My GD3

I bought new summer tires.  Yokohama ADVAN Fleva V701’s from Quattro Tires in 205/45R16

 $191.80 each regular price.  10% rebate brought that down to $172.62 each.  $802.45 for the set taxes in.  Free shipping.

Purchased 13-Mar. Delivered by FedEx 21-Mar. Arrived loose.

Mounted & balanced on the Enkei RPF1’s at 1010Tires.

465,470 km

Left front brakes started squeling Friday September 29. Within 24 hours it started squealing constantly. Metal scrapping sound.. and I was pretty sure the pads are gone.  I should have ordered the brake kit in August when RockAuto had a rebate on POWERSTOP. Stupid error.

Ordered on September 30. $123.34 + shipping + tax.  DHL shipping (& duty) was $62.48.  Arrived Tuesday October 3 at 2pm. Day was dry so installed!

CRK694 Kit includes:

JBR522EVC Evolution Coated Rotors

17621 Z17 Evolution Ceramic Pads

Straightforward install but I had to go out and pickup a 6” C-clamp to compress the brake piston. Started at ~4pm and finished in about 4 hours not including the break-in run.

Break-in was 30 stops from 50km down to 5 km with a minimum 30 second rest between stops.

I ordered a front & rear set of Infinity Reference Speakers from Crutchfield.com back in November 2018.  It cost $180. USD shipped to Point Roberts. This also included application specific Metra speaker brackets & wiring harnesses for no additional charge.

Today I installed the 6.5” rear speakers (REF-6532ex). The Crutchfield Instructors were very helpful. I did the the rears first as the fronts will be a little more complicated since they are component speakers.

Given how the OEM speakers looked, I’m honeslty surprised they sounded decent. I’m looking forward to getting the front 6.5” Components installed.

Significant difference in material and component size/quality.

Since I relegated my Rota Slipstreams for winter use, I was in need of new 16” summer shoes.

I decided to go with some higher quality wheels. My choice was the classic Enkei Racing RPF1. Made in Japan. Classic. Light weight cast wheels. Forged was not in my budget.  I would have preferred to source them in Canada, but I wanted them in Bronze. And only TireRack.com seemed to carry them in Bronze.

I placed an order with TireRack.com on March 26. I called them back on the 27th to check if they included the Enkei valve stems. They did NOT. The order did include plastic hub-centric rings and black 35mm lug nuts but no valve stems. Ok, adjusted the order to include them ($11. each).  They arrived in Point Roberts on March 30. They created a separate order for the valve stems and shipped them to me. It turned out they also dropped a valve stem in each wheel box. So, I’m ending up with two sets of valve stems. Since it was their mistake, the TireRack credited me the cost of the stems, as the cost of shipping would exceed the value. Great customer service!

UPDATE: April 5, 2018

I had my BF Goodrich G-Force Sport Comp-2 mounted on the RPF1’s at 1010Tires Vancouver.

$25. a tire plus taxes. Now they’re ready to go on the GD3!

Wheel & tire weights 33.2 lbs. on my scale. Tirerack advertised weight for Sport Comp-2 is 21 lbs. That leaves 12.2 lbs. for the wheels. I did not record the weight of the wheels only. Enkei advertises the 16x7 +35 4x100 at 13.7 lbs.

My Yokohama S.drives needed replacing. One had a flat and all where at or near the wear bars.  I was just going to get another set of S.drives in 205/45R16, but a co-worker directed me to KalTire Vancouver (8130 Ontario St). They’re conveniently close to home and I got a decent deal on the BF Goodrich G-Force Sport Comp-2. These are a newer tire than the S.drives and performed better in the TireRack.com comparison with other Ultra High Performance Summer Tires. I also checked the TireRack.com specs of the BFG’s to ensure they were at least as wide as the Yoko’s. They were. They cost less than the S.drives. And the comparison test showed the Sport Comp-2‘s came out ahead of the Bridgestone Potenza RE760 Sport, the Dunlop Direzza DZ102 and the Yokohama S.drive (in that order).  Sold. The Sport Comp-2’s cost $138.10 each. And I’m supposed to receive a $50 Mail In Rebate from BFG.

I was pretty happy to have my 16” wheels & summer shoes on the GD3 again. I love how the car feels “serious” again.

Wheel & tire weights:

31.0 lbs. - 15x6.5 Rota Circuit 10 with 195/55R15 Falken Eurowinter HS439

33.6 lbs. - 16x6.5 Rota Slipstream with 205/45R16 BFG G-Force Sport Comp-2

Tirerack advertised weight of 21 lbs. for Sport Comp-2; equals a 12.6 lb. wheel

UPDATE: May 2, 2016

Unmounted, the tire shoulders looked rounder than the S.drives. But once mounted on the tires, I’m pretty happy with with how square and beefy the Sport Comp-2’s looks. The important thing is how they felt.. grippy! The Tirerack.com review mentioned tread noise. In all honesty, I can’t really tell.  So, right now I have zero complaints about the tire. They haven’t really been driven aggressively in rain yet so we shall see about wet traction.. but they’re supposed to be very good in that respect.