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Wed.Mar.01.2006

7:39 pm EST        60°F (16°C) in Troutville, VA

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I finally went ahead and did it. Last night, I placed an order with TireRack.com for a set of BFGoodrich Traction T/A tires, size P215/50R16, speed rating V (149 mph or 240 km/h), and a set of ASA JS1 wheels in the 16” × 7” size with a 42mm wheel offset. Along with road hazard protection on the tires, the total came to $1,006 and change. Tire Rack will mount the tires and balance each wheel before handing the shipment over to UPS; once they arrive (and more importantly, once I get home in a little over a week), all I will have to do is raise the car on jack stands, fire up a 12V impact wrench I’m going to buy at the next truck stop I see that carries it, put the new wheels on, and torque ’em down. After that, it will be off to a shop to get an alignment done, as is always necessary with a new set of tires, and then I’ll be done spending money on my car for a while.

(As for that speed rating, yes, I know it’s overkill for the car. I honestly don’t know for sure, but I would guess that the car probably came out of the factory with S speed-rating (112 mph, 180 km/h) tires — a fairly common factory standard these days — and that as a result, the powertrain control module (PCM) probably electronically limits the car to that speed. What matters more to me than a speed rating I’ll never take full advantage of is the tread life warranty of 60,000 miles (96,561 km) on these tires. Hopefully, by the time I get through this set of tires, (a) I’ll be making enough money to buy a new car, and (b) this car will be about ready for either the junkyard or some 16-year-old kid who needs a $500 beater to get back and forth to school.)

Other than that, I don’t really have a ton of news, other than the fact that I am passing through the Great Hate State on my way to the Tri-Cities area of extreme northeastern Tennessee with this load. I know I’ve been promising some long exposés about the anti-gay bullshit rhetoric foisted upon the public by lying Wacko Satanic Anti-American Righties, but that’s going to have to wait until I have the time to actually sit down and write it. In fact, I’d really better be off here to finish off the last three hours of this trip.