Stories from the Sales Frontlines

fezo

But they do ignore mirrors.....

abacomike

Has some tire noise

All high performance tires are noisy. My E350 Sport's tires are performance grade and have different sizes front and back which means they cannot be rotated. The are very low profile and EXTREMELY NOISY AT FREEWAY SPEEDS. I expect to get about 16,000 or so miles on them before they will need to be replaced.

When tire treads are less than 3/32nds in depth, they should be replaced. This is for high performance tires or regular summer or all season tires. Never try to over-extend the life of a performance tire - it will bite you in the rear end, in time.

imidazol97

> The principal had a substitute to cover my last class and I went to the hospital with Vashti

It's not clear: did you go to the hospital because you were frazzled from the experience or to offer moral support. Makes me think of Gone With the Wind and "I don't know nothin' 'bout birthin' babies."

jmonroe

Does this experience count? If not, I have two or three more.

OK...you get credit for that but I'm beginning to think that this will now become one of those..."I'll show you mine if you show me your's", things. :sick:

jmonroe

jmonroe

But they do ignore mirrors.....

I'm glad you remembered that. Even with the whacked passenger side mirror (complements of ?) I got my price. That shows how well maintained that car was. Of course when the XG350 blew up she said, "I'm not blaming you but I think we traded in the wrong car". We all get smart late.

Again, top condition...top price.

jmonroe

sterlingdog

"It's not clear..."

LOL! I could have used a hospital bed myself. That was one of the eight years that I was Teacher of the Year. I always figured that I deserved it that particular year. :P

Richard

sterlingdog

"I'll show you mine if you show me yours."

Perhaps we should institute here a "Don't ask; don't tell" policy. :shades: :surprise:

Richard

sterlingdog

"I expect to get about 16,000 or so miles on them..."

Is that all? I would have thought the usual 30K to 40K miles. Are they really expensive?

Richard

jmonroe

Perhaps we should institute here a "Don't ask; don't tell" policy.

Not my job. All I have to do is pay my dues and watch the fall out. :P

jmonroe

abacomike

30 - 40 thousand miles

Nope. High performance tires will usually wear out at 15000 - 18000 miles. The rubber is ultra soft to provide significantly improved cornering and acceleration and stopping. They also tend to run hotter. I believe the sizes on my car are 260/35 and 240/45 or something like that in 18" diameter. They are extremely W I D E and very low profile.

imidazol97

I want one of those Mustangs that changes colors.

They run this ad on American Idol and I dig the idea of having the car change colors while I'm driving it. Let the paint job fit your mood!

My first new car was a Mustang. It didn't have that option.

abacomike

Mustangs that change color

My first new car was a 1964 Rambler American 2 door sedan - $1800 out the door, tax in. 90 horsepower out of a universal flat-top 6 cylinder engine. It changed it's colors frequently depending upon how much Earl Scheib charged for a paint job.

Noe these are words from a lifetime ago RAMBLER AMERICAN and EARL SCHEIB

Good grief, I'm becoming DECEASED!

fezo

Richard is trying to not tell us something....

driver100

Bad allognments and worn tires are very dangerous on
BMW's

Yes, you understood correctly and it sounds like good advice.
THX

driver100

I doubt it's going to be waxed either.

I could have guessed that was coming.

Sometimes I traded in cars and they hardly ever looked at it...just gave me a price based on book value. But, it makes sense, if you take care of the little things they will know you have taken good care of the car.

driver100

. I expect to get about 16,000 or so miles on them before they will need to be replaced.

My wife's bimmer has 38000 miles on the original tires....the fronts are fairly worn.

driver100

. The baby was delivered then and there.

I am so glad I didn't stay in teaching. The ambulance guys would have had to hold me down while I was screaming and someone else would have to deliver the baby.

You say you have more of those stories? Geez, I hope they aren't that scary!

abacomike

38000 miles and badly worn

Remember, heavy car, wide tire, Z rated (very very soft rubber) etc. Michelin Pilot super sports are guaranteed for 30000 miles of wear, but if different sizes front and rear, the drop the wear guaranty to 15000 miles. If a fire can't be rotated, they wear out more quickly. I'm hoping to keep this car for at least 3 years (26000 total miles the way I drive) so I will probably get the Michelin's when my tires need replacing. When the fronts go, even if the rears are still usable, still need to get 4 tires because of required balance.

Not very economical, but whoever said a Benz was ecomical to maintain?

abacomike

are they very expensive

Yes, Richard, between $280 and $350 per tire. The PILOT SUPER SPORTS run about the same. I now have CONTINENTAL CONTAC's on the car - they are quieter than the Pirelli's or the Dunlop's Mercedes uses as original equipment tires.

nyccarguy

You left out the best part of the story. The what happened after you drank half a bottle of vodka.

Regarding the tires on Mike's Mercedes. He lives in Florida where the high temperatures contribute to his tires' somewhat premature wear. I also heard someone say once that they use coral in the roads in FL & that just eats up tires.

abacomike

they use coral in the

Asphalt is the main composite used on roads down here in South Floida, but I believe crushed coral is used as fill under the asphalt.

But the worst place I've driven that would cause premature tire wear, not to mention extreme short lived batteries was Palm Desert-Palm Springs-Rancho Mirage-LaQuinta California. The high summertime temperatures (105-115) caused me to change batteries every 18-24 months and my tires every 12k to 18k miles.

As for Florida, just about everyone I know who has high performance tires with staggered tire sizes and V or Z ratings gets under 20k miles on a set of tires. As for heat, our summertime temps never get higher than 95 or so, it's the humidity that is intolerable.

driver100

, but if different sizes front and rear, the drop the wear guaranty to 15000 miles.

Just curious.......why do you need such high performance tires? I am certainly not criticizing considering I drive a car with more hp and gadgets than anyone needs. But, high performance tires in Florida? What are you doing with that car? Most driving in Florida is done following some guy going half the speed limit in a 1998 Ford Crown Vic, usually white with a cloth top and spoke wheels....and the left signal light on.

abacomike

why high performance tires

That's the way the car comes from the factory. All Mercedes E350 Sport Sedans (90% of production vs, 10% for the Luxury Model) come with these tires which are very wide, low profiles and V or Z rated.

The Luxury Sedan comes with standard 17" tires which are the same size all around and can be rotated.

In other words, you have no choice if you want the sport sedan which includes bigger brakes and vented, bigger wheels and tires, a different grille, side-front-rear body and ground effects, to name a few, and is a no cost option as opposed to BMW, and AUDI who charge for the sport package as do Lexus and Infiniti.

Remember, 90% of E350 sedans produced are Sport Sedans. Not much availability or selection of the Luxury version.

sterlingdog

Would it be bad for the car if you installed a regular set of tires on the Sports Sedan?

Richard

fezo

Here we thought it was all about feel ofthe road for driver. Turned out to be defective tires.....

sterlingdog

"Richard is trying to not tell us something..."

Yes, as in you're no longer in the Will.

Richard

sterlingdog

"...I hope they aren't that scary!"

The one where I was attacked with a knife was a bit more frightening. Also, the one where the guy pulled a gun on me because we terminated his [non-permissible content removed]. As I said, there are 2 or 3 others.

Richard

driver100

Here we thought it was all about feel ofthe road for driver. Turned out to be defective tires.....

Glad you are back to your normal self (at least in some ways). Had to lol at that one..

driver100

The one where I was attacked with a knife was a bit more frightening.

Glad I got out of teaching after 3 years when I got my permanent certificate.

Not too much danger in selling books.

sterlingdog

You can definitely tell that fezo is feeling his oats.

Richard

driver100

All Mercedes E350 Sport Sedans (90% of production vs, 10% for the Luxury Model

Every one here knows how much I love "the feel of the road", but in this case I would opt for the luxo model.

It would aggravate me too much to change tires at 18000 miles. The cost is bad enough but the time would also be a factor.

You don't know about my $200 ticket for going 96 in a 70 mph zone in Tennessee. We had a Passat rental in Florida in February, and I told my wife...this car is great....I'll never get a speeding ticket in one of these.

fezo

Yes, as in you're no longer in the Will.

No, no. That wasn't it.....

stickguy

wouldn't matter to put normal tires on it. Only issue can be going to a lower speed rating, but that is more of a liability issue for a tire shop (some won't do it), not safety unless mike is running at 140 across the state!

only question would be if the wheels are the same size. All 18", but the rears might actually be a wider wheel. if they are the same, then can easily put the same size tires all around.

and even in the same speed rating (say V), there are UHP tires, and also more GT tires that will likely last longer.

Putting crazy low profile, short lived tires on "normal" cars is a pet peeve of me now. On a viper or Corvette, sure. But not a luxo sedan (and no matter what MB calls it, the 350 is still a luxo barge).

abacomike

regular tires on the car

No! Wheels are designed to take what I have now. Also, remember it was built with a sports tuned suspension - very dangerous to put a set of standard radials on the car, not to mention cost of new wheels. You lose the new car warrant, too!

abacomike

Down here in Southeastern Florida, we have an over abundance of Italian Ristorantes (restaurants in Italian I think), but not just plain old pizzarias, excellent restaurants. That is if you like New York style pizza and food. I spent 20 years in New York and 23 years in Chicago, so my tastes tend to allign with Midwestern style Italian food. Most of my adult life was spent in Chicago, and the rest in California and now Florida.

My point here is that Chicago style Italian food tends to be more of the Sicilian style (spicier to the taste) while New York style Italian food is more neopolitan or central and northern Italian flavors (a bit blander). So, I began looking for Italian restaurants that specialize in deep dish pan pizza (more scilian in taste and a bit spicier) and Chicago style dishes. They just don't exist down here. This area of Florida is populated by northeastern transplants, but, from what I've been told, the west coast of Florida is populated more by Midwestern transplants,

So a few months back, after no positive results in my searches, I took a drive over to Naples/Ft. Myers in search of my taste in Italian food. I stop off at a gas station and ask where I could find an outstanding Italian restaurant. I am directed to a small out of the way mall and go into the restaurant with my lady friend. We ordered our meal and a pan pizza. Well, it was outstanding, but my lady friend hated it - she said the pizza didn't have enough cheese on it, and the pasta sauce was too rich for her liking. She said that if I didn't like the Italian food on the east coast, she wouldn't stand in my way, but that she didn't have to see me anymore.

I calmed her down and said that if she didn't want to to eat the type of Italian food I liked, not to worry because the next time I had the urge for Chicago style Italian food, she didn't have to join me.

So, in the end, if I wanted to continue my relationship with her, I needed to avoid Chicago style pizza. The moral of this story is - WHEN IN SOUTHEASTERN FLORIDA, DO AS THE SOUTHEASTERN FLORIDIANS DO - Bully your boyfriends to get whatever you want!

nyccarguy

I'm all for spicy, but the words deep dish & pizza shouldn't be used in the same sentence;)

nyccarguy

Are you a Senators fan by any chance?

driver100

I didn't think TVs would ever be made in the USA again, and then comes Element TVs. Made in the U.S.A. and they are sold out to the end of the year.
Element TVs - NBC News

abacomike

pizza and deep dish

Actually, some of the best pizza in the world can be found at UNOS and DUES (pronounced oonoes and dooays). But if you want regular pizza, Chicago flat pizza has a crust much like soda crackers (awful and crunchy - the worst I've ever tasted).

But you really would enjoy deep dish pizza.

Kirstie_H

I don't care for either extreme in a pizza crust.

St. Louis-style pizza is the worst I've ever had. Might be like the Chicago flat pizza, as I used to call it "pizza on a cracker." I don't care for super-thin crust pizza because it gets cold faster than I can eat it, but that's not the worst part - in St. Louis, they top the pie with provel cheese. Not provelone. Provel. It's a pasteurized processed cheese food. Might as well melt some saran wrap on top of it.

fezo

Ugh. I'm more of a thick crust vs thin type but all can be great if you're not an idiot about it.

I always wonder how the chain pizza places survive where I live. You can hardly throw a stone without hitting a good independent pizza place.....

tjc78

You don't know about my $200 ticket for going 96 in a 70 mph zone in Tennessee. We had a Passat rental in Florida in February, and I told my wife...this car is great....I'll never get a speeding ticket in one of these.

The last speeding ticket I got was in a minivan.... You can drive anything fast.

driver100

The last speeding ticket I got was in a minivan.... You can drive anything fast

That is the actual truth. But, on the other hand it is a lot easier to go over the limit without realizing it with 300 hp compared to 165.

fezo

It's easy enough to speed on a highway in a Windstall. Not that I would know....

abacomike

St. Louis Pizza

Exactly, the Chicago regular pizza is like eating sauce and melted cheese on a stale piece of "matzoh" (I believe that is how it is spelled). Awful, Awful, Awful!

But the deep dish pan style pizza is quite good - a crust on the bottom, mozzarella cheese, mushrooms and sauce in the middle, followed by a thinner crust, and on top of that, more cheese and sauce. You gotta try it!

But, when I wrote down "AWFUL, AWFUL" a suppressed memory surfaced about when I was a kid in summer camp up in the Berkshire Mountains. Every so often they would take us on a field trip to Friendly's which was an ice cream place. They had shake called an "Awful, Awful but it was not awful, it was awesome. It was a shake that was the size of a skyscraper, in other words, huge. I could never finish it by myself, too much.

Anyone remember or hear of Friendly's and their Awful, Awfuls?

abacomike

This morning, I get this email. Supposedly it is from Nestle Food Company of the UK. It says they got 5 winners, and I was one of them, and it was based on the fact that I used the internet frequently, and that I didn't have to enter to win! Here is the exact email I received:

Dear Winner,

Congratulations! You have just won a prize money of £500,000.00 GBP(Five
hundred thousand Great British Pounds Sterling) and two HP laptop by
NESTLE FOOD COMPANY UNITED KINGDOM for the year 2012 Annual Lottery
promotion which was promoted and sponsored by a conglomerate of some
multinational companies,Kentucky Powerball US,Bmw Motors Germany,Nokia
Company India,Acer company south Africa and the WORLD BANK as part of
their social responsibility to the citizens in the communities where they
have operational base and announce to you by Nestle Food Company. We
collect nine million emails id that are active online and electronic
balloting System was use to select rightful winner without the winner
applying and we only select five people every year as our winners,through
electronic balloting machine without the winner applying,note your
identification numbers:Lotto number......Lwh35447 Winning
number......Lwh09788 for your information, this Lottery will be announced
on BBC and CNN Network.
Contact your claims officer detail below:

Name: Mr.Wilson Pummer
E-mail: nfoodpromtion2012@hotmail.co.uk

Verification and payment release form:
1. Full Names:
2. Sex:
3. Age:
4. Marital Status:
5. Nationality:
6. Residential Address:
7. State/City:
8. Occupation:
9. Mobile Number:
10.Choice of delivery/ Online bank wire transfer or Recieve check through our registered
courier company
11. I.................: Hereby declare that the above information is true
and binding on me. If at any time it is discovered that I have given false
information, I will forfeit my rights to my winnings.

CONGRATULATIONS!!!! Once again

I am aware that there are lots of scams sent to senior citizens down here in Florida, so, being thetrusting sort I am, I send an email to Nestle Company in Switzerland, and explained I got this email about winning a lottery, would they please confirm this. Of course, I have not heard back from Nestle as of yet.

Then I respond to the email without giving them the information they wanted and merely stated that as soon as I receive confirmation from the Nestle Company in Switzerland (that's their corporate headquarters for Europe), I will send them the information they requested.

Truly amazing what they con artists try to do to seniors.

Note that this is supposed to be announced on BBC and CNN. Want to bet it never makes it to broadcast on those networks?

tjc78

Anyone remember or hear of Friendly's and their Awful, Awfuls?

Don't remember the Awful, Awful except for the food in general. :P

They filed bankruptcy and closed a bunch of locations. Times are not too "friendly" for them right now.

bwia

Sorry to interrupt but I posted in this in the LaCrosse forum but traffic there is light so I am hoping to get a better response here.

I lost my cell phone (ouch!) and I am in market for a replacement. I am considering the iPhone 4 S and the Samsung Galaxy S II. Both phones seem very attractive and are available at a discounted upgrade price on the AT&T network. However, I am leaning toward the iPhone.
My questions are: does the iPhone 4S work as advertised? For example, can I really start my LaCrosse from a remote location? And if I use the Siri function does the audio go through the car speakers? And finally, are there any Bluetooth integration problems synchronizing the iPhone to the car?

On the other hand the graphics in the android-based Galaxy S II is great indoors but I am not sure how it holds up in direct sunlight. Also, how trouble-free is the Galaxy? Are there any Gremlins out there frustrating users? And how trouble-free are the apps on the open source android platform?

Any and all comments are much appreciated.

Kirstie_H

Gosh, you'd think that Nestle could afford their own domain name and not rely on hotmail email addresses. You might also think that they would spell "promotion" correctly in the email address.

If you trace the IP on that email, I bet it leads to somewhere in Africa or Russia.

tjc78

Any and all comments are much appreciated.

I saw your post in the LaCrosse forum, but I'll respond here. I love Android. I'm on Verizon and have a Droid Razr. Great phone, lots of flexibilty and syncs up to my 2012 LaCrosse just fine. The phonebook downloads flawlessly but to stream Pandora or music on the phone in the LaCrosse you have to hook it up to the AUX port in the center console. The Buick doesn't support BT streaming of Audio.

I have some Apple products as well (IPOD touch, IPad) so I'm sure the Iphone will serve you well, but I like Google's integration for the phone. Google maps GPS is also excellent (and free). On Iphone you have to pay for an App.

The only knock on my Android products in battery life.