Hey guys,

Planning to take a road trip from Baltimore to San Francisco making a few stops in colorado then up to Seattle to ride down the coast to San Francisco. I've got a few questions:
-I have a Thule Roof Box and mountain bike that i'll be mounting to the roof. I'd like to do some cruising with the sun roof open. Will a fairing really provide any significant noise reduction and fuel savings?
-I'm nervous about not having a spare tire, anyone have any experience with a popped run flat? Should I grab a full size spare and store it in the Thule?
-Anyone have any experience driving through some of the back roads in the mid west. Would the driving lights be a good investment for this?
-Should end up doing around 4-5K miles total. The car should be coming up for service soon, but either way I'll be taking it a few weeks before to get the oil changed, tires rotated and filters changed. Anything specific I should have them do or look at? Are there any basic maintenance supplies I should bring along?

I appreciate any help or comments. Ill be sure to add pictures to this post in August when i finish the trip!

 

If, by the "mid west" you mean places like Kansas and Illinois, don't bother. I grew up around there, and the back roads are just like the freeways, but smaller. They go in straight lines, with the occasional intersection. Boring, boring, boring. And you always have the chance that some farm machinery that cannot go faster than 15 MPH will be out on the road in front of you...

If the faring is well designed, it probably will cut down on the drag and the noise a bit, but I don't know how well it is actually designed. And even with the faring, a cargo box and a bike are going to add significant drag to the car.

 

My wife ran over a nail that was in the driveway, in her Countryman. We didn't know. The tire went flat and you couldn't tell. It had zero psi. I was poking around the cars one day and looked at the tire, I thought something didn't look quite right. Anyway, the point is, the runflat part kept the tire in shape. I guess what they say, 50mph is good till you can get it fixed. I used a plug to fix it and have had no problems with it.

 

And the big Tire Pressure Warning symbol with exclamation point, didn't give you a clue? lol


To the OP...


There is nothing in the big box east of the Rockies and west of Arkansas, and below Wyoming til you hit Texas and La.... Nothing...lol Just close your eyes, and sleep.


If you go a northern route, you've got Wall Drug, the Badlands, Mt Rushmore, and Devil's Tower, then you can go back to sleep for a while.


If you go south, you can do the dragon, then sleep until you get to Tx, (but wake you as you enter Tx from AK, there is a really big cross, like 300 ft tall) I really like the route from Amarillo to Taos via Cimarron, and Angle's fire, and Taos canyon.


As for the car, I'd check the tread, maybe replace them now... Carry my AAA card, and have Tirerack on speed dial (if you drive on a runflat, you will kill it...). I'd have a qt of oil, and lots of window cleaning stuff. There will be a metric crap ton of bugs.

 

No haha. She ran over the nail then parked the car for a few days. We didn't drive it and noticed the flat while it was still parked.

 

You're not supposed to patch or plug runflats - once the tire's been driven on without air in it, that's all she wrote.

For the OP, invest in a spare. I've got one I carry behind the passenger seat in the GP for roadtrips.

 

No one drove it without air in it. She ran over a nail. Who knows when? There was no indication of low pressure. She parked the car for a few days. I noticed something odd looking about the tire. Then found the air was missing, and had been replaced by a nail. Prolly from the builders who are adding on another wing to our house.

 

I drove R/T Philly to SF and back for MTTS 2014 in a 2014 Countryman All4. Original runflats, a Yakima roof rack w/ fairing, my wife and 3 dogs plus some all weather duffles on top with clothing.

Air drag and gas mileage shortfalls were noticeably present, but crossing the Rockies, scaling Glacier National Park Road to the Sun and the Million Dollar Highway in CO, enduring a near-tornado on the open highway in ND...the CM performed admirably.

For extra precaution, I mounted an emergency spare tire/wheel on the basket, purchased from Detroit Tuned. It gave me peace of mind for a total tire disaster in the middle of nowhere, but I did not have to use it.

The only breakdown was on the Loneliest Road in America, Nevada Rte. 50, where we were stranded roadside for 6 hours after an Intercooler hose popped off.

Good luck...keep us posted.

packimocity

 

Most likely, the best part of your trip will be down the coast from the Seattle area. Stay on 101 down into Northern California then turn off at Liggett west to highway 1 then south to SF. Stunning views, great Mini roads.

 

Pretty much made that trip last summer in our MCS. Started on the coast a bit south of SF, then took either 101 or 1 all the way up to Seattle. A beautiful drive, cool weather and fog here and there. We then headed east down thru Yellowstone and Colorado. Took our time, about a month. If you get a chance to go that way, take it..

 

Forget the spare, join AAA. Put tire rack phone on speed dial. Relax and motor on.

 

Going down 101 in norcal, get off the main road just south of Scotia and take the Avenue of the Giants. It rejoins 101 just past Phillipsville...and drive slow!