Ecomodding my winter beater: a unicorn no-rust (*) 2000 Chevrolet Metro 1.0 5-spd

[arcosine]

petty low rolling resistance without the steel belt and treads.

[MeteorGray]

Wow.

That tire sure was nice to fail in such a way on your driveway.

Doing that on the freeway would be the pits.

This summer I had an alarm go off on my Mazda3's tire alarm system. So I stopped and found that all four tires were fully pressured. A puzzle. So, I ran my hand over the treads and found a big bubble on one of the tires, probably getting ready to do what yours did.

I was lucky because my car's tire-warning device is not alerted to the pressure. It's alerted to a rolling-speed differential between the tires as reported by the anti-skid braking system. The damaged tire was rolling at a different RPM than the others due to the circumference changing because of the tread fault.

Sometimes luck trumps everything.

[MetroMPG]

Yes, and it's a good thing I never take the freeway!


That is very cool about your tire pressure system. I don't know much about them, but assumed they were all just a PSI monitor.

[MeteorGray]

Yeah, I believe most tire alarms are psi-based. In fact, I "think" I read that the newest Generation 4 Mazda3s have gone to that system, which is probably the more popular system.

I like my Generation 3's system because it works quite effectively in reporting low tire pressure and, as in my example above, even some tread faults. Another advantage is that since it incorporates no tire pressure device on each tire, there's nothing to change out when new tires are installed.

[Shaneajanderson]

Originally Posted by MeteorGray

Yeah, I believe most tire alarms are psi-based. In fact, I "think" I read that the newest Generation 4 Mazda3s have gone to that system, which is probably the more popular system.

I like my Generation 3's system because it works quite effectively in reporting low tire pressure and, as in my example above, even some tread faults. Another advantage is that since it incorporates no tire pressure device on each tire, there's nothing to change out when new tires are installed.

As someone who used to work in a shop and change a lot of tires: That's awesome, TPMS sensors are a pain in the neck to deal with when changing tires. And then calibrating them can be terrible too: Ford's are easy if you have the pairing remote, but GMs (as of when I worked there) you had to do a procedure to start the pairing, and then you let the system know which tire was which by either adding or draining air from the each tire for ten seconds.

[MetroMPG]

Well, with the Mirage sold, the Metro is officially back on the road.

The plan was to put the Firefly in service, but my insurance company is being stupid and greedy, so that won't happen until I sort that out. Maybe next month. MPGiata will come later in the summer. Too many cars.

So I just re-read the last page of this thread and had forgotten how annoyed I was last year with the Metro and all its faults. Students, use "plethora" in a sentence.

I wonder if I'll hate it. No doubt it's a huge downgrade from the Mirage in every way except fuel economy.

[MetroMPG]

We're not off to a good start...




Literally on the first start-up, the alternator was seized and the belt broke.


Fortunately (?) from last year's alternator shenanigans, I have a pile of known-good alternators to choose from.

[California98Civic]

Originally Posted by MetroMPG

We're not off to a good start...
.

Bummer... did you get it running?

[MetroMPG]

I just evicted one seized alternator... and it runs again!

Funny: the known good one I swapped in, I'm pretty sure it's off the engine that was yanked from the ForkenSwift. Surplus part saves parts car!


Next diagnosis... something in the steering has dried out of grease. There's a terrible creaking sound when I turn the steering wheel either direction.

[California98Civic]

Originally Posted by MetroMPG

... Next diagnosis... There's a terrible creaking sound when I turn the steering wheel either direction.

The car gods of the North are testing you.