Motoring issues to consider when living in Thailand

[PeteC]

Do not waste your money buying low profile wheels/tires unless car usage is primarily on concrete motorway/expressway type highways. If used frequently on rural roads, you WILL find a rainy season pothole sooner or later which if lucky will only destroy your wheel and not result in death. Pete

EDIT: Background: We had a bad incident today that destroyed a left front wheel along with a blow out, and almost threw us into oncoming traffic. Low profile may not have made any difference. I think there was a buffalo at the bottom of the hole we hit taking a bath!

Next.........

[PeteC]

Do not buy a 4 door pick up truck unless you want to pay a premium to get it washed. Nameless

[handdrummer]

Do not buy a 4 door pick up truck unless you want to pay a premium to get it washed. Nameless

perish the thought that you should wash your own vehicle.

[Nereus]

I think there was a buffalo at the bottom of the hole we hit taking a bath!

Damn sneaky Thai buffaloes. Probably hiding from the boss.

What profile are the tyres(tires), Pete?

[PeteC]

I don't have the numbers K, and too dark right now to get them. They're Continental premium tires and optional 19" Volvo wheels. Photos below. In the top photo you'll see the original 17" wheels and tires that go back on tomorrow. Safety first from now on out here in the jungle....no more city BLING! Pete

phpXe17DfAM.jpg (24.39 KiB) Viewed 2022 times

[Nereus]

225 x 40 x 19 from the photo. Beyond me why such a tyre is even considered for a heavy vehicle like yours. Put the originals back on and I bet you will wonder why you ever put up with the options. It will ride so much better.

[PeteC]

225 x 40 x 19 from the photo. Beyond me why such a tyre is even considered for a heavy vehicle like yours. Put the originals back on and I bet you will wonder why you ever put up with the options. It will ride so much better.

No, not my SUV....the wife's Volvo V40 sedan. 5 cylinder 2014 model....unless you consider that too heavy? Perhaps? It was one of the Volvo option recommendations. Anyway, lessons learned in technicolor today. It scared the shite out of everyone. Pete

Edit; My comments on the wife's FB page...."Buy a pick-up truck, buy an SUV, buy a tank!.....don't buy a road car with low profile tires here. Bloody corruption causes roads to be constructed poorly, and never repaired properly year after year! Where does the money go? The whole system is a joke. Very lucky they weren't killed today."

That may be the last you hear from me...I may be picked up and thrown out.

[migrant]

That may be the last you hear from me...I may be picked up and thrown out.

Or put in a pothole!!

[PeteC]

That may be the last you hear from me...I may be picked up and thrown out.

Or put in a pothole!!

.....with the buffalo. Hope he/she isn't in a romantic mood! Seriously, it's hard enough here dodging bad drivers and crazy motorbikes darting out from everywhere. Now pot holes deep enough to lose a car in have to be added to the list. Defensive driving here will age you at 3 times the normal rate. Pete

[Big Boy]

This thread reminds me of a Bangkok taxi I caught from the airport a few weeks back. This vehicle must have been the drivers pride and joy judging by the way he'd pimped it up. The chassis was almost on the road, the seats did not fit my ample backside and it had those impractical low profile tyres.

This vehicle was not suitable for an overweight Farang, and I'm sure the driver hated every second of having me in his pride and joy. The tyres thumped across every expansion joint along the motorway, scaring the hell out of us. However, when we reached our hotel, we encountered an obstacle far worse than a buffalo filled pot hole, speed humps. You can drive around a buffalo filled pothole, but speed humps take no prisoners - the grinding of the chassis on the road almost made my teeth fall out.

Why do people buy tyres for their cars in Thailand that will explode at merest hint of a deviation on the road surface, or lower their chassis to scrape every grain of sand on the road? IMHO absolutely bonkers in Thailand. As for those stupid bucket seats - a definite no for a public service vehicle

[Billy Joe I]

picscct, I have had the same thing before and was quite a bang. It may be worth considering finding a place that can do 4 wheel alignment as its very likely your tracking will be off now. I don't expect it will be too expensive here as most of the charge is labour but will save loads in tyre wear and may avoid poor braking too.

I learned the pothole lesson with standard equipment run flat tyres! After I went to normal sided tyres that were both more quiet and comfortable.

[PeteC]

^ Yes, it's in having all that done as we speak. Oddly enough, we've come to find that the tire seems to have survived. The explosive deflation was caused by the bent wheel rim with all the air exiting at that point.

[Nereus]

That may be the last you hear from me...I may be picked up and thrown out.

Off for attitude adjustment for you!

[handdrummer]

my last taxi ride in Bangkok was with a driver who told my wife that he was 84 yrs. old, didn't wear glasses, had no teeth and talked non-stop. it was a slow but safe ride.

[Bluesky]

r.

Edit; My comments on the wife's FB page...."Buy a pick-up truck, buy an SUV, buy a tank!.....[/quote]

GOT A SPARE $85K & A THIRST FOR WAR? A PERTH MAN'S LISTED A TANK ON GUMTREE

image.jpeg (53.03 KiB) Viewed 1487 times

Truth be told if you've got $85,000 to be splashing out on a military vehicle, then you've probably got $85,000 too much. But that's neither here nor there.

Far beyond the usual crop of concert tickets, outdoor furniture, and the occasional pair of jousting sticks that you ordinarily find on Australia's treasure trove of wonders that is Gumtree, occasionally it throws up something that's so goddamned out-there that even we, the seasoned bin vikings that we are, are taken aback.

A retired bloke in Perth, along with his also-retired brother, has listed his very-real, very-still-operational tank for sale, with a princely asking sum of $85,000.

The 60s-era British Abbot 433 class tank is apparently still in good working order, and was imported into the country via ship about a year ago.

The tank's engine and drive functions are still in near-perfect working order, and the model itself is designed to reach speeds of up to 70 km/h.


https://www.pedestrian.tv/news/arts-and ... 47a8c9.htm

Pete, This could be your lucky day! Not sure how you would describe it on the shipping manifest or or the dutiable rate to be charge to bring it into Thailand. May be some issues moving around the smaller Soi's or parking. As Nereus often describes, " Nothing that can't be buffed out."