Age of your tires

Amen Steve!

 

What the hell is ChatGPT? Seriously, I’m not trying to be a smart ass.

 

One of several so-called "AI" services that you can "chat" with. A lot of people think because it has "intelligence" in the name it is a reliable source of information. It is not. It is a somewhat advanced version of the technology that predicts the next word you are going to type in a text message on your iPhone. It strings together words that are algorithmically likely to follow given a particular context. It "knows" some things, but anything it doesn't know, it will make up on the spot and deliver as matter of factly as any actual facts.

The "AI Overview" that pops up on Google searches sometimes uses the same technology. Here is an example of how reliable and intelligent this technology is.



In addition to its ability to be incredibly stupid and useless entirely of its own volition you can also coach it to say whatever you want with confidence. This technology has enormous energy requirements for the compute farms that run it. It sucks.

Having trouble waking up? Chug a bottle of Cherry Bomb. The computer says it's fine.

 

That is the first positive thing I have seen regarding AI. It might just be useful in thinning the herd by having a large, stupid section of the human race eradicate themselves by drinking hand cleaner............ Darwin was right.

 

Also I think 150 mg of caffeine per ounce would actually just kill you in a normal 16 oz drink even if it wasn't also soap.

 

You're a trip.

 

Jesus…some of you guys must be a riot at parties.

 

what was the question?

 

no negative vibes man.
repeat after me: fun with old school cars... fun with old school cars...

 

​

 

Seeing how this post has taken a philosophical turn, I gotta tell this story...

About 30 years ago, I owned a '64 Comet hardtop, 289/4-speed car as my DD. My current future ex at the time managed to kill the motor somehow. So I gathered up some parts and took them to my favorite machine shop and got back a 308" Windsor with my home-ported 351 heads, big ol' cam and a Torquer intake. Nothing particularly extraordinary in parts, but that motor would run... I could give the 5.0 'Stang boys fits if they didn't have power adders...
I never did get a good paint job on it, it definitely had 'patina'. I also live on a semi-dirt road, so the car was seldom clean, particularly during the rainy season which it was at the time of this story.

So anyway, I'm coming home from a late week-night meeting and arrive at the last stop sign where I turn left onto the road to home. It's 11 PM. Now in those days, at that time of night you could drive the 15 miles to my house in either direction and more often than not never see another car. When I turn left onto the road, I'm looking at a 3/4 mile long straight with only a few driveways (and the houses are dark) leading into an easy left-hand sweeper, then another shorter straight with a couple of sharper corners after. I look around, I'm the only moving object, so I turn...

And hammer the throttle! The 302 screams to redline, I shift without lifting, with the tires barking their protest with each upshift. It's off the leash, singing its song! Glorious!! And the rush!!! YEEEE HAAAAAAA!!!! This is hot rodding!!!
After shifting into fourth (and getting that satisfying last bark), I lift and let the car scrub off the speed before I run out of road. I drift down to much closer to the posted speed limit of 50 MPH and head for home. As I'm heading into critter country, excessive speed and deer is a bad mix. By this time, I'm four-plus miles from the stop sign. Suddenly headlights pop up in my mirror, and they're coming up fast... Uh oh, blue lights... Busted!

I pull over and start the ritual. Roll down the window and gather my paperwork. The PO steps out of his car, I see him looking my car over a bit before stepping up to the window...

'License and registration please'

'Right here officer'

'Just how fast were you going?' Cardinal rule... NEVER admit just how fast you're going unless they have you dead to rights...

'I dunno... Just blowing the carbon out for a bit of fun'

He shines his light on me for a brief look, then my license. He does a doubletake, takes another longer look at me. He looks surprised... I think he was expecting a young kid, not a middle-aged adult. I'll note I was stone-cold sober, although somewhat surprisingly that never came up. He grunts something to himself...

'Wait here'... and he steps back to his car to run my license. No worries for me, my record is clean. So where was he? There was only one place he could have been. A bit past halfway down the straight there's a utility substation on the right. This has a thick 'greenwall' (small trees/shrubs) across the front, he had to be behind that or I would have seen him otherwise. No way he got a clocking from behind that and by the time he caught up to me I was very close to the limit. Given how long it took for him to catch up to me, I wonder if I woke him up...

'Here your papers back'. He leans in a bit, and asks 'Isn't that hard on the tires?' Oh ho, he heard at least one of my shifts...

'Well.... Yeah! But I'm the one who buys them...' To his credit, he had to stifle a laugh. 'Drive safe going home' 'I will, thanks...'

And to me, that's just as much a hot rod moment. I'm 30 years older now, but still have those urges and occasionally indulge them, just a bit more carefully. I don't own these cars for show trophys or bragging rights, it's for the pure joy of using them for what they're for or sometimes just admiring their looks. I attend events, and one of the saddest things I've ever heard was talking to some older guys who purchased their 'dream' pro-built big-power car. I asked them how they go, and a few admitted that they were afraid of them. So why own one?

 

^^^^^^^^^^^
Truth, LE is more forgiving now that most of us are grey beards now 40,50 years ago not so much. I’ve been asked more than once “Didn’t you see me” never quite sure how to answer other than “uh no”

Dan

 

The ones on my latest new car are 6 years old... Time for a set of new ones...

$$$$.$$....

 

Well, that's really weird and a little bit spooky.....
Just last week I had to get new tyres (245/40r18) all round on my XR6 Falcon work ute because it developed a little rear end shimmy at very low speed. Checked wheel bearings by the usual jack up and wriggle method. All good. Gave the rear tyres a breast examination and found a lump on one rear. Seperated belt. The tyres were around 6 years old......
Blow out avoided. Gotta be happy about that. Man, she rides good now with her new shoes.

 

I was zooming in on radial front tires in the LARS thread to see some of the tire sizes, and I couldn't help but notice that a majority of the ones I looked at have discontinued front tires on them, meaning they're likely more than the 6 years old, or more.

Point being what people do in theory vs in practice is probably a lot different.

It reminds me of my mother complaining that her new carpet in her house wasn't wearing nicely. I had to remind her it was already 13 years old.

 

a traditional thread would be recaps versus new tires

 

I know too many people who had blow outs on older tires to chance it. A few lost fenders. I have a trailer out back that has 14" tires from the 80's. It never gets used but the tires are still holding air. Newer tires are different. I'm not the engineer that knows why, but someone does.

 

Does anyone recap car tires anymore?
Dan

 

Towel City Tires in Kannapolis NC does. I'm pretty sure it's a radial carcass. Not legal for drag racing at most tracks.

 

I thought it was;

Hoodlums
Organized
To
Radicalize
Other
Dudes

But that sounds a bit political
Also I want my percentage if anyone starts making merchandise with that slogan

Last time I saw any automotive tires recapped or offering recapping, stateside, was the local hood Big-O in either the late 80s or early 90s.
Can't recall if they stopped due to legality or because the only old fella that did it croaked.

 

Car tires, idk, but bus & semi - recaps galore. Just can't(shouldn't) be used on steering axle. Tire guy at each garage, had a tire-groove-cutter to recut tread-depth as/when they needed it. & for a *very* long time, the damned buses ran "City-Specials" (on everything) which were not *supposed* to exceed 35 mph. City/County/State approved, we're told... Uh-huh... Not sure what they're running now.
Marcus...