The Story of the Scarce Steelies

Okay. Since we need to make-over the car, why not start with the suspension system, right?
It needs wheel alignment, heck the car needs A LOT of under chassis repair.

What is the main goal of this project? ...to transform Scratchy to a Shiney!
So the goal is to transform it to something like this:

Clean white paint, some Spoon decals, Spoon muffler, 15-inch Spoon rims, a decent engine, etc, etc... Not bad, huh?

Now, on to the story...

Right now, I'm saving up for an engine, then paint, then the 15-inch rims, then lowering springs, then Gathers interior, then sunroof, then HID, then.... I got carried away, sorry.

The car needs wheel alignment. It veers slightly to the right on its 13" steelies.

It required around 3 hours of my time to realize that paying around P1,600 for wheel alignment will go to waste if I would upgrade my rims to 15s which would also require re-alignment. I have no money for the coveted 15-inch rims now. The answer: buy those cheap 15" steelies!

So I head-on to the friendly neighborhood "Blumentritt" to scour for a set of 15" steel rims. IT IS NOT EASY. With my cousin, I went to every store and I learned that it is so rare that it goes for P1,500 a piece, while 14 inchers go for around 1/3 of that or P500 a pop.

Hopeless, we tried stopping one last time. BINGO! We found a set. The store gave it for P1,000 a piece. A good deal as it is, I tried to haggle until it went down to P850. A really good deal.

They have two pieces in-store and paid for it immediately. Sad thing about this is that the other two rims were sourced from other stores, and they learned the normal going rate for these and they told me "Ay boss, dalawa nalang pala yan!"

Too bad.

Two weeks after, (which happens to be today) I called them up. They have the two for sale for P1,500 each. Knowing that I have no choice, I got the other two.

P850 x 2 = P1,700
P1,500 x 2 = P3,000
Total for the set: P4,700 vs. P6,000 (normal going rate)

After that, went straight to my cousins' tire store along Jose Abad Santos Avenue in Manila to pick-up some nice set of rubber.

Falken ZE522 2010 Model
195/55/15
On sale for P2,500 per piece -- the good thing about it? It's 60 days to pay!

Same brand as the tire in this pic:

 Same model as this car is rolling with:

And here are the pictures of the 15" steelies I bought:

I felt good about the car while I was driving home. The tires made the car's ride pretty comfortable versus the 13s that was installed. I felt no change in steering weight, which is good for a manual steering car.

That's it for today. Hopefully, I can install my newly-bought second hand Tanabe NF210 set of springs. Stay tuned for more!

EDIT:

Tried M7 along Aurora Blvd last Saturday to inspect my front bushings. No problem found but I still hear crunching noise whenever I pass speed bumps. I brought with me my Tanabe NF210, I let them install my new KYB Excel-G for EK VTI which I bought for P1,850 at Levin Auto Supply along Banawe (the other one was donated by my uncle of Triple J Tire Supply along Abad Santos in Manila).

 Here is Danny of M7. Done in around 2 hours.

Total Damage for installation of springs and shocks: P900. Not cheap but not expensive either.