Some stats from yesterday’s snow storm:
Just to clarify, the drive statistics are one-way, work to home. Yup, it sucked.
I have a 2002 model year car. It has a broken strut for the rear hatch. Normally this isn’t a problem, a trip to a local parts store and $20 later a new strut. Except for my Mazda.
Yet it seems that no one makes an after-market replacement strut (at least not a direct replacement), which I find hard to believe given the age of the car. So I called the Mazda dealer. “Yes sir, we can order those,” the left one cost a measly $58 and the right one $62. Hrm? I sort of figured on the struts being more expensive from the dealer, but two different prices? From what I can tell the struts are the same (except for the right and left-ness of them). What gives Mazda?
The next step will be to take my broken strut to the parts store to see if I can find a strut that is close and easily adapted to work. If not, I’ll for suitable salvage parts.
Yes, the easy thing would be to suck up the expense and buy from the dealer. But I hardly ever do things the easy way.
At 120,000 miles, the Mazda was due for it’s third set of tires. Some 3 years and 60,000 miles ago I replaced the original Dunlops with some really cheap and crappy General tires. I hated them the minute I drove off.
This time around she has been shod with Kumho Ultra High Performance ECSTA ASX all season tires. They are fantastic and affoardable ($400 for 4, mounted and balanced).
First thing I noticed is how much crisper they are on initial turn-in. Second thing I noticed is how much less road noise they generate. And, of course, they have tons more grip than the junk that came off. The grip level is like the original Dunlops, if not better.
I was also impressed with the grip in snowy conditions. Leaving from a light the other day I put the spurs to it to see how much they slipped and slided. With the old tires, the Mazda typically spun the front wheels and yawed left and right with very little forward motion. The Kumhos, on the other hand, spun (as expected) but the car accelerated in a straight line. It wasn’t drag racing fast acceleration, but I was moving much better and in a more stable manner than before.
Me, and the Mazda, are very happy with the purchase.
Less than a mile from the house an indoor Karting track has opened. Welcome Race Rochester.
Last night I hit the track for the first time and it was fantastic.
These are not your run-of-the-mill go-carts, but rather performance-oriented machines hitting upwards of 25 mph. They take a little getting use to, but after a couple of laps I was powersliding around every corner. It was a blast. At only $15 for 10 minutes, I’ll certainly be back — a lot.