Saturday, July 05, 2008
Not again!
I can't believe this: On July 4th, the Civic had a second valve stem failure, exactly a week after the last episode. This one very nearly snapped in half. And this time, my wife was along with me, so we had to call a friend to give us a ride home.
I'm planning to have the remaining two valve stems replaced, but I've also ordered a complete new wheel and tire set from Edge Racing. An overreaction? Well, sort of, but not quite. It currently has a set of "Warrior" tires on it. Finding information about these tires is pretty difficult, as even places that sell Warrior tires don't say much about who makes them. But I did turn up this article which identifies the manufacturer as Shanghai Michelin Warrior Tire Co., and they are definitely marked as "Made in China." They have full tread, but they have about as much grip as you'd get by wrapping your rims in strips of bacon. Slamming on the (non-ABS) brakes can be scary as the Worrier, er, Warrior tires let go way too easily. So I'm replacing the rubber. And the alloy wheels? Ok, that's just a luxury, but I felt like upgrading.
I'm planning to have the remaining two valve stems replaced, but I've also ordered a complete new wheel and tire set from Edge Racing. An overreaction? Well, sort of, but not quite. It currently has a set of "Warrior" tires on it. Finding information about these tires is pretty difficult, as even places that sell Warrior tires don't say much about who makes them. But I did turn up this article which identifies the manufacturer as Shanghai Michelin Warrior Tire Co., and they are definitely marked as "Made in China." They have full tread, but they have about as much grip as you'd get by wrapping your rims in strips of bacon. Slamming on the (non-ABS) brakes can be scary as the Worrier, er, Warrior tires let go way too easily. So I'm replacing the rubber. And the alloy wheels? Ok, that's just a luxury, but I felt like upgrading.
Labels: Civic
