to hold me up a mile or two down the road. In those cases, I just pass them again immediately, settle back in to my speed, and let them eat my exhaust.

Michaell

xwesx said:

ab348 said:

I was just out for a little 40-mile round trip on the expressway and realized that using cruise is only slightly helpful if there is any traffic at all. There are enough drivers who slow down/speed up, pop in and out of lanes in front of you and generally get in the way where even a moderate speed set on cruise still requires a bunch of intervention. I tend to set it and then use it as a sort of minimum acceptable speed, and use the accelerator where needed to get past the rolling roadblocks.

Yeah, same here. I find winter drivers up here on the Parks Highway particularly annoying when I have my cruise set at 69/70 for hundreds of miles, and I come up on them as I'm cruising. At first opportunity, I will make the pass and then settle back in to my speed. Now, keep in mind that I rarely touch the cruise, even when taking curves, so my speed doesn't change. And, yet, somehow, they magically want to go faster than me, so they ride my rear for miles and miles, never passing, and frequently slowing down on the curves.

Well, sorry, Mr. Inconsistent Driver, but if you were going faster than me on the whole *before* I passed you, I never would have caught up to you. Sometimes, they will finally pass and just move it on out, which is great (I'm happy I could help wake them up!). Other times, they will pass when there's an extra lane or something, only to hold me up a mile or two down the road. In those cases, I just pass them again immediately, settle back in to my speed, and let them eat my exhaust.

Just to clarify, these "highways" you refer to are just two lanes, one in each direction?

xwesx

Michaell said:

Just to clarify, these "highways" you refer to are just two lanes, one in each direction?

Hey, now, don't go getting all "Lower 48" style snooty!

Yes, primarily one lane each direction, with some areas that have additional dedicated passing lanes.

Michaell

xwesx said:

Michaell said:

Just to clarify, these "highways" you refer to are just two lanes, one in each direction?

Hey, now, don't go getting all "Lower 48" style snooty!

Yes, primarily one lane each direction, with some areas that have additional dedicated passing lanes.

No, not snooty. I've driven some in Alaska, and suspected that the main highway between Fairbanks and Anchorage is just one lane in each direction. Just wanted confirmation.

tjc78

To this day I still talk about the two lane highways I’ve driven in Montana with the 70 MPH speed limits.

That would never fly in most other areas of the country.

I remember on the interstate through Montana I parked the cruise on 84 MPH and never touched the pedals for 90 miles.

Very calm easy driving.

cdnpinhead

Montana, Nevada, New Mexico and selected areas of other western states offer 80+ mph cruise control opportunities aplenty. Good times.

Michaell

cdnpinhead said:

Montana, Nevada, New Mexico and selected areas of other western states offer 80+ mph cruise control opportunities aplenty. Good times.

Aren't there stretches of I-15 in Utah where the limit is 85?

cdnpinhead

Not sure -- haven't run that stretch in quite awhile. Texas, though, has a solid 80 mph limit on I-10 on the western section, and I'm pretty sure you wouldn't be ticketed for anything under 88. Sadly, the areas where it's safest to run fast aren't the most scenic, but hey, at least you get through them quicker on the way to the pretty bits.