Another outcome of my trip to the Mitsubishi garage was the confirmation of what I already suspected: I’d worn out my first set of tires after only 8500 miles. It might have something to do with all those drifting turns and powerslides…

Anyway I’ve replaced the tires with a set of Yokohama AVS ES100 ultra-high performance tires. These tires are Z- and W-rated; the old “Z” designation indicating the tires are rated for speeds above 149 mph, and the newer “W” designation meaning a rating for speeds up to 168 mph.

The only way to make my Eclipse GT get anywhere close to those speeds would be to drop it out of a high-flying plane.

Nevertheless I’m really enjoying these new tires—the ride is much smoother than with the old ones, and the car sticks to the road on sharp high-speed turns very much better than before.

Now I’m starting to sound like a car geek (freak?)… though until recently I was absolutely clueless about cars. (Now I’m only slightly clueless; what’s the difference between power and torque? Uh…)