response 26 of 129:

Apr 23 17:02 UTC 2002

Hmm. I do need to get the bike fixed anyway...

The phone loses the connection with the base even when it is right next 
to the base. Sometimes it will work fine for 5 minutes or so but then 
it just fades out and the phone says "out of range." Sometimes this 
happens immediately. It doesnt seem to be an issue with the battery not 
having enough charge. 

response 28 of 129:

Apr 23 17:59 UTC 2002

So does Discount Tire, except that they don't charge a pro-rated cost if it
is still under warranty (unless they have changed their policy since I last
had to have a tire replaced for damage).

response 30 of 129:

Apr 23 19:45 UTC 2002

I called Discount Tire; they have tires for my truck for $88-141.  How 
do I know which I should buy?  I don't know anything about different 
types of tires.

The $88 tires are Dominator Radial All-Season tires made by Cooper, 
with a 35,000 mile warranty.  There's a $1.50 additional charge; I 
don't know if that's per-tire or overall but it doesn't matter much.

They have a $10/tire extended warranty; should I get that?

My wife always goes to Sam's Club (and always took care of tires for 
the cars).  Before I got married, my cars never outlasted their tires 
anyway; I drove a lot of bad cars.

response 32 of 129:

Apr 23 20:03 UTC 2002

Re #29: The penny test:  Insert a penny into the tread, with Abe
upside-down.  If you can see the top of his head, your tires don't have
a legal tread depth.

Re #30: If you won't be doing offroading, the less expensive tires will
probably be fine.  Generally when you pay more for tires you get one or
more of the following:

1. A longer warranty (and longer tread life)
2. Better off-road traction
3. Better cornering grip on pavement

(3) doesn't go along with (1) or (2), incidentally.  Tires designed for
better cornering have softer compounds, which make them wear out faster,
and a more closed tread pattern, which gives them less off-road
traction.  If you aren't driving your truck like a sports car, you
probably don't care much about (3).

response 34 of 129:

Apr 23 20:05 UTC 2002

  (gull slipped in..)

response 36 of 129:

Apr 23 22:52 UTC 2002

Another factor that influences price is tread pattern & performance in
rain and snow.  Exactly *how* it influences price is complicated -
paying more doesn't necesssarily get you better performance in rain.
There is generally a better relationship with snow tires - which do work
better in snow but don't last as long.

Yet another factor for tires is speed rating.  If you plan to make long
trips at 100+ mph, you definitely want different tires, that can better
handle the heat build-up and stress that you would get at this speed.
For most folks, even at legal speeds on the expressway, this should not
be a factor, unless you are a policeman or plan on racing.  However, if
you were doing lots of expressway driving in texas, this might be of
some slight validity.

Yet another factor in tire longevity is how you treat them.  You can
significantly extend their life by always keeping them properly
inflated, and by not abusing them.  Your car may have 2 tire inflation
pressures.  Generally the higher one is best -- the lower rating
sacrifices longevity, mpg, and load in favor of a softer ride.  Tires
that are low on pressure build up heat, and that's one of the big things
that shortens tire and tread life.  Abuse is pretty simple -- if you
screech around corners, skid to a stop, or enjoy drag races at traffic
lights, you are abusing your tires, and they won't last as long.  Less
obvious forms include spinning your tires in an effort to get out of
ice, or failure to correct mechanical problems such as wheel alignment
or balance that cause uneven or premature wear.  Scrubbing your tires by
turning them while the car is not moving will also cause more wear,
though doing this occasionally is no big deal.  Generally, anything that
leaves black marks is bad.

response 38 of 129:

Apr 23 23:27 UTC 2002

My pickup shakes terribly if I go faster than 60 mph.  Someday I'll try 
to get that fixed, but I don't want to drive it any faster than that 
anyway.

I'm not planning on using it other than as an emergency backup vehicle 
and for pleasure trips with my 5 year old son (who loves it).  If I 
drive it 10,000 miles per year, it would surprise me.

I'll try to avoid driving it in snow or other bad weather, but it's 
possible I might take it down some two-tracks occasionally.

I can't imagine what circumstances would cause me to leave skid marks 
from this truck, but it's safe to say if it happens, I wouldn't be 
concerned about the impact on the tires.

I'm not much concerned with "performance" unless you can tell me what 
tires would raise my gas mileage from 11 mph to 15-20 mpg, which would 
save me enough money to make it worth paying quite a bit more for tires.

I am getting an education about tires which will probably be worth more 
to me than the truck, and which I appreciate.

response 40 of 129:

Apr 24 01:32 UTC 2002

Fixing the tires may well fix the shaking-over-60 problem.

response 42 of 129:

Apr 24 03:29 UTC 2002

The other possibility is something less enjoyable, like a CV joint gone wrong.
I had to drive to Toronto and back with one of those; extremely unpleasant.
Still, I had a vaguely similar problem perhaps a year later, and it wound up
just being a tire.  Could go either way.

response 44 of 129:

Apr 24 19:07 UTC 2002

re#39 - ok!

response 46 of 129:

Apr 25 01:04 UTC 2002

We were just discussing that.

response 48 of 129:

Apr 25 12:27 UTC 2002

It's redundant at this point, but I've always done Discount Tire.  They 
always seemed very nice about fixing flat for free, even when I had the 
original tires on the car (dunno if this is universal policy or what), 
so when I need new tires I'm always willing to do business with them.  
Picking tires for my car (Honda CRX) was always easy, as nobody ever 
had more than one type that would fit it.