Ford...Quality is job...

[PureVenom]

Job? Job? We don't need no stinking job.

Yeah, just swapped out my front and rear IRS bolts tonight. You may remember when I did my springs I said I Sheered off the tab on the rear IRS bolt on the passenger side so I couldn't get it out.

Well, I did the driver side and the passenger front...then attacked the rear. Here are the pics of the bolts that came out. The "normal" looking bolt is the one that came out of one of the fronts. The other two are the ones that came out of the rears. The passenger side is completely obvious. Yeah, both sides were cross threaded...the passenger side, well, that was just fubared beyond belief.

Needless to say, I got the low profile bolts in...and even on the passenger side I managed to get the rear bolt in no problem even with it so cross threaded previously. Went in smooth.

Oh, and I did have the 12mm bolts in the front instead of the proper 14mm that fit the damn hole. Damn ford, cutting corners.

Now, to get the sumitmos mounted this week. They are 315's and are about 3/4" wider than the nitto 315's in case anyone is wondering later.


And just as a special touch, I've also provided a pic of the results of my last burnout the day of fun ford weekend...this is 3 weeks old now when I took the pic. Oh, and the new sumitmos...

[n8r]

Gotta love it. You don't even want to know how many times we get cross threaded crap at work.

[modular2valve]

damn son...lol. i was there for the burnout..i still walk outside and see those marks

[Scut95]

nice burnout.....i have the sumos on the back of my car, same 315's....really not bad for the price....even though you have a lot more hp/torque

[SpectorV]

yea thsoe bolts should have been a recall to fix... leave it to ford to do something stupid... I would understand it if it was on the 99 models as they just changed over from 12mm to 14mm in 99 but not in 03...

[SimplyOrangeTPS]

meh, burnout looks ok benjy has those tires on the back of the 96 right now

[Thomas91169]

how much a piece for the sumitomos? are they better than a 555R?

[PureVenom]

Quote: Originally Posted by Thomas91169 how much a piece for the sumitomos? are they better than a 555R?

They aren't on the car yet so I can't comment on their driving pros/cons yet...but I will be able to better comment next week.

However, having owned the 555's in the past on my GT, and a set on the front of the cobra as we speak, they look identical in both tread pattern and depth. I'll know better how their wet weather driving and what kind of traction, or lack there of, I get from them compares to the Nitto street radials this weekend.. I don't expect much traction with them being a harder street compound instead of the drag radial compound...but we will see.

As for price, they were $99 each from Tire Rack. That is for the 315/35 17's. I was able to buy 2 of these for the price of one Nitto 555 street radial which are $209 each.

I wanted something cheap that would last a good while of daily driving...and my road trip to NY in the fall. I will order a second set of FR500's with some mickey tompsons for track and fun times...

[SimplyOrangeTPS]

wet weather driving is better with sumitomos and hadling is about the same, traction is less and sumitomos last longer

[KyleUSAF]

nice. i bet those sumi's wont be nearly as sticky as the nittos though

what do you think of em?

[PureVenom]

Yeah, they are on now...been on for about 20 miles (15ish interstate)...they will definitely get the job done for what I bought them for....Daily driver tires. I'll get another set of 10.5" rims with some mickey tompson et streets for play times. These have no traction anytime I go full throttle...1st, 2nd, 3rd...doesn't matter, the ass end gets all squirrelly...but, I didn't buy them for traction.

[Kyle]

nice..........gotta be a good feeling, especially in the rain, since we are having one every afternoon now

[PureVenom]

Haven't driven them in the rain yet...they were getting installed during the showers yesterday...and then the roads were dry by the time I got out of there. Sparky was slammed yesterday, so it was like a 2.5 hour trip to get them installed.

The squirreling came on dry roads.

[Kyle]

you better find a way to launch in 4th when its raining then........why dont they grab though?

[PureVenom]

Quote: Originally Posted by Kyle you better find a way to launch in 4th when its raining then........why dont they grab though?

They are hard street compounds...made for longevity...not soft sticky drag radials made for grip. You have a choice, you either get good grip or long life...they are mutually exclusive. I bought this set in hopes of not needing tires in 10-12 months like I do with the nittos.

[99MustangGTman]

damn