Spooner

Mostly CCS with a few CMRA and CRA races. I raced at Road America, Barber, Hallett, Heartland Park, Texas World, MAM, MPH and I’m sure a few others I’m forgetting. This was from 2004 through 2011.

I totally agree with being extra cautious with towing. I've only actually used the hitch hauler twice, I normally use a small open trailer or ride with buddies as I don't like to ride alone. I will definitely do a little more digging on the hitch situation before using it again. I roadraced motorcycles for 10 years and have well over 100k miles of towing under my belt with big trailers so I definitely understand weight ratings and stress, I should have looked in the book rather than just look at the numbers on the hitch for rating it sounds. I know I was surprised of the 400lb rating which is why I didn't get a hitch hauler until 2 months ago.

Put the new plugs in last night and drove about 50 miles after. The idle seems to have smoothed out a lot. Mileage seems a little better but I’ll see this week how it goes. I track every tank with the fuelly app so I’ll be able to tell pretty quick if they are helping. If I see a definite improvement I’ll start changing them every 50k miles instead. Also I double checked my hitch and it’s actually rated for 400 lbs tongue weight but I’m still at least 100 below that.

The bike picture is from my first trial run and just went to the gas station and back. I still had all of my catalogs and samples in the back that are at least a couple hundred pounds. When I take the bike I take all that stuff out and put my gear bag and tools in the middle of the van. I’ve never had it bottom and it doesn’t make the van wander all over the road or anything. And my hitch is rated to 500 lbs tongue weight so I’m right about half that with the weight of the hauler added to the bike.

The bike is around 230 lbs. I believe the hitch is rated to 500 lbs and the van handles the weight well. For sure I wouldn’t put a ZX6r on it though. I’ve pulled two bikes on a small trailer but for one the hitch hauler is so easy.

I hit 100k this week so I thought I'd post an update as I don't see a lot of guys that have racked up some miles post about how they are holding up. Mine has been pretty much flawless. I am a sales rep in the motorcycle industry so I needed a vehicle that could hold a lot of catalogs and samples, plus have room in the second row for two car seats for my young boys. This van has been perfect for my needs. Mine is a Titanium and I was a little nervous about how all the extra features would hold up but everything works perfectly. I have had to reset the GPS a couple times as the map would start to show me as driving like 20' off of where I actually was but the reset works great. Otherwise I had a leak in the roof right when I got it but it was just the rubber plug for the roof rack that was not installed correctly and easily fixed. I'm on my second set of tires and I think I have about 20k more left in the General's that I put on. I also did new 18" wheels when I did the tires just to make it look a little nicer. As far as servicing I do oil changes at 5k miles with synthetic and I did have the transmission serviced with amsoil I think about 70k miles. Because I burn up the miles so fast and want it to last past 200k miles I tend to over service it, but I do all the oil changes myself so the cost is pretty negligible. I am about to replace the plugs this weekend when it warms up but otherwise not much to do to it for now. I'll probably do the transmission once a year and I have to say when I changed to synthetic tranny fluid the shifts really smoothed out. I'm on windshield #2 and already have a little crack in the new one but its not spreading so thats good. I did get tint applied to the windshield that is essentially clear but makes a huge difference on heat. I already had the side windows done when I bought it but with the amount of time I spend in the seat it makes a huge difference on hot days with the gigantic windshield these things have. Still a ton of life left in the brake pads but that's mostly due to me being on the highway the vast majority of the time. I installed a hitch and put my dirt bike on the back at times and it handles it great. It's just such a flexible vehicle and I can't imagine a better setup for my work and lifestyle. I just wish we got the diesel one so I'd get a little better mileage is all.

The titanium model does. It may be an option on other trims though.

I recently put 18's on mine and really the ride is barely more rough than the 16's I took off. I'll take some pics tomorrow so you can see the offset but I think they turned out awesome.

I recently put on some General Altimax RT43's with new wheels and I'm liking them so far. From the reviews they seem to last forever and they have been very good in all the rain we have had recently. I only have 5k miles on them so far but I'll be posting up as I get some serious miles on them in a year or so. Price was very reasonable too.

Looks good! Here are the 18's I put on recently.

Here it is with them mounted up finally. I'll get some better pics tomorrow when its not so dreary outside.

We only get a few inches a couple times a year anymore.

For sure I look at all aspects but cost/mileage is a big factor for me as I drive 40k a year or so. I don't want just some super hard tires that are really loud either so I read a ton of reviews. Michelin's in general are hard to beat but I think these will serve me well from what I've read. Also just got the call from Discount Tire that my tires made it in so they will be going on later this afternoon. I do see a lot of people put super cheap tires on their vehicles but man thats just scary to me. I had bought a car that the dealer put some no-name crap on it and they didn't make it 20k miles and were wearing terribly uneven. They were also atrocious in the snow and rain. Mine and my family's safety is just too important to cheap out on tires.

Will do. And I'm almost to 60k miles on the oem tires and they could go another 5-10k I'd bet. Pretty remarkable for an OE tire. I went with General Altimax RT43 tires which I think will get me in the 80-100k mile range from the research I've done. Normally I go michelin but they didn't really have a good option in a 225/45-18.

My new wheels will be here tomorrow and tires should be here any day as well. I'll post up some pics once they are on but I'm super excited to see how it turns out.