Jerry's Evolving Thoughts on "new-to-me" Prime Premium

Right. I have those off. But it still pops up stuff every time I turn the cruise on or off, or the first time I go below 32 mph on a trip, or any number of other things it thinks I don't know I did. I wouldn't mind if they didn't stay there so long.

 

Nice accessories and disappointing accessories so far:

I know that most people like to tout the virtues of the Weathertech window vent shades. They are nice, but I found these units on Amazon for a whole lot less money and I think they look very nice. And they use 3M tape, so they really stick. They have two clips at the top that help with alignment when installing. Some reviewers complained that they flew off while driving. That has to be because they didn't have a clean mounting surface.

Glare on the nav screen is nasty. This product did not help at all. But on the other hand, it helps show more fingerprints. So it was a lose-lose deal. Glad it was cheap. I think I'm going to look in computer stores and departments for anti glare laptop and tablet screen protectors that I can actually see. It should not be hard to cut a big one down to fit since we have big paper cutters at the office. No more buying that stuff online if I can help it.

I'm still experimenting to come up with a good visor extender. Not having them on every car as standard equipment is inexcusable. I just ordered one of these. It looks like a possibility.

My donut spare tire is due to arrive on Monday.

 

Awesome!! My car just lost four pounds, gained some cargo room, and still has a spare. FedEx came with my donut spare two days early. I tried it on and it's perfect.

 

It's probably your ad blocker. The pics are links from Amazon.

 

I think I've worked my way to an answer to one conundrum.

The car came with the original tires. You'd think that wouldn't be a big deal with under 23,000 miles. But I got to looking and I don't think I want to drive through the Colorado Rockies in May on these tires. I don't have a proper tread depth gauge, so I used my digital dial calipers. 0.15" comes to roughly 2.25/32". Getting kind of close, but I hate to replace them already. I think I'll wait till late April since we're leaving May 3. Makes life easier for my smoking credit card, too.

Then, what to get and where to buy them.? Nearly worn out at 23k doesn't attract me to another set ot Toyo Nanos. Some comparison shopping leads me to conclude that the all-weather Yokohama Avid Ascend GT is a lot of bang for the buck. Tire Rack dot com looked like a pretty fair price. Turns out, I can get them from my Toyota dealer just down the street for $5 less per tire. Plus I get the convenience of having it all done with alignment right in the same place two miles from home. My guess is that there's a bit of an up-charge on alignment compared to an independent shop.

So, what do you think about $530 OTD for a set of Yokohama Avid Ascend GTs mounted, balanced, and aligned?

 

Thanks, everyone. I read good stuff about the EP422 as well. Nice to know that they are pretty quiet.

Toyota's cost for just the tires is only about $340. The rest is tax, installation, alignment, and a 2-year road hazard warranty. There's one other place I need to check on. But they aren't open on weekends. They had a great price on a replacement tire with mounting & balancing a few months ago.

 

So far, I don't have any steering issues. I haven't had it long enough to evaluate tire wear patterns, but they are pretty worn for only having 23,000 miles. So I am a little curious. Not knowing how the car was treated other than that the original owner was good about getting it serviced on schedule at Toyota, I'm leaning toward an alignment to establish a baseline. But I'll check this other place I mentioned when they're open on Monday.