bigdog

Just today on the way back from the Wurzburg Christmas market. I saw an older C 220 class diesel pulling a double horse trailer. I think one big difference is that there seems to be a hold over from yester years that one must have max tongue weight to prevent the trailer from bouncing off the ball. I remember hearing that when I was a young lad. In the UK, EU. The tongue weights are kept at 75Kg max, 50Kg is normal. The EU trailers tend to be more balanced. I.E. the axles are fairly centered under the load.

As I at one time in my life owned a trucking company. I have over 1,000,000 miles pulling doubles across Sd, Wy at night. Have a fair bit of trailering under my belt. So lets see 80,000 gross and my truck was 18,000. In the recreational world I should be dead and had taken SD, and WY with me.

here is the ultimate.

[/url]http://www.examiner.com/article/porsche-911-turbo-caught-towing-caravan-on-french-motorway

I went with Hankook h730 all seasons. I have the A048's that I will swap out for the spring.

I have been in the research phase of shopping for a trailer & tow vehicle. Been rather interesting so far. For those that haven't seen my profile. I'm an American living in Europe.

The search for a trailer & tow vehicle for my 7 has shown me how utterly brainwashed we Americans have become to the auto companies relentless pursuit to sell us way more vehicle than we need.

Here in Europe you will not see trucks at the European Chevy, Ford dealers. Most American, Japanese, European SUV's are based on an existing CAR chassis, And not truck chassis' So why the need for a big truck? If one has a truly BIG load to haul then yes a truck makes sense. But the biggest reason the makers push the SUV's/ Trucks for towing in America is that SUV's/ Trucks are more profitable than cars. Along with the fact that a lot of folks will also buy a car for normal use and then a gigantor truck to haul the jet ski's. So why on earth would any manufacture suggest anything other than you HAVE to go big to tow in the American market.

Here in Europe for instance. VW Shows in the factory specs of a Passat & Golf TDI six speed manual a tow rating of 3500Lbs. Yet in America. VW says nein You vill buy a Tiguan Or Toureg. Honda Europe say 4400Lbs for the CRV. Honda USA says 1500Lbs for the CRV. You must buy a pilot.

Even this small car forum has for the most part stuck to the mindset that I should by a big trailer "just in case"

Some links to entertain you.

[/url]http://www.curbsideclassic.com/auto-biography/the-great-american-anti-towing-conspiracy/

http://www.roadandtrack.com/car-reviews/first-drives/2014-volkswagen-golf

http://www.thetruthaboutcars.com/2010/01/whats-wrong-with-this-picture-the-great-american-towing-conspiracy-lives-edition/

CC S04E06 - TOW CAR REVIEW Volkswagen Golf 2.0 TDI - YouTube

hey does anyone here have experience with serpent express trailers?

http://www.serpentexpress.com/specifications.html

i've been looking for a small, lightweight trailer myself, one that could be hauled with a small suv, and these look pretty nice. developed specifically for cobras but look like they would work well for sevens. car plus trailer would weigh less than than 3000 lbs. i've read a number of threads here about trailers, but don't recall seeing this one mentioned.

A 14Ft load deck seems a bit on the large side for most of our 7's that on average have a 7ft wheelbase. Of course if one hauls other cars & has a rather large garage to park that trailer in. Then why not. Looks like a nice trailer.

Can I suggest something like this:

 

http://i927.photobucket.com/albums/ad115/TurboWood/Caterham/howtotowacar_zpsad956aeb.jpg

That's awesome. :hurray:

Oops....well hush my mouth...

No worries. You were simply trying to help me and I appreciate it.:cheers:

I'll link a couple of adverts from a German for sale site. Might be interesting for you guys to look at. It's in German so I'll give you the basic info for each advert.

This first one is a new trailer. Gross weight rating 1400Kgs, Load capacity 1000Kgs, empty weight 400Kgs. the deck is 4 mtr X 1.8 mtr 2400Euro = $3200

[/url]http://www.autoscout24.eu/Details.aspx?id=227726015&cd=634959379560000000&asrc=st|fs

This one is used 490Kgs empty, 2500Kgs GVWR, tilt deck.

1400 Euro=$1800

http://www.autoscout24.eu/Details.aspx?id=239272936&cd=635170154520000000&asrc=st|fs

Or there is this. http://www.allytrailer.co.uk/home

Nice stuff. My dilemma is that I'm not sure whether I can have one shipped in my household goods upon returning to the USA. or what the Feds, state bureaucrats might have to say.

I really should take some photos to post of the towing combos I see over here in Europe. It flies in the face of the American idea that to haul anything one needs a brute of a truck. Trucks nor any full sized vehicles of any kind are quite rare over here. I've seen an Opal FWD touring car (station wagon) pulling a two place horse trailer with two horses in it and a full car as well. I've seen Audi A4 sized cars pulling what looks to be 15Ft+ camper trailers.:eek:

As you can imagine I'm watching this from the American prospective while traveling the autobahn. I just scratch my head and say can this be for real. It is.

bigdog,

 

I don't know what you have available in Germany, but here in the U.S., when I have a need to tow my car (track day), I rent a U-Haul. It's relatively cheap and when I'm finished with it, I simply turn it in and I don't have the burden of ownership, nor do I have to concern myself with storing it when not being used.

Those u-haul rigs are such pigs though. I towed one of those behind my old 2003 tundra with the 4.6 V8. And it was about all the truck could handle (the tongue weight seemed a million Lbs) even with my little 356 speedster on the trailer. U-haul should supply WD hitches for those trailers.

Yep! no Ecsta ast in 14"

I'll check with the shop that swaps my seasonal tires. I just wanted to go in with a little knowledge so I don't seem as dumb as I really am.

I did see a blizzak lm30 high performance winter in the right size for the European market. it's not even on the bridgestone USA site.

Checked out that tumblr page. Very nice.

Does anyone pull their 7 around on a trailer? If you do, Did you buy one of the appropriate size or just use a large one? If you have a small trailer where did you get it?

Lots of nice trailers in Europe. Just not sure yet about the importation rules if any on trailers.

lucky dawg, The problem is multifaceted. The politicians being awash with campaign money is most of the problem. The other problem are the folks themselves. They refuse to accept that a solution to a problem may take some time to fix. As a result they tend to demand quick fixes and gravitate to anything labeled as "free" which was precisely how the press and the Obama administration sold "Obama care" in his first term. Of course this fits in nicely with politicians whom only think in terms of the election cycle. It becomes a self feeding monster. It might seem cruel. But it sometimes takes a long time to properly fix complex problems.

It's precisly how that bonehead Bush along with congress got the patriot act passed. Totally in contradiction to the constitution. We were hurting from the attack and all the politicians of Washington used that to usurp the constitution and grant themselves more power over we the people. And we citizens closed our eyes or simply refused to see the unintended consequences. They may have had good intentions. But in the end the patriot act turned out to be an evil monster.

The preexisting condition issue and insurance in general should be worked on at the state level. What the government did with the ACA was in effect throwing a wet blanket over the whole nations health care to stop a headache.

Kudos to every one for the lack of name calling on such a hot button issue.

Nick47. What's that old saying. The road to hell is paved with good intentions.

I also get irritated with congress due to the fact that for the most part the almighty powers on capital hill always seem to exclude themselves from their own laws. So what's that tell us about said laws. If those laws are so awesome and good for us why wouldn't the politicians want to be subject to them. That goes for both sides of the fence.

Timax. Thank you as well for the link.

A brave soul you are. Good for you. I'll give that tire look see.

Thanks.

Finally!! An interesting race. Poor Webber sure hasn't had it easy this season. Multiple car failures, Far to many poor pit stops by his crew. He probably can't wait to be in the Porsche camp next year.

These are on my seven...I will be taking the car out today! I don't do deep snow runs but I do go out when its snowing lightly and in temps around the minus five celsius range.

Excellent lancylad.:cheers: What particular model Ecsta are they? My local tire shop here in Germany handles Kuhmo's.

On the Kuhmo usa web page. Not one Ecsta listed in my size. But they do come up on the overseas google search.

Thanks

A couple of winters we ran Michelin X Ice snow tires on our Imprezza. They were quiet on dry pavement and great in snow and ice (which is perhaps irrelevant for 7 handling on snow-free pavement) but the Michelin literature said that after they wore below the level of the siping they would perform well as summer tires with excellent wet weather performance. The X Ice line is now two generations on, so I don't know if this obsevation is still true.

I was almost hoping that one of the forum members had run some winters on their 7 and post there experience.

I have those same X ice tires on the wife's '08' 328i. If we go the least bit fast in the dry it can get a bit dicey. They perform brilliantly in the snow and ice. For the summer we run Hankook evo V12's.

I had a set of performance winter Hankook's on my BMW Zed4. They served me very well.

But with the easily swayed public (my perception) buying into the myth that the bigger the diameter the better the tire. It's getting more difficult to find anything but cheesy Chinese city car tires or full on race tires in the sizes that the classic 7 uses. I don't want to go down the road of mounting 18 wheeler sized wheels on my 7. I want my 7 to look like a classic 7. I don't care for the pimp daddy big wheel look.

For those who don't understand the Affordable Care Act:

1. It is not a government run health program (unlike Medicare & VA);

 

Sure it is. If the government isn't running health care by proxy via the ACA and only wanted to mandate that everyone get coverage. Why did it take 20,000 pages with 11,000,000 words just to say that you must have health care insurance? The government has also decided to mandate what is in the policies that the insurance companies sell. Doesn't matter what the end user thinks or may want for coverage. The fed has said "this IS what you WILL get" No exceptions. And how does NOT running something then somehow end up costing the tax payers trillions of dollars?

 

2. It's primary objective is the requirement that everyone have health insurance, which is provided by insurance companies (similar to states requiring that you have liability insurance on your car);

 

Wrong. The federal nor ANY of the 50 states governments requires that I purchase insurance until I buy a car. Further more, Each state has it's own insurance commission. Automotive liability insurance is not a federal government requirement. Why? (that pesky tenth amendment again) And what if I'm Bill Gates and can afford to pay cash. Why should he be required to purchase a health insurance policy or face a penalty for not buying something he doesn't need.

 

3. There are no government death squads (maybe in the CIA or NSA but not the ACA);

 

Admittedly a bad choice of words on my part. I simply mean that if you relate the idea of the government getting involved in making promises then breaking them sometime later. (As in my situation) What makes you think they won't break promises when it comes to the ACA. Look at all the unintended consequences so far. I.E. Folks having the policies they liked canceled by their insurance company simply because said policy did not have the MANDATED coverage as set forth by the GOVERNMENT making said policy invalid. To then be resold to the same customer with the added mandated coverages at a much higher rate.

 

4. We (taxpayers) are already providing expensive subsidies to uninsureds every time they show up at an ER, call 911 for a minor injury, or skip preventative care and we pay for the worse result;

 

True. Which will most likely happen with me. My government health care was terminated unless I sell my home and move within an hour of a military base. (hence the death squad comment) So at 56 years old I have to shop for insurance. That's going to be rather expensive. Especially as my gov insurance cost me $800 per year.

 

5. Many of the people I have met that are complaining the loudest are on Medicare and love their government provided insurance. This just makes no sense unless Fox or talk radio is their primary source of news (see #1).

 

I hope this helps.

I just think that the government has grown so big that they cant see past themselves. They are so detached from reality. Even if they MIGHT have good intentions they just can't manage to enact those intentions with out mucking it up in some way. That's why the 10th amendment is so vital. If government mandated health care were such a great thing why are you or anyone else not living in the health care mecca of MA? Health care certainly could have been argued & enacted at the state level. Which is well within the bounds of the constitution.

I am thankful that we (for the time being) live in a country where we can still discuss such things freely. Sadly this freedom is changing for the worse every day.

Big Dog, did you just buy a lot of periods on sale somewhere? It seems. as though. you use them. a lot.

 

Just messin with ya.

 

Tom

I'm. No. Mark. Twain. That's. For. Sure. :smilielol5:

It was also 1AM and I didn't proof read before posting. I admit that it's a bad habit I have in checking the forums I belong to just before going to bed. I'm 6 hours ahead of New York. So the US forums are at their most active when it's a little late here.

I quite frankly don't trust the government to do any thing in an honorable way.

I spent 20 yrs. in the military. Part of the contract I had with them. Was that my health care would be covered if I made a career of the military. Well. The government just announced that if I live more than an hours drive from a military base that has a doctor. Then I'm shit out of luck. At least if I have a grievance with a hospital, doctor, Or insurance company. I have some chance of redress in a court. But since I can't sue the government for breach of contract. I'm once again shit out of luck. Therefore. I can't wait for the big government socialists in America. To be shocked back into reality in a few years when the death committees start retracting their promise of free health care for all.

PM Thatcher once said in a 1976 T.V. interview. and Socialist governments traditionally do make a financial mess. They [socialists] always run out of other people's money. It's quite a characteristic of them."

In reality. It might be a nice thought and a lofty goal to want to save every life from every calamity. But that is pie in the sky thinking. Just think of the food/energy shortages. The over population. But of course. The government. Who's main goal is to obtain power. Gleefully tells us that all we want to do is help. All it requires is your money and your liberty. Give us those two things and we promise to take care of you. I call BS.

I just happen to live near Seattle. To date I've run Yoko AO32R, Toyo T1S, R888, and RA1. The Yoko's were flat terrible when temps dipped below 60F. Back then I had a crossflow but could get wheel spin in 3rd gear in those conditions.

 

The T1S was put on prior to USA2005 in anticipation of rain. They were later replaced by a set of 13" R888 that proved just as grippy in a back-to-back test on a 48F day. This comparison was done with both sets of tires stone cold. Although the R888 and RA1 both work significantly better when hot, they still work surprisingly well above freezing. Rain is a different story

 

-John

When not in Germany. The wife and I are in Walla Walla. We own a home there. When we move back to WW (Aug 2015) The Cat & family shed will come through the Tacoma port. Might see you sometime.

I should probably be a little clearer. I suppose I'm not in need of a 7 sport/comp tire that will work a bit in the cold & wet. I was thinking more along the lines of an all season/wet tire that will work on the 7. I have the 048's for the summer. In Germany. If one has an accident between October & April and the polizi don't see a snowflake or M/S on your tire. You can then be held responsible for the accident. As they will assume that a proper tire would have prevented the crash. I just envisioned an A/S as being way too hard a tire for the 7 given the light weight. I would think that a spongy winter might not be overly stressed by the 7. As long as one gave due diligence with their driving if we had a dry, warm spell over the winter.

A sport winter would be nice. But those (along with performance all seasons) are hard to find in anything under 18 wheeler size. I'll have to research the Direzza's further.

Per a post in another area. I have just bought a Caterham. At present. It has yoko A048's 185/60/14. The weather here in Germany is very simular to Seattle. Just a bit colder though. The A048's will of course be total rubbish. Seems that all seasons might be a little hard for such a light car. Would the very soft winters (blizzak's or simular) be ok. What do you folks use that own 7's in cold, wet climate areas.

To MNlotus.

Not sure if I can do the hoody. The military/USPS last year banned the shipment of lithium batteries. So the plug in type might workout better. Looks like those hoodies would work great though.

No.

The ring is far to open. My Zed 4 was much more suited to the ring. This is a classic 7 as Chapman intended. One should do the ring in one of the modern beastie interprations of the old 7 formula. It's the twisty's for me. No disrespect meant to the owners of the mega power 7's. But they just aren't made in the same spirit of the original formula.

I have my flame suit on.

The Obamacare website is now up. Simply click on the link below, then on the “apply now” button and you’re in. Give it a try! You can see how they've improved it without having to sign up for anything.

 

 

 

http://rexharrisonshat.com/healthcare/

Brilliant! That was just like chasing a chicken around the farm.