Re-Tiring
Some of you may recall that we had a nearly catastrophic failure of one of the tires on the Rolling Stone, and that when we took the RV to Big O Tires, they insisted that the only tires out there that would work were made in China. We put this aside because the Winnipeg trip was approaching, but we sort of need the RV to use as an alternative (albeit fuel-inefficient) vehicle for when we try to put the Astro into the shop for the significant repairs it needs. After some hunting around, we determined that General Tire has US-made tires (under the Grabber brand) that will fit the RV, and that we could buy them through TireRack.com. Furthermore, TireRack has a distribution center at the Tahoe-Reno Industrial Center located between Fernley and Sparks. (It's the same huge industrial park where the first Tesla Gigafactory was built.) If we pick up the tires directly from the warehouse, we get a $70 discount. The tires had to be shipped there from a different warehouse, but this morning I got a call from them telling me that they should arrive tomorrow. They also confirmed that these are US-made tires.
We should be able to fit the four tires into the back of the minivan. Now we need to get one of the places here in Fernley to mount and balance the four tires one at a time as we bring them one wheel at a time. Lisa can then put them onto the RV. She has a torque wrench and knows how to use it, unlike lots of "professional" tire shops that just use an air wrench without properly torquing the nuts, which on more than one occasion has resulted in over-torqued wheel nuts.
So sometime tomorrow afternoon, once we get the email from TireRack that our tires are ready for pickup, Lisa and I will go over to TRIC and collect tires.
We should be able to fit the four tires into the back of the minivan. Now we need to get one of the places here in Fernley to mount and balance the four tires one at a time as we bring them one wheel at a time. Lisa can then put them onto the RV. She has a torque wrench and knows how to use it, unlike lots of "professional" tire shops that just use an air wrench without properly torquing the nuts, which on more than one occasion has resulted in over-torqued wheel nuts.
So sometime tomorrow afternoon, once we get the email from TireRack that our tires are ready for pickup, Lisa and I will go over to TRIC and collect tires.