Tuesday, June 22, 2010

wheel and tyre size changes -

we all know what it's like. You want to change wheel's get some bigger flasher or just plain old better wheels on the car and then of course the problems begin. What brand of tyres to get, what wheel size what aspect ratio and of course what width of tyre / wheels combo works with the speedo.

Having been down this road a few times I created a page that gave combinations of tyre widths that suited a criteria as entered. Since I own an MR2 the default was for that but in essence changing the starting values gave you whatever suited and changing the max size you wanted gave you every result in between. No more re-entering details when you realise that perfect speedo match isn't available in your fav tyre brand or just plain old doesn't exist.

The first version worked well but didn't account for having different sized wheels front and rear. So v1.1 was decided on and it took about 2 years to get finished, mainly because I'm crap at programming and also I just had other things to do. However, it's finished now and works nicely, clearly it's not perfect but as a guide it's close enough to not worry about.

Travel now to Tyre size calculator and marvel at how it allows you to get all those tyre and wheel combo's between stock and well whatever you choose. It also gives you the minimum width of alloy that suits the tyre width and aspect ratio, the max is approx 1-1.5" more than minimum but clearly checking the manufacturers website for accurate details is a must.

As an odd twist of fate the page now works in FireFox, Opera and of course IE-whatever whereas before it only worked in IE. Not by planned design this improvement more a forced path of progression due to actually having to write to a (better) coding standard.

Thursday, June 10, 2010

Amazing weekend away -

indeedy left Glasgow Friday 4th and headed up to Luss to meet the rest of the gang and then a wee convoy to Inverness via Fort William and on to Inverness then onwards to Ullapool. Weather on the Friday was stunningly nice to start with so car washed, bit of a polish then some breaky and onwards to the meet. Tbars out, cap on to stop repeat of last years burnt scalp, sun lotion on and off we go.

Wee shot of Rannoch Moor while waiting at the lights
rannoch Moor

with the guys getting into the way of the weekend quite early.
Rannoch Moor, waiting at lights

feet up on the dash, gotta love being a passenger!
feet up on dash, letting the driver do his driving thing!

Sunshine greets us in Ullapool putting up our tents. Was a bit rainy just outside Ullapool but then the sun came back out and it was fab.
tents up Broomfield Ullapool
tents up Broomfield Ullapool
tents up Broomfield Ullapool

Couple of the guys getting started on the refreshments..
first of many drinks Friday eve

taking a picture of Scott taking a picture


the line up (rogues line up?)
sunset over Broomfiel campsited Ullapool

sunset over the campsite
sunset over Broomfield Campsite, Ullapool

sunny and bright (no idea where this taken far less why!)
sunny and bright, no idea where

Saturday was the drive from Ullapool over to Skye via Loch Carron, no Applecross this year didn't feel the need after last years stunning trip up there. Set up at a new campsite as Torvaig doesn't cater for groups, which then buggered us completely til we found a replacement campsite at Sligachan which we later foundout was locally known as Midge Basin!

Calum checking we are not in Midge Basin hell ( at least if he had we would have packed up there and then!)
Sligachan campsite aka Midge Basin

Great views but didn't prepare us ( me especially ) for what was going to happen later that night and morning time. I got utterly chewed on and now I'm on Steroid tablets for 5 days to try and clear the hundreds of bites I have



Sunday and a wee run round Skye to the graveyard at Quiraing
Graveyard at Quiraing, Isle of Skye
Graveyard at Quiraing, Isle of Skye

Shots from the Quiraing overlooking the graveyard, stunning cliffs you have to see except I er forgot to take pics, Google it!
Quiraing, Isle of Skye
Quiraing, Isle of Skye

A shot of Graham taking a pic of his car
Quiraing, Isle of Skye

Ready for the off back to the mainland
Quiraing, Isle of Skye

All in all a fantastic trip away and bites aside it was pretty near perfect as you can get in our hallowed country. Great roads, great weather and fantastic company made the trip up to be a very memorable trip, thanks to all that were there.

Feedback: The new brakes were just amazing, utterly utterly breathtaking in their power and consistency and feel. I did some real hard braking efforts and not once did I feel like the brakes were not up to the job. So confidence inspiring knowing I could pass people and then brake to pop in behind someone. The harder I pressed the middle pedal the closer my face got to the windscreen. Great mod, worth the money and effort / pain so far