Today at the tire place they pulled a nail out of my, less than 3 month old, left rear tire and patched it up. Last time this happened to me I wasn’t so lucky. In July of 2003 I picked up a nail in my less than 2 month old Toyos, but that time it was too close to the sidewall for patching, so I had to buy a whole new tire.
This morning as I loaded the truck for the drive to work I noticed that the left rear tire was low, very low. Maybe single digit low. I plugged in my cheapo air compressor and topped it off. 29 PSI. I felt all around the tire, but did not feel anything. Today at lunch it measured 28 PSI. Did it lose a pound or was it just because it was colder outside on the parking lot that it was in my garage? I’ll check it tomorrow and if it is down again, I may have to actually jack up the car and take a real look for something.
This may possibly be my next modification to the car, Konig Rewinds. They exist now, but not in a Miata friendly offset, for now. According to Brian Goodwin at Good-Win Racing they are coming. Going to start saving my pennies now as this is at least a $500 mod.
South Carolina has around 100 different “specialty” license plates that a person can have instead of the plain ol’ plate. I have a non-standard plate on my car as a matter of fact. One of those plates, not mine, has kicked a bit of controversy since it’s introduction in 2001 and made it all the way to the doorstep of the US Supreme Court.
The “Choose Life” plate was ruled as a violation of the First Amendment in 2003 because there was no state sponsored alternatives for the pro-choice side. Yesterday the Supreme Court refused to hear the case, upholding the 4th Circuit Court of Appeals ruling, keeping the plates on the shelves. In an effort to allow the issuing of the “Choose Life” tags, South Carolina lawmakers introduced several bills today proposing new license plates, including ones that say “Pro Choice” or “Choose Abortion”. My favorite comes from Greenville Senator Mike Fair which will say, “Choose Death.” I wonder what the artwork for that one will be? A bloody coat hanger? Here is my entry in case they have a design contest…
That is the random number that was generated for my Japanese license plate. It has got a little squiggly in front and my class vehicle is 04, whatever they mean. I made a cardboard mock-up of the bracket tonight. Tomorrow I’ll see what I can do to have it made up.
The plate came via UPS yesterday, but writing about it was knocked off the front page by the exciting garage door spring incident. Total bill from Aiken Door Repair and Service to fix it today was $90.97. Cable $6, Spring $15, Pulley $3.50, Tax 1.47 and Labor $65. When the cable snapped and the spring contracted violently it got kind of mangled when it hit the backstop, so it needed to be replaced. The pulley bearing was worn out and they refused to say if it wobbling was the definitive cause of the cable rubbing and then breaking, but it could have been.
The Emperor has been exiled from the Throne Room. After I got back from Rollerblading this evening I was standing in the garage taking off my wrist guards when a loud bang startled the heck out of me. One of the cables on the garage door snapped letting a big ol’ spring on one side contract rapidly and bang against it’s support. Fortunately Donna had driven the Miata over to the health club to go swimming because when one of those goes the garage door remains shut so tight only Superman could get it to move. Not having the proper equipment to even try and loosen the other spring, the Miata will spend the night in the driveway. I did go put the cockpit cover as best I could over the raised top in case any of the neighborhood cats decide to climb on the car tonight.
The next generation Miata is due out this year as a 2006 model. The excitement is palpable over on the Miata.net forums. There is even a whole section dedicated to the not yet released model where every rumor and speculation is discussed ad nauseam. It is filled with topics such as:
I have been keeping track of them even though I won’t be buying my next Miata until 2010. Heavily disguised prototype pictures surfaced in September. At least one person has seen the real deal, he works for Mazda, and another swears he saw a camouflaged one near Mazda’s HQ in Irvine, CA. There have been innumerable renditions floated from all sorts of magazines which always create a stir. The latest ones to pop up I hope are incorrect as I don’t like their look. Of course just as many like it as dislike it, so who knows. Here is my favorite so far:
