Saturday, March 25, 2006

C36 Updates 3

It was raining the whole day but I decided to spend the whole day with the C36 which I first got the evening before. First thing I did after breakfast with my wife was to fill the gas tank full of Caltex Gold.

The search for replacement tires started actually a week ago. C36 came with 225/45R17 in the front and 245/40R17 in the rear. They were in bad shape, especially the front Bridgestone OEM, and were of 2002 vintage, micro cracks all over and quite slippery in the wet. My planning was to look at Michelin Pilot Sport 2, Pirelli P-Zero Rosso and the Yokohama AD07, and in that order was my preference. I checked two tire shops, one in Causeway Bay and one in Tse Wan Shan. After many phone calls, checking prices and recommendations, I decided on a freshly made AD07 - manufactured in the 4th week of 2006! AD07 was my third choice on the list because the they don't have the full set of Pilot Sport and the date of manufacturing for the P-Zero were in early 2004.

New tires were installed. The tire shop recommended 32 psi front and 34 psi rear for the C36. There would be trial and error on my part.

I have to thank Peter Wong for his help here on tires. Of course worth a mention were Eddie Wu and his recommendation.

In the first 30km I did on the first day both ride and handling felt wooden. It was comfortable and grippy alright. I was a bit disappointed, but then the tires needed to break in.

After noon I took the car then to the Wax King, my favorite place for detailing and a good wax job. The C36 was given a thorough paint restoration and Austo wax job. The interior received a detailed cleaning, steaming, leather and dashboard treatment. The A/C coil also received some sort of "Wynn" treatment. Now the interior felt fresh again without the old car stuffy stink. The 11-year old looked more like a 5-year old now, inside-out. It just felt great.

An engine flush and oil change (Fuch GT1 0W-20, recommended by Peter Wong) were performed. The engine felt more lively and frictionless.

I got a lot done in one day for the newly acquired C36, despite the poor lousy rainy weather.

I took the car out with my wife to have a dinner. She could tell the difference.

Friday, March 24, 2006

First night out on C36

It was a Friday and it rained. It was a full and busy day at the office but I couldn't wait to get out to the Pak Lok Garage to greet and collect my C36. Tiki asked me to collect the car Saturday morning but indeed I couldn't wait another minute.
By the time I reached the garage it is already 7pm. I grabbed the key, took a quick look at the new roof lining, the stiffened front chair (new springs fitted because they sagged) and also the new leather on the steering wheel. In 5 minutes I was ready to go with my wife Tiki for a pizza dinner.
Boy, it was slippery. The low-rev torque made it fun and easy to spin the rear wheels in the wet, especially from the traffic light. And the tires came with the car are at least 4 years old, after checking the datecodes. Tire replacement was imminent.
The ride quality and the refinement was another sweet surprise. The damping was excellent but the magical Mecredes floating ride characteristics (C200 had it) was all gone. Damned. But the new ride quality was very much acceptable. No complaint.
The C36 tracked straight and true, but I found the car vague in the center and had not much steering feel. I was not happy with that because the C200 and C240 had better handling. I could only blame this one the poor tire condition as well as the wheel alignment. I was not eager to drive fast.
Another observation was that it was easy to get to 100kph and sometimes 130kph. But it felt like 80kph. It did not feel fast, especially when other cars were doing the same speed as I did. I was wondering if the speedometer was inaccurate. I needed to follow some minibuses in the tunnels so I could check their big speed display against mine when we would be doing the same speed.

Anyway I was tired of the work in the office and I was ready to go home after a lot of delicious pizza.