The four ladies (Audra, Jess, Kathy and Elizabeth) sit down to talk about Kathy’s car woes, Elizabeth’s Porsche update, and how the first post-COVID autocross event went.
In this episode:
- Flat tires and Audi brakes.
- Power washers on fire, convertible tops that won’t retract.
- Products for removing decal and plastidip residue.
- Is the paint washed off your license plates? Newer ones are cheaper than you think.
- Why it’s a good idea to find out how much transmission oil you need ahead of time.
- Race car update!
- Finding the wheel torque settings for your car.
Shifting Points Podcast 
Hi Ladies –
Finally got caught up with the podcast – It’s probably too late to do any good, but here’s some info. – especially re. Kathy’s torque wrenching. I didn’t know Porsches used 19mm (bolts? nuts?), but BMW, MINI & VW generally use bolts requiring a 17mm socket. The actual thread on the bolts is different (even between 4-bolt MINIs). You definitely need a 1/2″ torque wrench, so if you get a good 17mm deep 6-point 1/2″ drive socket you should be able to handle most anything German (except Porsche).
For the minimum investment on a torque wrench, Harbor Freight very often has all 3 sizes (1/4″, 3/8″ and 1/2″) on sale for $10. Yes, that’s disposable $, but in 16 years of autocrossing, I’ve only had my original one miss a tooth occasionally. Yes, I have 2 more in various places. Also, I’ve seen a couple of tests that say they are within their specified ±4%. Not great, so if you want to invest more, that’s cool too.
Also, a great resource for figuring out wheel sizes, offsets, bolt patterns, center bores, etc., try wheel-size.com
Fun fact: R50, R53 and R56 MINIs use the exact same 4×100 bolt pattern and center bore as many Hondas, especially Civics before 2005. My daughter Emily has a set of MINI “holies” that she uses for snow tires on her 2010 Fit.
LikeLiked by 1 person