[200q20v] no good deed goes unpunished...

[Phil Rose]

Hi all,
We're back from Spain, and an enjoyable wine and food tour (gained 
only 4 lbs).  While in Madrid I seemed to spot an Audi S8 every time 
I turned around. Yet in contrast to our experience last year in 
Italy, we also spotted many older Audis (late 1980s).

Unusually mild weather (for Rochester) greeted us on our return, so I 
decided to defy the gods by mounting summer tires today. Off came 
those buzzy, studded Hakka-1s and on went the summer tires. Easy as 
1, 2, 3, ... but sadly,  not 4. Because as I was rolling the final 
tire into position at the right rear, I spot an ugly nailhead in the 
tread. Sure enough, the air pressure was zero. So, I hope that my 
local shop will be available on Monday to dismount the thing (for an 
inside patch) and rebalance. Sigh.

Phil

P.S. Speaking of studded Hakka-1 tires:
Late this winter I thought I noticed an usually large number of 
missing studs. While dismounting the snow tires today, I could verify 
as many as 50 were studs missing on one tire while two others lacked 
30 and 32 studs, respectively. What's up here? Is it common to lose 
so many studs within a few seasons? Or do Hakka-1 tires have a 
special tendency for this? These tires have _lots_ of tread depth. 
Most of the missing studs come from one one side (i.e. inner vs 
outer) of each tire. I don't think so many studs were missing 
originally--I _think_ I would have noticed.
-- 

Phil Rose
Rochester, NY
mailto:pjrose at frontiernet.net