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Comments
I have not posted for a while! I am an amatuer radio operator and really enjoy VHF/UHF/Microwave rover contesting. Here is a shot of my RDV being used in the ARRL January VHF Sweepstakes. The photo is of my roving partner searching for a wrench to raise the mast a bit more.
http://www.acsu.buffalo.edu/~msadams/RDV%20Photos/RDV%20in%20Jan%- 20SS%202003.jpg
This June 14 and 15 is the next BIG VHF radio contest and my setup will be bigger and better than what you see pictured.
The RDV excellent for this type of work because the back seats come out and an operating station can be installed with the radios, computers, keyers, amplifiers, deep cycle batteries, etc, etc.....
If you are interested in ham radio, please check out
www.arrl.org
73,
Mark K2QO
Translation:
Best regards,
Mark, My federally licensed radio callsign
NOW I have some idea what it was if I saw a car tricked out like your Rendezvous coming at me. At least I wouldn't confuse it with the "Cat Detector Van from the Ministry of Hounsin'g'." (Old Monty Python routine)
CWJ
Looks really cool....However I bet that contraption plays heck with your gas mileage.
~Ken
Glad you like the photo of my RDV! I will post a really nice website link after the June VHF Contest which takes place on 6/14-15/03. There will be video too.
As for driving with this attached, heck YES! Any vehicle is allowed a max L x W x H and in my case the limiting value is height. I travel with the top antenna at 12'. Legal limit is 13'6". In the boonies lower is better as the antennas collect foliage :-)
As for fuel economy, well, in January we NEVER turned the vehicle off other than food breaks. Max temp for the two days was about 16F. On Sunday of the contest it ran from 0800-2100 local time. I use Mobil 1 and the average milage since the first oil change over a year ago is 19.4 MPG. And mose of my driving is city/suburb stuff.
As I posted earlier, check out
http://www.arrl.org/contests/soapbox/?con_id=47
You can scroll down through many pages of contest activity reports and see just what other vehicle configurations look like. Some are MIGHTY impressive.
Mark K2QO
No mention of Field Day? Lots of VHF and even some UHF activity then too. Fun - and pretty laid back compared to the HF side of the house. Vehicle-wise, my Suburban has been known to carry a entire HF station - including 50' tower and yagis - up The Hill to our FD site...
Walt w6ws
This is not a big deal in the grand scheme, but I'm wondering. I suppose I could wait and find out in another 7800 miles or so.
My worries are all the potholes lying silently in wait in the NYC area. I've avoided as many as I possibly could but have hit a few large sized ones. Wondering how my suspension/steering will hold up over time? Anyone else with pothole nightmares?
Regards,
Taras
tmakogon "Rendezvous Owners: Accessories & Modifications" May 21, 2003 6:29pm
I wouldn't paint on the plastic myself, but for sure talk to an auto body shop. It REALLY needs to be preped very well for the paint to stick and be durable. With even the best paint job though, the paint will chip, or scratch right off easier than the body paint for sure. But done right it should be fairly durable to regular wear such as washing.
Please post your results with photos if you go through with it.
Good Luck
~Ken
> can reset it yourself, right?
sure - otherwise it would be the same as the regular odometer!
I figure on using it to track my yearly mileage, but it sounds like it's likely to roll over after about nine months. No problem - I can remember that I drove 13,000 miles, not 3000!
Just checking in, I haven't been here since December. Our Rendezvous now has 23000 km and has only been to the dealer once, to repair a problem with the rear audio controls.
Before we bought the Rendezvous, i got the wife to look at a Camry. We had never owned or ridden in a Japanese car ( not since the 70's). I was impressed! So this year when my old car was at an end, I bought a Camry. The ride in the Rendezvous is much smoother than my Camry's SE suspension allows, but let me tell you the Camry is far more quite inside. I know that it's not fair to compare the interior decibel level of a crossover to a car. But Toyota doesn't need to make a radio that get's louder as you go faster.
Wind noise is zero in the Camry, and I wish that we could say that about the Rendezvous.
All in all, I am very happy with the Rendezvous, but the wife drives it, and I prefer the quiet in my Toyota.
Wind noise is zero in the Camry...
That is true BUT on certain (few) roads the road noise in the Camry can be quite distracting! In those cases, a self-adjusting radio would be very welcome.
tidester, host
I know Nextmoon mentioned he picked up the Michelin LTX M&S Tires. And Fedlawman talked about the Dunlop SP Sport A2's, but the Dunlops seem to be more passenger car based, and I didn't see anyone who put then on a van, suv or cross-over vehicle. It seems the Michelin's
might be good posibility. Any other ideas or possiblities???
Btw, we just had our A/C Condenser replaced under warranty. Thanks for any help w/ the tires.
John B.
The Dunlop SP Sport is a great passenger car tire but I'm afraid it's not made in stock RDV size. Someone got them with a wheel/tire package over on the Aztek forum a while ago and they looked great.
I've heard great things about the Michelins and will probably go with either Cross Terrains or LTX, so I can keep the original wheels.
What's wrong with your A/C condenser? I'm getting mine replaced too...
The guy at Buick said I had a hole in the condenser. I guess the thought is that perhaps we caught a rock while driving. I didn't actually see the hole though. My private mechanic says he's seen GM condensers come apart at the welds. He didn't even look at mine since it was still under warranty, thank God. It would have been aprox. $1,200 to fix according to the Buick guy. What's up w/ yours?
A local Costco is selling the Michelin LTX M&S tires. I rolled in there w/ a donut on my right rear since my wife had a flat. And yes, that jack is a pain to get out of the side compartment. Since the tires were pretty worn, I decided instead of fixing the flat I'd just get 4 new tires. They said there's a sale starting June 9th, so I'm planning on waiting and saving $65. In the meantime, they fixed my flat for free since I'm a member. I didn't realize they did that for tires that weren't purchased at Costco.
Since I have time, I thought I'd try to get opinions here on the forum about replacement tires. Also, my mechanic mentioned that the Michelins that Costco sells aren't the same as the one's other dealers carry. He says they're specially made for Costco and that the quality is not quite the same. Anyone know if this is true?
John B.
I have a "hole in the condenser" too. A likely story...
Steve, Host
http://www.cardesignnews.com/autoshows/2003/detroit/highlights/h0- - 2-buick-centime.html
Looks like I'll be a GM customer for a while...
As for the tires, I do have the LTX M/S tires on my RDV for over 4K miles (I drive low miles). I researched the Cross Terrains and they do not come in stock RDV size. My other choice were the Yokohama Geolandar H/T Y816 but were not in stock at time of purchase. Check out www.tirerack.com for tire choices for your RDV.
For the "hole in the condenser" problem, what were the symptons prior to discovering your condenser needed to be replaced?
My wife drive's the RDV about 97% of the time and I the other 3%. Since we already have 34k miles, for the next 2k miles we're switching cars. She puts on more miles than I do, plus I'm more concious of flaws, noises, etc... I don't want to get stuck w/ something after we pass our 36k warranty. Rest assured, I'll be checking everything thoroughly.
Btw, I just checked-out our weather stripping even though we've never experienced any leaks. All looks okay except the right rear "outer" stripping appears a bit flattened and is hard and glossy near the top right corner of the door. The rest is very soft and is not glossy at all. The left rear door stripping does not have the hard, flattened glossy area. I'll follow-up w/ my mechanic to get an opinion. Thanks for bringing up the topic.
As for the tires, are the Geolanders strictly a TireRack product? If so, how do you find someone to install, balance, etc. the tires you order. Will a regular tire shop do this? What kind of fee would you expect?
Are you pleased w/ the Michelins? From your earlier posts, it seems that you were quite happy w/ them. Thanks for any feedback you can give.
John B.
My weather strip problem may be just a fluke on my RDV. But if you want to check your weather stripping, you can take a garden hose and spray the top of the door openings for a few minutes. Regular spray from a garden hose should not get through the strip (same test dealer did).
The Geolanders are not strictly Tirerack.com products. They should be available in local tire shops but may be slightly harder to find then Michelins. I am quite pleased with the tires and expect they'll be lasting quite a long time. They are a great improvement over the OEM tires. Ordering them online cost slightly less than from a local store + tax. Tirerack has a list of tireshops in your local area that will mount them, some with price listing if I recall. I had mines mounted and balanced at a local discount chain auto parts for about $11/tire (NYC area).
Only thing I dislike is a noticeable sideways shifting from side to side when driving over draw bridges with medal grates in place of asphalt or concrete. It only happens when driving 50+ mph over the grates. The OEM tire shifted as well but less.
Through it all though, I'll probably just go w/ the Ltx's. I can get them w/ installation & taxes for about $475. I could pick-up the Geolanders for about $366 out the door. I'm thinking for an extra $100 or so, the Ltx's may be the best way to go.
Re: the weatherstripping. I'm sure mine won't leak. The inner weather stripping looks perfect. I'll go ahead and give it a shot of water in the next day or so. One thing though. I can hear that window squeak as it hits that part of the weather stripping. I'll try to get the outer weatherstripping changed under the warranty.
Anyway, thanks again for all your help.
John B.
As for my weather strip (inner), it turns out it's on back order! I won't come in for another week (it will be 2 weeks) and there's rain forecasted tonight and next few days. I better leave my car cover on.
Don't worry, I still have the RDV.
I finally traded in my garage bay ornament ('93 Accord EX) and picked up a TSX.
It's awesome!
Gamera's getting close to 33K miles, so with the warranty about to go bye bye, I think I better start trying ALL the switches and features again to make sure evrything's in working order.
A/C is still blowing very cold, so I hope I've dodged the "hole" problem.
BTW, I finally got around to replacing my Indiana plates with Missouri one's and currently have an application in for "GAMERA" vanity plates. At only $15, I think it would be a hoot and I'm feeling pretty confident that the name's not taken yet.
CWJ
She's going into the shop soon to replace a panel, I was just curious if anyone has heard of this before.
The "hole" in the condensor turned out to be a weld that came apart and allowed the freon to slowly leak out.
Apparently, there is a new part (a clip of some kind) that they will install with your new condensor that fixes the problem.
Specifically, I would love a full chrome front grill. I know, really flashy, but I bet it would be an eye catcher.
third part re-cargo organizer would be great to. I didn't get the organizer for the cargo area and would like other options.
Anyhow, just wondering if anyone has customized their RDV from a web store.
http://www.freep.com/news/latestnews/pm14805_20030609.htm
~Ken
tidester, host
I never asked Brian if he would mind me quoting him like that I hope he doesn't mind.
~Ken
tidester, host
www.jcwhitney.com/product.jhtml?CATID=81751&BQ=tt
These flames can be installed/removed and should look something like this:
www.geocities.com/makogon/RDV2.gif
Regards,
Taras
In certain, very severe crash events, the liftgate structure around the latch reinforcement may fracture. The liftgate may separate from the latch assembly and open. This is not a case of the liftgate becoming unlatched. The latch assembly will hold the liftgate in position during normal driving conditions.
GM is aware of one crash where the liftgate tore away from the latch and opened. One occupant sustained an injury. While GM believes that the liftgate tearing away and opening during a crash is a very rare occurrence, it is taking the precaution of voluntarily recalling the vehicle for repair. Occupants should continue to wear their safety belts at all times to reduce the risk of injury in the event of any crash.
GM will remedy the condition by adding a metal strap between the inner and outer panel of the liftgate. This will be done at no cost to the owners.
As I know the BCM's are Achilles heals on the RDV's, I'm trying to keep close tabs on things that may be BCM related, but as of now, I haven't found any BCM problems. I've been watching the mirrors carefully because it seems that's one "main area" where the BCM problems show up. I'd appreciate any suggestions, if anyone has any, on how to determine if the BCM is going out. As a last resort, I suppose I could have my mechanic hook up the analyzer to the engine just to see if it pulls any error codes. Other ideas???
Brian: congarats on that new Accura. Will you be applying Klasse to it? Enjoy...
John B.
Check out their "all-in-one" here:
http://www.properautocare.com/
Don't worry about the small amount. Just a few dabs on a damp cloth is enough to wax your entire car.
That little bottle will wax your car dozens of times!
Steve, Host