Project G37S: Survived the 2017 Phoenix Monsoon
Imagine what you think Phoenix, AZ looks like in August, and unless you’ve lived in the area or visited after mid July, you’d probably have the wrong image in your mind. Replace that dry and 115 degree thought with microburst-type rain that drops inches of water in a matter of minutes. Hold on before you sell and move to Phoenix though, we still have those 115 degree days in August too. What started out as a normal afternoon commute home ended up as a serious choice of whether or not to drive. We waited for a break in the weather but the conditions were changing too quickly to know if the storm was dying down or intensifying. After waiting 30 minutes, we decided to go for it knowing we could always pull the car over and find some high ground if things got really bad.
Please excuse the anecdotal footnote of an article, but we don’t often get to go back and revisit upgrades we’ve done to our projects. Our recent trip home seemed like a good opportunity to highlight two well designed parts we’ve put on our car. First honorable mention is our Nitto Invo tires. The water evacuation was outstanding and without a blip of hydroplaning. Smaller side streets were the most dangerous, as the sewers simply couldn’t drain the water fast enough. Driving slow and towards the middle of the road was the smart play to get out of the area onto the major streets with upgraded drainage.
My passenger snapped this cell phone pic as we were about to extend the pontoons to go further down the road. Where’s the curb you ask; who knows? We got off this smaller industrial road in a hurry to a major street with better drainage- albeit much more traffic.
The freeway was a parking lot. We thought we’d see an accident ahead, but instead it was major flooding. All cars had to merge to the far left to avoid the water. This highlighted the other well designed part our Stillen Gen 3 Intake. The design allows fresh air to be pulled in from the outside, but the splash shield and high location behind the front grill protected the air filters from getting soaked with water. Many cold air systems funnel the air filters down to the lowest part of the engine bay in a position to pull that water right into the motor with this sort of standing water on the roads.
I got this boss. You don’t seem to understand, this Tahoe has available 4wd. Waiting is fer loOZ3rs.
So to you, Nitto and Stillen, we wanted to say thank you for building quality products that not only make our project more fun to drive, but helped us get home safely in some extraordinary weather.
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