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Thinking About Getting One Of These...

by Bitter, May 17, 2009 in Toyotas that aren’t Corollas

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I think I'll do the both of best worlds and do 205/65R15 in the snow tire! I need to check if I can beat Tire-Racks price through our supplier at work+tax or if Tire-Rack+shipping is cheaper.

^^^ There you go! I'm hedging my bets this year on my car that we won't have as much snow/ice as last year and just went with some performance all-seasons on the Corolla. Bridgestone Potenza RE960AS Pole Positions.

The new Matrix has BFGoodrich g-Force Super Sport A/S as OEM on the car - those have got to be the second worst tires I've ever driven on. Dry grip is OK, wet grip is almost non-existent, can't wait for some snow. Planning on getting some cheaper alloys and some Bridgestone Blizzaks, but haven't decided yet.

Just watch, probably get 10 feet of snow this year in the DC Metro area.

hey now, those are what I have on the celica! LOL, they're not that bad in the wet. though in hindsight and having a second car I think the celica is getting something better for the summer only since I'll be driving my moms sedan more than the celica...since I like the celica so much!

LOL! I really had high hopes for the tires, specs are decent and BFG is a well known manufacturer.

I'll have to double check the DOT number and batch, as there are two possible compounds used and two manufacturing origins. Tire is a 215/45-18 which BFG doesn't normally stock, so I'm thinking these are one of those "goofy" setups that do not actually live up to its speed/traction ratings.

But so far bad luck on this set. Punctures are what are getting me - got the car in July, put about 12K miles since then (road trip mania) - and got a puncture in each tire.

So far those Bridgestones are awesome - we'll see in the wintertime, see how it works. Traction is outstanding, clean transition and smooth break aways at the limits - but it goes down the road like a touring tire, very soft - it is sore of weird. Tire noise is surprising though, tread doesn't look like it should be that noisy, but it is. I'm surprised, had Bridgestones before, but they never rode like these. I'll see if my opinion changes when I start rolling on the miles (only ~3000 miles on them now, put those on beginning of October).

glad you like the 960's, both people who bought them on my suggestion like them as well.

I'll give you that the BFG's may not grab in the rain, but I don't push them. I only spin when wet if its really wet and I'm hitting 1st gear lift at full throttle or launching it from a stop. braking is fine, but I can lock them up on a dry road most of them time anyways too soo...who knows. I don't push my luck with lateral traction when its wet, but dry they're alright. they seem to get better with some miles on them as far as dry lateral traction, I have to work to push them out from under me. I'm talking hair pins at 40 or sweeping bends at 65-70-80mph before they feel like they might be on the edge of traction. granted I do feather throttle and brakes to balance the car so we may be talking apples to sardines when it comes to pushing tires.

One of my HIR high beams exploded last night :-(

What happened, vibration got it or did it get wet? Actually shattered hot glass everywhere? I've heard of this happening, but figured it was pretty remote.

Looking to retrofit the Matrix to take projectors, but first trying to find a set of OEM lamp assemblies cheap, as I don't want to mess up the originals - so HIR was an option.

No idea, I was on a very bumpy road earlier in the night, and was using the high beams off and on alot on country roads. took the long way home by just driving for a while along the river (a bridge I wanted was closed) and then hit the 'go home' button on the GPS. only noticed the bulb out when I pulled into my spot and hit the brights to light up the inside of the car so the GF could see something. No idea how long it was out for, but yes EXPLODED. shards of glass all over the inside, big yellow 'burn' above on the reflector, and some scratches inside too.

I'm going to blame the DRL for this, not allowing the halogen cycle to complete and weakening the filament or something, and will be disabling it in a way which is easy to re-enable.

Figured it out maybe, your input Fish? Airhorn compressor was just barely touching the connector to the exploded bulb, vibrations from the compressor may have been the culprit. cramped engine bay, I had to mount the compressor behind the headlight to keep it out of the elements. means I have to pull the compressor partly out to do the high beam bulb...blah! or pull the bumper to pull the headlight default_smile

Yeah, that might have done it - though there are other reports of exploding HIR bulbs, so I wouldn't completely blame the compressor.

If you are thinking of moving the compressor to a different spot, I'd just pull the compressor to get to the bulb. Then again, you'll probably end up pulling the headlamp assembly out to fish out the pieces of broken glass. 6 of one, 1/2 dozen of the other - probably one of those situations where whichever one you pull, you'll end up pulling the other anyways. default_tongue

yep, for now I'm going to get a fresh pair of HIR bulbs, pull the compressor (one bolt) and replace the bulb. its something I can do on lunch without a lift. I'll dick with the glass shards later when I feel like it...

Look for a thread in here about my winter beater and a HID retrofit on a budget default_smile....2011.

Looks pretty nice! Pretty aggressive stock removal on the mounting flange and the collector area, must have had some carbine tips to hog out that much material - that or a lot of patience with lesser media.

Have you tried to install the new header on your car to gauge how the new header feels? The Corolla XRS guys can feel some difference with a ported OEM header, which should mean the Celica GT-S owners should see more gains, especially given their relatively safety factory tunes coupled with the high revving nature of the 2ZZ-GE engine. Lot of people swear by the PPE header as well - which would be great if you had the coin to throw at it, it is an awesome header - but you have to pay for it too.

If you haven't done one before, have fun porting the other one - you'll learn a lot on that header. Each time you do it, you'll find a better and easier way to do the job.

I didn't port the flange end, someone else did. I'm going to sell the silver painted one and port the other one myself. Yea, I have a 1/3hp mini die grinder and a pretty full set of carbide bits. 4 long and 8 short. I've got an exhaust gasket on the way for the port job on the virgin manifold so I can match it up perfectly.

Yea, those carbide bits just fly right through the soft welds and mild steel like its nothing. I did the collector on lunch in about 15 minutes, it looked like the other stock one when I started. I also have a work space at a friends barn with a big air compressor but its unheated...mostly. I'd be working infront of a torpedo heater there.

got the gasket and bits today both, nice coincidence. I'll port it out when I have time, tomorrow, saturday, sunday, whatever.

Can't wait to see it! Also on my "todo" list, whenever I can get some free time.

Looking good! Pretty smooth in there, did you follow up with a flap wheel or sanding/abrasive roll? Must have been a pretty high speed grinder with a pretty steady hand to get them like that, not bad!

No follow up, just a 1/3 HP Mac brand Die grinder, 20 or 30,000 RPM...and yes a steady hand. Come on, you know I can TIG weld default_tongue I'll reach my wire brush into there and give it a spin to clean out some little weld balls just to be extra anal.

One of my Philips X-treme +80 bulbs died tonight while driving, got an off the shelf Sylvania H7 bulb and...its as bright as the remaining H7 +80 bulb...its going to go out soon too. I had thought they were getting dimmer lately and this really confirms it! So I grabbed a pair of Osram Rallyeye 65W 2100 Lumen bulbs for $45 shipped, same price as the +80 but supposedly brighter. We'll see.

Got the Osrams today, at first they looked dim and yellow and I was very default_sad

but after running some errands and driving at night for about 15-20 minutes they were bright as I could imagine a halogen bulb to be and I was very default_smile

As for the headlight harnesses, I will be getting a relay harness with heavy wiring just to be safe. I never felt the connectors with factory bulbs in there, but the connectors are warm to bordering on hot. Not flesh burning hot or even 'owwie that hurts to touch' hot, but enough to make me want to play it safe. I'd guess from my experiences of hands on hot radiator hoses that the connectors are in the 150-190F range, anything over about 120F to about 190F feels pretty similar. I don't have my mini pyrometer anymore to get an exact reading.

They are near HID bright, or so they feel. I'll get some photo's once I've installed the harness kits to ensure they're as bright as possible.

ugh, anticipation for the harness kit is killing me. Still running them on factory wiring and holy heck they are bright. very bright, the good bright too. not the glaring annoying bright, though someone down hill from me in oncoming traffic gave me a flash...nothing I can do about that since they're projectors and I was cresting the hill.

Good to know! I'll put them on my shopping list when it comes time to replacing my current bulbs. Kind of weird that they started out dim and them brightened up. I guess you'll find out when you replace the harnesses if it was the connectors giving you problems this whole time.

Well not unusual, I've found that with any high output halogen bulb. The HIR high beams are the same way, sort of average at first but after some use reach full brightness.

Let me refine that, not everytime I turn them on. I'm talking about after the initial use. the first time I use them ever, they're a little dim and then with normal use they reach peak brightness for the rest of their lives at each use. its just the initial few minutes that the output is 'meh'.

Couldn't resist, got 4 of these....

http://store.candlepower.com/2886x.html

Really curious, information is scarce on them. lots of people talk, but I can't find any photo's. from what I can see its a tiny halogen bulb and not a regular incandescent which is how it puts out so much light from such a lil wattage. going to replace the LED's in the headlight housing parking lamps...they look too 'blue' tinted and I don't like them. If they had been a warmer white I'd have not minded, but they're a very cold white with a hint of blue....nah. 85 Lumen will be nice, going to leave the bulb shrouds I made in place though to keep the look special. if they're bright enough could re-purpose the DRL circuit to burn those instead...maybe.

Not sure where the other 2 will go, I'll determine that once I see how hot they get. if they stay similar to a regular 194/168 then I'll toss them in the side markers for even better front visibility. May end up with 2 more of the plate!

What I'd love are some nice bright 7440 LED's for the turn signals...but I don't want to take a $40 gamble on bulbs I won't be happy with. Fish, any suggestions?

Got the Putco harness...its...confusing. Directions with it are for the H4 harness and the thing looks like it has 4 H7 connectors and and a bunch of odd grounds and ugh. I should have just had my friend make me one with my measurements...may still do that and just use the Putco for something else...argh.



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