We had our first little MMM…Time with the Miata Club. 10 Miatas and one RX-7. We met at the Sno-Cap Drive In in North Augusta. We popped the hoods and chatted outside. We chatted inside nearly filling all the booths. We pretty much over ran the joint. Before we over stayed our welcome, Stacey Timmerman lead us on a 20-25 mile drive around north of the Interstate. Fun time.
Started down, went up, went down, now up.
Top Transitions since 02/01/02: 31
They scratched my rims all to hell, but it is now my problem to fix. I have to take it to someplace to have them repaired. I have to bring in the bill to get reimbursed. They are happy because as far as they are concerned they have apologized and offered to fix problem. They know that it is more than likely that I will not go to the trouble to get it fixed. So they solved their problem, not mine and feel OK about it.
The last thing the manager Carl said to me is, “Next time you come in we’ll take a little something off that bill too.” I didn’t say it, because I’m not that way, but I thought to myself, there won’t be a next time.
Note to self: Never make a snap decision on the tire you buy.
If you need a set of tires because one is irreparable, put on the tiny spare and go home, check Miata net. Back in December when I needed tires in a hurry and the guy told me what tires he had, they sounded like a tire I had read favorable reviews about on MN, but they were not. Turns out 910 is a lot farther away performance-wise from 930 than the numbers let on. The tires I bought were 3 performance levels down from the ones I thought they were and 4 levels down from where I was. The Pole Positions I now have are at the top of the street tire line and one step *up* from where I was when this whole mess started. I think that next time I will know, I ended up wasting the $270 I spent on the 910’s. I got my money back on them and they took it off the price of the S-03’s but I still ended up paying as much additional for them as they would have cost outright from the Tire Rack. If I don’t get out and look at the scratches those chuckleheads put on my rims installing the tires and just drive, I’ll be fine.
Started down, went up, went down, still down.
Top Transitions since 02/01/02: 28
Started out even warmer than yesterday and it is supposed to be a couple of nice days, so I put the top down and the boot on. Really starting to feel like spring (I know it is early, but the pine pollen was back today.) The new Bridgestone S-03 Pole Positions are more like it. They may be even better than the RE-71s I replaced. I just don’t know as I am not a tire expert, but I do know the Miata once again handles above my fear limit. I can hardly wait to wear these things down halfway, woohoo!
The first person to try and send me money via PayPal for the 2″ stickers was using a credit card. PayPal wants money for me to accept credit cards. (2.9% + 30 cents) That amounts to 36 cents on $2 and 45 cents on $5, I declined the payment because I’m cheap. But now that I think about, I was never in this for the money, just the fun. Maybe I was too quick to decline? Yeah, I think I’ll change it so I can get the Credit Card money…
Started up, went down, still down.
Top Transitions since 02/01/02: 26
The last, because I’m not going back there even if they are the last tire store on the planet. When manager Carl told me $280 on the phone the other day, he meant that is what they were giving me for my old tires, not the total bill. Cost for the tires, $360. Live and learn. They found me 4 matching valve caps and when they asked if I wanted them to put them on, I declined, who knows what would have gone wrong with that simple procedure. As far as the scratched rims, I got the same response I got in December, take then to Master Fabricators in Augusta, they can get the scratches out and then bring them the bill and they will pay for it. There are so many reasons this sucks I don’t have time to write about it now, hence the almost in the title. I’ll save it for another rant….
After my last experience with these guys in December, I went out into the garage latter that evening and checked the lug nut torque, the air pressure and condition of each wheel.
The torque wrench only registers in the tighten direction so I couldn’t tell what they were torqued at, but they did come with about enough pressure as you would expect. I had hoped that they got it right, because when I dropped of the car, I gave them my broken adapter and told them to use this to take the aftermarket wheels off the car. When both pieces of the adapter hit the fellows hand, he remembered me. I then gave him the don’t use the impact wrench speech. He then told me that wouldn’t be a problem this time, as they now use a “torque stick” (I assume that this is some sort of torque limiter.)
The air pressure was even all the way around at 32psi. Using my gage I dropped them all down to an even 30 psi. Curious thing though, when I went in to get the tires, all 4 wheels had those little chrome domed shaped caps, now 2 wheels had them, one had a chrome flat topped cap and one had nothing. Sigh….
Two of the wheels had no scratches on them, that is in addition to the 2 or 3 gouges along the perimeter of each wheel acquired from these folks in December. One wheel had a new inch long scrape in the middle of the polished lip area and the other, yikes, it looked like it was a loser on the BattleBots show. Must be a dozen or so new scratches and dings. While none of these marks are visible from more than 5 feet away, up close they look horrible and I will be reminded of those idiots at the Firestone Store every month when I wash my car.
The sticker folks emailed back to let me know that they goofed by showing me and approving a design that they could not print. They need 1/8″ of non-printed border and we had agreed to a design that left only 1/16″, that is why the image was smaller. It was off center by a 1/32″ and they told me they would reprint them, but couldn’t guarantee any better centering as 1/32 was within “industry standards.” Because the image size was their fault, they offered to knock 25% off the price charged, to which I agreed. The stickers are now on sale in the Barndoor Fan Club Store along with all the other club merchandise.
Started down, went up, still up.
Top Transitions since 02/01/02: 25