This has got to be the most fun I've ever had putting on my snows;
NOT....

I picked up my winter pkg in Buffalo; Blizzak WS60 mounted on some 5 spoke alloy wheels.
Picked them up early (planning ahead) & they've been sitting in the garage for a couple of months waiting for the white stuff.

I figured I'm ready to rock & roll when ever needed.

LOL, here's the story so far.....

Sunday -
Got my daughter (S) in action, "come on, we're changing to snows this a.m."
Got her Honda pulled in along side mine & we worked between both cars.

- got my r. front jacked up & summer off.....
explained to S all about the rejection bolt for staggered wheels & she removed it.
- roll out my shiny new winter wheel & start to install.... DAMN, forgot to buy hub rings.
- finish up the Honda, & my car is waiting for the OF to pick up hub rings.

Monday a.m. -
- 5:30 a.m. jump into the F150 to head out to work...... brake pedal goes to floor
- 5:45 kick P out of bed & tell her I'm taking her car to work, .... P "@%#$^@*@, no way, I need it"
...smooth the waters & take her car anyway. (I'll pay for this later I'm sure)

- at work.... try phoning vendor in Buffalo to get spec for wheel hub size... busy, busy, busy..... resort to e-mail. : ....waiting:
- OK... start Googling up a storm to track these wheels down.
Finally come up with a distributor in CA. ring, ring, - magic they actually have the hub spec; I need 73mm to 66.1
- I head over to Steelcase & slide in the back door (line up is down the block). Find my contact there & he finds some rings.... "no charge".

Monday early evening -
- finally ready to rock these winter wheels...... (I need it for tomorrow truck isn't ready )
- Try the hub ring ...perfect fit.
- Jack her up & start the re & re....
now, where are those lug nuts that came with the wheels??????
tic, toc...... 30 min later; still no lug nuts to be found

... no probem, I have lots of old spline tuner style lug nuts kicking around.
"ah, there they are, c/w special socket.... 1,2,3,.... 15,16...16....16" DAMN 4 short, where the he|| could they be?
"ah, there's 4 more!!!" hmmmmm, a different spline style, now where's the socket for them? DAMN!!!! .

- head into Newmarket Crappy Tire, need 4 lug nuts, because there's NO WAY I stealing my wife's car again.
- Typical Crappy Tire, no floor staff; ...head to parts counter ....lineup is 20 deep.
- Head over to The Partsource, bingo they have 4 basic open style Nissan L.nuts (total inventory)

- head home & resume re&re....
- Start at the r. front (same as Sunday) & work around to L. front... last one, almost done.
....it's been a PITA, but I persevered & triumphed over the Evil Empire


....OK let's just get this last one done...... wait, why the hell isn't this going on????
hmmm, hub ring must be slightly miss aligned or something.
lug nuts started.... give it a good kick to try & pop it into place.... still no go!
Now what????
*^(*^(&%$.... as I take the wheel off.

DAMN.....
should have listened to myself, when I explained about the staggered wheel rejection bolt to my daughter.

- remove the bolt, & put on the wheel...
ahhh finally done, gives the wheel as spin before lowering & torquing.

What's that noise?????
DAMN... the ^*&%*%$ wheel balancing weights are rubbing on the calipers

Tuesday -
- Drives it to work anyway....... listening to the steady (rub, rub, rub) beat all the way in.
Thinks to self.... should have just popped them off....
....sends the truck driver to Steelcase, waiting in line to get the weights moved.

:sighhhhhh: I love winter.
__________________

 

i honestly never changed any of my tires myself, too lazy.

 

Wow, that's quite a story.

I switched our cars over a couple weeks ago. I thought it was a PIA that I had to get a new set of lug nuts for my wife's Corolla, but 'twas nothing compared to what you were up against. They were not only binding on the lugs, but the corrosion was swelling the chrome caps so the socket didn't want to go on. Sent my son for the new nuts ($4.40 x 20 ) and still had the three cars done by lunch time.

At least you won't have to go through that again next year.

 

My routine: floor jack one corner, re & re, torque to 80. Repeat x4. Done in 20 mins if I dawdle. Retorque after ~50km.

But I've certainly had jobs to awry like yours, Ian, a half hour job takes most of a week and copious running around ...

 

OMG Ian what a long drawn out winter rim install. The bummer is you have been prepared for ages. We had talked about how you were all set up to go. Also the case of the missing lug nuts, is OF syndrome slamming down on you quickly or has some of it just rubbed off from myself and Whatacar

On the side: I was often curious how you determined the hub ring size. I thought you would just measure the car hub diameter and the large diameter of the chamfer in the aftermarket wheels with vernier calipers. Or doesn't it work that way?

Anyways you are now ready for the white stuff (psst, I just ordered our other little mods )

 

Wow Ian, heck of a ordeal and quite a story there! I changed up my van a week ago, H's car and the other van on the weekend. Everything went fine but it was a lot of running around, picking up and returning vehicle and winter wheels stored off site.

Did you get the truck brakes fixed?

BTW, we have a bit of snow coming down now. Fortunately it's melting immediately on ground impact.

 

Yeah you can measure the hub bore with vernier's...
Mine don't work well with wheels... not enough room to measure.
the depth rod that extends as you move the caliper out hits the rim
Wheel mfgs will provide the bore size... as long as you can track them down.

..re the other stuff... haven't heard about shipping date yet.

 

Yeah.... it was definitely a test of patience.
re the truck... Getting new brake lines installed today.
I was thankful that they went in the driveway & not on the road!!!!

 

BTW... I got to give the Bizzaks a good test run this morning.
I drove through a mini blizzard on the way to work this morning.
There was 4 - 6" of new snow & coming down to beat the band.
....& typical nothing as I got into the GTA.

Here's the obligatory winter setup pic after this mornings dirty run....
17 x 7.5 with Bizzak WS-60

 

Yeah, that was lucky for sure.

Car looks good with the winter set up.

 

re other stuff....No, I meant our mods that I was ordering for us has been ordered, not the mods you are ordering for us, lol, ouch, moditus is upon us .

Thanks about the hub rings, I understand what you mean about the verniers, I just tried to measure my PIAAs and I couldn't get them in there.

Your winter wheels look great Ian , and they look like they would be easy to maintain.

 

understood...
That was just my update to you.
moditis...
Thanks....
Easy to maintain and non-fugly was the main objective.
+ trying to get as much caliper clearance as possible with the spokes.

Like any winter pkg... I'll be happy to get them off in the spring.
Also, just found out this a.m. that the TPS light is different on the 2nd gen.
It comes on a LOT sooner.

hmmmm does B.Bat make an overlay for this???

 

That looks good Ian
It took about 15km before my TPMS light came on driving to work this morning. It blinked for a few seconds then stayed on. I was beginning to wonder when it would come on.
I took it for a quick drive last night just to make sure the balance was good with the winter wheels. I hit 120km/hr and was still satisfied. Thats plenty for me, especially for winter. I was surprised the light didn't come on then. When I had a leak in one of my A/S tires the light would come on...I would top off the tire and the light would go out again after about 2km of driving.

 

Damn, that's an ordeal for winter tires. Glad they are finally on. Btw, the car looks good! How do you like the new G? I'm thinking of trading in, just not sure what route to go. Sorry for going off topic!

 

Love it!!!!
It's a nice evolution from the 1st gen.