Chronic Car Buyers Anonymous (Archived)

sda

henryn said:

andres3 said:

sda said:

@andres3 said:

I believe it has about 24,000 miles; I need to check on that. The tires are 3 to 5/32nd's; most of them being 4-5; so they are done after this Summer.

Figure it makes sense to do the alignment not for these tires, but for the next set. Also, my indy just did my TTS alignment for $125 (I think they forgot to raise that price for inflation like their hourly rate just went up). Not a big cost where you're not getting gouged.

I think my dealership charges $500. Their excuse is they have to calibrate the Adaptive Cruise and other sensors when an alignment is done. I'm at 27k, tires around 4-5/32, Bridgestone. This is the 3rd car that I've had that came with OE Bridgestones and none have made it to 30k.

I'm not sure those features are worth $500 at brand new purchase, and certainly not worth another $500 to calibrate every 3 years or so.

--------------------------end quoted material---------------------------------

I'm not sure what those "other sensors" are, but Adaptive Cruise is definitely not worth much to me as I never use cruise control anyway, adaptive or otherwise. Another instance related to what we were talking about earlier, totaling cars with electrical problems.

Agree fully. Forward collision warning and braking, proximity parking sensors. Sheesh.

andres3

henryn said:

andres3 said:

sda said:

@andres3 said:

I believe it has about 24,000 miles; I need to check on that. The tires are 3 to 5/32nd's; most of them being 4-5; so they are done after this Summer.

Figure it makes sense to do the alignment not for these tires, but for the next set. Also, my indy just did my TTS alignment for $125 (I think they forgot to raise that price for inflation like their hourly rate just went up). Not a big cost where you're not getting gouged.

I think my dealership charges $500. Their excuse is they have to calibrate the Adaptive Cruise and other sensors when an alignment is done. I'm at 27k, tires around 4-5/32, Bridgestone. This is the 3rd car that I've had that came with OE Bridgestones and none have made it to 30k.

I'm not sure those features are worth $500 at brand new purchase, and certainly not worth another $500 to calibrate every 3 years or so.

--------------------------end quoted material---------------------------------

I'm not sure what those "other sensors" are, but Adaptive Cruise is definitely not worth much to me as I never use cruise control anyway, adaptive or otherwise. Another instance related to what we were talking about earlier, totaling cars with electrical problems.

For the nanny features, I'd assume you can just "pull the plug" and not total the car just because the nannies don't work.

explorerx4

Until I got used to it, I didn't really care about having adaptive cruise.
It works really well in my Explorer when towing a trailer, so now I really like having it.
Also like it on long trips.

mjfloyd1

@andres3 said:
I'm not sure those features are worth $500 at brand new purchase, and certainly not worth another $500 to calibrate every 3 years or so.

You should have your Indy do the alignment and recalibration. That will increase the value of your car due to their excellent reputation 😂🤣

corvette

Adaptive cruise is nice in a lot of situations, but not always. I can live without it on the Maverick.

explorerx4

@corvette,
When is it not 'nice'?

stickguy

I dislike cruise in general, and rarely used it. mostly because the highways I tended to use always had too much traffic, going varying speeds, to be able to keep it on very long. plus it was stressful, having my right foot hovering over the brake. It was actually more relaxing, and comfortable, to just keep my foot on the gas.

adaptive though, that I worried less about. I hated having it slow me down behind a poker, but at lest I did not worry about running into them.

maybe if I drove out west where there were endless stretches of highway with hardly any traffic it would be more useful.

pensfan83

@qbrozen said:
18 is darned close to what I have in it. I think, including taxes and shipping, I may be 20 into it, actually. But let’s not think about that.

I kind of ponder rescuing it.

corvette

explorerx4 said:

@corvette,
When is it not 'nice'?

Heavy traffic when behind other cars where the following distance causes jerks to pass on the right and cut in front of you, then the ACC slams on the brakes. I've learned to turn it off in those instances and maintain a more aggressive following distance than the minimum the ACC will maintain after you adjust it. Probably the opposite of what the designers envisioned.

corvette

Yeah, the 3.5/3.7 in the Ford and Mazda CUVs seems to be prone to the water pump issue. I've taken the CX-9 off the list. I almost forgot, I kind of liked the second generation Xterra, that could also be a possibility.

qbrozen

explorerx4 said:

@qbrozen,
How many hours of your free labor did you put into fixing it?
I know wanted to fix it yourself, it just seems like a good time to move onto something new.

I don't have a punch clock in my garage.

Indy mechanic has asked me to get a price on it from the insurance company.

explorerx4

@corvette,
I've had that happen but I adjust from there, either follow or pass.

28firefighter

No word from the shop today. Does not seem encouraging, but we’re also headed out of town tomorrow so I’m not in a rush to get it back.

xwesx

breld said:

Busy travel week - I flew to Vegas yesterday morning for a work retreat, and then caught a 6:15 am flight this morning to Chicago as my son has his last final of his freshman year. Once he’s done with that, we’re hitting the road back home to Colorado.

Then wife and I are heading to London on Sunday for a week for vacation.

Living the good life! Well, somebody's gotta do it.

xwesx

jmonroe1 said:

I have directional tires on the Genny. I don’t know who thought those were a good thing but I don’t think they are. Given they’re not white walls (ain’t them things long gone by now?) I’m thinking I could reverse mount those suckers just as an experiment. Has anyone in here tried that yet?

jmonroe

Yes, that's how they get the two sets on different sides of the car to point the same direction in the first place. I always check my mounted tires just to ensure that I have 2+2, because it isn't all that uncommon for them to mess up and do 3+1 or 4+0. Thankfully, the 4+0 only happened one time, but it was the first time and I didn't notice it until I had the tires on the car already.

xwesx

qbrozen said:

18 is darned close to what I have in it. I think, including taxes and shipping, I may be 20 into it, actually. But let’s not think about that.

I kind of ponder rescuing it.

Don't do it! Turn your attention back to the Coronet, instead.

xwesx

explorerx4 said:

Until I got used to it, I didn't really care about having adaptive cruise.
It works really well in my Explorer when towing a trailer, so now I really like having it.
Also like it on long trips.

The first several trips I drove, including three back and forth to Alaska (from Oregon) and one from Alaska to Oregon to Pennsylvania to Alaska, were done with vehicles predating cruise control. However, I always get a terrible pain in my right knee after an hour or two of holding the accelerator pedal, so I've been a big fan of cruise every since I had a car that had the feature.

After driving from Ohio to Oregon to Alaska this last fall in the Q7 without cruise again, I can say that nothing has changed.... I can still do long days of driving without it, but I sure as h-e-double-hockey-sticks don't want to!

Don't get me started on ACC, though. Not again.

xwesx

28firefighter said:

No word from the shop today. Does not seem encouraging, but we’re also headed out of town tomorrow so I’m not in a rush to get it back.

If shops around there are anything like here, they probably have it lined up around the block waiting its turn!

Safe travels. The car situation is just something you get to look forward to upon your return.

stickguy

I assume there is something broken with the Q7? Since I am sure they made it with cruise!

sda

stickguy said:

I assume there is something broken with the Q7? Since I am sure they made it with cruise!

IIRC he had an issue that triggered the CEL which disabled the CC. Made for a long trip.

kyfdx

@qbrozen That's a steal..

nyccarguy

@qbrozen - plenty of us complain about insurance in one form or another. It’s nice to see a positive outcome on your behalf with the Mercedes.

xwesx

sda said:

stickguy said:

I assume there is something broken with the Q7? Since I am sure they made it with cruise!

IIRC he had an issue that triggered the CEL which disabled the CC. Made for a long trip.

Yes, and still ongoing. It's just an electrical bug in the brake circuit.

tifighter

Just put tabs onto the roadster. This means I’ve had the Covid lockdown toy for two years now. CCBA - Am I doing it wrong?

cdnpinhead

stickguy said:

Maybe if I drove out west where there were endless stretches of highway with hardly any traffic it would be more useful.

Yup, it most assuredly is.

ab348

qbrozen said:

18 is darned close to what I have in it. I think, including taxes and shipping, I may be 20 into it, actually. But let’s not think about that.

I kind of ponder rescuing it.

Somebody local to QB needs to organize an intervention ASAP. His pattern of self-harm needs to be stopped for his own good!

pensfan83

Paging @stickguy and @tjc78.

corvette

It was on the Maverick boards that (what everyone hopes was) a misinformed Ford rep informed a Maverick customer this morning that "production has been put on temporary hold at this time and is expected to start again in the next few months."

Kind of like the Muppet Babies episode where they mishear "six to eight weeks" as "sixty eight weeks."

henryn

qbrozen said:

explorerx4 said:

@qbrozen,
How many hours of your free labor did you put into fixing it?
I know wanted to fix it yourself, it just seems like a good time to move onto something new.

I don't have a punch clock in my garage.

Why not? I'm sure @jmonroe1 has one in his garage.

qbrozen

some funny business went on at that dealership, I'm convinced. I dropped it off Friday morn and we had a very severe thunderstorm front roll through in the overnight before Saturday. Now I'm seeing the pics the adjuster took and it is pretty obvious to me they left the moonroof open. Sigh. I need to go over there to get stuff out of the truck, at which point I'll take a closer look. Not sure what, if anything, I can do about it. Not like they'll admit to it.

corvette

So, they basically did the equivalent of torching your car, without you having to go to the trouble of asking or paying for someone to torch your car?

qbrozen

My sense of justice messes with me. Allowing my insurance to pay for their mistake doesn't sit well.

corvette

That's understandable. Plus it sounds like they tried to cover it up by the way they presented it to you.

pensfan83

qbrozen said:

My sense of justice messes with me. Allowing my insurance to pay for their mistake doesn't sit well.

If you've established a good rapport with the adjuster, is there a way you can subtly suggest they may want to independently corroborate the dealer's findings?

jmonroe1

henryn said:

qbrozen said:

explorerx4 said:

@qbrozen,
How many hours of your free labor did you put into fixing it?
I know wanted to fix it yourself, it just seems like a good time to move onto something new.

I don't have a punch clock in my garage.

Why not? I'm sure @jmonroe1 has one in his garage.

————————————————-

Nope, I don’t time myself and that’s one of the major reasons why I like to do my own work. When you take your car to a shop, especially a chain store to do brakes, when the boss sees the tech is getting a little behind he’ll say something like, “hurry up! You’ve got 4 more cars to do today”. I don’t want that with my cars.

jmonroe

jmonroe1

qbrozen said:

some funny business went on at that dealership, I'm convinced. I dropped it off Friday morn and we had a very severe thunderstorm front roll through in the overnight before Saturday. Now I'm seeing the pics the adjuster took and it is pretty obvious to me they left the moonroof open. Sigh. I need to go over there to get stuff out of the truck, at which point I'll take a closer look. Not sure what, if anything, I can do about it. Not like they'll admit to it.

It’s pretty pathetic when you can’t even trust a shop to close your windows when they leave your car sitting outside.

jmonroe

explorerx4

They'll just say they found the car that way.

stickguy

still becomes an insurance claim. just theirs instead of yours. in the end, you come out the same. Though if it gets bounced back, could take a while.

stickguy

Just gonna say, right now, house shopping makes car shopping look like fun.

tjc78

@stickguy said:
Just gonna say, right now, house shopping makes car shopping look like fun.

From someone who did it two times in less than a year… yea it sure is. I honestly think it’s much worse now than even 6 months ago.

jmonroe1

explorerx4 said:

They'll just say they found the car that way.

————————————————

Of course they will and they probably have an app that tells them how to do it.

jmonroe

qbrozen

stickguy said:

Just gonna say, right now, house shopping makes car shopping look like fun.

Car shopping IS fun! Isn't that why we are here in this discussion?

So I went to the dealership to get my personal items and plates. Took a look at the car and couldn't find any evidence to suggest anything different than what they stated. Headliner had been removed to take a look at the moonroof, and that somehow resulted in the sagging. Moonroof was still fully closed, they just taped plastic over it for fun, I guess. And still no bad smells inside. I left well enough alone.

corvette

You can always start shopping for a Hummer EV...
Edit: I left out the important info. Only 65 miles on the clock and they are asking $269,995.

qbrozen

I may take the money and build a garage.
This popped up as an ad for me. $14k'ish for a 4-car garage with doors on both ends. Well, OK, door openings. Suppose I gotta add cost for the doors, and then there is the concrete slab under it. And electrical. I guess maybe $22k or so all-in.
https://www.versatube.com/building-kits/garages-buildings/frontier-garage-24-w-x-36-l-x-9-h

nyccarguy

qbrozen said:

I may take the money and build a garage.
This popped up as an ad for me. $14k'ish for a 4-car garage with doors on both ends. Well, OK, door openings. Suppose I gotta add cost for the doors, and then there is the concrete slab under it. And electrical. I guess maybe $22k or so all-in.
https://www.versatube.com/building-kits/garages-buildings/frontier-garage-24-w-x-36-l-x-9-h

Where's your sense of adventure? That's why they make extension cords.

corvette

Is it really a four car if it's 36' long? Maybe four shorter cars. Definitely not two Sprinters nose to nose.

qbrozen

corvette said:

Is it really a four car if it's 36' long? Maybe four shorter cars. Definitely not two Sprinters nose to nose.

If I own 2 sprinters, I'd better be a fleet service.
Even my monstrous Coronet is a hair under 17', so I figured 36' overall is enough.
And, realistically, it would probably only ever have 2 cars in it. The rear half would be all the tractors, bikes, mowers, and whatever else. At which point, the 3-car attached garage would actually have 3 cars!

Michaell

qbrozen said:

corvette said:

Is it really a four car if it's 36' long? Maybe four shorter cars. Definitely not two Sprinters nose to nose.

If I own 2 sprinters, I'd better be a fleet service.
Even my monstrous Coronet is a hair under 17', so I figured 36' overall is enough.
And, realistically, it would probably only ever have 2 cars in it. The rear half would be all the tractors, bikes, mowers, and whatever else. At which point, the 3-car attached garage would actually have 3 cars!

If I'm reading your signature block right, I count 7 in the fleet, with two more on the way (and, that's excluding the ML63).

explorerx4

Better check with zoning before you pull the trigger building another garage.

corvette

Conversely, if there is no zoning, you could do like Big Al (of YouTube fame) in Florida and make PVC framed carports with plastic tarp roofs, anchored by five gallon buckets with concrete poured in them. Much cheaper than $22k, and if you're careful, you can probably even move them with you if you relocate.