I put the winter set (all 4) of Bridgestone Blizzaks on our 2001 Impala today. I have both the summer set of tires and the winter set on their own steel rims so I do not have to have tires unmounted and mounted and balanced with each change of season.
I found out that the drivers front rim has a bunch of grease on the inside of the rim of the summer tire that came off. So the boot for the CV joint is bad. The CV joint is not making any noise, but it will not pass inspection that is due at the end of April with a bad CV boot. I guess I will drive it until then to get more miles out of it if it dose not start making any noise before April.
The drivers rear tire had a drywall screw in it. At least it is near the center of the tread so it is repairable. The head of the screw is sticking out and half worn off from contact with the road. So it must have been in there for a while, but the tire was not loosing any air. The summer tires including this one still have plenty of tread so I will go with a plug to fix it, and see if it holds pressure while in winter storage.
I stopped at the Alternator and Starter shop that put the new Interstate battery in the car three weeks ago under warranty, after the last new one failed after only 12 days of use, and had them do a load test on the new battery. He loaded it down to draw 350 Amps and it tested good.
I thought that getting the Blizzaks on the Impala would be all I had to do to get it ready for winter, but now I'll have to pay attention to weather that CV joint starts making any noise.
I found out that the drivers front rim has a bunch of grease on the inside of the rim of the summer tire that came off. So the boot for the CV joint is bad. The CV joint is not making any noise, but it will not pass inspection that is due at the end of April with a bad CV boot. I guess I will drive it until then to get more miles out of it if it dose not start making any noise before April.
The drivers rear tire had a drywall screw in it. At least it is near the center of the tread so it is repairable. The head of the screw is sticking out and half worn off from contact with the road. So it must have been in there for a while, but the tire was not loosing any air. The summer tires including this one still have plenty of tread so I will go with a plug to fix it, and see if it holds pressure while in winter storage.
I stopped at the Alternator and Starter shop that put the new Interstate battery in the car three weeks ago under warranty, after the last new one failed after only 12 days of use, and had them do a load test on the new battery. He loaded it down to draw 350 Amps and it tested good.
I thought that getting the Blizzaks on the Impala would be all I had to do to get it ready for winter, but now I'll have to pay attention to weather that CV joint starts making any noise.
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