It finally happened guys. I got new tires. I was pretty stoked about the whole thing, as it pretty much came out of nowhere. I received a text from my dad around 12:45 today during 7th period asking me what my tire size was. So I told him it's 195x55x15. He then asked if I would miss anything important if I left school right then so I could meet him somewhere. At this point I didn't know where, but I inferred pretty quickly that he was talking about tires. So I went to 8th period and left about 20 minutes in, and walked out to the silent parking lot to see my car shining in the sun (It was surprisingly clear today). I got in, and headed over to the Diamond Tire shop in Salt Lake City where my dad told me to meet him. After arriving, I parked in front of the garage door and walked in with my dad to see the guy at the front desk. We talked about normal tire-related stuff and he informed us on a few things, and in the midst of our colloquy, I saw my new tires being rolled in by two of the mechanics. Dad and I paid, and left to go get some lunch. After coming back, I saw my car sitting in front of the shop with her new shoes on.
Now, that's the good part of the story, but like with nearly every good story, there's a drawback. Apparently back when I was suffering in the snow and ice on the nearly bald tires that were previously on the car and slid into the curb a couple of times, the front-passenger rim itself was bent. According to the mechanic, one of the reasons the wheel wobbles is because the rim is rolling all cattywampus-like. We're planning to swap the front wheel with one of the back ones (which I'm probably going to do after I post this) until a new rim can be found and then have the new tire mounted onto it. The rear-driver's side rim that had a bent lip was supposedly pounded with a sledge hammer until it was nearly perfectly balanced, so I don't need to worry about that until I get aftermarket rims in the future.
All in all today was great. I have less concerns about my grip on asphalt and in the snow, and my car is rolling smoother than it has in the last two years.
Here we see the kind of tires I got, they're Ohtsu FP7000s. I believe Ohtsu's are made by Falken. Just to get a good look at them when they're clean:
Inside the shop. This is one of the mechanics draining the air out of the old tires:
Suzi in the air with bare feet:
Finally home so I can look at the new rubber up-close:
They may be dirty already from the nasty Utah winter roads, but they certainly handle a lot better and the stopping distance feels much improved. I was also amazed by how quiet they are. Cruising in 4th at 40mph with the radio and air off, I could hardly hear any road noise. Just goes to show technology is advancing as we speak. I can't wait till I have the chance to open the car up a bit and see how well these tires really do grip, all while making sure to stay alive in doing so. That's all for now guys, stay tuned, because this isn't even the beginning of what Suzi will see in her heyday.