I love dogs. What a cutie and what great shots!

 

Awesome dog!!! and great pics of the Type S as always! Damn, 70 mile commute a day...you got a lot of miles on that Type S now? Where is work for you?

 

Just wanted to move these to the current page...

Thanks guys, he is pretty cool looking. I would have taken pictures of the pug too, but he was celebrating a snow day his way - inside on the couch.

And James, I'm currently driving from Wheaton to Glenview and back every day. Quite a haul. Between gas and tolls, it costs me about $12 a day to go to work.

Here is my most recent car pic, happened last week:

 

Wow nice low miles for such a long commute.

 

Beautiful German Shepherd! and your car too!

 

Damn brother, that's some deep snow.

 

Thankfully I started off low. The past year with this commute I think I've put on about 17-18K. My previous commute was only 4 miles each way, so I low-mileage to begin with when I bought it and a few years of short commuting.

Thanks!

Yeah, it kinda sucks. I think we got around 15ish inches here Saturday thru Sunday night, then a few more on Tuesday. Posted pictures of the dog because no one needs to see my disgustingly dirty car.

 

any more thoughts on your audio path?! i just received all my finals parts and will slowly start wiring and sound deaden everything. i'm hoping in about a week or so i'll have the sub and front components going!

 

No, nothing new there. Was a little discouraged by the cost of it, so I may forego it entirely. Who knows though. I'll be eager to see how yours goes and what I can learn from it.

 

yea i'll keep you updated on mine. my hardware came out to about 700 minus the 125 i had in gift cards and the 105 that came from selling my extra TB and runners. trying to do the install myself we'll see how this goes!

 

Random picture just because it was clean-ish, and I thought it kinda came out interesting due to the sun rising above it.

20150218_071204_1 by KJ TL-S, on Flickr


So my next mod will be going in the back seat. Come July I'll be needing my first baby seat! We're very excited, but I'm a little concerned about my ride quality. The wife already doesn't like driving in my car with how bumpy and stiff it is, and I can't really disagree - its pretty rough over bumps.

One thing I know is a problem is that my winter tires are run flats...and they come with the world reknowned ride quality of run flats. So that should improve some when I get these off, but I'm unsure if I want to stick with the 19s any more. A higher sidewall would always help improve ride quality obviously. I guess in that regard going back to waffles would help even more. Other thing is that I think my Teins are currently set to about 10 or 11 clicks from stiff, out of the 16 total. Anyone going any softer than that usually? Is there a downside to going near the top of the softness scale, other than slightly reduced handling?

Basically I need the car to be more comfortable than it is. I think its the main reason lately that I've browsed new (used) cars, but I feel like I can do a lot still to make this a better ride before I need to resort to anything like that.

 

Congrats on the baby! I got a car seat and a booster in the back of mines.

My winter tires are currently run flats as well, they came with the Base TL wheels I bought, so I know how those feel.

You could run your A-Spec Wheels with some softer tires and backing the damper 1-2 clicks softer, which should help tremendously with the ride quality.

My A-Spec Suspension and A-Spec Wheels with Bridgestone RE970AS ride great.

 

Congratulations, KJ!!

 

Car looks great, so does the pooch Congrats on the little one.
I've carted my little one in my TLS, Id say the 4G is a little smoother and handles bumps a little better, but overall if its a manual no one really likes it but the driver. Fortunately I'm selfish and have a manual anyway

 

We're at 15 degrees in KC. I wish my Type S was that clean....

 

Fantastic picture AND news! That's so exciting!

 

Congrats on the big news KJ.

 

Thanks guys!

I'll have to decide what to do about wheels, I probably have about a month before I need to take off the winter tires. I also need to learn to remove the back seat to adjust those coilovers since the shop has always done that part. Can't be too hard, right?

And Steven, quit bragging about your balmy weather. This is what we were at when I was walking into work this morning:



I need it to get a little warmer so I can knock out an oil/trans fluid change soon.

 

You'll need to remove the rear deck and seats, it's not too bad. That's just to adjust damping though, ride height is on the coil itself obviously.

Here's a great DIY if you need it: https://acurazine.com/forums/tires-w...-091-a-816065/

I used it when my brother and I installed my coils.

 

lol.......

 

Congrats on the baby thats super exciting! If the wife doesn't already have an SUV, I recommend one. Makes things sooooo much easier with the kiddos. :-)

 

Thanks Austin, I'll have to read thru when it warms up a bit.

And James, an SUV is in the works. She currently has a '13 Sonata, but her next car will probably be something along the lines of a Honda Pilot. We probably need to go three rows so that we can transport all the people and dogs at the same time. Might not happen immediately, but should be within a year or so.

 

Yeah thats a good plan and pretty much exactly what we did. My wife had an 04 Accord sedan which we used for a couple years with one child and was fine. With a rear facing child seat its gonna be tight in any vehicle because it takes up a lot of space and will require you move the front seats up a good amount (especially in the Type S which has bulky seats).
Obviously things can be done with a car, but we ended up getting my wife a new 2014 Highlander Limited when she was about 6 months pregnant with kid #2 and it was becoming very difficult for her to load and unload our two year old in a lower and more cramped car.
We also looked at vehicles with 3 rows and considered the Pilot, but in the end if we were gonna spend $40K+ I wanted to get the latest and greatest and the aging Pilot just didn't have everything we wanted (the new redesigned one could be pretty sweet though). So far we our real happy with our decision and the second row captains chairs have crazy room...basically as much as minivans. I also like all the technology like heated steering wheel, pano roof, radar cruise control etc etc. Things that at the time just aren't available on the Pilot. If those kinda things aren't important the Pilot would still be a great candidate. Lots of options out there, but either way I think your wife will really appreciate the extra space and utility of an SUV...especially when kid #2 comes ;-)

 

Looks like we are on the same page there. She does want to get back into an SUV, and we will certainly need the space, I just want to do it when it makes more economic sense for us. Like you said, I'm sure with just one kid, a sedan will be sufficient, at least most of the time. You're right about the Pilot being a little dated, and a new Highlander did catch my eye the other day. Who knows...probably next spring we'll start test-driving a few to determine what we like most. Surprisingly, I really like the 14+ Durangos.

 

Yeah the Durango is nice although we didn't actually drive one. Im not sure why we didn't to be honest. Loads of tech features available on those. I heard that the Durango is being axed. I have heard a couple times on the Jeep forums that there is a possibility of a 3 row Grand Cherokee which would be amazing IMO! I think the 2014+ Grand Cherokee is downright sexy, but without the 3rd row you aren't getting anymore additional seating than even a car.....So if it wasn't for us wanting the 3rd row, the wife would hands down be driving a new Overland right now.
So many nice options out there right now. I think you have the right idea for now though, hold off and see how things go, then when financially smart start looking. We never had a problem with one kid in the Accord. The only times where things did get a bit difficult (and possibly slightly unsafe), was if we went to a family event for like holidays or whatever. I remember driving home from Palatine with my wife and kid in her Accord. We had the back seat filled with a wall of presents and boxes and our daughter was somewhere buried in there lol. Not ideal by any means especially in the event of an accident. The trunk space was taken almost entirely by the stroller. Anyway, you get the idea :-)

 

Funny you mention the 3rd row Cherokee. My wife loves the Cherokee, and actually we know have probably 4 or 5 in the extended family. The size is what keeps us from looking at them, which is how I found the Durango. In many ways, it is just that - a 3-row Cherokee.

Glad to hear you got by with a sedan for the first year or so, I'm sure we will get by just fine as well. I wish I could find a suitable used SUV that would hold its value the way my Type S has...

 

Need some input...

So I'm trying to decide what to do about the ES2s. Every time I see a picture with them on though, I can't get myself to let them go. So my thought to improve drive-ability of them is to swap the 245 35 19s that are on the rear 9.5 +35 wheels with some 265 30 19s. While statistically this would reduce overall diameter per our handy calculator, it would also eliminate the mild stretch, which I think would in some way mitigate the diameter difference. Am I making any sense? Would this make any difference?

 

All this SUV talk is making my head hurt.....

 

I love SUV's...glad we have the SRX in the family.

Kurt...she's looking stunning, as usual!

 

Haha, thanks J. An SUV will happen without a doubt, just need to wait until the right time to buy.

So anyone have any thoughts on 265 30 19s improving ride quality over slightly stretched 245 35 19s?

 

It'll probably make up for the lesser sidewall. Similar ride, would be my guess.

 

Something to think about...would be nice to have rim protection instead of stretch.

Hey J - didn't you used to have your Teins set pretty soft? Any downside to it?

 

Can't help you much in terms of the numbers BUT I can say that 265/30's sound like they would like downright beefy on your car. Do it and take a 3/4 shot of the Type-S when it's done! haha

 

Hey, Lamborghini is coming out with an SUV !!!!!

 

Haha, I think I agree, and I would like that beefy look way more than the stretched look. I may go this route in a month or two!

Talk about practical! I'll have to see what I can do about pre-ordering one.

 

^^^ I knew you would want to do that, buddy. Being informed is key!

 

^ so is Rolls Royce for that matter *chuckles*

 

Lol.....

 

So I'm leaning towards going with those 265/30/19s out back. I'd love to move the 245/35/19s to the front for more rim protection...but I think that might be getting a little ambitious with what I could fit without rubbing.

I do need to make a decision pretty soon as its basically time to get these snow tires off.

 

Let us know what you decide on. Have you guys still got snow up there?