Micah / AF1 Rac

So I live WAY out in thevsticks which includes 13 miles of good to horrible dirt road driving daily...101XL load rating tires pretty much required. My OZ rims are 8 inches wide....and 17” diameter. As you can easily see from pics after carefully measuring and calculating I’ve now found the physical limit of how big a truck tire I can fit under the CDI. These are 225/55-17 tires, and based on .52” or 11mm clearance I’ve finally found the answer! Sure I could grind that bolt a bit but...not happening. Next is all new front suspension wear parts....this will likely be a useless post to most people, final drive ratio did go down 4% so maybe I get some tiny bit of extra fuel economy lol.







Figured while olé I was there all new slotted and drilled rotors with new pads and sensors of course, quite pleased with this little modification!

kajtek1

Don 't you wish you could buy diesel 4-Matic in this country, who sits 1" higher than RWD?
For speedometer you can always use GPS, while IMHO MB under-gear their cars. When all my MB takes steep grades on highest gear, the family Toyota I occasionally drive need to downshift with wind gusts.
But still looks like you need mudflaps?

peter2772000

Looks good but you've got quite the set, driving a car back and forth over 13 miles of good to bad dirt road. I'd have thought you'd just use a pick-up or SUV.

Micah / AF1 Rac

I have both a pickup (Ford F-250 7.3 liter diesel) which gets horrendous fuel economy of like 15-17mpg in my hundred mile daily commute cycle and a Jeep Liberty CRD That has been a decent little SUV but rats/mice ate $900 worth of wiring. Believe it or not the Benz and my little turbo Kia with exact same tires handle the rough stuff WAY better than the supposedly off-road vehicles. I like going a little over a week and 700 miles on my gas station stops. Honestly one of the next cars on my list when either an accident (work in Austin so it’s a very real possibility) or old age takes down my current fleet size a bit is a 2010-2013 VW Golf TDI Manual, or an 06/07 Porsche Cayman S...both have deprecated to cash purchase level. Until then, I’m just gonna see how long I can keep the old Benz alive!

drewkeen

I run 225/60R16 tires on my car in the winter so the size is very close to yours when you adjust for the wheel diameter and aspect ratio.

They are great for the road construction and potholes that are here and other places I travel. Nothing as hard on the car is your drive, but definitely makes the car ride smooth.


Do you run lower pressures to help take some of the beating away from the bushings and suspension component?

kajtek1

Bushings can take it. I have DL for almost 50 years and I always drive on tires pressures higher than recommended as with my love for hard cornering I always get tire sides bolder.
I also am the last one who will slow down for pothole or bump. Yet in all those years, driving dozens of different brands I replaced only couple of suspension components, when some of the cars were in 200-300k miles age.
Ironically had a friend who was drastically slowing down for each road imperfection. He had to replace connecting rods at some point. I never could figure out if that was just coincidence.

Monksterman

That is unless it's Mr. Schiff or Ms Pelosi stepping up to the podium.....but I digress!!!

Anyway I'm doing my due diligence searching for a suitable 05 or 06 CDI [must have the leather interior, dynamic front seats, and the shade package; yeah I know it's a tall order] and in my reading, fancy this, I stumbled on YOU and this missive.

BTW I'm not on the AF1 forum much anymore but the ST1300 that I bought from you guys 3 years ago and had you ship out to the Peoples Repbulik of Kalifornia is still running like a top! I'm going for the next 100k which, judging from some of the folks on the ST1300 forum will be no problem!!
After all, it is called the Honda MOTOR company!
BTW part deaux: if you don't already know, this is THE place for TDI info: http://forums.tdiclub.com/ In the 15+ years I've been on it I've purchased two TDIs off their marketplace. My current 06 Jetta w/Pkg1 and a Malone Stage 2 tune just turned 225k. I had it shipped from Wisconsin [last one sold in 06 I;m told] with 189k three years ago. FYI I saw 150HP and 249Lbs Ft. on my Ultragauge so she scoots!!
Oh, and the guy I bought it from put a TDI cup suspension on it!!