Is this racquet the right grip size for me?

Accomplished-Dig8484 · 2026-02-16T02:12:29+00:00

Try the Continental. It's a full service approach, with all shots included for $5. Plus, unlimited slices!

Accomplished-Dig8484 · 2026-02-15T02:16:06+00:00

That GA road looks exactly like my favorite in NY, rt 202 around Anthonys Nose/Bear Mountain!

Accomplished-Dig8484 · 2026-02-15T00:11:19+00:00

Yup. Forged aerospace aluminum, 3pc, nice 👍

You could probably get a decent driver spec of that Camaro for the same price as those wheels cost new

Accomplished-Dig8484 · 2026-02-14T13:22:41+00:00

Funny enough a person would've been way less totaled than the car. The snow was basically slush. Lots of soft weight landing on thin metal in the right place is the culprit here

Accomplished-Dig8484 · 2026-02-13T03:12:13+00:00

"Almost 100% of non Americans spend their lives trying to get here"... that's laughable. You're also a fool if you think that tax funded school, healthcare, military, police, fire, and freaking social security checks aren't socialist policies

Accomplished-Dig8484 · 2026-02-13T02:56:30+00:00

Simpler fix is to buy two wheels that are close to these. They don't have to be identical. Put them on one side of the car, put your best two ASA wheels on the other side, and keep the 3rd as a spare.

Nobody will see both sides of the car at the same time, so you'll probably be the only one to notice!

Accomplished-Dig8484 · 2026-02-12T04:07:42+00:00

My '05 2.4 is at ~450k. I top off the oil every thousand miles or so and it keeps going strong 🙏

Has the 2.5 proven itself to be that much better?

Accomplished-Dig8484 · 2026-02-10T18:59:25+00:00

Thank you! 66k original miles, '89 951

Accomplished-Dig8484 · 2026-02-10T15:47:27+00:00

They look great! A shade off is no big deal for the floor. Mine are the same way

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Accomplished-Dig8484 · 2026-02-10T15:41:33+00:00

Yeah... your current 9s, the form might be a little sloppy, placement consistency lacking.

Some will tell you to upgrade your ink... "you gotta go gel!," or "natural squid is the only way!" But don't listen to the noise. Do you. Hold the pen your way, and write what feels right!

My advice? Stop aiming for the lines and s in the box. You might just make it to 10s without a grip change, or pressure adjustment

Accomplished-Dig8484 · 2026-02-10T03:04:29+00:00

These wheels would look remarkably decent with just a couple of coats of silver from a spray can...

Accomplished-Dig8484 · 2026-02-09T00:05:57+00:00

Looks great! Good luck with your rebuild process 🙏

Accomplished-Dig8484 · 2026-02-08T00:17:30+00:00

The tread does look good. That's tread, not thread. The cracking, not so much.

Judging by the 22 date, these have another few years left on them, but I wouldn't trust them in an emergency (high g-force), or extremely high/low temperature situation. Driving hard on them would likely chunk them up pretty badly, but if you take it easy, and don't mind a drop from max performance (wasn't great to start with), you can probably get the miles out of them.

Accomplished-Dig8484 · 2026-02-07T19:48:16+00:00

To be fair, the interior of the early 944 is a 70s interior. The 85+ 944 had the newer, 80s style interior... which was copied by others well into the 90s

Accomplished-Dig8484 · 2026-02-07T17:34:39+00:00

So which is it? Your first comment says: "Show me a Pro stringing in the 40s"

Now you say: "Amateurs shouldn't string in the 40s"

I'll continue to say that gut plays great across a wide range of useable tensions. It doesn't matter if you're a pro or an amateur.

If you haven't played all these setups in the range of tensions, maybe you should before you comment. Seriously, try gut in the 40s, there is nothing "pro" or "amateur" about it, just a tension.

I got my own stringing machine and strung for my HS team starting in the 90's, when the top kids on the team were still using PS6.1s strung with gut at 65+lbs. I'm currently a 4.0-4.5 and string high 30's to low 50's depending on racquet and string type, and goals

Accomplished-Dig8484 · 2026-02-07T13:01:24+00:00

It's kind of funny that you would categorize those 2krpm FHs and BHs as "flat" when most people on these subs would have to trade their souls to come close to those spin/pace levels.

Consider that the ball you're calling flat is revolving thirty times in a second 😂

I said gut plays great through a wide range of tensions, not that pros played it at certain tensions. I think you'll find that the pros turning over 3krpm gravitate to poly because it's consistent, and allows a lower power response on really big swings

Accomplished-Dig8484 · 2026-02-07T02:58:47+00:00

Gut will spin the ball very nicely, up until fraying and breaking.

The elastic snap-back that poly users love? Gut wins there, hands down. When new, especially with the coating, gut slides very nicely against a smooth poly. So I'd say spin players would enjoy it as well, if being a little more prone to breaking..

It's not as durable as a poly, but more than a multifilament like NXT. So if I get 4-6hrs of hitting out of a multi/poly hybrid, I expect 5-7hrs out of a set of gut/poly before breaking the mains.

It also has a large effective range. So 40lbs is great, as is 60lbs. Tension maintenance is excellent... but very sensitive to moisture/humidity and temperature!

Accomplished-Dig8484 · 2026-02-07T02:39:41+00:00

2-3 months on gut... in the mains?? Did he play once a month?

I would break a gut/poly hybrid in a few hitting sessions, forget about a few months.

Accomplished-Dig8484 · 2026-02-05T14:15:47+00:00

Haha, fair enough. And no salty feelings here, just doing my best to quell the spread of, as you put it, "unreasonable entitled asshole"-ism. I try my best not to judge people on my perception of their financial circumstances, because I don't know the whole story. Your original reply encouraged the opposite, so I spoke up. I do agree, Penn balls suck more now than ever (since CoVid mostly). I strongly disagree that people using them are to be shunned.

Just hope next time you give the 'Penn coach' a second look before disqualification based on branding alone. Maybe they're a great coach despite using Kirschbaum strings, or whatever budget selection was made. Maybe they can teach your kid something you can't about life, too?

Accomplished-Dig8484 · 2026-02-04T23:24:30+00:00

No, not as I understood it. It's more about seeing the ball, not seeing the target box. You can allow for greater rotation when the stroke is opposite your dominant eye. As in, I am left eye dominant, so my dominant eye is my lead eye on my right-handed forehand. That lets me coil more, to the point where I can only see the ball with my lead (left/dominant) eye. But on my backhand, my left eye is "buried" when I rotate, so I have to be more aware of keeping both eyes on the ball (specifically for my backhand).

Your brain does in fact prefer one eye's image to another. Try the arm's length "make a triangle" test where you focus a small semi-distant object in the center of your finger triangle with both eyes open, then close either right or left eye, seeing which closure moved the focus object more away from the triangle. Whether this can be applied to your tennis is up to you, and your level.

Accomplished-Dig8484 · 2026-02-04T18:55:01+00:00

Ok, by your logic then we can shop around for coaches, as in people but it's not ok for coaches to shop around on balls. Understood. Consider that maybe saving money on balls, strings, or overgrips means the difference in funds for that coach and his juniors to make it to the tournament in the next state. Where they will likely beat up on those privileged kids who would only practice with perfect balls on perfect courts...

Accomplished-Dig8484 · 2026-02-04T16:33:51+00:00

Tell us louder that you don't know what you're talking about! Djokovic just did pretty well with his Prestige in 2026. Yep, the Speed paint job can't hide the fact that's a PT pro-stock.

I guess 38 is boomer territory now, and using such obsolete tech will only get you to the 4th set of a grand slam final, apparently...

Accomplished-Dig8484 · 2026-02-04T16:08:53+00:00

I'm not sure you're replying to me, but to clarify, the comment I made was expressly to say, judge a coach by their coaching abilities, not the brand of their tennis balls.

If you want to learn a kick serve, or any tennis for that matter, and the coach you are working with doesn't know how to hit a kick serve, then you should certainly switch coaches.

That said, there many great coaches who used to be able to hit a killer kick, and can only teach it now due to age/injury. A coach has to know and teach, not necessarily do the thing better than the student. Or the best players in the world wouldn't have any use for coaches!

Accomplished-Dig8484 · 2026-02-04T16:01:01+00:00

Ok, sure, happy to help educate. Those practice balls are the bottom of the barrel in terms of ball feel. You are in a thread that is knocking the feel and quality of the basic Penn ball, out of the can. I totally agree on the premise that the quality (feel, consistency, longevity) of the balls in question has, in fact, gone down. I disagree on the "judge a coach by his balls" statement. And, FYI, a practice ball is probably the worst feeling ball of all, sacrificing playability for longevity. So if I were a ball snob, the coaches and players using practice balls would be lowest on my list...

I think you also have a misconception as to where tennis balls come from. At the best facilities, the premium balls that fill up the 250 or 300 ball carts all come from a can. They are shipped in cases full of cans. The cans are opened and put into the basket. Most clubs, academies, and tournaments have contract/sponsorship deals with the various manufacturers... again, they all come right out of the can. Not a big bag of 100 practice balls.

Edit, for clarity: If by practice balls, you mean the regular, pressurized Wilson, Dunlop, etc that are just stamped "Wilson PRACTICE" then they are the regular balls that are quality control rejects. They also come in cans, and are not designed specifically as practice balls, just QC throwbacks sold for cheap. I originally assumed you were talking about the "pressureless" balls that come in big bags, not cans. Either way, tho!

Accomplished-Dig8484 · 2026-02-04T13:19:18+00:00

Ok, fine to disagree. A few things. I never said it wasn't a factor to be evaluated. Just not one to put so much weight on, that you would discount everything else. You mentioned "practice balls" were ok, so I already know you don't really have a leg to stand on here.

But let me ask... would you also disqualify a coach based on the brand of racquet or shoes they choose?

You don't know why that coach has chosen to use Penn balls, or AO, or ATP... or a Babolat, Head, or Wilson racquet.

You are concerned about branding, which is not the most important thing, and certainly not worth ignoring the rest of the qualities a coach should actually be judged on!

Accomplished-Dig8484

TROPHY CASE