Boy Am I Stupid

I thought I had a possible slow leak near the end of February. I took it to the LTS (Local Tire Store) and they couldn’t find any leak. They had the tire off and submerged but found nothing. They took the tire back off when I told them I thought I found something and marked the tire.

I went to rotate the tires in the middle of April and when the LTS put the tire back on earlier they must have stripped a lugnut because I could get it off. When I returned to the LTS with my tale of woe they replaced the lug.

When we were chasing the Tour de Georgia we both noticed a faint chirping noise that is coming from that wheel area. It sounds like a brake squealer, but it doesn’t seem to be brake related. It happens when braking or when not. It is not constant, but random and frequent. Seems to occur going over bumps and or rough road, but it is also present when turning corners. This past Thursday I returned to the LTS and mentioned the noise. They pulled the wheel and looked around, but couldn’t find anything wrong. One of the counter guys took it for a ride and couldn’t hear anything, so they gave me back the keys. I got halfway home and the noise returned. 🙁

Friday while washing the car I noticed that the brake pads on the offending side were facing a different direction than the other side. AH HA! So Saturday morning I went back to the LTS and got a counter guy to come out so I could show him that somebody had put the brake pads back on wrong. We looked at one side, then the other. We went back to the “bad” side and he said, “They are on right.” I felt about as tall as a valve stem.

The brake pads are shaped like fat C’s, they have wide middles and tabs on the ends. Well on the passenger side the tabs face to the right. On the driver’s side they face to the left. But that is correct, the calipers are on the back sides of both wheels, so the pads may be facing in opposite directions, but they are both facing the front of the car. Duh! The LTS guy was polite and told me to bring it back another day and they would re look at it.

This afternoon I decided to take a look myself. Put the car up on jack stands and removed both rear tires. The first thing I noticed on my noisy wheel was that the W springs that move the pads off the rotor when the brakes are released were not there. Eureka! But when I checked the other side they were not there either. So maybe that isn’t it. The caliper slider pins were both pretty dry so I greased them good, but a short test drive revealed that wasn’t the problem. Don’t worry, I’ll keep you posted.

Started up, went down, still down.
Miata Top Transitions since 01/01/05: 137

WEEI

Back on the 15th I complained here about my listening experience with WEEI and listening to the Red Sox baseball games. Go back and read it, I’ll wait. Ten days later isoxny left a comment on the post agreeing with me, he had the same complaint (probably found me via a google search.) That day I filled out another complaint form on MLB.com’s contact page with the same results, a quick flash back to the form page with no thanks page, so you didn’t know if anything really happened. And like before, no response.

Stirred to the point of aggravation by the 3rd inning tonight, I called the MLB.com customer support number. This time I gutted it out. I managed to stay on the line past the 10 minute mark of last time and finally after 25 minutes I actually got to speak to a person. Carlos was very nice and told me that they have had several complaints on this very issue and their (MLB.com) technicians and WEEI were working on correcting it. I asked if they had a timetable for fixing it and he said, “Give ’em about a week.” Although I didn’t tell Carlos, I thought, “Talk to ya on the 7th.”

April is Car Care Month Part II

I got so worked up yesterday about getting the sort of late flyer from Mazda that I forgot to blog about the car washing. On Friday I washed the car, vacuumed the inside (even trimmed some of the stray fibers on the coco mats) and washed the windows. I had good intentions about waxing the car today, but the promised afternoon rain arrived in the morning canceling that endeavor. I know better than to attempt to wax the car inside, there just isn’t enough light to do a good job.

This evening, after the line of storms had long passed we went out to eat with some friends. I was pretty sure it was safe, but a passing stray shower left enough behind to leave tiny little water spots all over the horizontal surfaces of the car. So, maybe tomorrow, I can find a couple hours of afternoon to spot clean (pun intended) and then wax the car.

Started up, went down, back up, still up.
Miata Top Transitions since 01/01/05: 136

April is Car Care Month

I know this because a flyer I received from Mazda today, the next to last day of April, says so in large letters on the back.

Inside are some coupons for 10% off on a couple scheduled services and a bunch of items with set prices and I can’t tell if they are really “deals” or not. I know one I won’t be using, the one for the Automatic Transmission Inspection Service. To be fair, the coupons don’t expire until the end of May.

For some Spring Reading they recommend that I read my Mazda’s Owner’s Manual to be acquainted with the operation of all systems.

Started down, went up, went down, back up, still up.
Miata Top Transitions since 01/01/05: 134

Tomorrow, I Promise

The car is filthy. From 10 yards away it looks alright, but unfortunately I have to get a little closer to drive it. Not just the outside, but the inside needs a vacuuming. It is also about time to clean and treat the leather seats. Just did a quick search of my electronic memory and found that it was March of last year when I did the seats. Yikes! It is also time for a waxing because that same memory (this blog) tells me the last waxing occurred on December 31st of 2004. Well let’s not get too ambitious, a wash and vacuum for sure tomorrow.

There is a 60% chance of scattered strong thunderstorms on Saturday, I’ll just have to make sure the car is inside the garage during that 60%.

Started down, went up, back down, still down.
Miata Top Transitions since 01/01/05: 131

Ready, Set, Tops Up!

There was no chance of rain in the forecast for today, which made the dark clouds to the west a big surprise on our afternoon walk. Donna asked if we should put the top up as we strolled past the car. I poo-pooed the idea as they didn’t really look that bad and the cockpit cover was firmly in place.

About 45 minutes later my manager came over and asked if I was going to put my top up as it was looking rather dark out (he, naturally, has a window.) I said no, but when he said he was going to put his up, I changed my mind. How could I explain myself if it did happen to pour down and his car stayed dry and my interior got soaked?

Russ used to have a Miata, but ever since he traded to the Boxster he has taken to parking out in the north forty along with me. He leaves a spot between us, just like two guys going to the movies together would leave an empty seat in between them. He used a cockpit cover with his Miata and now he also uses one for the Porsche. It would be a fair race to see who got their top up first.

We got to our cars at the same and started removing the covers. His uses velcro straps at both windshield wipers and both doors to go with the tabs in the back trunk. Mine has one velcro strap on the driver’s wiper, 2 elastic hooks under the door sills and two hooks in the rear wheel well to go with the three tabs in the truck. He held a slight lead in storing the cockpit covers in our trunks, as I unsnapped the boot and folded it, he was already inside holding the button down to start the mechanical ballet. His back hard boot piece was up and the z-fold rising as I opened the two latches and lifted the Miata roof into place. As I latched my top, his was electrically locking in. Our power windows raised almost in total unison. Our drivers doors shut as one.

Dead heat.

Started down, went up, back down, still down.
Miata Top Transitions since 01/01/05: 129

Holy Ground

In lieu of actual content tonight, I present a picture snapped outside a church in Rome, GA last week. The parking lot was across the street from the church and they had evidentially spent some church funds to do some landscaping and wanted to keep it nice.

Holy_Ground

Started down, went up, back down, back up, down again, still down.
Miata Top Transitions since 01/01/05: 127