Today we (25AE and me) braved chilly dampness, fog, spray and rain on the M1 to Northampton to allow NickD to work his magic in making sure the four new 215/45 R17 87V Continental Premium Contact 6 gained the best start in their operational life with new TPMS sensors.
I got there only just in time because the existing (almost past end-of-life!) TPMS system warned me about ten miles short of Toddington Services there was a problem, and the weather was hissing down.
Aarrghh!
I couldn’t feel anything wrong with steering, or hear the tyres doing something horribly familiar, so kept on going at reduced speed hoping to reach the services.
And there actually was a problem. Three of the tyres had warmed up to around 34psi, but offside rear was only 27 (ie about 22 cold). The valve passed the spit test, so then hoping it would last to Weedon I boosted it to 40.
Fortunately it did, still near 40, and I could not see any sign of a puncture later when it was off the wheel. Puzzle, as all four had checked as not needing air at 29 when leaving home an hour before the timely warning.
I am now a fan of TPMS systems.
Straight away I could feel and hear the difference with the Contis while driving on to Northampton Motorsport where guru James updated the wheel alignment to a better, more modern setting, and reduced the already improved wander to almost non-existent.
While I was waiting, listening to the tunes of dyno runs from the workshops, I sampled a pile of motor-sport and custom car and kit related magazines, and lusted over this Jag engine evoking fond memories from five decades ago.
Except the previous old-from-way-back-then standard enhancement of triple SUs has been replaced by what looks very much like a cluster of three twin-choke Webers. But hidden in, under and behind them is a full fuel-injection system. Truly brilliant engineering!
The run home through twilight and more grotty visibility on M1 and M25 should have been more stressful, but relaxed shoulders made it much less so, and noticeably quieter and softer tyres allowed a more comfortable and better critique of the music quality.
Alas, I’m going to have to change the speakers to a pair with lower Fs (Free-air resonance) and adjust/modify the “cabinet” (door cavity) because the Alpine set seem to honk at around 80-90Hz with not much useful below. I’ll need to plot the response curve to find out what’s actually going on, but I’ve done enough for today…