Snowing in Chicago

[Tammer in Philly]

Our first real snowfall of the year, with accumulation and all. About a half-inch on the deck, grass, and garage roof, but just some slushy stuff in the streets as the ground is still warmer. Expecting up to three inches by end of day.

My parents were here for Thanksgiving, then flew to San Francisco the following day to see my sister and BIL. They got back to retrieve their car at 7am and we got to share a pot of coffee and talk for an hour before they hurried off to beat the snow. Later in the morning, my wife and I walked through the snowfall to brunch at our favorite neighborhood spot.

I got new front brakes and the snow tires on the Fiesta ST two weeks ago, did the 30k-mile service last night, and installed the Cobb rear motor mount to reduce wheel hop and tighten up shifts under load--made a huge difference even with the relatively low mileage on the stock part. I also cleaned up the shop space to prep for more race car work in the coming weeks.

As with the E28, the ST rides better and feels more fun--especially the steering feel--on the 15" wheels with lower-grip snow tires than it does on the stock 17s with much wider and stickier rubber. Though of course, it's MUCH faster on the aggressive setup. I like having the seasonal change in driving dynamics. Makes me think that Subaru really did get it right by putting shitty tires on the BRZ; few cars are more fun at street speeds. And maybe my GT350R is just stupid and ultimately less fun because of its ridiculous capabilities which can't be exploited in any meaningful way on public roads. But that's all just musing about cars, which I like to do.

Anyway, back to today. The tree is lit, it's warm inside, the music and bourbon are good, and we're knocking stuff off the to-do list. Pretty damn good weekend, and my first one without intrusion from work in a while. Hope y'all are doing okay.

-tammer

[dsmith]

Very nice. I just put 300 lbs of sand in the truck bed and need to get my e28 off of jack stands tomorrow to shuffle things around in the garage before snow fall. Expecting flurries tonight.

The list for tomorrow:
-oil pan gasket
-duck gasket and rear coolant pipe
-brake lines/fluid
-coolant/heater hoses and coolant
-valve adjustment and ignition parts
-oil
-Drive it around the block, fill it up and put in the Stabil and battery tender for the winter slumber

Need to change oil on the truck too.

Can't wait until Spring and more BMWness!

[Kyle in NO]

Glad you could make that Fiesta great again!

[Tammer in Philly]

It's always a party in the Fiesta. I ran a couple errands last night in it. As you'd expect of a car with good baseline dynamics and light weight and snow tires, it's fun on slick roads. Too bad we don't have any real corners here; I had to terrorize a couple roundabouts.