What have you done to your MS3 today?

[elderlycoffee]

I washed it and cleaned the inside.

 

[Rotus8]

Tire wear on Brigestone RE05As

Today, at 4000 miles I rotated my tires. During the roatation I measured the tread depth. The front tires have .17" left and the rears have .29". This measurement is to the base of the tread groove, not to the wear bar, so usable tread is about .03-.04" less.

The specs from Brigestone for these tires is .3125" new. So, 45% of the tread is left on the front and 83% left on the back. Assuming I manage to perfectly balance when to do rotations so all four tires wear out at the same time, I have a total of 56% of the tread left. This means I will need new tires at about 9090 miles.

A set of four REO50As costs about $896 installed including shipping, mounting and balancing. So, the cost per mile for tires is $.10 per mile.

By comparison, gas at $3 a gallon, 22 MPG is $.14 a mile. At least tires are not as expensive as gas, but it's close.

 

[fourthmeal]

Rotus, one nice, redeeming factor about tires is that they wear out progressively slower as they age, at a slightly exponential rate. That is because the tire will harden due to heat cycling, and also shear wear reduces because the tread blocks get smaller, causing less and less friction and wear of the block.

However, there is a good to great chance that you'll tire of the poorer traction that will result when the tires are near the end of their life, and you'll replace them sooner then they MUST be.

I'd predict, as long as you rotate them a bit more frequently, that you'll get about 12,000 miles out of them before you're done w/ them.

Consider rotating (but not necessarily balancing) every 2500 to 3000 miles, and then balance every other time. That should do it.

 

[jbiird317]

Today, at 4000 miles I rotated my tires. During the roatation I measured the tread depth. The front tires have .17" left and the rears have .29". This measurement is to the base of the tread groove, not to the wear bar, so usable tread is about .03-.04" less.

The specs from Brigestone for these tires is .3125" new. So, 45% of the tread is left on the front and 83% left on the back. Assuming I manage to perfectly balance when to do rotations so all four tires wear out at the same time, I have a total of 56% of the tread left. This means I will need new tires at about 9090 miles.

A set of four REO50As costs about $896 installed including shipping, mounting and balancing. So, the cost per mile for tires is $.10 per mile.

By comparison, gas at $3 a gallon, 22 MPG is $.14 a mile. At least tires are not as expensive as gas, but it's close.

When i got my stock tires put on my new wheels, the tech rotated the tires for me. He told me that the fronts had about 50% less tread than the rears (at 5500 miles). He accused me of having a little too much fun peeling out at stop signs, which may or may not be true, but I don't do burnouts or anything stupid like that. I think generally these bridgestones are not a very good tire. (poor quality and overpriced) When these are done, I plan on upgrading to something that has a better track record for tread wear.

 

[maczter]

When i got my stock tires put on my new wheels, the tech rotated the tires for me. He told me that the fronts had about 50% less tread than the rears (at 5500 miles). He accused me of having a little too much fun peeling out at stop signs, which may or may not be true, but I don't do burnouts or anything stupid like that. I think generally these bridgestones are not a very good tire. (poor quality and overpriced) When these are done, I plan on upgrading to something that has a better track record for tread wear.

Welcome to the world of ultra performance tires where grip > tread life.

(drive2)

As has been discussed in depth in the tire topic section, the MS3's stock tires are very highly rated as long as you don't expect all-season levels of winter performance and tread life out of your ultra performance tires (which are pretty much a requirement for our little pocket rockets unless we want to burn rubber at every launch...which would just end up reducing the tread life anyhow). That being said, I'm eyeing Goodyear Eagle F1 GS-D3 or Michelin Pilot Sport PS2 tires for the inevitable day when I have to replace my stock rubber. Both are available in 225/40-18 at tirerack(dot)com (in addition to exact replacements for our factory tires...and reviews for them to use as comparison).

 

[Velocifero]

When i got my stock tires put on my new wheels, the tech rotated the tires for me. He told me that the fronts had about 50% less tread than the rears (at 5500 miles). He accused me of having a little too much fun peeling out at stop signs, which may or may not be true, but I don't do burnouts or anything stupid like that. I think generally these bridgestones are not a very good tire. (poor quality and overpriced) When these are done, I plan on upgrading to something that has a better track record for tread wear.

Your tires are good, high (over) priced yeah, but far form being a bad tire. If you go to something with a longer tread life expect your performance to go down a little, easier squeeling on turns you took easily before and your tires will break loose a lot easier. After you get new tires put on I highly recommend you go to a autox and find the limits of the new tires it will save you from finding it the more expensive way.

 

[jbiird317]

Your tires are good, high (over) priced yeah, but far form being a bad tire. If you go to something with a longer tread life expect your performance to go down a little, easier squeeling on turns you took easily before and your tires will break loose a lot easier.

i dunno if i totally believe that. I know that there are plenty of things that are sacrificed for the performance ratings of a tire (like treadwear), but compared to other tires out there, i dont think u get as much bang for ur buck with the potenzas. I personally like the Michelin Pilots, they are also a very expensive tire, but they maintain the tread significantly longer while not sacrificing any performance. I dont wanna clutter this thread with tire talk, but I def plan on going with a different set of tires when these wear down

 

[maczter]

Finally got around to putting my K&N drop-in replacement filter in and resetting the ECU. I swear it feels smoother on the 1-2 shift now. We'll see for sure after the commute (all 5 miles of it) tomorrow.

 

[reme055]

picking ms3 on tuesday

signed paper work today. 311 a month with 3000 down. lease but not going to return it. having the dealer install the ms cai before i pick it up. drove the car for the first time today, thought it was awsome. cant wait to have in my driveway.

 

[Kosh]

With some help from Velocifero my AWR motor mount went in today in just around 30 minutes.

I like the performance of this mod maybe better than the CAI. It gives a much more enjoyable ride, and shifting is a lot smoother. I love my car 2x more now with the mount. Never thought it would make that much of a difference but it is definitely noticeable.

protege garage is the roxxxx!!!!

 

[Velocifero]

With some help from Velocifero my AWR motor mount went in today in just around 30 minutes.

I like the performance of this mod maybe better than the CAI. It gives a much more enjoyable ride, and shifting is a lot smoother. I love my car 2x more now with the mount. Never thought it would make that much of a difference but it is definitely noticeable.

protege garage is the roxxxx!!!!

and that was with taking our time and a little trail and error, I think that can literally be done in 15 minutes now that I have done it and would have all my tools in teh right place not all spread out, including putting the car in the air. much easier than the protege thats for sure.

 

[reme055]

what do i need to do the install of the motor mount

 

[Velocifero]

what do i need to do the install of the motor mount

17 and 19 mm sockets and airtools made it easy. Torque wrench to finnish
you can do it without lifting the engine any. I only had the driver side of Kosh's car in the air.

 

[reme055]

do i need to lift it or no?

 

[Velocifero]

do i need to lift it or no?

not unless you have one easily, we did it my driveway on one jackstand

 

[Rotus8]

Today I painted my brake calipers black; the fronts were looking really bad and corroded looking already. I also washed and waxed the wheels inside and out in a (probably useless) attempt to reduce brake dust and other schmutz from sticking to them. Waxing these wheels is a major pita because of all the spokes.

 

[wrigh003]

Scratched off the ugly vinyl dealership sticker, squirted on a little bug and tar remover, got all that off, then hit it with some quick detailer. Tada- you'd never know there was a 5"x7" vinyl sticker (really, it looked ridiculous) right there on the paint.

Now I am going to go lurk the audio forum and see if I can find the best/cleanest way to install my Ipod.

 

[SPEED305]

drove the heck out of it tonight. a few 135mph runs. ill post videos soon!

 

[fourthmeal]

uses some gas at those speeds, eh?




Oh, not today, but a few weeks ago I had Tintworld LV install 35% special metal tint (looks like gray-blue platinum)

 

[jbiird317]

Now I am going to go lurk the audio forum and see if I can find the best/cleanest way to install my Ipod.

check out the harmon/kardon in-dash install. There is instructions in the "how-to" section. It is a very cool way to mount the ipod and enhances the look of the interior