Winter tires etc etc

[C M Smith <cmsmith@domain.elided>]

Narrower winter tires work well in heavy wet snow. Otherwise stick with the 
stock profile. For dry light snow, or on ice, or especially bare roads, 
wider tires are still better.

BTW, the biggest advantage to narrower tires is the taler sidewall which 
makes traction more forgiving. The taller sidewall is more flexible which 
improves the compliance in marginal traction conditions. I still regard the 
narrower tire as giving too much away on bare or packed snow road surfaces. 
How often do you drive in heavy wet soft snow?

Classic Blizzaks do indeed have only half the tread depth as the soft multi 
cell rubber. The rest of the tread is mundane all season junk, go figure. 
The full winter Blizzaks are supposed to be more conventional. BTW, Metzler 
had a multi cell ice tire years and years ago, it even had a blue tread (no 
carbon black made for super sticky super soft rubber) so Blizzaks are 
nothing new really. People I have talked to really like the straight line 
traction but complain the tires go away when driven even moderately hard. 
Ditto the Metzlers. There's no free lunch. Pirelli still makes the best all 
around performance winter tire. Absolutely phenomenal. I just put the 210A 
back on the 164 today and I kid you not they handle like a summer tire on 
bare road. Nokian Hakka Q or Gislaved NordFrost are the best available ice 
and snow tire. Blizzaks are really just an also ran IMHO.

The 164L for pre 91 used a double ball bearing with plastic ball cage that 
breaks. The S and the updated L bearing is a sturdy roller bearing for the 
input shaft. Design defect that Alfa knew was there. Dumb.

The Chianti will come in a flask shaped bottle Fiaschi which means straw 
covered or in a basket. the traditional bottle has no flat spot on the base 
and was woven into a straw base to allow it to stand up. This is ideal for 
the glovebox tho' it won't fit. Far superior is the Chianti Classico 
Riserva in a Bordeaux style bottle (to allow laying down in the classic 
Bordeaux tradition). The Riserva Chianti is absolutely delicious, though it 
was more popular casa mia when it was also absurdly cheap. I once had 
bottle of Ruffino '53 which cost a bomb and was worth every penny. DOCG or 
Denominazione  Originata Controllata e Garantita is the watchword. This 
equates to the Appellation Controlee for French wine with the curious 
Italian addition of "and guaranteed" which surely implies that merely 
D.O.C. wine could be faked!

Essential tool kit for any Italian car includes a proper corkscrew. Al of 
my cars have been so equipped since at least 1975. The best corkscrew for a 
car is the traditional waiter's friend which takes the form of a pocket 
knife type with integral cork lever, and bottle opener. Buy a good one as 
the cheap ones are improperly proportioned. The Lagoustine style from 
France are the absolute best if you can afford one (I have the more generic 
"XYZ Vineyard" promotional type myself.)

Cheers




Michael Smith
Calgary, Alberta
Canada
91 Alfa 164L, White, original owner

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