Pimp my ride

[greatbear]

This is the resulting visual upgrade to the rolling stock on my '00 Stratus. Gone are the 15x6 original rims shod with Michelin MX 195/65R-15 tires that admittedly had a ton of tread left at 30k. Problem is, at six-and-a-half years had taken their toll on the rubber, leaving spidery cracks everywhere and making them harder than hockey pucks. The slightest spirited driving in turns resulted in an operatic production of squeals and screeching. Worse still was the performance on wet roads, making it seem that the street was covered in televangelist hair oil. After having a tire of similar age on my truck blow apart and nearly send me off the road at highway speeds, I was not about to let old tires cause me grief again.

Being that I use the internets for just about everything, I turned to my faithful Tire Rack and ordered up a set of Kazera KZ-V 17x7 rims in silver with machined lip wrapped in Bridgestone Potenza RE960AS Pole Position XL 215/45WR-17 directional tires. The difference is like night and day. Tight ride, improved road feel and incredible performance in wet and dry conditions. Already I have had various sports coupes and sedans surprised going through my trio of roundabouts on the way to and from home here. And on the way home tonight the new, nimble handling and sharp response got me out of a potential scrap on I-95 from someone not watching what they were doing and cutting off traffic in front of me and sending everyone into other lanes.





As usual, such upgrades are not without the seemingly never ending chain of complimentary upgrades. The car would look better lowered a bit, and the handling would be made a bit more balanced with a beefier rear sway bar and some poly bushings. That will probably happen in the future after I take care of other automotive and non-auto projects.

In related news, the replacement rims for the Mini that were damaged when I was run off the road are due in a couple weeks. I'll be glad to get that project taken care of as well. While I think nothing of working on other's rides, I still relish the satisfaction of keeping my own 'fleet' (and all told, I have five cars and a truck) operational.

Comments

[growler-south.livejournal.com]

Oooh pretty!! And new tyres are just lovely...

[bikerbear.livejournal.com]

my grandma had those..

[theoctothorpe.livejournal.com]

Aaack! Attack of the GIANT GAP!!

Yeah, some eibach pro kit action is needed.

[jrjarrett.livejournal.com]

Six vehicles? Teh hawt. Enumerate and pictures, plz!

[ciddyguy.livejournal.com]

Nice. I'm not one to pimp too much my rides from a visual stand point, those rims almost looks stock at first.

My Mom has the 04 version of the Stratus - in red and if I weren't such an anti sedan kinda guy, I'd look into one for me. The Caliber is kind of intriquing though.

Now if I can just afford to replace the cheap assed Marshal tires that shod the stock rims on the truck I'd be happy enough as is.

[sparkygearhead.livejournal.com]

Schweet! They're subtle - not blingy at all, but they look much better than the stock rims.

And yes, it's definitely rollin' high. Take an inch out of the rear, 1 1/2 out of the front, and it'll have that "I'm gonna eat you" stance.

[furr-a-bruin.livejournal.com]

I really like my Bridgestones. ;)

I went with Turanzas on my current Civic, after having two sets of Potenzas stolen off my previous Civic (which was trashed by the thieves on the second occurrence.) That experience got me over caring much what my car looks like.

[greatbearmd.livejournal.com]

Run whatcha brung! lol

[greatbearmd.livejournal.com]

The car had the gap just as bad with the original setup, it just always appears much worse when lower profile tires go on with bigger rims.

Eibach and Hotchkiss both make a set of springs for this car. The suspension is actually quite sophisticated, highmount double wishbone up front, fivelink in the back. Should be rather tuneable.

[greatbearmd.livejournal.com]

I actually intended for the car to look mostly stock, I dont like outlandish wheels on 'ordinary' cars, and I cant stand 'bling'.

Call it 'pimp without the pomp'. lol

[greatbearmd.livejournal.com]

That's what I intended, given the rather limited selection of rims that fit this car. I plan on getting some Eibach or Hotchkiss springs in the not-too-distant future. This car is just an easy cruiser, nothing crazy.

[greatbearmd.livejournal.com]

After having issues with substandard or aging tires over the years, I dont scrimp on rubber anymore. What gets me is tires that last forever as far as treadwear goes, but become potential time bombs from age deterioration or dangerous from losing traction from compound deterioration. Jeff's truck has a set of Michelins that look practically new with about 85k on them, but on closer inspection are full of cracking and weather checking. THey are also totally lacking in wet or dry traction. Those should get swapped out next year.

[greatbearmd.livejournal.com]

The aforementioned '00 Stratus,
The familiar '03 Mini Cooper S,
My now beat to hell '89 Dodge W250 Cummins,
The (locally) legendary '69 Dodge Dart (which will one day get it's own post),
The wrecked '89 Dodge Shadow ES Turbo, which is a parts car for-
a '90 Plymouth Sundance, which is to become a sleeper car to shame so many wannabe racers on the streets.

[greatbearmd.livejournal.com]

And here I thought only the MINI had 'tyres'. ;-)

[ciddyguy.livejournal.com]

My biggest problem with most wheels of the ordinary sort are the wheel covers themselves. Rarely do they ever stay on straight and often do look like, well cheap wheel covers.

My Mom has the stock aluminum rims and arent too far off what what you chose and I love the older style "ralley" rims that Ford, Chevy and Chrysler used to offer on their older vehicles of the 60's and 70's.

And from a foreign car standpoint the stamped steel rims with the little center cap and trim rings often look nice too.