Re: Wider tires on front...

[Audial@aol.com]

Come to think of it, he did tell me about Nokia snow tires while I was in his
garage, but I don't really think he was pushing me very hard to buy them.  At
least not as hard as some tire dealers have tried to steer me into one type
of tire or another.  I like to think he was a little overzealous with his
mechanical concern given the relative scarcity of good '84 4KQ drivelines in
his neck of the woods.  He had almost the exact same car set up for rallying
sitting 20 feet away.  He was a good mechanic, the driveline of my car was in
very good shape considering the age/mileage, the rest of the car was in good
shape, and I think he was looking out for me.  The tires were worn, after
all.  He did the subframe bushings (and later, the timing belt and water
pump) for a very reasonable price.  He also had several interesting Audis and
Volkswagens in his lot that he had cleaned up and was selling, and perhaps he
wanted the car eventually once I wanted to sell it, as my parents live very
close to him and have taken their Audis to him for service and advice.  I
didn't change the tires on the car for about 3,000 miles after that and
didn't notice anything strange after that that I could attribute to driving
on mildly asymmetric diameter tires.

And probably getting towed once or twice over the years put more wear on the
center differential than that period of driving on unevenly worn tires.  

I'm sure it causes some unnecessary wear, but how much of a factor of that is
in any driveline failure must depend also on the quality of the lubricants,
driving style, engine output, mileage, etc.  He chastised me, but he also
seemed to be a little bit of a dramatist at heart.  Still, I'd rather deal
with that than a mechanic who doesn't care about my car.

Best Wishes,

Alex Kowalski
'86 5KCSTQ