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| Small truck,Big wheels......possible |
Driving the kei truck has been an experience. I normally drive a 4.6 litre V8 Range Rover so it’s been quite a change. Nobody wants to drive such a small car where I come from. Kiwis wouldn’t dream of driving a car with only a 660cc engine. The way the tax system works here means it’s probably the only kind of car that’s affordable for most. One could argue that it’s good from an environmental point of view but I found the truck to be rather thirsty. For such a small vehicle it is not that economical on fuel. The figures I was getting weren’t much better than a 2 litre car. It got me thinking about the wheels and tyres on it. The factory wheels are 12 inch with 145 tyres. For those unfamiliar with such things, these are basically the same as that wheel they use at Pizza hut to slice pizzas. Small wheels and skinny tyres don’t do a lot for handling in the wet either. I decided to find out what could be done to upgrade them. I was thinking a 14 inch wheel with a 165 tyre would transform the handling and feel of this thing. I went by Autobacs to seek some answers. Autobacs is a parts and accessories store. They have a big tyre shop out front with large numbers of technician looking guys in orange overalls. Mostly they just hang around doing nothing but sometimes they can be seen fitting tyres to cars. I decided to ask one of them what is the max size tyre I could fit on the truck. The conversation went something like this…..
Me: What’s the biggest size tyre that will fit on a Honda Acty 4WD?
Tyre man: 145 R12.
Me: No. that’s what’s on it now. I want a bigger tyre.
Tyre man: We can’t put bigger tyres on it because it would not pass the Shakken test.
Me: I’m not worried about the shaken. I just want to know how big we could possibly go.
Tyre man: We are not allowed to fit tyres bigger than standard.
Me: Okay. What if I fit them myself?
Tyre man (looking confused): What do you mean?
Me: I buy some wheels and tyres here then take them away and put them on my truck.
Tyre man (sucking air through his teeth) I don’t know.
Me: Look, I’ve seen these trucks with big wheels driving around town. Will a Civic 14 inch wheel with a 165 tyre fit onto them?
Tyre man: I think so maybe.
Me: Surely you have, at some point fitted wheels such as these to this kind of truck.
Tyre man: No. Only standard size.
Me: Okay. Do you think a 165 tyre will fit without any problems?
Tyre man: We are not allowed to fit tyres bigger than standard.
Me: I am not asking you to fit them. I am asking you if is physically possible?
Tyre man: I will ask my boss.
Supervisor: What do you want to know?
Me: Will a 165 R14 fit on this truck?
Supervisor: We can’t put bigger tyres on it because it would not pass the Shakken test.
Me: Yes, we’ve covered that one. Is it physically possible?
Supervisor: You would need a 14 inch wheel.
Me: Obviously. Assuming we have 14 inch wheels, what tyres could we put on them? 155, 165?
Supervisor: We are not allowed to fit tyres bigger than standard.
Me: Look. Imagine this. I buy a set of 14 inch wheels with 165 tyres. I then take them away to another place far away from here. Would I be able to fit them to this truck and have no problems?
Supervisor: You would put them on yourself?
Me: Yes
Supervisor: Oh!….So you would buy some wheels and tyres and take them away from here and then put them onto the truck?
Me: Exactly.
Supervisor: That would be OK
Me: But what’s the biggest size tyre that would fit without causing steering or clearance issues?
Supervisor: You could fit 165 R14 but it would not pass the Shakken test.
Me: 165 R14 will fit then?
Supervisor: Yes, no problem.
Me: Hallelujah!!!!!
This is typical of the endless circular exchanges you tend to get drawn into when making the simplest requests. At home it would take about 10 seconds to get the answer. Any tyre man who isn’t a complete moron would know the answer because it’s his job to know such things. What I really should have done was saved a bit of time and just gone and found a wall suitable for knocking my head against.
This reminds me of a time I was at an all you can drink bar. There was a menu with the allowed drinks. Jack daniels was allowed, as was coke. I asked for a jack and coke, they said they couldn't give me that since it wasn't specifically allowed. So I asked for a coke in a short glass, with one inch left empty at the top of the glass, and a glass of jack, neat. They brought them both and I made them watch me pour the jack into the coke. They were amazed.
ReplyDeleteGreat stuff!! Loved the conversation you had and it is easy to imagine it happening in Japan. I didn`t like driving the kei truck either and ours was a lot older than yours!!
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