PontiacBonnevilleClub.com

Keep in mind:

Zilla: Broken pretty bad, won't move until early Feb at the earliest, has summer performance tires.
SLEeper: Pretty bad front hubs, BAD rear brakes, and really good all-seasons.
Lisa's Fusion: Crappy tires.


Scenario: Gotta go to Eastern Oregon over the pass this weekend. Do I drive the Fusion (Lisa's not comfortable considering the mountain pass and the weather in driving it herself), or do I put the SLEeper's wheels on the Fusion? SLEeper is 5x115, Fusion is 5x114.3?

Or do we just take the SLEeper as is?

(and if we swap, who wants pics?)

Bill, I've seen a completely toasted front bearing, and the truck still drove. The bearing came out in two pieces.

How bad are the brakes? Something you could fix before the weekend? Or is it driveable as-is?

What would you do?

rent a car

How many miles is that? I hear about lots of people putting 5x114.3 on 5x115, but never the other way around. That could mean a lot.

As for rentals... Hertz up here rents out AWD SEL V6 2010 Fusions... may be worth considering. I did when rebuilding the trans on the 95.

Budget doesn't allow for a rental.

Rear brakes on the SLE are non-existent. Rear hubs are frozen to the drums with rust (all original, recent discovery). If it wasn't that bad, I could swap rear brakes tonight (Zilla's are only a year old) , but it's out of the question now. We leave in the morning.

If that's the case, I'd try mounting the SLE's wheels on the Fusion, carefully seating the wheels and torquing (goes without saying)... and barring any fitment/rubbing issues, pussyfoot it for this trip.

Any speedometer error to be worried about?

http://www.miata.net/garage/tirecalc.html

Buy new tires that aren't crappy for the Fusion, that is what I would do.

That way, Lisa won't hurt herself when she drives by herself in the future.

Cody, we don't have the budget right now for tires if we don't have the budget (christmas recovery mode) for a rental. We don't have it for tires either, and the tire shop is CLOSED for the evening anyway, and we're leaving early in the morning.

I would take the Sleeper.
The hubs and brakes will last for this trip.

You could chance torquing the wheels on good and taking a wrench along to retorque for the return run.

Rear brakes don't do *shoot*, and if you're losing it, then they just make you come around half the time in a bonneville anyways. Try a couple hard backup stops and see if the adjusters kick in? Fusion has some good TC/ESP i bet. But it can only do so much with the grip it's given, how bad are they really? Are you considering chains at all? We needed some at Mt Hood skiing once, but that's not nearly as traveled.

We've driven that pass in a snowstorm in the ol' transport, it did alright as far as I remember. They usually keep it clear enough IIRC.

As I look at it, would you rather have the Fusion and have to drive slower/more careful, or the Sleeper and risk (prob not big, but there) breaking down in winter?

Does that car audio store that we got the tint discount at install wheels? Because they might have an adapter if they do... Honestly, though, would it really hurt to run those wheels on the Fusion for just one trip?

Oh, and FYI, the Fusions do use a thinner sidewall (205 vs. 225), so there will be some discrepancy with the speedo

If the wheels will swap with no problems, I would go that way.

Borrow a car!

Cancel the trip, return your bricks and mortor, buy new tires.

How crappy are crappy tires? Tread down low? Dryrot?

Honestly, I would be inclined to just take the fusion, because the wheel swap is an unknown, and possibly a hazard, so are bad brakes, and I wouldnt want a hub to fail catastrophically. You may wish to rotate tires on the fusion as you see fit, put the best ones where you feel they will be their best, and just be prepared.

I would take the SLEeper.

Take the fusion for sure. especially if it's AWD. swap the tires too.

1fatcat wrote:Cancel the trip, return your bricks and mortor, buy new tires.

The $75 the bricks and mortar cost were paid by Home Depot gift cards from work, common practice along with Starbucks, book store cards, best buy certificates, etc. They don't give discounts on tires.

Fusion is not AWD, and the tires are crappy in terms of grip, not lack of tread. They're factory delivered tires that came on the car, and they just flat suck in snow and ice, or when it's wet and cold.

Take SLEper. She'll make it I think. She didn't drive too bad the last time I had her out on the interstate at WCBF '09.

I would bet with 67% confidence that you already decided what to do...