Chronic Car Buyers Anonymous (Archived)

fintail

Is "custom" a trim level?

tjc78

That interior certainly doesn't look "clean" to me.

andre1969

Yeah, that thing looks horrible on the inside, for only having 101K miles on it! My '00 looked better than that, with 150K on it!

As for "Custom", I don't know what the seller means by that. These things came in three trim levels by that time...SE, SXT, and ES. That thing's just a base SE model, although it looks like they inflicted it with the split bench seat, rather than the standard buckets.

tommister2

He didn't say it was clean...the ad says SUPER CLEAN. In this case, super means not

ateixeira

Too bad it's not SUPER DOOPER CLEAN.

roadburner

Very nice!!!

akangl

That interior certainly doesn't look "clean" to me.

That's not a clean interior, yuck, I can't stand dirty cars. My son's car and hubby's car are both lucky if they get a bath and interior cleaning once a year, drives me nuts.

My truck gets a warm bath once a week......my neighbor says I'm washing the paint off of it. I clean the interior once or twice a week too, including conditioning the leather. I guess I'm a bit obsessive about it.

Sadly my truck will soon be facing a paint job due to flaws in the paint from the factory. I'm dreading it, but the Ford dealer assures me it will be fixed properly. :sick:

kyfdx

Spring snapped..

Any advice?

stever

Get a pro to fix it.

Or get a pro to fix the hole in your head (seriously, that happened to my Ace Hardware guy back in Boise; lucky he didn't kill himself. Just wound up with a small scar near his temple after the replacement spring flew to the back of the garage, bounced to the front, and hit him in the head).

kyfdx

Yeah.. I've already noted that I can't budge the door...

Luckily, 4 of our 5 vehicles were outside, when it broke..

houdini1

Seriously, those things are dangerous. I replaced a couple a few years ago. The trick is to make sure the door is in the up position so the spring is slack when you install it.

Just get your wife to raise and hold the door....

kyfdx

Uh huh...

I've got a repair request in.. hopefully, they call first thing in the morning..

I'm guessing that spring replacement isn't cheap..

stever

When mine went, it cost $800.

Of course, I sprung for a whole new door. :-)

kyfdx

Yeah..not sure why I would need a new door... It's steel and insulated...

stever

That's what the new one was. The original one was jury built by the guy who built the house. It needed to go and the busted spring was a good excuse.

Kind of surprised you can't pull the "emergency cord" on the opener and manually open the door though.

houdini1

They now string a cable inside the length of the spring some way so the thing doesn't take off like a rocket when it breaks. Good idea.

kyfdx

I can release the door..

Just don't have the strength to lift it, without the spring assist.. I'm assuming that it's 300 lbs or more... and, that little handle doesn't give much leverage...

houdini1

That emergency cord just uncouples the door from the door opener...doesn't affect the springs, or lack thereof. Very difficult to raise the door without the spring assist.

stever

Oh yeah, that's right.

Wonder how I got mine up in Boise - it was a metal frame covered with scratch cedar siding. One spring was still functional I guess.

corvette

"Of course, I sprung for a whole new door."

Pun intended?

stever

Just seeing who was on their toes. And that was just for openers.

corvette

"And that was just for openers."

Yuk, yuk, yuk...

js06gv

Spring failed a few years ago at my prior house. IIRC I paid about $160 to replace it.

fezo

Boy I hope no one buys a car and throws us off topic....

kyfdx

I bought two this month... maybe, the poor door is worn out..

I was just thinking this morning, as my son went out the garage door to his car in the driveway.... Why aren't you going out the front door?

fezo

Door fatigue! That's it!

Yeah, you don't have to punch your card for a long time.

Jolie gets credit just for keeping a truck she can't drive.

stever

He's got so many holes in that card, there's nothing left to punch.

kyfdx

And yet, still have to get another one in the next two months, as two of them are going away in the next 30 days....

Maybe, I'm just punch drunk.... :P

stever

Best buy the buyer protection plan on those new springs.

akangl

Jolie gets credit just for keeping a truck she can't drive.

No plans on selling it, its by far the prettiest truck I've ever owned. Heck I enjoy just detailing it......its become a sick obsession. I love my truck even if I can't drive it....doesn't mean I don't sneak out to the post office once in a while...

Just 5 months to go!

michaellno

Re: Garage door springs. My house is 11 years old and I've had to replace the springs twice on my garage door. Of course, it doesn't help that we rarely use the front door and that the garage door is used all the time.

The $160 quote is about right for replacement ... and, not something you should try yourself. When I had the repair guys over, they specifically asked me to go in the house so as not to be in the line of fire.

I also wonder if the hot summers and cold winters fatigues the metal quicker here in Colorado. I had the last set of springs installed just a few months ago and was told that 4-5 years is all I could expect them to last.

stever

I guess you can get longer cycle springs for not a lot of extra cost; installation should be the same price.

Since everything old becomes new again, we'll get counterweight door mechanisms again one of these years and maybe they'll be easier to replace by a diy'er.

While we're off-topic a bit, is anyone with a big stable of cars using a lift or dollies to make storage easier?

michaellno

While we're off-topic a bit, is anyone with a big stable of cars using a lift or dollies to make storage easier?

So long as we're talking about cars and car-related topics, I don't see how we're off topic.



I've seen the lifts before ... if you have a tall garage (or a not tall car) I should think they work well. I suspect most of the folks here have lots of acreage and/or large driveways for the fleet.

For us, the Saturn and the Mazda live in our slightly oversized 2 car garage, and the MINI is parked on the street. Would love one day to get a house with a 3 car garage; all the better to justify a "toy".

corvette

Mark156 is right, the new CR-V looks sharp. I doubt the US version will get the xenon headlights or keyless ignition that Japan (and probably Europe) will get.

Sandman6472

Our springs have broken twice...both times the cars were in the garage! But we should be o k now since due to hurricane Wilma, we were forced to replace the original garage door and got new springs in the process. I do oil the rollers about 4 times a year now and even have a policy for the Sears door opener where they come once a year and "service" it...it's piece of mind for me, so I don't mind paying the $27/year.
Speaking of a 3 car garage, now that both girls have come back home to live temporarily, to save $ to buy a condo, we've got 4 cars. One has to be parked on the street in front of the house and one parks behind me. We have to move them most days if I end up leaving 1st. Having a 3 car garage would help with this situation...or even a circular driveway, but unfortunately, our lot is a pie shape in a cul-de-sac and it just won't fit. Will be funny to see what happens next year if my son gets a car and decides to come back for awhile!

The Sandman :sick: :shades:

qbrozen

Strange thing all these broken springs. We use our garage doors ALOT and have not had to replace a spring in the 7+ years we've been in the house.

I have an high enough ceiling for a lift, and would love one, but the garage doors are exactly the problem. If anything on the door ever does break, I'm going to look into revamping/replacing so it either goes straight up the wall or is a roll-away type door like some professional shops have.

As it is, I just have the 2-car attached garage, but when I had pavers installed for our driveway, I had them add several parking areas. Without stacking or blocking, I can park 6 on the pavers and another 4-5 on the grass, and still use the driveway and garage bays.

fezo

I think I have to see your house so I can check out how you manage that.

My parents and grandparents before that had this wonderful gravel horseshoe driveway. It was almost impossible to fill the thing and you knew you had company immediately from the sound of the tires hitting the gravel. It's a shame the house left the family.

breld

We have a three car garage for the four cars, so that takes a bit of shuffling some times. The third garage is set back a bit deeper toward the house, so the fourth car (usually the 318ti) sits nicely "recessed" toward the house a bit, so it's not bad from an aesthetic perspective (my wife generally hates cars in the driveway, or even on the street in front of the house).

On the weekends when we have all four of our kids, we swap out the CX-9 with the 318ti so the SUV is accessible. So it works out pretty well.

On another note, we had a rough week with our BMWs - on Sunday afternoon, my stepson (who is disabled with both autism and down syndrome) was sitting in the passenger seat of the 328xi while I was washing cars, and decided to pull off the rearview mirror. That was quite a feat, 'cause it's on there really well - so strong that the impact with the windshield broke the windshield too. So it's going to the shop next week for a replacement windshield and mirror (due to the electronics within the mirror).

Then just the other night, I was driving the 318ti on the highway, and heard some clunking sound from upfront. The clunking stopped, but when I got off the highway and turned on the left turn signal, I could tell something was wrong with the light. Uh-oh. Turns out the whole corner parking light housing somehow "wiggled" out and was left on the highway. The previous owner had replaced the amber corners with clear ones, and it would seem the driver's side one wasn't exactly seated properly. So, ordered a new set of those and hope to have that resolved soon too.

I told my wife, and she agreed, how lucky we are to have the four cars - just for situations like these.

corvette

I oiled the rollers as part of my "garage door rehab" program. They no longer squeak at all.

I also:
- hammered out a dent at the bottom of the door,
- adjusted the door so that it wasn't rubbing the header anymore,
- put an insulation kit on it and an internal lock so that you can lock the door if you have to use the safety release to get out when there's no power,
- painted the outside of the door (paint had come off where it rubbed against the header), and
- had the aluminum wrap and weatherstrip on the outside replaced.

All of this was not cheap or easy but it was cheaper than a new door. I also replaced the steel exterior entry door to the garage with a fiberglass one because the steel one was rusting.

andres3

What is burning a hole in my pockets right now is all this talk of hot hatches coming from left and right:
1) Ford Focus ST
2) Ford Fiesta
3) Veloster from Hyundai (to be sporty?)
4) VW Golf/GTI R
5) Mitsubishi making an Evo/Lancer version?
6) Subaru - well, okay, they've been around already.
7) Mini Paceman?

And to think your only choice for anything that wasn't underpowered and had 5 doors in this market was either a GTI/A3 or Mazdaspeed 3 before this.

qbrozen

I think I have to see your house so I can check out how you manage that.

Ah, the wonders of google maps... I can actually show you.

So here is the overhead shot. You can see the driveway runs under the tree canopy and gets very wide up top. You can see about 3 of the parking spaces and another 2 are still under the tree cover there.


And here is the head-on shot where you can see some cars parked on the right there (and that's the garage on the left). I think that's my Accord, so a fairly old pic. Can't make out what's behind it. Possibly my mom's Ascender since she was our daycare back when I had the Accord.

michaellno

Since I only had one reply to my "Who wants a Suzuki T-shirt" contest, the winner is .....

fezo!

PM me directly with your address and I'll get that out in the mail to you.

Thanks to all who participated .....

fezo

I knew that was going to happen!

How disappointing of everyone else. Anything would have beat mine....

Q- OK. That works. Boy, I have to move up your way. I like having space and being a bit more in the woods. Heck, then I'd know a mechanic....

michaellno

I knew that was going to happen!

How disappointing of everyone else. Anything would have beat mine....

Actually, I'm kinda glad it worked out that way. After the original post, I fretted that I'd have so many entries to choose from that it would be difficult to find a winner, then worrying about charges of favoritism, etc.

So, for better or worse, it worked out OK .... for me.

Of course, the other explanation is that nobody else can wear a size L t-shirt.

ateixeira

Yep, that's why I remained silent.

kyfdx

They showed up at Noon, today..

$218 for both springs... installed.. Not too bad.

We have five cars, right now.... two in the garage, then 3 more in a four place/two wide driveway...

It's a pain...

After Sunday, will still have four cars..... three is easy, four isn't...

isellhondas

Our current house is 25 years old and it still has the original garage door springs. About ten years ago, I had them safety cabled.

When we lived in California I heard a loud noise one morning. the people across the street had broken a spring. It hit their washing machine so hard it looked like a truck had hit it.

breld

Some of you may remember I sold my 530xi in early 2010. Without going into all the details and transactions since then, my wife and I have often thought the 530xi would be a better fit in our current fleet than our current 328xi (in the time since I sold the 5, we got married and merged our families, so the extra room would be nice. Plus, we both wish the 328 was a manual).

From an emotional perspective, I often lament the loss of that 530 since it was very personal to me - I ordered it new so I could get the manual trannie, I put on upgraded wheels and the "M-tech" body kit, etc.

So I often do a search online for manual trannie 5's, just to see what's out there. And this morning, a search on craigslist came up with this:

2007 530xi

This is not "like" my old 5 - it IS my old 5. :surprise:

So I went to look at it this afternoon, and it appears to be in great shape. About 20k miles more than when I sold it. The potential scary part is that there is an accident on the Carfax (just this past June) - the owner of the dealer of course claims that it was a very minor "parking lot" scrape, but who knows. For what it's worth, I looked it over pretty good and wouldn't have known any different.

I would definitely take it to our local BMW shop to have an inspection, and I'm also trying to call the woman who bought it from me. She was very pleasant during that transaction, and I think she might be more than happy to share any insight on the accident or anything else that has gone on.

Assuming all that checks out okay, I'd strongly consider buying it (again). Even if the accident turns out to be minor, how much should the price get dinged just having the record on carfax? For whatever it's worth, kbb has the car, as equipped, with a private party, in fair condition (which I would consider it given the carfax history) at about $23k.

We'll see - I kinda hate to go through the hassle of selling the 328xi at this point, so may just avoid doing anything. But seriously, to have this come up was pretty surprising.

corvette

"Even if the accident turns out to be minor, how much should the price get dinged just having the record on carfax?"

Quite a bit, on a BMW. Not as much, on a Malibu, but still a lot of buyers won't even touch a car that has a "bad" Carfax.

nyccarguy

Very funny story about you finding "your" 5 series. Maybe it was meant to be. My parents went through a similar situation. Mom leased an '05 530iA and absolutely LOVED it. Not only was it a great driving car with a beautiful interior & some sexy lines, it was reliable as a Honda. Not one single trip to the shop except for scheduled maintenance.

When the lease was up, they didn't think she'd need such a big car & there was no amazing lease programs for the new 528xi or 535xi. To lease a similar car would have cost $200 per month more. So they ordered a 328xi which they pretty much HATED for the duration of it's 3 year lease.