Flat Tire - A First Time for Everything

Yes, it's true - in my over 20 years of driving I've never had a flat tire. Until just last week, when on the way home from Yokota Air Base, my Chinese made "RUPSE" Tire Pressure Monitor System started going bananas.  In the past, on a hot day it had indicated a problem, but when I parked the car and drove on a cooler day, it was fine.

So when the TPMS started flashing again indicating a fault in the right rear tire, luckily I was going slow enough to pull over and take a look. The right rear tire looked fine, but just in case I looked at the other rear tire and... yep it was pretty flat (the sensors had been switched left to right on installation. Oh well). Tire gauge indicated a 1.5 when all other tires were 2.5.

As I was hoping for a slow leak, I pulled into a gas station, had the tire inflated back up to 2.5, and then drove home. The TPMS warning went away, but then as I approached my house I noticed the air pressure number for the right rear (in reality the left rear) tire dropping. And of course, the next morning the the tire was flat with the rim on the ground, with only the rubber of the tire between it and the ground.

So I went off to work, and during the day called the dealer to see if they could help. Their idea was, with a slow leak I could either inflate the tire myself (or mount the spare) and then drive over, and they would see if they could repair the tire. So that's exactly what I did - I left work early, used a portable electric pump and filled up the tire, and drove to the Lexus dealer, thankfully only about 1.3 km away from my house.

After enjoying the free drink and snack, they invited me back to the workshop to check out what was going on.

Super clean, wish the Nissan dealer was like this too...

 Surprisingly, they found a nail in the tire, but that wasn't the cause of the leak. When they dunked the tire in soapy water, they found the source of the leak.

Looks like something wedged in there. 

 Luckily, because it wasn't on the side of the tire, it was repairable.

But look at what it was!

Broken off knife blade!

It appeared to be a broken off utility knife blade.  So they plugged up the leak and told me it was a temporary fix, and sent me on my way.

Now, I DID ask about what tires to get next - the car is on Michelin Pilot Super Sports, and while those are still in stock, for not much more I could get the Michelin Pilot Sport 4S, which is the follow on model to the Super Sports. Unfortunately, the dealer wanted about 80,000 yen per tire (or about $800 each!) while I could shop online and get each tire for less than half that price. So guess what I'll be doing soon...

Except of course I have other expenses in my life right now, so as long as this repaired tire holds (the dealer showed me I have about 4mm of tread life left until each tire hits the wear bars on the tire), I'm going to try to hold out...

A Short Trip Up To Nagano... and the Prince & Skyline Museum

...and the Prince & Skyline Museum!

I'll post more on the museum itself on my R33 GT-R page later, but wanted to include some photos that just came out right!

Yamanashi and Nagano Prefectures are VERY green this time of year, and with a bit of rainfall the scenery was even more interesting (check out the clouds) and pretty.  Bonus was all the fresh air...

Found a neat bridge with red railings. Had to stop and take some photos! 

Found a look out point a few kms later...

Here was the view... the kind of green I don't see in Yokohama!

Another nice bridge

Still think the carbon lip really balances the car...

Towards the end of the day, found this road...

Had some fun on a gravel road....

Got out to check it out and what a great picture here

Of course this will need a wash....

 Anyway it's been a while since I drove this car so much (over 450km in one day) and this blog also needed an update.

Until next time...

Sunny Day Means a Wash and Detail!

Right before Japan's raining season (late June and July), I happened to be home on a weekend where I had some free time. And it was nice and sunny.

I had recently noticed some minute scratching in the paint surface, so in addition to giving the car a wash, I decided some work with an orbital buffer would also be good.

Using, of course, my favorite car care products from Zaino.

I know, it's not good to dry in the sun. I had to move fast...

Loe how the water still beads even though I don't wax the car regularly. This is the Zaino AIO in action (plus the occasional Z-9 or Z-7 instant detailer spray)

Blinded by the light!!

Another shot - I wonder if I should get an OEM carbon fiber trunk lip spoiler? 

Here in Japan, with our narrow streets, I had to park and not block the main street!

All done! Hard to tell the gloss though...

Here we go. 

So what do you think? Shiny enough? I think the Lexus has very high quality paint, which makes cleaning up and looking good so much easier...

"New" Wheels (Part 3)

So I was really eager to pick the car up! And not just because of the "new" wheels...

So in addition to getting "clean new" wheels put onto the car, I decided to use this opportunity to resolve another issue, one that had been bothering me ever since I bought the car.

WHAT IS THIS BLANK SWITCH??

Why did Lexus do this? I mean, since this car was equipped with all of the options, should they not design cars to use up all available switch space?

So I found on eBay this "Rupse TPMS for Toyota."  I was naive in that I thought that all Toyota switches were standardized, but more on that later.

First, I had Ninomiya-san contact a tire fitter who took the tires off the wheels, and install the sensors.  He then hooked up the display unit in the car.

I'm happy to report that, for about $100, the electronics appear to work perfectly. Not only do I get fairly accurate tire pressure readings (off by 0.1 bar according to Ninomiya-san), but also the temperature in Celsius! Very cool.

The problem, as I alluded to above, and you can see in this photo, was that the display size is 34mm x 23.5mm. The blank switch, however, if 40mm x 22mm. So while it holds itself in place, there is a noticeable gap on top and bottom.

After some research it appears that these dimensions are the size for Honda switches. Figured it was too good to be true. But not all is lost. I've already figured out a way to, at very least, make this look better... I think.

In any case, and more importantly, the car looks fantastic now with the "new" wheels.

Amazing how NO curb rash improves the looks!

Even two Italians (Dino and Ennio) thought so:

Ennio was in town, helping Dino get his BNR34 ready for the annual GT-R Magazine meeting

In any case, I also had Ninomiya-san install ONE MORE ITEM. And this one is AMAZING. Check back for my report on that!

"New" Wheels (Part 2)

So as you saw from my last post, I found some used wheels in good condition, with near new tires. My task has been to clean up the inside of all the brake dust, as well as to remove the scratches in the chromed parts, to the best of my ability. Granted, I bought those wheels last DECEMBER(!) so this project has been taking me a while.

With my current wheels, they collect so much brake dust and the dust is really hard to remove. No matter how many times I wash and use chemicals, or even special brushes, the dust just accumulates. There appears to be a "crust" of brake dust that just does not want to come off, and makes it easier for more brake dust to accumulate.

The purple stuff is brake dust MELTING away...

Specialist tools to get all the brake dust. I've never had to use this on the GTR. 

Yuck!

Anyway, there is a reason why I don't have this problem with the GT-R. You see, whenever I get wheels for the GT-R - whether the original OEMs that came with the car, or the RE30s I had for a few months, the TE37s or the LMGT4s I used only on the track, I always, when new/clean, apply this:

I love this stuff. You can buy it here.

Before I applied this, however, I wanted to make sure the wheels were absolutely the cleanest they could be.

A bit of brake dust here, so

I used some detailing clay to remove what I could

I was surprised to find this much still embedded!

So while the clay was certainly helping, after doing all 4 wheels, I still felt like I hadn't gotten rid of all I could. So, I ordered this stuff from the same place that makes the wheel "glass coating":

Which is basically a super strong acidic solution, much stronger than the off the shelf purple stuff I normally use

I now felt my wheels were clean enough, so I applied several thin coats of the glass coating:

With iPhone in one hand, pretending to apply with the other...

Why all of this prep? See my next post as to what I am doing with these wheels!

"New" Wheels (Part 1)

One of the problems with buying used, even a Certified Pre-Owned car, is that not everything is perfect, at least cosmetically.

For me, the biggest issue I spotted were the curb-rashed wheels - this was because other items like rock chips in the bumper, hood and mirror covers can all be written up as normal "wear and tear" - but curb rash signifies poor driving skills.

I get annoyed every time I see this on my car (so all the time....)

And, yes because I am sensitive to how others view me as a driver (especially when driving a nice car), I want to make sure that people don't think I can't drive without scraping ALL FOUR wheels.

So, I searched on Yahoo Auctions for some OEM wheels with as little damage as possible  - which was easier said than done, actually.

Finally, however I found a seller who not only seemed to be selling some clean undamaged rims (one small spot had some rash), but also was running on almost brand new tires (Michelin Pilot Super Sports) - he claimed only 4800 kms on them.

From the photos, it looked like a good deal - even the tires alone would be expensive (if new) and so I figured that together it would be a decent deal (i.e. get clean free wheels for the price of the tires).

From the Yahoo Auction page

From the Yahoo Auction page

When I got them, however, of course they were not as perfect as the seller claimed. Good condition yes but some light scrapes were visible so I had to buff those out using a combination of PoorBoys 2.5, 3M Perfect-It, and some good old elbow grease:

Before

After

Have to give credit to not just this 3M product, but some PoorBoys 2.5 vanishing compound too... oh and yes my PorterCable machine!

Still, they look great from a few paces away and clearly way better than the wheels on my car now.


Also, it appears he was truthful about the tires - the tire code shows that the tires were manufactured the 8th week (last week of Feb) of 2015, so these tires are relatively new and 4800kms - in Japan - makes sense especially if these tires were manufactured overseas (so if imported, would be on the car around late March, and I bought these wheels in August, so about 800kms per month?)


I noticed, however that there was still some brake dust hiding between the spokes and even though I used some clay to try to remove, it just wasn't going as quickly as it could:

Not very efficient...

So, I decided to try a chemical solution:

The purple stuff is the melted iron/brake dust, apparently...

Truth be told, the chemical did not remove all of the brake dust, so check back in Part 2 for my additional efforts. The wheels are presentable, sure, but not perfect... yet...