Nitro Rally RX x Yokohama Canada

Been a minute, but this was a nice first post for the year. James at Yokohama Canada invited me out to the Rally Cross this weekend over at the Stampede Grounds. Unfortunately I wasn’t able to attend Saturday on the first day, but was able to show up on the Sunday to check out what it was all about.

Admittedly, I haven’t really kept up in the world of Nitro Rally but it was cool to see what it was all about. Yokohama Canada had a suite up in the Paddock Area with some really sweet views of the races. I was able to take some shots of what was happening – but unfortunately with my 35mm I couldn’t get close enough to the action like I wanted to. I was really hoping to get down to see the cars up close but it was pretty busy so I didn’t get any close ups.

I was able to get some shots on my phone as well with video – sorry about the poor quality upload through WordPress. No 4K 120FPS here 🙂

Just wanted to give a shout out to James and the Yokohama Canada team for the invite! It’s so sick to be able to be up close and personal with the events that take place locally and to see al the other segments of the business other than the motorsports line that I’m more used to. A great team to be a part of!

I knew where I had to be from a mile away lol.

Up from the other side of the paddock, the teams getting ready.

I wanted to steal one of these for the garage LOL

Another view of some of the cars. Most of them look like Ford Fiesta’s but unsure of a lot of the others. Many of the cars ranged from EV to combustion and to see them out on the track and the differences between them was unreal in person. You have the silent whines of the EV’s and the loud echoing booms of the combustion vehicles… Totally cool in person.

Here’s a view from the suite – we got a nice shot of the bend and a side view of the jump you can see on the right of the picture.

Something I was a little more interested in was this beauty. Check out the studs on this bad boy…

Hundreds of studs on a tire for the grip out on the icy track

Beauty.

Just on my way out, I tried to get some closer shots of the cars in the paddock but this was as close as I could get.

Some video shots – potato quality but still cool. 4 of the combustion vehicles out on the track

And a quick clip of the EV’s. That sound!

Yokohama Canada Brand Ambassador!

I’m a bit late to the game for an official post and I mentioned in my 2022 Aesthetic Update post as well but let’s pretend you didn’t read that and you’re reading this first 🙂

I’m super stoked to share that Yokohama Canada chose me as one of the brand ambassadors for this year. I’ve always been a fan of Yokohama and their products and being an ambassador just gives me more of an opportunity to share that love with everyone! Back in January, they had sent me a set of AD08R’s for the Type R and I’m beyond excited about it. It’s nice to lace the Type R up with a new set of tires to pair with the new set of Advan GT’s as well. Perfect combo.

Sitting in front of the Fit. That is on A052’s – another awesome Yokohama tire but I’m a bigger fan of the aesthetics and tread of the AD08R. They’re also a little grippier to me but it’s debatable… Can’t go wrong with either, to be honest.

Who doesn’t love the AD08R tread?

A match made in heaven.

I’m also super excited because Yokohama Canada also offered to lace up the daily driver as well. A totally different segment, but arguably maybe a more important one? Everyone has a daily driver and most of the time, they don’t need AD08R’s or A052’s but just some high performing, long-lasting all-season tires.

Diana’s RAV4 is still on the tires that came with it when we bought the car about 5 years ago and is on its last legs. Yoko came through and sent a set of Avid Ascend GT’s – perfect to replace the old Bridgestones.

Love me a new set of tires…

Aria and Rin were pretty stoked on them as well. Can’t wait to get these on the RAV4 and try them out. These would be my first set of Yokohama all-seasons and I’ve heard and read nothing but good things.

Thanks again to Yokohama Canada for outfitting almost all the cars in the stable with awesome tires! If you’re looking for a set, check them out!

FK8 2022 Aesthetic Update

Sorry in advance for the iPhone photos and the random edits. I haven’t had time to take my camera out and take proper photos and whenever I do remember, I have no battery LOL!

Anyway, I haven’t really posted many updates on the Civic since I barely drove it last year and it just kind of sat there for most of the year. A big reason was because we were just moving into the new place, the garage was getting painted and the flooring done, etc and then I bought the Fit. As you all know, new toys means you forget about the old ones and that was that.

Over the winter, I decided to put the Umber bronze GT’s up for sale just to see if there was any interest. I know there aren’t many around here that are willing to spend the money on wheels if they didn’t already have a set of their own. If they didn’t sell, then no biggie. I’d just continue to run them. I was only looking for a black set to change the color scheme anyway.

Well, stars aligned for a bunch of us and the set is going to Casey and his white FK8, meanwhile Nam in Montreal was selling his set of limited Smoked Black GT’s that was for his FK8 which he sold for a Supra. It’s like it was all meant to be.

That, paired with the awesome cool fact that Yokohama Canada sponsored me this year was another blessing in disguise and I’m totally stoked to be working with them and their brand. To be honest, I was never big into the idea of being “sponsored” because I never thought I needed it. There was always those guys (you know who I’m talking about) going out there and asking for sponsorships and it just made them seem so desperate that it was more about getting “free parts” or discounts than it was about repping the brand. I think that’s why many brands have such a bad taste in their mouths when it comes to that sacred word – “sponsorship”. To put it simply, if I loved a brand and their products, I was going to buy it from whoever could get it for me. But to have the audacity to email or message a company asking for handouts is the worst.

Anyway, the Yokohama Canada team was kind enough to send me a set of 265/35 AD08R’s. Slightly wider than the 255’s that were on the Umber Bronze GT’s. What better pairing than to have it go on the new Smoked Black GT’s. Thanks again to Yokohama Canada for the set of tires. Too rad. I’m just posting some shots of the swap and some other random pics I had that were somewhat worthy of posting on the blog… I’ll take some proper photos soon!

It was a nice day a few weeks back so I decided to do the swap and get the wheels cleaned for Casey.

I love them both…

If only I could afford to keep both and run both LOL

Aria – helpful as always – drying the wheels carefully. It’s funny because she knows to be careful and never to let the cloth touch the ground or the tire because it could pick something up and scratch the paint/finish. LOL

Umber bronze in the sun is still amazing tbh.

Umber bronze off. Smoked black on.

Just a quick shot outside before pulling her back in again. Back to the issues of black wheels on a white car – basically underexposed or overexposed – no inbetween LOL

Excuse the dirty/muddy floors…

This was after I washed the floors as best I could for now until winter is officially gone. The Fit might be taking the back seat for most of the year while I enjoy the Type R this time…

With the change over to 265 AD08R’s means the need for more camber. AD08R’s run fairly wide so these would guarantee rubbing. Luckily again for me, Nam had a set of Eibach rear camber arms that were coming in that he obviously couldn’t use on his Supra, so I took them off his hands.

For only 2 bolts, this was a bitch to install without the right tools. The innermost bolt is really tucked away inside leaving very little room for maneuverability and wiggling…

Eventually was able to get it all done after borrowing some tools from a handy neighbour (Thanks Lanny!)

I just recently took it to Mike Wu over at Airdrie Honda to do some maintenance and then dial in the suspension piece. He’s the only dude that touches my car at the dealership – I don’t trust anyone else. When you find a good tech, keep em close LOL.

I asked him to dial the rear camber to -2.5 and the front to -1.6. The fronts are OK with no rubbing – even on that front tab (yet). And the rears rubbed the plastic lip underneath that you can see in the picture above. I ended up marking and dremelling  the lip that it was hitting and it has reduced the rub significantly. On big dips, it still rubs the inside metal which I don’t think I’ll be cutting anytime soon – but it’s bearable since it’s only a tiny scrape. If anything, I might get Mike to dial in to -2.7 and see if that does the trick, otherwise all is good now.

And the shot of it last night LOL. Right after this, I also got a massive rock chip which sucked. That makes for 3 massive rock chips that have spread about 10″ each on each corner. I’ve had them all filled because I ain’t about the $1200 windshield replacement life just yet LOL.

Once the weather warms up a bit more, I’ll take proper photos of the new combo.

Yokohama x lifewithjson

Pretty excited to share this news with you guys – if you follow me on Instagram, then you would have already seen it but last week I had Yokohama Canada reach out to me and offered a sponsorship to me for supporting their brand. I had never been sponsored nor have I ever tried to get sponsored only because A) why does any big brand care about me and B) it screams “look at me, I’m too cheap to buy things myself so give me free things instead” to ask brands to sponsor you. (Also… Don’t do that).

Over the course of building the cars that I have, I’ve been approached by a few brands but have always declined. It was just never worth my time because the proposition would always be super exciting like “hey we want to sponsor you…” and then you’re like “well damn, sure! what’s in it for me?” and they’ll hit you with the “we’ll give you a 2% discount if you slap our decal on your car but you also have to pay for shipping and any conversion fees from USD! Excellent right?!”

No, mate. No it is not. That’s just like giving me free pennies for you to get free advertisement. No bueno. I also may have exaggerated the amount of discount – it was actually 5% (truly) which is still like saying “we give literally zero fucks about actually sponsoring you and just want you to rock our decal”. After a few of these types of approaches, you start to get this bitter taste in your mouth about sponsorships and think that there is no such thing as a good sponsor – so who gives a shit about them. I certainly didn’t.

Let me preface this by saying this didn’t actually start the way I’ve outlined it above. It all started with Kyle Ho from Spec R messaging me one morning asking if I’d like to be in the Yokohama booth for the illmotion Sunday School Show and Shine because Yokohama Canada saw my car and wanted it. “Sure”, I said. I don’t mind repping a sick brand for the show – and it just kind of ended there. A few weeks later, James from Yokohama Canada connected with me directly and we started talking a bit about the car and being with the booth. One thing lead to another and this is one of those situations where a brand decal is on my car for a better reason than just thinking it looks cool. We ended up meeting officially in person at our last Friday cars x bubbletea meet as he was in town and decided to come out. James is apparently also a follower of the blog so that’s super exciting for me LOL! It was nice to meet you James!

i’m still debating how and where to put the bigger Advan decal – I need the placement to be perfect. I think about it in my sleep sometimes… LOL

I will also say this – the pictures, the words, my actions – none of it is paid, because I know some of you are thinking that. They don’t pay me to rep Advan/Yokohama and they don’t pay me to say nice things about the brand. I think that’s the great thing about a company that truly wants to sponsor you. A saying that’s been with me for much of my real-world, corporate career has been “support those that support you” and it really translates to real world circumstances too. It’s tough to find that in the world of big corporate names and brands.

Support (cause that’s what this really is) is more about backing the ideal and the vision that another is working towards and less about trying to get freebies or discounts. A brand that’s willing to help you in your build is a brand worth supporting.

Anyway, I’m super stoked that Yokohama Canada chose me to back in this oh-so-large community of tuners and gear heads. Good things come to those who aren’t looking.  Thanks for listening/reading!