Feisty the "Family Car"

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Good track day at Sonoma, but a bit mixed on the car. Second to last session outside air temp was pushing 90F, the car started overheating at the end of the main straight, scared the crap out of me as the coolant temp shot up immediately and just pegged the meter. It came right back down when I let off and drove easy for half a lap. Brought the car in and didn’t see anything obviously wrong, and the car had handled it just fine previous track days.

Took the car out the last session and the first half of the session was fine, but overheated again in the same place.

Once I got home, I discovered some slimy stuff apparently leaking out of the return for the coolant reservoir (that I’d just replaced late last year when the previous one cracked)

My theory now is that the sort-of leak was preventing the coolant system from pressurizing, and at the end of the main straight after the turbo dumped a bunch of heat into the engine oil, that was causing unpressurized coolant to boil in the sandwich cooler stacked with the oil filter. The sandwich cooler is seemingly in parallel with the rest of the engine, I’m hoping that means the engine is okay and was still getting coolant enough from the bottom of the radiator 🤞

Suspecting another broken/cracked header tank, I ordered a ProAlloy tank from Whoosh. Expensive, but the weld quality of the piece that showed up definitely seems worth the price of entry. Partly I also picked it because it uses an old-school metal radiator cap. I am SO tired of the OEM style plastic radiator caps coming apart!

 

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When I went to replace the radiator tank and shift it out of the way it started dripping, so pretty likely it wasn’t sealing.

Once it was apart it became clear that the return nipple had deformed and turned into an oval. The ProAlloy tank was a cinch to install and fits perfectly. Also since it uses a standard cap, picked up a Moroso 24psi radiator cap - slight bump up from the stock cap, but not so much that I’m that worried about raising the pressure, since all the coolant lines have been replaced with high pressure silicone already

 

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Trials and tribulations of having chosen 16x8” wheels!

Tried mounting some Conti ECS2 as street tires. Unfortunately while 205/45R16 can theoretically be mounted on 8” rims, it turned what should have been a good street tire into dog**** ride quality. I wasn’t a fan - would probably have endured it, but my wife was NOT HAPPY about the difference in driving feel compared with the 200TW Nankangs.

As everyone knows, street tire options are extremely limited, especially “summer” tires for 16x8” if you want a performance tire that will handle a freeze and give decent treadlife on the street.

Somehow, I happened to stumble across a unicorn tire. Evidently Michelin still produces the PS3 in certain sizes for Audi and Mercedes OE tires they normally sell to dealers. Among the AO and MO stamped tires that are mostly 18”+, there happens to be an oddball 215/45R16 PS3 that was an OE tire for the Audi A1, a car only sold in Europe up through 2018 model year (with this tire equipped)

Never one to pass up an odd challenge, I called up Tire Rack (they’re amazingly helpful over the phone), and they were able to special order them direct from Michelin, which took about 2 weeks (after they had to go through the process of making a new part number in the Tire Rack database system, just for me!)

Lo and behold, on Friday, they showed up at the local tire shop. Not even some sort of backstock, as they carry a 2025 production date and the “AO” Audi Original equipment stamp.

First, the bad. $$$. At $275 a pop, they’re twice the price of other options, and more comparable to the price of the fancy 200TW options in this size.

The good! These are really nice tires. Ride quality and responsiveness are much better than I was hoping for. PS3 may be an old generation tire, but it’s built off similar bones as the newer compound PS4/PS5 Michelin makes. They have a 320 TW rating which means I don’t have to worry about them in the occasional mild winter freeze, and they even carry a 20k mile treadwear warranty. I guess if theyre good enough for OE Audi tires, they should be good enough for my shitbox Fiesta…

Hopefully they’ll last a couple of years on the street now that I’ve got dedicated track tires. With luck they’ll still be making them next time around. Also, Tire Rack now has a part number for them, so it’ll be easier for anyone else that wants to email or call them to order them.

Also, now that I upgraded to the SVT rear brakes, I realized that the 15” compact Fiesta alloy spare I was carrying around in the back no longer fits. The FiST full size spare still works on the back fortunately, but it gave me the excuse to order the correct size spare donut for the 16” SVT alloy spare that’s been sitting in the garage. Off with the 125/85 that won’t fit in the spare tire well, and on with a Subaru size 135/70 that matches the full size spare diameter and fits snugly in the spare tire well.

Now I’ve got a set of Conti ECS2’s sitting around that are almost brand new (only 2000 miles on them) that I’ll probably post for sale. They really belong on a 7” rim.