"PanchoVilleneuve ST" (PanchoVilleneuve)
12/06/2014 at 22:54 • Filed to: None
3
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"PanchoVilleneuve ST" (PanchoVilleneuve)
12/06/2014 at 22:54 • Filed to: None | 3
| 21 |
My winter wheels/tires finally arrived, and after installing, I have the following to report:
My car, being Oxford White, now looks 100% like a rental car with the smaller steel wheels, even with the ST front bumper, rear spoiler and plasma bomb launcher central exhaust.
Presumably because it now looks like I rented a Focus from Dollar rent-a-car, !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! has ceased.
Ford's weird too-distant 5-lug bolt pattern means the lugnuts are so far apart that the wheels look awkwardly tiny. I really need to put some !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! (apologies to sefeing, I'm copying your shit) on it.
The ST's gloriously aggressive and responsive steering and "I'm going to rip the car in half, seriously, weep for the rear of your car" front-end grip during aggressive cornering is gone.
Speaking of the steering, it has gone from feeling like the world's most responsive and precise rotating machine to a lot like squeezing a stress ball. Underwater. While drunk.
The extra inch of sidewall (the tire size balances out the total diameter of the stock 18s) totally counteracts the way the suspension would make you feel every ant you ran over as a pleasantly communicative whump on your butt. My Focus now rides better than my dad's Taurus, which is one of the most comfortable cars I've ever been in from a ride isolation perspective.
The tires are whisper-quiet up until about 50 miles per hour. At that point it's like a switch gets flipped and they become louder than the sound symposer.
At 60, they become louder than a 747 taking off. 2 inches from your ear. While Motörhead plays on a stage you are wearing as a hat.
Basically, putting Blizzaks on the Focus ST transfomed from being the best bit of marketing Goodyear could have ever hoped for for their Eagle F1 Asymmetric tires to the world's noisiest hovercraft. It kinda sucks, but so does not being able to drive anywhere when it's cold out. It's a small price to pay for living in the ultimate hot hatch playground that is New England.
Brian Silvestro
> PanchoVilleneuve ST
12/06/2014 at 22:58 |
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Used my WS80s passed their limit today. Was fun.
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PanchoVilleneuve ST
> Brian Silvestro
12/06/2014 at 22:59 |
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I'm pretty sure more people in Oppo own STs than don't at this point.
TheOnelectronic
> PanchoVilleneuve ST
12/06/2014 at 23:00 |
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I've got Hakka R2's on mine, except on the stock 18's because I was being cheap.
I agree with almost all your points, except mine are whisper quiet as long as the windows are up. With the windows down, I can hear a bit of a buzz up til about 15mph, and then wind noise takes over.
The car isn't nearly as fun to drive, now, but on the plus side I don't have to break out the rosary if it's near freezing and wet.
Will with a W8 races an E30
> PanchoVilleneuve ST
12/06/2014 at 23:01 |
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Wait until it gets snowy - the WS80s will become sublime. You don't understand the concept of well-controlled slide until you've driven a blizzak in deep snow, and the grip levels are absurd.
macanamera
> Brian Silvestro
12/06/2014 at 23:01 |
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I want you to tell me about this.
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Brian Silvestro
> PanchoVilleneuve ST
12/06/2014 at 23:06 |
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Seems accurate. This makes people having "ST" in their display name redundant *cough* everyone *cough*
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Brian Silvestro
> macanamera
12/06/2014 at 23:08 |
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I will give you one picture to hold you over till tomorrow.
jariten1781
> PanchoVilleneuve ST
12/06/2014 at 23:10 |
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On wet (non frozen)roads mine make a hilariously loud whirring noise. Sounds like a space ship sound effect from a 70s cartoon.
I don't really notice any noise in the dry though could be exhaust/downpipe drowning it out)
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PanchoVilleneuve ST
> jariten1781
12/06/2014 at 23:12 |
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It was raining today, so hopefully tomorrow it will quiet down.
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macanamera
> Brian Silvestro
12/06/2014 at 23:31 |
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Stop. I can only get so erect.
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Brian Silvestro
> macanamera
12/06/2014 at 23:33 |
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Your erect will break tomorrow then, because there's more
mallthus
> PanchoVilleneuve ST
12/07/2014 at 00:06 |
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Sounds very much like my experience with my MINI Cooper S Convertible. I did my annual switch from super grippy summer tires on 17" rims to Dunlop Winter Maxx on 15" black steelies.
Good news is that I don't need to wear a kidney belt and I can drive on my neighborhood's snowy roads.
Bad news is that I have all the cornering prowess of a hippo in Crocs, rutted roads make Rocky seem not nearly as squirrelly, and my already bad road noise is now something akin to hundreds of very, very tiny nails on chalkboards.
AMGtech - now with more recalls!
> PanchoVilleneuve ST
12/07/2014 at 00:41 |
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You may be right. That makes me a black sheep and I have changed my name accordingly.
nafsucof
> PanchoVilleneuve ST
12/07/2014 at 01:42 |
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They'll break in, mine were super squirrely for a couple days. Now it's fine. Not the same but not as scary. Mine are 16's too!!
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TheOnelectronic
> Brian Silvestro
12/07/2014 at 03:52 |
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Oh shit, now I need to be TheOneElecSTronic
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macanamera
> Brian Silvestro
12/07/2014 at 10:05 |
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link me when you post it, I might not be on Oppo all day and I don't want to miss it
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Brian Silvestro
> macanamera
12/07/2014 at 10:32 |
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You're telling me you don't go back after a long period of time without oppo and view every post you missed?
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macanamera
> Brian Silvestro
12/07/2014 at 10:37 |
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I def go back and skim through everything that was semi-recent but I might not go back 24 hours if it's a really prolific day for posts STOP JUDGING ME
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Brian Silvestro
> macanamera
12/07/2014 at 10:39 |
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*gasp*
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Brian Silvestro
> macanamera
12/07/2014 at 11:01 |
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HERE: http://oppositelock.jalopnik.com/rallycrossing-…
gmporschenut also a fan of hondas
> PanchoVilleneuve ST
12/07/2014 at 22:25 |
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Anyone have experience with the Nokian Hakkap$%%$#, vs the Michelin X-Ice and the Blizzaks? looking to get them for my boring DD.