I Put My Snow Tires On !!

pcb

The Diagram Dude
:
2002 MP5
I decided to put the snow tires on early because I didn't want to put them on when it's cold and crappy out.

I ended up with this...



I don't really care about esthetics but this was looking pretty crappy so I decided to take them off and clean them up a bit and give the a half-assed paint job.

I bought the cheapest gloss rust paint I could find and went to work with a drill and wire wheel.



The cleaning was gross and a lot of effort so I decided to upgrade to a mediocre job and get some rust primer tomorrow and carry on.

It's coming...



I don't wanna bother with the backside but I will probably scrape off the loose stuff and put a thin layer of grease on it.

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I regreased my caliper slider pins while I had my wheels off.
I've had this stuff for twenty years. Its synthetic and has molybdenum disulfide, graphite and Teflon.



I couldn't find my grease needle so I had to go buy a new one and greased my tie rod boots, ball joint boots, and sway bar end link boots.

I just used regular grease, the special rubber safe silicone/brake grease is really expensive.










I ended up putting my summer tires back on to give me time to clean up my winter steelies.
 
Someone told me that citys use calcium instead of salt on the streets during winter, is that true?
Would that put less emphasis on winter-prepping your car if you use all-season tires for some snowy road control rather than full winter tires for max control?
 
Almost everywhere, they are using a lot less salt (sodium chloride) but I don't know if there is anywhere where they have completely switched to calcium (calcium chloride)

Calcium chloride is also corrosive though just not as bad and it's way more expensive than regular rock salt.

Our car has a sport sized tire (195/50R16) and it comes with a sport type tread that completely sucks in the winter.

Almost every P5 I've seen around here has winter steel wheels. I think the car came new right from the dealer with a set of snow tires and rims.
There might not even be winter tires available in our recommended tire size.

My winter tires are on 15" rims.
 
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I ended up buying another can of rust paint which I believe is better quality.
I figure it's the right paint for me because there's a picture of a little red wagon on the can and I drive a little red wagon. lol



They're looking way better but I missed a few spots so they'll get another coat after they dry for another day.

 
After talking to 323 on his thread about grease, I did some research into rubber safe grease.

https://www.mazdas247.com/forum/sho...the-p5nugget&p=6606857&viewfull=1#post6606857

I'm gonna keep looking into silicone grease to see if I can get something cheaper to fill my boots with.

I may end up getting some Sil Glyde for my brakes but it's kinda expensive to fill my boots with.

I did notice that the ball joint boot appears to be a different kind of rubber (I replaced my control arms with Beck Arnley LCA's).
The rubber was kinda shiny and stiffer compared to the other boots and didn't seem to be getting mushy like the other boots.
Perhaps it's a grease proof rubber which would make sense if it's filled with grease.
 
I received a PM from horseflesh and thought I would answer it here so others can see.


horseflesh said:
Lol good on you for winterizing. That's next for me.

Saw what you did with your ball joints and I have to say I am hesitant to do that. I had one seize up with a pin hole the size through which you greased them.

I am testing a theory I have next couple days as the ball joints for a tribute are the same size ( testing as I replaced one on my old tribute and have a few trashed control arms to check fit ).

I am pissed as mine on the p5 were trashed and installed new control arms a week ago. Should have tried sooner.

Will let you know what I find out.

I think that if your boot had a pinhole but the boot was full of air the water could get in, but all my boots are completely packed full of grease.

I pump it in until I starts squirting out somewhere then wipe it off.

I didn't notice anything but clean grease coming out including some of the old grease which was a different color.
I saw no rusty water or any type of corrosion coming out of my boots.

I actually had grease coming out of the old hole from last year because I couldn't find it to reuse the same hole.

I could see how people would hesitate from wanting to do this but I don't think water can work it's way in if the boots are packed with grease.

If anyone has replaced a joint but didn't find it rusty inside, I would think the grease needle technique wouldn't be necessary but all the different joints I've dealt with were rusty.
 
horseflesh said:
.. I had one seize up with a pin hole the size through which you greased them.
...

My pinholes don't look too bad. The grease needle is cut at an angle and leaves a flap of rubber that covers the hole...



The LCA ball joint boot worked even better.
The hole closed right upon itself.




The rear brakes didn't look bad..





I filled the caliper boots with my synthetic caliper grease and the boots didn't look mushy so I'm happy with my grease.



I didn't want my wheel wells to rust out like my parts car so I caked mine with some old grease my friend gave me.









I don't know how the hell a walnut found it's way into my strut but in blaming the squirrels... I need to buy a pellet gun..



I greased the boots on the control links too..
I punctured the boots from the bottom to help let any water drain out if it ever gets in there.
I don't think it will, those boots are all packed with grease.

 
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I decided to paint the inside of my winter wheels because I was afraid if I greased or oiled them, all kinds of dirt and crap would stick to it and maybe throw off my balance.

I just used a wire brush by hand then sprayed them twice.

 
Feel free to comment on my techniques ...

I'm just making it up as I go along...

Any advice is welcome.
 
I use 205s like all the cool kids do. I so regret not buying steelies a couple months ago. Dude had 4 for 100$. They were 14 inch rims and 70 on the tire wall if I remember right. I've owned my P5 since April and didn't put alot of emphasis on extra wheels. If winter pisses me off this year I'll use your tips here. Thanks
 
The weather is turning cooler so I decided to finally install my winter wheels.

 
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