S
Sharps40
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- Reaction score
- 45
- Thunderbird Year
- 2003
Been going over the new to me 2003 I purchased last month. Mostly in great shape and 70K miles now. I charged up the AC, works grand now and found a spot in the den to store the hard top for the summer. Original soft top is perfect and I'm loving the car.
Shook the heck out of me though so went over the tires. Naturally, the spare is 17 years old. Falkens on the rear were 12 years old each and hard and dry cracked. Tigerpaws on the front were 2 years and 7 years old respectively, the 7 year old dry cracked but not hard. So, off to the shop with Pappa Trump's gift money.
Purchased 4 Toyo Extensa tires with balance and a full front and rear alignment/inspection. Minor adjustments to front and rear toe only. All suspension parts good. Got the Bird out on the road yesterday and today, smooth sailing. Pushed the car over 100, no more shake, just smooth.
You can feel when the VVT solenoids kick in, the power on these comes on really fast. But, whether tires (Extensa is rated T, 118 mph) or just wear in the suspension, the car started to float and became too light at 105 so I let it off. Surprisingly (or perhaps not), after driving so many cinder block shaped vehicles, sure does take a long time for the Bird to coast back to 70 mph. Just slips through the wind.
Loving this car, much more than the Nissan Xterra I have been saddled with by the wife. (a Butt ugly Brown called desert stone and only a 2wd that my wife looked at and test drove at night in the rain and then promptly gave it to me when she decided she'd rather have a new jeep) Lesson learned, wife no longer picks the cars.
Prolly won't ever see the Century mark in the Bird again, but nice to know its probably got a capability to live up to the 160 mph speedometer in the right hands and not just a show piece.
Shook the heck out of me though so went over the tires. Naturally, the spare is 17 years old. Falkens on the rear were 12 years old each and hard and dry cracked. Tigerpaws on the front were 2 years and 7 years old respectively, the 7 year old dry cracked but not hard. So, off to the shop with Pappa Trump's gift money.
Purchased 4 Toyo Extensa tires with balance and a full front and rear alignment/inspection. Minor adjustments to front and rear toe only. All suspension parts good. Got the Bird out on the road yesterday and today, smooth sailing. Pushed the car over 100, no more shake, just smooth.
You can feel when the VVT solenoids kick in, the power on these comes on really fast. But, whether tires (Extensa is rated T, 118 mph) or just wear in the suspension, the car started to float and became too light at 105 so I let it off. Surprisingly (or perhaps not), after driving so many cinder block shaped vehicles, sure does take a long time for the Bird to coast back to 70 mph. Just slips through the wind.
Loving this car, much more than the Nissan Xterra I have been saddled with by the wife. (a Butt ugly Brown called desert stone and only a 2wd that my wife looked at and test drove at night in the rain and then promptly gave it to me when she decided she'd rather have a new jeep) Lesson learned, wife no longer picks the cars.
Prolly won't ever see the Century mark in the Bird again, but nice to know its probably got a capability to live up to the 160 mph speedometer in the right hands and not just a show piece.
