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People are no doubt suffering cabin fever due to pandemic restrictions/WFH, and I think try to spend every weekend minute out of the house.
Sunday mornings are probably better; too much construction type stuff going on Saturdays, even early in the morning.
Just before getting home, the right rear tire low pressure sensor went off; need to check it today to see if I have a real leak. Good thing is the tires are near the end of their life. This might accelerate my purchase of 4 new tires.
That reminds me, I want to get a set of snow tires. I was also thinking about dedicated wheels, but several on the E-class forum I read say I can just run snow tires on the stock 19" wheels (I thought those might be too big). Any opinions?
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I'd rather have an OEM used set, as well, if you are buying wheels. (Plus, the 18" tires will be cheaper).
You'll still have a charge to swap them out, twice a year, though. Are you using a dealer for this? Most luxury dealers will store your winter wheels/tires for you.
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2017 Cadillac ATS Performance Premium 3.6
2017 Cadillac ATS Performance Premium 3.6
Haven't decided who I'd go through - I see the dealer sells tires, maybe they could hook me up with a set of OEM 18" wheels (which I think look better, and would probably be better quality). Tire prices don't seem to vary much between retailers.
Unless you plan to keep the car beyond the lease period, I don't know that I would invest in the cost of dedicated wheels. You can likely sell them after the lease is up if your next vehicle is not compatible, but you'll still probably eat up to 50% of the cost of the purchase. You can certainly run snow tires on the stock 19"; they will cost you somewhat less in smaller sizes. If you decide to run dedicated wheels, then going with a smaller 17" or 18" is the way to go.
I am pretty sure there will be situations where the stock tires won't cut it. I am undecided what I am going to do at lease end - it might come down to what the car will cost - the offer on my prior car was far under residual, a similar offer this time would be tempting, but at the same time, I'll likely not lease again due to MB cutting products I like, so I'll have to do something.
I've found a couple online sellers who list the 17-18" OEM wheels, but one must call before placing an order. I am going to check those first, as I trust those wheels over what might be random Chinesium on the aftermarket front. Significant difference in tire pricing from 17 to 18, from what I have seen - the MB forum guys are most fond of certain Nokian and Michelin models.
I've never owned winter tires, and most of my DD's have been FWD. 8 years of pizza delivery and I only got stuck 3 times.
With AWD, you should be able to navigate all but the absolute worst weather. Probably 5-10 days of that each year, and generally you should stay home.
@breld and I discuss this all the time.
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2015 Subaru Outback 3.6R / 2014 MINI Countryman S ALL4
Also due to some family issues, I'll probably have to go to back to Seattle a few times in the relatively near term, but flying is attractive when I can get rides to/from the airport.
Apparently I'm saving $300 per year by doing the changevers myself. Who knew?
The dedicated wheels/tire route is the most expensive, but maybe the most ideal, I can run a smaller wheel for maybe better ability, and just switch em rather than remounting. If one of the wheel resellers I found have a set of the 17" OEM wheels, that will be the likely choice - no fitment worries, and the tires are a little cheaper.
Just one data point...
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2015 Subaru Outback 3.6R / 2014 MINI Countryman S ALL4
23 Civic Type-R / 22 MDX Type-S / 21 Tesla Y LR / 03 Montero Ltd
One little dust-up on an icy road could cost much more than a set of tires or wheels/tires, which encourages me to do it, along with the peace of mind.
I did have studded snow tires on the back of my Cobra II. That was an interesting ride on dry pavement.
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2017 Cadillac ATS Performance Premium 3.6
I wanted to find a set of OEM wheels, but the trim level they sold with is a slow seller (dropped after MY 2020), so no dice - I could get them direct from Germany even at a not crazy price, but I am not that patient.. Per the dealer's recommendation, I bought a set of Blizzaks, and I chose a set of Rial wheels. Should have them installed next week, no doubt for a stretch of warm dry weather.
I imagine they are going to look really good on the car, given your insistence on all the details... so you are going to need to share a photo when you get them on there.
I chose black wheels, which I usually hate, but they will show grime less, and will kind of "look the part". It'll be an interesting scene, the car on those wheels and meaty tires.
2014 Malibu 2LT, 2015 Cruze 2LT,
I probably only got about 100-125 miles on them before really testing them to about 8/10ths. I didn't push it for two reasons; one, it was my first time on A052's and it was wet, two, because I was aware I didn't do the full 200+ mile break in, and three, I had FWD cars in front of me in the "Last Sunday" driving group.
Due to those factors 10/10ths might be higher than I know, and my 8/10ths might only be 7/10ths for all I know. They should definitely be broken in now though.
On a side note, I think the tires are some of Japan's best engineering yet. My initial impressions of the tire is that it is a winner and likely a 9+ out of 10 in every category I can review thus far (everything but longevity/durabililty/wear). They are very highly civilized for a 200 treadwear tire; ride just fine, and don't make excessive noise.
I will now gladly post a Yokohama sticker on my car instead of Michelin if either one would gladly sponsor me for free tires for the life of the car.
Even every other set free would be well worth the price of entry.
DRIVE German
DRINK Russian
WEAR Italian
KISS French
I have complied with all of that, though my Italian is probably limited to my car's wheels and Maui Jim Sunglasses I'm partial to. I do love a good Russian Vodka.
Now the last one, does it mean french kiss or kiss a French woman?
Did some errands today, first time I drove since before the snow. As temps have warmed to around 50F now, arterials are fine, but many side streets are still covered. Residential arterial traffic reminded me of Seattle, I believe due to some dumb planning regarding construction, and all traffic controls being on sequences rather than sensors. Also, an alarming amount of uncontrolled intersections here - these make me very leery.
Glad I had the foresight to take the pic, as I was driving on wet roads 10 minutes later, and the car got dirty.
I have only around 20 miles at most on the tires now, they definitely feel softer, probably due to a taller sidewall. Might head over to CdA this weekend to pick up an accessory for the fintail, which would be a small trip (70 miles total).
Now you just have to "black out" all the chrome and black out the badges or debadge all together. Oh yeah, smoke/blacken your brake light housings, and limo or 20% tint on windows too all around. I'm not a fan myself of all that, but that'll make you hip and young.
The tires have a beefy look compared to the all seasons, too - I am going to try to keep myself from putting any tire dressing on them.
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I will need to get a shot of the Q7 if I can think of it....
2014 Malibu 2LT, 2015 Cruze 2LT,
On Monday night, as I was going to pick up my son from work, I saw a truck with an empty flatbed trailer sitting on the side of the road. They looked "distressed," so I made a mental note to check on them if they were still there when I returned.
A few minutes later, and they were, indeed, still there. Turns out, they had a water tank (around 250 gallons) on the flatbed trailer, but the tank broke loose and slid off the trailer into the adjacent snow bank. Since the tank was only about 1/3 full (~75 gallons), and there were six of us available, we decided to see if we could hoist it back onto the trailer. We slid it over to the tail, tipped it to set the leading edge on the trailer, then lifted the rear and pushed it on. Job done!
However, when I sat down in my car to drive away, I said, "does it smell like fuel in here?" My son says, "Oh yeah! I don't think it was water in that tank...." Sure enough, that was heating oil, and it was leaking because I had it all over my gloves, pants, and boots. What. A. Mess! The next day, I stopped through there to look at the site, and I strongly suspect that tank was full when the accident occurred, because there was a huge amount of fuel that was spilled all over the area. I called DEC Spill Response to inform them of the situation (likely around 150 gallons of fuel spilled), but I have yet to see any visible cleanup effort.
Moving on, we drove another couple miles down the road toward home, and I come across a disabled vehicle in the slow lane (third generation Econoline van, maybe late 70's/ early 80s?). Since it was sitting in the road, dark, and the road surface was ridiculously slippery, I figured this was a recipe for disaster. I stopped, offered help, and the guy was grateful to have me pull him to a safe location a couple miles away (this area is an expressway with guardrails on both sides and limited access). I got him hooked up and pulled over there. And, best part, he was a brilliant "towee!" He was excellent at braking to control the speed of our vehicles and ensure no mishaps - I was very impressed (usually folks are complete numbskulls about how to operate a towed vehicle on a soft connection).
Finally, we said our goodbyes with that person and drove another mile down the road to come across a rollover! I think it was a Toyota Corolla, black, with two occupants. Both were fine, car looked mostly intact (amazingly, no broken glass), and help was on the way. They were pretty shaken up, so I helped out by going into the car to shut it down and remove the keys. A cabby came on site and gave them a warm sit (as well as later transport, I assume), a wrecker was on the way, etc., so we took our leave at that point.
All told, it took us about an hour to drive home (where it normally would take less than twenty minutes) and was quite the adventure! It took me two days to air out my boots and snowpants... and they still stink badly!
No road trips on my horizon -was maybe going to do something at Thanksgiving, but changed my mind. Flying west for Christmas where I will rent a car (I have points/miles to use) and won't be driving a ton then either.