im going to disable the DRL. i dont like DRL in general...looks dumb on modded cars. hope it's a simple fuse pull...

 

so on the other DWS thread, casualfit responded that he does get accelerated blooming (browning) of the tires after driving in the wet.

blooming is a process where the softening properties of the tire compound chemically reacts to the air causing it to turn brown when it reaches the surface of the tire. all tires do this, but continental tires are known to have accelerated blooming vs other brands probably because they use softer compound. on the contrary, Falken tires almost never bloom cause their tires are shitty like hard plastic in the cold and wet. i speak from experience. they look decent, but perform like crap.

i run DW's on my 370Z in the cooler months and that tire turns completely brown after driving through one rain storm. it's buttugly. and i need to really scrub the tires with my brush to get rid of the brown to prepare for fresh tire dressing. it's a major pita. doable in the warm months, but very inconvenient in the snow months...

this is one major 'flaw' or character that makes me not want to buy Continental tires.
too bad the DWS are the same. i do not want brown tires on my GE in the winter, so i think im going to get WS60's afterall...

 

It is. I actually had to replace my drl fuse because the previous owner took it out. I like the drl lights for that dawn/dusk time period where I don't want to turn my lights on because the dash lights dim, but it would probably be safe to have a little light on the front of the car. When they're on in broad daylight tho, hate them. Should just do a switch for independent drls. Or, better yet, get rid of the drl altogether and make a dimmer switch for the dash lights! Don't know how easy that would be...

 

thanks, MEATBABY. cool, will pull that fuse out when i get home tonight. yah, completely agree about dawn/dusk and dimmed interior lights. it's already hard enough to see the redline in the tach. ive already hit the rev limiter like 5x. hahaha. but i prefer not to have DRL running any time of the day.

i suppose you could run aftermarket driving lights or wire up your factory fogs on a completely new circuit to turn it on/off independantly from the headlights.

 

I don't have any blooming on my DWS's, but then again I wash the car (and rims/tires) atleast once a month (except winter). I also do not use any tire dressing at all. There was some talk from the tirerack rep (or a diff rep), regarding DWS's stiffer sidewalls as opposed to the original DWS's. Don't know which ones I have but no problems with that.

TPMS reprogramming at the dealer I've seen some crazy quotes, but for the most part it should be about $100 or so.... A local tire shop would do it for less...

and, the ATEQ is about $160 so you can swap your wheels (as long as they all have TPMS sensors) whenever you want and update with the new TPMS ID's, at any time for no additional cost.

 

hummm, thanks fitstir. i know i will be washing my car at least once every 2 weeks during winter so in this case if the tires can withstand 10days or so without blooming, i would be happy. on my DW's they bloom like after one drive through rain. perhaps the new DWS's are stiffer and have less blooming. that would be very cool.

yah, $100 just to program tpms is crazy for ATEQ, do you need to know the codes of the tpms prior to installation? is there like a 5-6 digit code written on the label? i suppose i could buy this pairing device too since i have 4 cars and they all run tpms.

 

fitstir- is this the one you're looking at getting?

ATEQ TPMS QuickSet

 

i wonder if this quickset can make profiles for 4 cars... it'd be kinda silly to have 4 of these devices. lol

 

^^^ Yeah that's the one... search around should be about $160 shipped (best price I've seen). Back when tirerack used to sell them they were $150 shipped I believe.

$100 for reprogramming if your lucky, and your dealer's in a good mood. Going rate is probably about $40 per wheel.

For existing TPMS sensors the Quickset loads up the ID's.... only when you add new ones do you need to know the new ID #'s. From what I've been reading other users recommend making note of all the ID #'s. Also the for the new sensors make sure whoever you buy them from activates/turns on the sensors. I heard tirerack ships them out "awake" and with their respective ID #'s if you request them to.

from a different forum:
If my schedule goes as I have planned now I will have the other set mounted by next Sat (after this one coming up) with my new Ateq Quickset (new tires, new TPMS sensors, and freshly polished wheels).

Oh, and one more thing regarding the ATEQ... quite a few people bought it and had problems making it work... from what I've read a good chunk of those problems (especially here on ff.net), was OS issues/compatibility (Win 7 is a must). The rest of the problems were after the user uploaded the new ID#'s the TPMS light was still on - this was resolved by either driving over the 28mph (which allowed the sensor to send the info to the ECU), and/or deflating the tires within several seconds and re-inflating them and then driving over 28mph.

As for the DWS's I read it either here or another car forum, about Continental making the sidewalls stronger, not sure if that affects blooming.... and I think I'm on the older version, but not 100% sure.


edit: Other users installed the program on seperate drives (ie. flash/usb) which then allowed them to be able to add/update more wheel setups. If you do something similar, I don't see why it won't work for all your cars, just check the ATEQ site to make sure it's compatible. You'll only need 1 ATEQ for all your cars, but you'll probably need to install the software on seperate drives for different profiles/cars or wheel setups.

 

thanks, fitstir. i will read more about it and see if i want to get one. the next problem is im a mac user. lol hahaha. i do have a few pc's laying around the house since my wife programs and fixes pc machines for a living.

wish someone would make an app for this that would run off my droid4 via bluetooth. wouldn't that be cool?

i will check with my buddy alex over at tirerack to see what he says about the DWS. i'd prefer to run DWS instead of snow tires if possible. snow tires are really great in the snow, but the squirm is just so rubbery and yuk on dry days.

 

No problem Ken..... I'm a mac user too, so I have to borrow my in-law's laptop for this one.... ahahaha

Hey post up what you find about the new DWS' with the sidewall, and how to tell by just looking at the tire.. curious about that.

 

hahaha!

yah, i sent email to alex just now asking him about the compound change. will post up what he says when i get a response.

 

didn't get to pull the DRL fuse last night as it was storming pretty bad here. will check it out tonight.

drove the G to work today. i noticed im getting a light rattle behind the dash. will see if i can access it from behind the glovebox. the stereo install on the G is a royal pita as it requires A LOT of parts to be removed to gain access. i did the install back 2+yrs ago to do the 7" pioneer doubledin. if it looks like i need to pull the stereo out to fix the rattle, i may consider wiring up a rear view camera while it's out.
make a negative into a positive situation.

 

literally!

 

yah, im always looking to make things better than where it is today.

 

so last week, as most(?) women would be, i was excited to get our new washing machine and dryer. okay im a man, but anyway, i do laundy so i was slighly excited, hahahaha. it's the front loading type and one of those high tech ones. i read the owner's manual cover to cover while my wife showed little interest... i even test ran a cycle to wash my MF towels. it's a great machine so far.

anyway, the depth of these machines are about 5" deeper than my previous ancient top loaders from back 2000, so this means my utility room's open space got that much narrower. the problem is that i have a small shelf across the room that houses my detailing products' refill gallon jugs. with the 5" narrower space, i can't get through the utility room very easily when i carry my wheels/tires through for my cars. especially my G and Z's 19x10.5 wheels with 285/35/19's they are about 55lbs or more and pretty big.

so, i gotz me a new cart with casters to put the gallon jugs so that i can move the thing out of the way completely when i go through there with wheels/tires in hand. so now you see how this post was car related.... and prepping' to remove the tpms out of the stock GE wheels.

 

hey fitstir- going back on the DWS blooming issue, alex replied that they aren't aware of the tire compound change by continental, but they have heard about the browning of tires from their customers.

they recommend using goo-off product to first wipe off all the gunk on the tire sidewall followed by soap and water wash. that should keep the sidewalls clean for a long time (possibly permanently).

 

Pretty sure it was a tirerack rep... but probably different forum, I'll try to find the thread...

If others get the browning I guess it happens, I've never experienced it with my DWS's... It gets washed somewhat regularly and has been garaged (when not in use) since I mounted the tires... that might explain why?


edit.... found the thread with the sidewall "reconfiguration" it was Chase from Tirerack
Conti DWS Questions - Honda CRZ Forum: Honda CR-Z Hybrid Car Forums
I knew I wasn't just pulling a rabbit out of a hat... not that old.... yet.

 

^^ We had the same "blooming" issue as you're referring to with the DWSs on the E60. Sometimes it got to the point were the browning was soo bad prior to cleaning that the sidewall resembled a dirty old penny. Though that was in the worst case that I remembered... the car was gone for about a month and went at least 3k miles without washing.

I might have a picture of it that I can dig up.

EDIT: Nah, no pictures of the tires "blooming" on the hard drive or my photobucket. :/

 

so i figured out where ive seen the stock 12 GE wheel design... it's a weds maverick but a super boring version of it. lol



maverick 405S:



hahahahaha.