When your car is in winter hibernation 2018 would be a good winter to tackle your caliper paint & headlight paint (if that's still on your menu). But I guess surviving the NY winter is the main priority that time of year

 

How come you're going with Continentals over the PSS? There's a new P4S out as well, I'm sure you've looked at that tire.

 

That would be the new Continental Extreme Contact Sport tires, which were released in Feb 2017 to really good reviews. It's obvious Conti is positioning these tires to take on the PSS market head-2-head. Plus, they've 1/20" more tread, and a higher tread wear rating. Over the last few months I've been reading things off an on about these tires. I think the biggest gripe people have with the previous model is the soft sidewall, which was addressed in the new tires. As for cost... just the two rear tires alone, it's a $150 savings over the PS4.

When replacing the fronts next year, I may stick with Michelin. But for the rears, these new Conti's are a better buy (on paper). So that's today's plan.

With the new gears and Summer and old tires on the way out, I've been pulling the car pretty hard out of the hole lately. Probably more so than otherwise. And if I turn off TC, it's effortless to kick the rears into a smooth spin without even moving. Not that burnouts are my thing, but I've done it more than a few times to get a feel for what that's like. No bounce, no lurch, just your back wheels spinning like they're on butter.

I think when the Conti's go on the car, if there's anything different going on, I'm going to know. Or maybe the differences are only something you'd see on the track and not the street. I don't really know about that, but I think 4DRZ said something to that effect about his tires of choice better supporting the Track-side of the Street & Track intent. Whereas I'm wanting the Street-side of that equation.

 

I'll be curious to see how you like the Continentals. I actually just purchased a set of Continental ExtremeContact DW's for my Porsche on Tire Rack's closeout sale. For the past couple of decades I've pretty much only used Bridgestone and Michelin tires with the Toyo T1 Sports that I just put on the Infiniti the only exception. So I'm excited to try out these Continental tires too.

 

I'm on my 3rd set of PSS. They're a fantastic tire, especially in the wet. I think I'd have justified the $150 premium

I've got 1000 miles on the new 275/35/19 rears, and my fronts are at 5/32 after 15k, so I'm going to hold off on getting the new ones mounted

 

Keep us posted on how you like the new Continentals.

 

I've had them for a little over 3 weeks and I'm loving them.

 

Met up with Rochester friday.
His arrival was exactly what I expected, could hear that exhaust announcing him about 10 seconds before he rolled into view.
Somehow we spent 3.5 hours out in the sun talking about our cars and I have a nice sunburn to show for it.
The gears: the difference is definitely noticeable. But I don't think I'm the person to give a "good" review of them. My driving style would not support getting this done. It just made me shift earlier. Rochester on the other hand.... Riding with Rochester made think I drive like an old lady driving a bus full of old ladies. Right off, I made the mistake of waiting too long to put on my seatbelt, because it was locked while still retracted. I'm not ashamed to admit I was scared.
I'll have to concede that I cannot properly recount the entire ride, or determine which of his many mods made the biggest impact. But, it is a world's difference from mine. One highlight was a kid driving a stock G, stopped at a red light, completely slack jawwed as "The Madman" took a left turn in front of him. That was awesome.

 

Meh. It's the exact same car, just louder, stiffer and maybe a little bit faster.

You seem to drive under 4k, that's why it's so different. Kick it up, Zack.

 

Looks like you made quite an impression

 

That's ridiculous. I'm the most harmless, nondescript, middle-aged, suburban dad you can imagine. There's no madman here, just visions of racecar and feet of clay.

 

I considered "The Street Demon of Rochester" but decided that would be too far.
It is funny how different your personality is compared to how you drive. I was telling this story to my wife and she said "that's how we feel when YOU drive" Yeah, she has no idea. And I did push my G harder than usual on the trip south of the border yesterday. But I don't think my brother was ever TERRIFIED.
I think I got all those race car dreams out of my system in my youth, with customers' cars.

 

Rochester driving like a Madman? Are you sure it was really him,from the years i have known him any spirited driving would not come from him.

 

I did my annual oil change yesterday, almost exactly one year since the last, and coincidentally at exactly the same OCI in mileage (5400 miles). Been using Penzoil Platinum Synthetic all these years, so I could easily go longer, but once a year feels about right, regardless of miles.

When my mechanic had the car last month, he said the serpentine belt looked shiny in parts, and it would be a reasonable idea to swap in a new one. So while I was under the car changing the oil, I thought I'd do the belt too.



That didn't happen. It looked way too awkward to do on my back. Feel kind of self-conscious about that, but I'm going to wait until my next event at the shop for this work.

However, I am going to swap my own diff gear oil in a few weeks. That seems super easy... just have to get a 10mm allenhead socket and a cheap hand pump at Harbor Freight.

 

thats one thing i never had the ***** to do.. i always changed every 3500miles.. even with full synthetic. one reason why my internals are golden in color.