Thanks for the birthday greetings everyone. I told my wife that I maybe 60, but I still feel 19 when I'm driving the Mini or Corvette...



RaceTripper - Can't wait for Sebring and the new cars in the GT1 class. I like the upper level classes, but prefer a bit more competition. I'm glad to see the new Rahal M3 team join GT1. We were able to see the Corvette Team battle the Astons at Mid-Ohio a couple of years ago.

My wife's uncle lives in Sebring and we stay with them when we go to the 12 Hours. He is in his 70's and works at the track as a volunteer throughout the year. I'll be watching the race on Speed TV this year...

PhantomMC & Kechman8 - Thanks for requesting the newsletter. I have sent a PM with info on getting you set-up for the next issue in a few weeks.

 

Just to clear some things up. There are no new cars in GT1. In fact, GT1 is a effectively an irrelevant class at this point. Corvette Racing will be literally unchallenged racing GT1 in ALMS until they come out with their new GT2 program after Le Mans (assuming GM still races at that point). As for Rahal-Letterman. They are entering the M3 in GT2. After Sebring, GT1 doesn't exist anymore in ALMS. Maybe on paper, but not in the paddock. It's too bad because the Corvette Racing vs. Aston-Martin Racing battles were great. We saw that at Petit Le Mans 2006 and it was a blast.

Nevertheless, looking forward to Sebring as well. We should hook up that week if you attend.

 

Happy birthday!!!!!

 

Heh, I just discovered the handles on the inside of the boot yesterday. Whoops. Well, at least I know they're there now.

Also, the rattle this morning was much worse than it's been. Granted, it's the coldest day yet this winter (3F this morning), but still. So painful to drive with that rattle. :(

 

Any chance the rattle could be something loose under the car? I learned in my old Honda that rattles always seemed to be somewhere other than where they sound like they are coming from.

 

Have you checked if the noise goes away if you re-open and close the rear hatch? I've heard that some rear hatches may have locking issues.

 

Nah, it's definitely the cold start rattle. As always, it went away after a few minutes.

 

Whoaaa - the fingers are not listening to the brain again. I understand that happens more and more the older one gets...

Actually I meant GT2, not GT1. In any case, we're looking forward to the new ALMS season.

 

Me too, but I wonder what the field will look like after Sebring, with Audi, Corvette, and Penske Porsche all gone.

 

It was so cold today that my tires lost about 5 lbs. of pressure sitting outside on the lot at work. When I got in to drive away, the TPMS monitor warning came on.

What really bugged me was that it kept coming back on with a red alert message in my tach. I'd acknowledge and set the display back to MPH, but it would get replaced with the warning again after a few seconds. This in addition to the yellow warning light in the speedo. Totally annoying (OK, OK, I get it!!!!).

After getting some heat in the tires driving home, I stopped at a gas station to top off the air, at which point it was just a couple lbs. below it's normal heated pressure of about 40 lbs.

 

Huh, weird. My tires aren't runflats, so when I start the car I get a yellow icon on the tach for about 15-30 seconds. After that, it moves to a flashing yellow icon on the speedo for another minute or so, and then changes to a solid yellow icon.

 

Oh, so I realized my windshield hasn't been cleaning well with the wipers. Then I realized it's because the washer fluid nozzle pretty much shoots two direct streams onto the windshield. Everything else stays dry, so I end up with a mostly clean windshield and one giant salty spot in front of my face. Is there a good way to cause the spray to spread out more? Or can/should I get different nozzles?

 

Mine are not runflats either. Normally, I get no icons or warnings once the car is on and running.

 

Er, I meant that mine don't have TPMS (they're not runflats either, though). So it always yells at me.

 

That would annoy me too much. The only time I would forgo the sensors is for dedicated track wheels with R Comps.

 

I just looked at mine, it doesn't look like the tip can be adjusted, but I could be wrong. I remember older cars had a little ball at the tip which could be turned with a safety pin or needle. I haven't even tried the windshield washers yet, so I don't really know how the spray pattern work.

You might try to adjust the tip with a needle and see if it moves at all when you gently try to work it.

 

Yeah, supposedly you can according to another thread. I'll give it a shot eventually.

 

Oh, you found a thread! I'll have to look at it, just in case!

 

Been just surfing NAM today!!! It's my b-day so I can play with the rest of the committed!! Weathers not that great, so I'm staying in doors.

 

sikamini - Happy Birthday! Did you do anything fun?

 

In a way yes, stayed inside, spent the day with my wife and our five cats!

 

Happy Birthday, Sikamini!

Back from VA just a while ago. Easy travel from Ohio - lightest traffic I've seen in a long time. No snow in VA yet this year. Still cold here in Ohio, though, and there's some snow on the ground. Got to get Phantom washed as soon as I can. He rested in the garage while we were gone.

RE: the tire pressure monitoring system:

Here's what I've observed... it seems that occasionally, upon starting up or shortly thereafter, the system might chime, show the yellow symbol in the tach display, go away and that's it. It seems that as long as the symbol is yellow, it's just a warning. If the tire pressure is really low (don't know what that means) the symbol goes red and stays in the tach display until it's reset. I tend to keep my tire pressure just a bit high - 34 or 35 instead of the recommended 33, basically to avoid constantly getting the pressure warning. I did get the red symbol once, and when checked, the tires were all at about 31 - 32, so it seems it doesn't take much below the recommended pressure to trigger the alert.

 

Thanks !
I've been checking the pressure every two weeks or so. Some times one tire would be a bit low and the next time none. Other times I've had both fron tires down by about the same amount, but not enough to trigger a warning. I wonder how much is due to driving style and driving conditions?

 

How are the sensors setup?

 

There is no setup per say. They are installed in the wheels when tires are mounted. Thereafter, you initialize them from the OBC and that's it.