Firestone Store

I had to replace my my 1-year old tires on Christmas eve. All they had in a performance tire in stock in my size were some Bridgestone RE-910’s. After driving with them for about 4 weeks I realized they were not the tire for me. For me the Miata has always handled above my fear factor, but with these tires the car loses traction before I lose nerve. Had the manager, Carl, at the local Firestone Store order me a set of 4 Bridgestone S-03 Pole Positions their top of the line street tire. He said that he could get them for me and on the car for $262. Well after nearly a 2 week wait I had them installed tonite. When I went to pick up my car the fellow behind the counter didn’t know what to do, he couldn’t intemperate Carl’s pricing instructions and he couldn’t get a hold of Carl. His computer showed a “normal” price to me of $655! They finally let me have the car as long as I promised to call Carl in the AM and work out the price. Maybe I should just wait for him to call me. 🙂 The stinking tires ought to be free after what I had to go through on Christmas eve. Read these:
Miata Net Forum Post #1 – Where Did the Air Go, Part 3 and
Miata Net Forum Post #2 – Don’t ever let them use the impact wrench

State Farm Insurance

Stopped in to pay our bill this evening on the way home. We didn’t mail it in because it was incorrect. Several months ago we paid off the loan against our policies, but it still showed that we owed on them on the bill. When we asked about it they said, “Gee, it shouldn’t be on there. Let’s look in the computer.” When they looked they found that when we thought we paid off the loan, we just paid off the principle, which is all their computers show. Apparently the fellow who helped us didn’t know that they were supposed to call and get the actual up-to-the-minute payoff figure. Turns out we owed the interest for the amount of days of the month till the date we paid. $37 for Donna and $800 for me. HUH! The loans were for nearly identical sums, the payments were the same, the pay offs were the same. What happened? One of the friendly State Farm Insurance agents in the office called the regional rep and spent the next 1/2 on the phone with him/her and straightened it out. I only owed $37 bucks too.

Miata Mag

To work with the top up and home with it down. Didn’t feel as warm as it really was because the clouds moved in early this afternoon. The bad news is there are supposed to be afternoon showers tomorrow, the good news is with the clouds the temps are only supposed to fall into mid 40’s tonight and depending on the mood the top may stay down for the ride to work tomorrow. The latest edition of Miata Magazine came in the mail today. I think I have become just a bit jaded with the mag. It has been 12-1/2 years of, first quarterly and then bi-monthly, issues and while I’ll still going to read it cover-to-cover it won’t happen in one sitting like it used to.

Tomorrow is new tire day. After living with the RE-930’s for a month I realized they aren’t enough tire for me. For me the Miata has always handled above my fear factor, but with these tires the car loses traction before I lose nerve. Going with some Bridgestone S-03 Pole Positions. They are highly spoken of on Miata.net and rack way up there on the Tirerack survey.

Started down, went up and now down.
Top Transitions since 02/01/02: 24

Off Center

Back to the pattern. Put the top up for the morning commute, put it down for the return trip. A busy day in Miataland. Took the makings of my switch/light panel to work and wired it up. After work I installed it.

Looks good, still need to fill about an 1/8 below the HU. I may try and butcher up most of the silver trim piece that came with the radio…

The blue 194 bulbs were a waste of $3. They are real blue when out, but on they look white with a hint of blue, so the ODO is still white. Gotta find them blue bulb “condoms.”

The 2″ Barndoor Fan Club stickers came in today. That’s the good news, bad news is that they aren’t exactly right. Emailed the place I got them from (websticker.com) and they said they’d check into it. They are almost good enough, but after going through 4 different proofs and thinking you got it right, they come in with the image smaller and slightly off center.

Started down, went up and now down.
Top Transitions since 02/01/02: 22

Two-man Luge

What is up with that. How do they stay attached to one another while flying down the hill? I hope it is velcro and not some sort of physical connection.

Careful Placement

Usually the Miata sits on Sunday, but today was different. Donna’s mom didn’t want to lunch out, so we got to drive the Miata with the top down. After eating we went grocery shopping for the week. I had to revert to actually planning where the grocery bags go and in what order, etc. instead of just tossing them in as I get to do with the Honda Civic. No problem, now 2 weeks worth of groceries might require some real planning and maybe even a bag at the passenger’s feet.

Finally bought switches and lights for the console. Ended up back at the place I went to on lunch Thursday. Radio Shack had more kinds off toggle switches than you could shake a stick at, but they were all pretty black or colored plastic…I wanted plain old silver. The other parts stores only had one switch like I wanted and no lights. Tomorrow night I’ll take the console out and see about mounting the stuff and wiring it up. While I was at the store I found some 194 bulbs in blue. I bought two and will stick them in the dash and see if they will make the ODO numbers blue.

Started down, still down.
Top Transitions since 02/01/02: 20

Panel Problem Solved

Really nice day here, upper 60’s not at all like winter. Drove over to Wagner to meet Ron and sell him the CD changer. We met at the Dollar General and he led us out to his house, a lot easier than him trying to give me directions. He and wife Chris and daughter Stephanie live in a new modular home north of town. Really nice place, cathedral ceilings through out and the thing probably has more square footage than our house. The only downside is it is 1/2 mile in on a dirt road. Ron is mechanically minded, but not so electrically minded, so I was going to show him how I had set up the changer in my car. He already had the console out of Steph’s car. Seeing as the car was already disassembled it was easy to just install it as I showed him how. We wired it up and tried it out – worked like a charm. He had picked up a replacement front center console from a salvage yard to replace her damaged one. It was nearly brand new. We figure the previous owner must have put a new after market radio in the car just before he wrecked it. When he pulled the console out to put in the new radio he must have broke the original and then replaced it with this new one. The after market radio was gone and the OEM one was on the front floor. All he had left to do was put everything back in place and drill 4 holes to mount the unit in the trunk.

I showed him my new install with the toggle switches in cardboard and he said, “I got just what you need laying on the living room floor, I was going to throw it away.” Sure enough, he had pulled out the spacer from under the after market stereo that was left in the car and it is just what I needed for under my new head unit. Cool! I offered to give him $10-15 off the price of the changer and he said, “No, helping me install was worth that much.” Thanks Ron.

Started down, still down.
Top Transitions since 02/01/02: 20