Edmunds Members - Cars and Conversations

andres3

suydam said:

dino001 said:

stickguy said:

Dino, I’m not really trusting anything coming out of Florida state government sources at this point.

Agreed. The credibility is shot, sycophancy won. If we go this way we'll soon rival China in transparency and truthfulness.

Except the data don’t agree with their public stance. So I’d be inclined to say the data are what they are, and some people would like to wish it away.

That seems to be the truth for just about anything that exists in the world. "Some people" just don't care about integrity or honesty. It's what I say, do as I say, and to hell with those who question it!

abacomike

oldfarmer50 said:

ab348 said:

Yes, by all means let's re-argue the 2008 financial crisis and the responses by government. After all it's only been 12 years.

I think people are going stir crazy sitting home listening to nothing but doom and gloom. We should all go out and buy a car.

Already did my part!😜🤪🤓

stickguy

interesting placement of the cupholders. and I love looking at older Navi systems. Looks about as modern as a Pong game.

qbrozen

stickguy said:

interesting placement of the cupholders. and I love looking at older Navi systems. Looks about as modern as a Pong game.

That’s where the cupholders were in our first-gen Forester. Made quite the mess.

stickguy

that is worse than the silly ones in BMWs that flip out of the dashboard.

ab348

The wall project and lawn rehab is complete. The “before” picture which I don’t have would be similar if you imagine a 45degree bank where the wall is that had little grass and lots of weeds, same as the lawn itself. Also imagine a giant overgrown juniper in the empty space to the right of the house stairs. I had the crew remove it and now get to reimagine that space with new plantings.

pensfan83

That looks great! I love the look of the stone.

omarman

Looks really nice and you won't ever need lawn chairs in the new space! Kids now have a stone bench on the corner to chill out.

fintail

That wall does look nice, doesn't look too "new", like it is contemporary to the house.

imidazol97

That's beautiful stonework. I'd just sit out there with a can of soda and look at it to enjoy it.

explorerx4

@ab348.
I was expecting a stacked stone style, very popular around here, but that wall looks great.

abacomike

imidazol97 said:

That's beautiful stonework. I'd just sit out there with a can of soda and look at it to enjoy it.

Can of soda???? Good grief - a bottle of Becks or Yuengling and I'd enjoy the stonework even more!!! 🤪😜🤓

explorerx4

Have heard this song a million times(brings me back to high school days)
Got a real appreciation for talent of drummers who are usually in the background of rock and roll songs.
Never heard of this girl before but this video has over 25 million views
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d33x1HyJZ10&list=RDd33x1HyJZ10&start_radio=1

driver100

Looks good ab...the stone work is pretty cool. I still like my idea of a moat with real alligators.

oldfarmer50

fintail said:

Oh, I thought you were offering to help me out

oldfarmer50 said:

That’s nice. With that kind of mileage it must have sat in a museum. You should get it. If I were buying it I’d bring a suitcase of cash.🤑

Nice try but I just bought a car for someone.

oldfarmer50

ab348 said:

The wall project and lawn rehab is complete. The “before” picture which I don’t have would be similar if you imagine a 45degree bank where the wall is that had little grass and lots of weeds, same as the lawn itself. Also imagine a giant overgrown juniper in the empty space to the right of the house stairs. I had the crew remove it and now get to reimagine that space with new plantings.

That’s very classy. Nice house. The wall makes it look upscale. Keep that new sod watered.

nyccarguy

@ab348 - love your new wall! It looks great!

Michaell

@ab348 - I really like the way that turned out.

ab348

Thanks all. The fellow was a real craftsman, told me he’d been doing this kind of work for 43 years, starting when he was 15. His crew are his 4 grandsons. The only place he visibly mortared the stones was on the rounded corner. The rest is a sort of faux-stacked style I suppose, with the stones only mortared to each other in the back where it is invisible. Concrete footing, gravel in behind for drainage, tinted concrete cap. He was a joy to watch work. You wouldn’t believe the compliments I’m getting from both neighbors and random passersby.

snakeweasel

stickguy said:

interesting placement of the cupholders. and I love looking at older Navi systems. Looks about as modern as a Pong game.

My Chevy Corsica had cup holders like that and yes it was a bit unusual.

abacomike

Mercedes is still trying to solve my chattering windshield wiper problem. They ordered Rainex wiper blades but they do not fit the E450. Back to drawing board.

The problem is caused by the glue they use when wrapping the car in that white protection covering. If the car sits out in the hot sun for long periods of time with the covering on, the glue loses its elasticity when trying to remove it. According to Mercedes, the chattering will dissipate in time. They already applied a chemical and buffed it off after 2 hours, but it did not completely stop the chattering.

It seems to chatter more in very heavy rain - no chattering in light rain. They said they will continue to involve the factory in solving the problem.

stickguy

I smell a new windshield in your future!

something is weird though. It is not that hard to get a windshield smooth and clean.

abacomike

stickguy said:

I smell a new windshield in your future!

something is weird though. It is not that hard to get a windshield smooth and clean.

Fintail mentioned that he. too, is experiencing the same problem on his E Class.

qbrozen

Wet sand the windshield? I mean, how can there be something on there they can’t get off? That sounds made up.

bwia

ab348 said:

Thanks all. The fellow was a real craftsman, told me he’d been doing this kind of work for 43 years, starting when he was 15. His crew are his 4 grandsons. The only place he visibly mortared the stones was on the rounded corner. The rest is a sort of faux-stacked style I suppose, with the stones only mortared to each other in the back where it is invisible. Concrete footing, gravel in behind for drainage, tinted concrete cap. He was a joy to watch work. You wouldn’t believe the compliments I’m getting from both neighbors and random passersby.

Great job àb. I like the green color of the house and the terrace wall is a nice complement. What's that sign I see out there, is that a for sale sign?

stickguy

qbrozen said:

Wet sand the windshield? I mean, how can there be something on there they can’t get off? That sounds made up.

agreed. I wonder if there is just a poor design on the wiper arms, and they aren't getting correct tension or blade curve?

our 2015 Jetta had that problem more than any other car. Seemed very susceptible to not having perfectly clean windshield and blades. And since it lived with my daughter at college, that was pretty much all the time. Started a few months in and she complained a lot. Got better when I would scrub the windshield down, and replacement (rain X maybe) frameless blades helped a lot too.

cdnpinhead

I;m guessing it's an advert for the crew that did the wall and other work.

driver100

abacomike said:

stickguy said:

I smell a new windshield in your future!

something is weird though. It is not that hard to get a windshield smooth and clean.

Fintail mentioned that he. too, is experiencing the same problem on his E Class.

Just turn the radio on louder
or
start listening to RAP music...you'll think it is just part of the sound.

driver100

cdnpinhead said:

I;m guessing it's an advert for the crew that did the wall and other work.

You don't think he did all that so he could sell it?

ab348

cdnpinhead said:

I;m guessing it's an advert for the crew that did the wall and other work.

That's it. He has already picked up several jobs in the neighborhood from that.

tjc78

Usually some very fine steel wool will clean anything off the windshield.

Chattering wipers is incredibly annoying!

tjc78

ab348 said:

cdnpinhead said:

I;m guessing it's an advert for the crew that did the wall and other work.

That's it. He has already picked up several jobs in the neighborhood from that.

At the campground it’s amazing how word of mouth spreads for good contractors.

In the private FB page for the group, someone posted a question about a contractor. A person who we don’t even know said ... “He did site XX deck and it looks awesome”

Thought that was a nice compliment!

People walking by always mention how nice it came out. I have it all lit up too at night. Very happy.

tjc78

Here is the deck and our shed that matches the house.

We are finally done with everything we wanted to do this year.

driver100

Cool home tjc. Nice setting too.....looks pretty rural.

driver100

My brother travels with a trailer...mostly from Calgary to Nevada, AZ, California areas, and wanted to update his GPS. BMW wanted $300.....another guy got his updated for $40 from a website he found. My brother got his updated for $40 too. He thinks the only thing missing is latest updates for points of interest - but BMW may not be up to date on that as well.

fintail

Good luck. Via my experience on the MBWorld and fb W213 groups, this is a constant problem faced by many owners in many markets (myself included).

Maybe see if they can replace the factory rubber blade with the RainX rubber, while keeping the OEM blade holders. It didn't look easy when I was going to try it. So far, the only real solution is to give the windshield a squirt of wiper fluid, but that's not a real solution.

Keep us/me updated, as it is the most annoying quirk of the car.

abacomike said:

Mercedes is still trying to solve my chattering windshield wiper problem. They ordered Rainex wiper blades but they do not fit the E450. Back to drawing board.

The problem is caused by the glue they use when wrapping the car in that white protection covering. If the car sits out in the hot sun for long periods of time with the covering on, the glue loses its elasticity when trying to remove it. According to Mercedes, the chattering will dissipate in time. They already applied a chemical and buffed it off after 2 hours, but it did not completely stop the chattering.

It seems to chatter more in very heavy rain - no chattering in light rain. They said they will continue to involve the factory in solving the problem.

snakeweasel

driver100 said:

abacomike said:

stickguy said:

I smell a new windshield in your future!

something is weird though. It is not that hard to get a windshield smooth and clean.

Fintail mentioned that he. too, is experiencing the same problem on his E Class.

Just turn the radio on louder
or
start listening to RAP music...you'll think it is just part of the sound.

Just drive only when the sun is shining.

snakeweasel

driver100 said:

My brother travels with a trailer...mostly from Calgary to Nevada, AZ, California areas, and wanted to update his GPS. BMW wanted $300.....another guy got his updated for $40 from a website he found. My brother got his updated for $40 too. He thinks the only thing missing is latest updates for points of interest - but BMW may not be up to date on that as well.

I looked at updating the GPS in the BMW, the dealer wanted something north of $100 (cant remember exactly how much), found several website with the updates and instructions on installation for around $40.

driver100

snakeweasel said:

driver100 said:

abacomike said:

stickguy said:

I smell a new windshield in your future!

something is weird though. It is not that hard to get a windshield smooth and clean.

Fintail mentioned that he. too, is experiencing the same problem on his E Class.

Just turn the radio on louder
or
start listening to RAP music...you'll think it is just part of the sound.

Just drive only when the sun is shining.

Rainex....don't the droplets bounce off!

ab348

tjc78 said:

Here is the deck and our shed that matches the house.

We are finally done with everything we wanted to do this year.

It looks like we share similar tastes in siding. Here’s my garage-shed redone last summer.

stickguy

nice looking place for something that came in on wheels! Now that I have a picture I should be able to find it no problem, so if you see some strangers sitting out there drinking your beer, don't pay any attention!

dino001

Today at supermarket I saw 95% masked people, first time. Staff and customers, all age, race, class. Seems like it really took shattering numbers for people to finally get it.

driver100

Dino, Have you always had that picture of your 430 in your signature? I don't take note of those pictures too often but noticed it today.....it is a great looking car and I really like that color. looks more like tomato soup red than bright red....that car would suit both those colors though.

About the masks....didn't they mandate it in stores and public places - indoors since the numbers are spiking? It is absolutely irresponsible to allow people to congregate inside a bar. Being inside is 1000X worse than outside, and in bars people don't think to social distance.

dino001

Yes, I placed it when I got it, three years ago. I like my cars either blue or red, generally prefer vivid colors, if I can get it. Totally off-beat, considering majority seems to be silver, grey, black, white, or some shade of metallic background color.

driver100

I like our red C 250 too.....but larger cars like my E don't look right in red usually.....looks like it is trying to be a sporty car. But, for some reason, Cadillac CTS and the larger ones, CTS (I think), look good in red....but, more of a candy apple metallic red than fire engine red.

stickguy

I think the TLX looks right in red. Helps being the A spec with the bigger dark wheels. Doesn't look as good IMO with the smaller wheels.

28firefighter

I’ve taken the approach of walking out of stores and restaurants where folks aren’t wearing masks. If staff don’t want to enforce what is now law up here, they must not need my business.

abacomike

snakeweasel said:

driver100 said:

My brother travels with a trailer...mostly from Calgary to Nevada, AZ, California areas, and wanted to update his GPS. BMW wanted $300.....another guy got his updated for $40 from a website he found. My brother got his updated for $40 too. He thinks the only thing missing is latest updates for points of interest - but BMW may not be up to date on that as well.

I looked at updating the GPS in the BMW, the dealer wanted something north of $100 (cant remember exactly how much), found several website with the updates and instructions on installation for around $40.

My car's GPS updates automatically whenever a new map detail is added by Mercedes. It updates through Mercedes Me Connect. I happened to look up the number of updates downloaded to the computer in the last 2 months - there have been two updates so far. This way I don't have to take it to service or pay for the updates. They are included for as long as the APP is current.

driver100

Does Mercedes Me Connect cost extra? You only need Florida updates!

abacomike

driver100 said:

Does Mercedes Me Connect cost extra? You only need Florida updates!

No extra cost for the first 3 of 4 years. It updates the entire GPS - all maps and all states.