Whatever my current projects are, not meant to be comprehensive.
DIY rinseless wash ingredients:
1 Tbsp Baby Shampoo
1/2 Cup Distilled Vinegar
DIY window cleaner:
1/2 cup distilled white vinegar
10 drops essential oil (optional)
AWD Subaru differentials need same size wheels to avoid damage and I'm not sure how long they could be driven on a different size spare. Rather than trying to find a spare for my custom oversized tires, I'll try using tire repair in emergency situations.
Tires can be repaired with plugs. Sidewall repair is difficult, but can be accomplished by vulcanizing rubber and mesh fiber into the sidewall. See How I do a vulcanized tire sidewall repair, by Misfit Toys on YouTube.
“Unlike the vulcanization of a patch to a tire, tire plugs rely on the general pressure of the tire hole pushing on the plug to create a compression seal, rather than a chemical seal.” slime.com
However, they do make plugs that are vulcanizing, for use with vulcanizing fluid. See Fix Punctures and Sidewall Gashes with Tech's Permacure Repairs, by Tire Review on YouTube. Less expensive vulcanizing plugs are made by Zerint (TS-4430, TS-4460, and TS-2560).
Roads are not perfectly smooth racing tracks, and even indy or stock-car racing use sidewalls that are 6“ tall. Sidewall flex is desirable for grip.
The truth is that low profile tires are just bling appreciated by an immature clientele. Low profile tires cause a lot of damage so they are also appreciated by suspension and tire shops.
In the 70s sports cars came with 65 or 70 series tires (like the 240Z, 260Z, and 280Z). People on forums say this is because tire development had yet to evolve to make lower profile tires. I think that's bullshit from people's belief that development is always for the better.
Some people incorrectly assume wider tires give a rougher ride. That's because they continue to use the same pressure on a wider tire that they were using on a stock width tire. The pressure should be less on the wider tire to have the same tire deformation expected by the manufacturers.
Tire Pressure Calculator from tiresize.com
A more comfortable ride can be had by increasing the total volume of a tire.
Increasing the width and keeping the tire height constant, decreases the pressure needed to run the tire. For speed bumps the 2 dimensional vertical deformation is the same for both the wider and narrower tires. At least on speed bumps. On irregular surfaces the wider tire with more volume will be more comfortable.
To be more precise, the narrower tire does have a contact patch that is longitudinally longer, so it may “caterpillar track” over a bump. But the increased volume afforded by the wider tire overshadows what may be a marginal dynamic deformation improvement? I think so.
The car came with 17” wheels, and I decided to keep them because buying new wheels is pricey.
I wanted something of the order of 245/80R15, but my vehicle wheel wells can only fit about an overall diameter of 27“. For the full 27” potential, I will need to make small modifications to the wheel wells so the tires don't scrape during sharp turns.
I lifted the car about 1.25“ so it will bottom scrape less on the dirt and gravel roads. There are also incredibly tall speed bumps in Peru. As a consequence, the spacing between wheel well and the tire looks uneven as the gap above the tire is more than the gap in front and behind the tire. For the full 27” wheel size potential, the gap is less than an inch in front and behind the tires. However, the 215/55R17 wheel at 26.31“ diameter loos acceptable.
215/55R17 26.31 and it scrapes! 215/60R17 27.2 225/60R17 27.63 205/65R17 27.49 NO because 8” rims 215/65R16 27 215/70R15 26.85
I would get rims with less offset because current offset swings the front tires forward or backwards when turning. So would wider tires on less offset.
For a more comfortable ride, what will fill the tire well? I think 235 on an 8“ rim may fit, but with less rim offset.
235/55R17 27.18 235/60R16 27.1 235/65R15 27.03
Alas, there are no AT tires in 55 aspect ratio on discounttiredirect, only a single 235/60R16 (YOKOHAMA GEOLANDAR A/T G015), and no 65 aspect ratio for 15” wheels. No mud tires either. Lots of 17“ and 16” choices for winter tires. Widest 65 series tire for 15“ is 215. I guess I'm doing street V tires.
For 17” rims, the 55 series tire doesn't allow me to run very low pressure. Even if it were 60 or 65 series, I am still limited to about 20 PSI due to the debeading potential of the 215 width on the 8“ rim. I hope I don't dent my rims running 20 PSI on gravel roads.
Rims should also match wheel hub without spacers: hub centric rings (anillo suplex centrador espaciador)
All Tire Sizes on tiresize.com
Rims should be 4” width.
My engine has a more faint version of the clanking sound in the YouTube video referenced in this forum thread. Also could be a need for valve clearance adjustment, as can be heard in this video. The sound lasts a minute or two on cold startup, and goes away more quickly if I rev the engine.
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