Ok , for the miniscule number of poser 80's in the crowd , I have to say something . . .
I just drove home from Toronto tonite ; a roughly 1000 mile trip . The hills on the North shore of Superior are nuts ! Steep , and endless . So here I am in my girly 80 , eating up asphault at 90 mph , and I had to ask myself ... what the hell is everyone bitching about ?? 35's do NOT necessarily destroy performance .
I could only conclude that the majority of guys that have gone the 35 route did so for reasons of functionality , and also began cladding their rigs in many pounds of armour at the same time . IOW's I would have had to pick up every hitch-hiking rugby player I saw today , in order to have come even close to the weight of some of the expedition/rock crawling 80's out there .
So yes , I run 35's , but no I haven't shot my performance all to rat sh!t . Here's how ...
First , I always drive with the 'power' button engaged . The other thing I do is utilize the 'overdrive off' feature on hills ...
Which leads me to ask .. is this a good habit ?--> Because I was faced with hours of hills today , I decided to automatically kick off the OD when I got started on a good grade . It seems like a good idea because it sends the rpms up to around 3k and hills get powered thru at 80 mph . I've never enjoyed driving my 80 more ... what a blast !
*holding breath* Just tell me I'm not asking for trouble using this practise ... always driving in the 'power' mode , and then turning OD off on the uphills . Because I gotta say that if it's not doing harm , then running a near stock 80 on 35's is a riot ! Hell , your biggest dilema will be arguing with your wife over which fabric to make the rear curtains out of ! :dunno:
Tyler
I just drove home from Toronto tonite ; a roughly 1000 mile trip . The hills on the North shore of Superior are nuts ! Steep , and endless . So here I am in my girly 80 , eating up asphault at 90 mph , and I had to ask myself ... what the hell is everyone bitching about ?? 35's do NOT necessarily destroy performance .
I could only conclude that the majority of guys that have gone the 35 route did so for reasons of functionality , and also began cladding their rigs in many pounds of armour at the same time . IOW's I would have had to pick up every hitch-hiking rugby player I saw today , in order to have come even close to the weight of some of the expedition/rock crawling 80's out there .
So yes , I run 35's , but no I haven't shot my performance all to rat sh!t . Here's how ...
- First , I kept my rig light . IE no second battery , no A/M bumpers etc
- Next , I installed a Truspeed recallibrator and went the GPS route
- Lastly I employ the few simple driving habits below
First , I always drive with the 'power' button engaged . The other thing I do is utilize the 'overdrive off' feature on hills ...
Which leads me to ask .. is this a good habit ?--> Because I was faced with hours of hills today , I decided to automatically kick off the OD when I got started on a good grade . It seems like a good idea because it sends the rpms up to around 3k and hills get powered thru at 80 mph . I've never enjoyed driving my 80 more ... what a blast !
*holding breath* Just tell me I'm not asking for trouble using this practise ... always driving in the 'power' mode , and then turning OD off on the uphills . Because I gotta say that if it's not doing harm , then running a near stock 80 on 35's is a riot ! Hell , your biggest dilema will be arguing with your wife over which fabric to make the rear curtains out of ! :dunno:
Tyler