Edmunds Members - Cars and Conversations (Archived)

qbrozen

If you want just a TASTE of what has been going on with Covid testing, check this out. I have narrowed it down to JUST those in Phase 3/4 and currently enrolling, active but done recruiting, or completed. Without those restrictions, there are THOUSANDS of trials in Covid 19. With those restrictions, there are 379!
https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/results?cond=Covid19&Search=Apply&recrs=a&recrs=d&recrs=e&age_v=&gndr=&type=&rslt=&phase=2&phase=3

suydam

Re home theater — we just have a 55” TV with a sound bar and a subwoofer. Looks and sounds great and doesn’t take up space.
Re glass shower doors — I have a frameless glass door to a walk-in shower. Very low maintenance and looks fabulous. Very practical. I don’t know what your plumber was talking about. Sure beats shower rods, rings and curtains.
As we get older practicality, quality, and basic good looks are our priorities in any remodel.

omarman

fintail said:

https://youtu.be/5DdDd3PfxDk

Glad I saw the tip about renewed pandemic buying. I was able to update my pending delivery order to add Fabuloso and trash bags. Nothing there to fight the rampant spread of covid. But same can be said for hoarding TP and yeast. Some things you just hate running out of, Jim...

imidazol97

ab348 said:

imidazol97 said:

I'm enjoying my old blades as the treatment slowly wears off the windshield. I'll buy a set of AC Delco beam OEM type blades at the dealer in a few days.

I've never seen AC Delco OEM style blades. All the ones I've encountered have a big clunky-looking universal mount that sticks up in the center.

The OE blades on my ATS are Denso products.

AC Delco Professional Part Number: 8-9919

cdnpinhead

stickguy said:

Am I the only one here who is too lazy to have an elaborate AV set-up?

No

ab348

suydam said:

Re glass shower doors — I have a frameless glass door to a walk-in shower. Very low maintenance and looks fabulous. Very practical. I don’t know what your plumber was talking about. Sure beats shower rods, rings and curtains.

So are you saying your glass door doesn't need cleaning after you shower and always looks great?

tjc78

We have a two sided glass enclosure in our master bath. It gets water spotted pretty easily, but the shower is large enough that I don't think soap scum will be a problem.

ab348

imidazol97 said:

AC Delco Professional Part Number: 8-9919

Is that what was originally installed on your Malibu? The Cadillac part is somewhat different in design:

suydam

ab348 said:

suydam said:

Re glass shower doors — I have a frameless glass door to a walk-in shower. Very low maintenance and looks fabulous. Very practical. I don’t know what your plumber was talking about. Sure beats shower rods, rings and curtains.

So are you saying your glass door doesn't need cleaning after you shower and always looks great?

We use a squeegee on the glass after showers and maybe once or twice a year a glass cleaner product. It’s very low maintenance.

venture

snakeweasel said:

stickguy said:

am I the only one here that is too lazy to have an elaborate AV set-up? Our main TV is in the upstairs family room (no theatre room either), and we just listen to the speakers on the TV. Sound pretty good, even watching movies (which is not something we do very often anyway). I have a receiver and floor speakers hooked up to it (and a DVD player) but sadly that mostly sits getting dusty too.

No you're not the only one, I'm the same way.

Me too. Our only TV on the main floor is a 32" Samsung in the family room.

imidazol97

ab348 said:

imidazol97 said:

AC Delco Professional Part Number: 8-9919

Is that what was originally installed on your Malibu? The Cadillac part is somewhat different in design:

Yes.. They're still on the Malibu 2014 to 2020. Still wipe great. I do take care of them.

The OEM AC Delco for your ATS is
The blade looks like this


AC Delco sells actual OEM items and AC Delco has Professional level items that are OEM equivalent.
I've bought the Professional wipers for our various cars. I like the beam blade that came on my Malibu.

The Advantage level product is a price competitive product. I avoid those AC Delco regular line items.

driver100

ab348 said:

suydam said:

Re glass shower doors — I have a frameless glass door to a walk-in shower. Very low maintenance and looks fabulous. Very practical. I don’t know what your plumber was talking about. Sure beats shower rods, rings and curtains.

So are you saying your glass door doesn't need cleaning after you shower and always looks great?

We have a shower where the bathtub used to be. It is glass. I use that Magic stuff about once a month, apply it with a sponge.....squeegee it off and dry any water with a paper towel, takes 10 minutes at the most. It looks neater than plastic and lets in more light......neater and cleaner.

roadburner

graphicguy said:

@tjc78 ....like the room.....a lot! Nice set up.

I’m toying with the idea of a new sub, too.

I have an old(er) EPIK 18” sub that’s living on borrowed time. It is immensely powerful. But, the manufacturer is no longer in business. The reason for that is they used some amps that weren’t known for their longevity. Still, it still performs well and it’s 7 years old with no hint of trouble. I think I’m pushing my luck, though.

Keeping eye(s) open for a used SVS Ultra or a B-stock PSA sub.

I still like my Hsu VTF-3R. It is musical enough to use all the time, not just for movies and such.

roadburner

My wife and my son enjoy watching movies on BD and streaming services. Neither of my HTS are very elaborate, but they do what I want them to do-

Main HTS: Pioneer 50" Kuro Elite Plasma, Denon 2808 7.1 AVR, Sony BDP-S5100, Rotel RCD-855 CD,, Klipsch KG4, RC-3II, and RS-3II speakers, Hsu Resesrch VTF-3R SW, BJC speaker cables/interconnects, Tripp-Lite HTPOWERBAR 10 and ISOBAR6DBS surge suppressors/line filters, hospital grade wall outlets

Gaming HTS: Panasonic 42" Plasma, Denon 1804 6.1 HTR, Samsung BDP-1600, Xbox 360, Turtle Beach X31 wireless gaming headsets, Energy Take Classic 5.1 speaker system, Sanus EFSATB speaker stands, AR speaker cables/interconnects, Dual Tripp-Lite ISOBAR6DBS surge suppressor/line filters

Come Black Friday a Sony 77" A9G OLED display will(hopefully) replace the Kuro Elite and a Panasonic DP-UB820 4K BDP will replace the Sony BDP in the main HTS. The Pioneer and Sony units will replace the Panasonic display and the Samsung BDP in the gaming HTS.

My wife only complains about the volume if my son and I are watching an action movie at reference levels after she goes to bed- the sub causes things to rattle in our bedroom, even though the bedroom is located on the second floor at the opposite end of the house...

tjc78

@roadburner
That is a nice collection of equipment for sure. The 77" TV will really be a nice upgrade.

We are lucky that room is in the basement and the actual screen and equipment is under the morning room which doesn't have an upstairs. On the second floor I can hear a faint rumbling as in my Mom's room on the first floor clear across the house. Directly above and in the kitchen the glasses were vibrating in the cabinets.

I have some audio upgrades planned. My B&W's are going to stay for the front stage, but I want to get 4 new surrounds and snake the wires up the wall to fill out the rear. Currently I have large B&W book shelfs on stands, but that's temporary. Then I'll look at a new sub, I think any of the ones mentioned will do nicely and finally I will retire my venerable RX-V1 with something more modern. Even with 5.1 (can do 6.1) it just sounds so clean and never runs out of power.

We broke in the theater last night with the kids. We watched Spies in Disguise. A kids movie with a lot of action. I had it below reference but peaking in the 90s. I was overall pretty happy and everyone really enjoyed.

driver100

No tennis scheduled today and they closed the rec centers so no pickleball for 4 weeks......and it is only going to be 35F today! I can watch some tennis from London....but, I might have to watch Borat

roadburner

@tjc78
I wish I could have a dedicated home theater. Yours looks to be outstanding. I know a lot of audiophiles look down on Klipsch speakers but I’m very happy with them. When we remodeled the kitchen and family room I was able to run the BJC speaker cables though the walls so the surrounds are out of the way.

[Deleted User]

roadburner said:

@tjc78
I wish I could have a dedicated home theater. Yours looks to be outstanding. I know a lot of audiophiles look down on Klipsch speakers but I’m very happy with them. When we remodeled the kitchen and family room I was able to run the BJC speaker cables though the walls so the surrounds are out of the way.

I've always heard great things about Klipsch, thought it was Bose that took the heat. All highs, no lows, must be Bose???

tjc78

We lucked out having this room already in the house. No way budget would have allowed us to build it. It was even pre-wired for the projector with Cerelity Fiber Optic lines. That's a nice touch rather than the builder throwing a 50' no-name HDMI through the walls. Why the PO didn't have lines run for the surround speakers I'm not sure. I ran them under the baseboards so they are hidden. I can go up the wall from the baseboard when I'm ready to go for wall mount speakers.

Klipsch makes a great speaker. Extremely efficient and they take a beating. My sub is a Klipsch that is over 15 years old and still doing great.

Bose? Great little sound docks, headphones, etc... but not Audiophile in any way. The 901's have a unique sound that many people love, but I'd rather have traditional speakers.

graphicguy

RB.....I got into a little bit of a tiff with HSU several years ago at an audio meet and greet (when they still did those) out west. I happened to be near it for other work I had, so I attended in the hopes of learning something. But, that stuck with me as Dr HSU and his brother (which at the time was his sales guy) were arrogant and condescending towards me. It was quite a few years ago, and I should let bygones be bygones. Now, I have a lot more experience and would call them out. But, back then I was a Home Theater green pea and sulked away from them feeling let down and stupid.

I think you’re really going to like that Sony OLED. Was thinking about your shopping foray last night. The good thing about OLEDs, my 5 year old LG OLED doesn’t look much different than my 1 year old LG OLED. They just look wonderful. The only variable is the video processing, which Sony is great at doing.

Once the EPIK dies, given both Power Sound Audio and SVS are in OH, I’ll probably do a little road trip to listen to their wares and bring one (or two) home with me. Right now, I’m set, however!

@tjc78 ....I like my Klipsch gear. I have Reference in my HT (7.2 along with 2 subs). My 2 channel Klipsch Heritage are something I promised myself for a very long time. They are glorious.

I looked at some Magnepan LRSs because I had a pair of Maggies years ago. I kept reminding myself why I no longer have them. They are finicky to set up and are very dependent on expensive electronics. Plus, I spent more time “futzing” with them than I did listening to my music. Still, if you want critical speakers, hard to fault Magnepans.

sda

When we built our house in 2004 I had the house hard wired for speaker and volume controls in the living rm, dining rm, and back porch. In addition I had the den (family room) hard wired for surround. That has worked out well. The house is built on a pier based concrete slab foundation so I knew I wouldn't have a crawl space to run wires. In our bonus room upstairs I have a modest Polk speaker set up with powered sub, center, and 4 speakers. Best Buy had a Rocketfish wireless adapter to allow me to place the surround speakers without having to run wire. Though not perfect, it works ok.

stickguy

If I finally convince the wife to move, and we build new or do a major remodel, I’m definitely doing all the ore wiring for speakers, and internet, etc. basically whatever the modern wiring package is!

oldfarmer50

Hi, my name is oldfarmer50. I was searching for car discussions but I must have pressed the wrong button and ended up here. 😀

tjc78

stickguy said:

If I finally convince the wife to move, and we build new or do a major remodel, I’m definitely doing all the ore wiring for speakers, and internet, etc. basically whatever the modern wiring package is!

Yes, that's a must. Insist it is "home run" all to one central panel in the basement or garage.

tjc78

oldfarmer50 said:

Hi, my name is oldfarmer50. I was searching for car discussions but I must have pressed the wrong button and ended up here. 😀

LOL we haven't spoke about cars in this thread for many years now!

stickguy

tjc78 said:

stickguy said:

If I finally convince the wife to move, and we build new or do a major remodel, I’m definitely doing all the ore wiring for speakers, and internet, etc. basically whatever the modern wiring package is!

Yes, that's a must. Insist it is "home run" all to one central panel in the basement or garage.

Definitely. I also have lots of ideas from watching too many this old house type shows about technology and products to use. Unfortunately not likely the budget.

Solar built in from new is one of them.

sda

I'll turn it around for you oldfarmer50. Though my Passat is not the top of the line SEL, it certainly has a lot of features that I really like that were not on the Accord. Rain sensing wipers, self dimming review mirror, passenger mirror tilts downward when the car is in reverse, remote start, hands free trunk opening with a swipe of the foot under the rear bumper, adapative cruise. LED head and tail lights, even (drumroll please) cornering lights! It has heated seats front and rear, though they haven't been used yet. Soon though. It drives well, good ride and has been getting 30+ mpg on RUG. I'm happy.

stickguy

Rain sending wipers is one thing I miss on the RDX. my TLX for some reason did have them.

explorerx4

I have a hard time making a case for solar. My bill averages about $125 a month and just over $40 of that is the connection charge. Doesn't leave a lot for savings.

tjc78

stickguy said:

tjc78 said:

stickguy said:

If I finally convince the wife to move, and we build new or do a major remodel, I’m definitely doing all the ore wiring for speakers, and internet, etc. basically whatever the modern wiring package is!

Yes, that's a must. Insist it is "home run" all to one central panel in the basement or garage.

Definitely. I also have lots of ideas from watching too many this old house type shows about technology and products to use. Unfortunately not likely the budget.

Solar built in from new is one of them.

I think the wife wants to get solar. I said we need to wait. Far too many irons in the fire. I'm getting fence quotes now. Vinyl is expensive!

RE: Cornering lights.

I had them on several cars over the years (mostly Lincoln/Mercury) and grew to like them. After getting the Volvo serviced I realized that it had them. I never remember seeing them on any spec sheet and never noticed the car having them or button in the options prior to that service. Volvo must have added it with a software update. It uses the fog lights based on steering angle. That's much different than the old style with a separate bulb activated by the turn signal.

qbrozen

yes! cornering lights are awesome. I honestly did not realize how valuable they are until I went back to driving a car that didn't have them. I live in the boonies where we are overrun by deer, and you can't see around the next corner at night. I got used to them without realizing it. The Charger does not have them, of course. But I did add some driving lights that help.

stickguy

Solar in this house would make sense since we have a pool. Summer bills are high. But no pool when I move, so might not be worthwhile. Definitely building in a generator though instead!

Exciting day here. Shed guy should up to rip out our nasty, rotting old shed. New one goes up tomorrow. Long overdue. And I love watching “the guy” do heavy labor that might break me.

oldfarmer50

explorerx4 said:

I have a hard time making a case for solar. My bill averages about $125 a month and just over $40 of that is the connection charge. Doesn't leave a lot for savings.

Up here in the cloudy Northeast solar is a tough sell. Just not enough sunny days. Now if I lived in AZ I’d be first in line.

oldfarmer50

qbrozen said:

yes! cornering lights are awesome. I honestly did not realize how valuable they are until I went back to driving a car that didn't have them. I live in the boonies where we are overrun by deer, and you can't see around the next corner at night. I got used to them without realizing it. The Charger does not have them, of course. But I did add some driving lights that help.

Speaking of your Charger, have you figured out the lifter thing?

qbrozen

oldfarmer50 said:

qbrozen said:

yes! cornering lights are awesome. I honestly did not realize how valuable they are until I went back to driving a car that didn't have them. I live in the boonies where we are overrun by deer, and you can't see around the next corner at night. I got used to them without realizing it. The Charger does not have them, of course. But I did add some driving lights that help.

Speaking of your Charger, have you figured out the lifter thing?

noise went away

oldfarmer50

qbrozen said:

yes! cornering lights are awesome. I honestly did not realize how valuable they are until I went back to driving a car that didn't have them. I live in the boonies where we are overrun by deer, and you can't see around the next corner at night. I got used to them without realizing it. The Charger does not have them, of course. But I did add some driving lights that help.

We had cornering lights on the kid’s 93’ Deville. Came in handy.

driver100

sda said:

I'll turn it around for you oldfarmer50. Though my Passat is not the top of the line SEL, it certainly has a lot of features that I really like that were not on the Accord. Rain sensing wipers, self dimming review mirror, passenger mirror tilts downward when the car is in reverse, remote start, hands free trunk opening with a swipe of the foot under the rear bumper, adapative cruise. LED head and tail lights, even (drumroll please) cornering lights! It has heated seats front and rear, though they haven't been used yet. Soon though. It drives well, good ride and has been getting 30+ mpg on RUG. I'm happy.

Those are great reasons for choosing the Passat over an Accord, and I like the handling....even with FWD it has a Euro feel to it.

ab348

Picked up these things today and they made short work of gathering about 8 bags of leaves. They look like kids toys but they actually work!

roadburner

graphicguy said:

RB.....I got into a little bit of a tiff with HSU several years ago at an audio meet and greet (when they still did those) out west. I happened to be near it for other work I had, so I attended in the hopes of learning something. But, that stuck with me as Dr HSU and his brother (which at the time was his sales guy) were arrogant and condescending towards me. It was quite a few years ago, and I should let bygones be bygones. Now, I have a lot more experience and would call them out. But, back then I was a Home Theater green pea and sulked away from them feeling let down and stupid.
.

Funny thing, I bought my Hsu sub in large part because it received great reviews- plus the company was offering a couple of hundred dollars off AND free shipping to AVS Forum members. I decided to call Hsu and find out if the VTF-3R was the right size for my room. Dr. Hsu actually picked up the phone and spoke with me for several minutes. He was definitely brusque-to put it mildly-but he did answer my questions. And all these years later I'm still happy with it.
As an aside, I replaced the spiked feet with the SVS SoundPath Subwoofer Isolation System when we installed hardwood flooring in the family room. It certainly works as advertised; the VTF-3R has never sounded better- and all for the princely sum of $ 49.99.

sb55

ab348 said:

Picked up these things today and they made short work of gathering about 8 bags of leaves. They look like kids toys but they actually work!

I'm so glad that I don't have to bag leaves. I own 7.5 acres and about 1/2 of it is grass. In the fall I start mowing in the center of each grass area and blow the leaves out (counter clockwise with my mower). I eventually end up in a treed area and the mulched up leaves mostly stay there. A back-pack leave blower finishes it off in the spring.

oldfarmer50

sda said:

I'll turn it around for you oldfarmer50. Though my Passat is not the top of the line SEL, it certainly has a lot of features that I really like that were not on the Accord. Rain sensing wipers, self dimming review mirror, passenger mirror tilts downward when the car is in reverse, remote start, hands free trunk opening with a swipe of the foot under the rear bumper, adapative cruise. LED head and tail lights, even (drumroll please) cornering lights! It has heated seats front and rear, though they haven't been used yet. Soon though. It drives well, good ride and has been getting 30+ mpg on RUG. I'm happy.

I almost got to drive a Passat Monday. I like VWs because they have a distinct ride that I enjoy. Unfortunately, when I went to get it I saw that this NY plated car had no registration sticker or inspection sticker. Illegal and red flags for the revenue agents who patrol the highways. The car didn’t even have the company bar code sticker that’s on every rental.

I told this to the office guy and he muttered “the last guy who rented it didn’t return it for 90 days so we don’t know what he was up to”.

My speculations on what would possess a renter to illegally remove all the stickers range from an insecure guy trying to convince someone that this was his new car to someone pretending to be JRgo driving in a rally with a rental car. (JR did use a Passat but it belonged to Avis).

https://youtu.be/CyXGbYJRxbY

kyfdx

@oldfarmer50 I bet the renter tried to sell the car...

driver100

kyfdx said:

@oldfarmer50 I bet the renter tried to sell the car...

That sounds most likely. A good thing oldfarmer spotted the missing sticker and barcode. That could cause you a lot of grief if pulled over, even though it isn't your fault. I tried to find out why someone would take the tags off, could only come up with some things that happened when people were pulled over without tags, and it isn't pretty.
https://www.quora.com/What-happens-if-a-car-rental-company-rents-out-a-car-with-expired-tags-and-no-registration

sda

A friend of mine used to do unannounced inspections on their restaurants. She said she would pull the sticker off the car because they were a dead give away that she wasn’t local and put the staff on high alert. Of course she wanted to see how they really operated and sting them if necessary.

oldfarmer50

kyfdx said:

@oldfarmer50 I bet the renter tried to sell the car...

THAT would be a novel scam. You know, I’ve seen Craigslist ads that mention “waiting on the title” which always seemed strange to me. Who would buy a car if you couldn’t check out the title or get it signed over to you at time of purchase? Is there any scheme that people won’t try?

driver100

oldfarmer50 said:

kyfdx said:

@oldfarmer50 I bet the renter tried to sell the car...

THAT would be a novel scam. You know, I’ve seen Craigslist ads that mention “waiting on the title” which always seemed strange to me. Who would buy a car if you couldn’t check out the title or get it signed over to you at time of purchase?

I see this happen on Hot Bench quite often. Person buys a car and the owner says he will get them the ownership soon. Usually there is a ton of money still owing on the car, and the seller needed some fast cash.

stickguy

I stumbled upon these too. And assume it’s really a day in the life of Mr. and Mrs. driver.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=sh4FxN2m0vw

jmonroe1

stickguy said:

I stumbled upon these too. And assume it’s really a day in the life of Mr. and Mrs. driver.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=sh4FxN2m0vw

He’s got the wrong shirt on or he broke down and got one of those generic jobs.😳

jmonroe

driver100

Stick, when we play it is more like this (1 minute):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p6MyDfJUTKg
.....and I never where a horizontal striped shirt when playing.

qbrozen

I never knew they gave away such things.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kUxZMhwjFQw