Cougar Support Group - General Maintenance

dasaint1

How about meeting in Lake Placid, NY? I've never been there, but I know it was an Olympic site. Hey, if it's good enough for the Olympics, it should be good enough for the CSG.

I can see it now. On one of the events, we'll ride on Badulah's Cat down the bobsled trail. Weeeeeehhhh!!! I ride shotgun--I called it first.

It's a pretty long drive from NYC--probably 4 hours or more. But I don't mind. It should meet Amber halfway (somewhat). How far is it for everyone else.

badulah

I'm in for lake Placid! Be a nice little road trip. I'll make a weekend out of it with my girlfriend.

I guess I will have to bring my bolt-on Dunlop skis for the bobsled run.

stageleft

Well, if anyone saw that movie (I think it made $7.50), we need to watch out for very large crocodiles. :^)

That sounds good. They probably wouldn't call it Lake Placid if it wasn't nice and serene. It would probably be about a 12-14 hour drive from VA ... cinch.

badulah

Satge
Drive up to my place first, then we can caravan over. It should be a good time.

9Cougar9

Gee, aren't there any West Coast people in here?

dasaint1

Silver Frost Cult--interesting proposition, Amber. Just how many people do we have here besides you and me.

If you change my oil, you have my vote as president, CEO and caretaker of the Silver Frost Cult.


On a different topic, don't look at Badulah and Stageleft as "square" guys. They actually have "coolness" oozing underneath that "I have rules to enforce" exterior.

It's pretty funny how they're talking about keeping this forum on the topic. You should've seen them posting on the late CougarV6/Mustang GT/Eclipse V6 forum (rest in peace). If I remember correctly, we had conversations on toasters, fishing, pygmies, keds, prosthetic device for ducks, mods for garbage cans (did I miss anything here, guys), etc.


But just to keep Bonnie off our backs, what brand of oil do you use?

rickel

The tires on my Kitty were filled to 28 psi...I have the 16 inch, P218 tires, which take 32 psi. They had filled mine to P185 settings. Another strong vote for not trusting a dealer when it comes to such a small matter.

I change my oil every 3,000 to 4,000 miles, and I don't use anything but Castrol. My Probe ran/is running (it's still in the family) as strong as it did on Day One, and it has 185,000 miles on it.

I have been told that there is a shield that can be installed between your brake shoes and your wheels to keep the dust off the wheel. Of course, you can't see the workings of your brakes any more, a small tradeoff.

I have been very silly with my Kitty lately....slid sideways on gravel for quite a ways. I am sure glad I have such a great car!

Rick

fastback2

All,

As my relatives live back in VT, I travel through the Lake Placid area 3-4 times a year. Lake Placid is situated within the Adirondack State Park area, which offers plenty of scenic views as well as fun roads to cruise on(not heavily patrolled by John Q. Law either). NY Routes 30 and 3 come to mind, as does rt 73 which goes through a really nice mountain pass (about as close to the Rockies as you can get on this side of the Mississippi). Let me know if you want any more info.

dasaint1

I have the stock BF Goodrich, does anyone know the proper air pressure for it?

I've been looking at my tires, and I notice that the front tires appear less inflated than the rear ones. Is this normal?

dasaint1

I just checked the map for the exact location of Lake Placid. It's equally distant (more or less) from NYC, NJ, PA and CT. Unfortunately, for Amber, it doesn't really meet her halfway.

Fastback2:
Thanks for your input. If you could provide us with brochures on hotel accomodations/things to do/places to go or at least the phone numbers (or web address) to call to get them, that would really be helpful and much appreciated.

It'll be even better if you could join us and sort of be the "tour guide."


To all:
The next thing is to agree on a date for the get together. Does anyone have plans for the 4th of July holiday? Since it's a long drive, we should plan to spend at least one night over there. I'll probably make a long weekend out of it.

I know they got lots of campgrounds in the Lake Placid area. We could go camping or rent cabins by the lake or river, then go canoeing, fishing, horseback riding, and of course, roast marshmallows by the campfire, talking about our favorite Cougar stories.

The movie "Lake Placid" (if I remember the movie credits correctly) wasn't actually filmed in Lake Placid. Anyway, I'm not worried. My Cougar will pounce all over that alligator if it ever shows its ugly self.

fastback2

Sure thing. It'll take me a couple of days to go thru the info I have(maps, links, locales). One thing I wanted to mention is that the hotels up in the Adirondacks tend to charge higher rates during holiday weekends(I found out about this the hard way when the place I typically stop at on the way to Vermont charged me an additional $20 over their normal rate). However, I was planning to take the week of the 4th off anyways so if y'all need a tour guide I'd be happy to volunteer.

Badulah or Stageleft:
Looks like we're going to need a Road Trip topic..

nhansen

Dasaint1:

Check the placard on the inside of your passenger(??) door. It should give you the proper tire pressure as recommended by the manufacturer.

As for front tires bulging more than rear ones, check the pressure, but with the weight of that Duratec up there, they will look a little lower than the back ones.

badulah

If you guys come up with a location, date, and time, let me know and I will post it on the CSG home page.

Having a date will also allow me to get some CSG goodies in order. A few weeks (or months) in advance will be needed.

stageleft

Good idea. We had thought of that, but our host was at Edmunds.com headquarters last week. We'll see what we can do!

stageleft

Those plates that you can buy to put between your brakes and the wheel do keep a majority of the brake dust off the wheel (it sends most of it under the car and out the back). However, I personally don't recommend them because it doesn't allow enough cool air to reach the rotors, which will then get really hot, and if it's on a long drive, or a lot of braking, they might melt the pad and cause a bind.

krnch

Lake Placid is only about a 2.5 hour drive from Ottawa, Canada - my place of residence. Many people from here go there on day-trips to go skiing (Whiteface Mountain). I went there for a weekend a couple of winters ago. Nice area. I would definitely be up to attending a get-together there. Since Lake Placid is not far from the border, perhaps this location could entice other Canadian CSGers to attend.

Andy.

badulah

I agree about the brake covers. They are more trouble than they are worth.

badulah

All:
We have updated the CSG home page! We have added a new section to our main menu. When you get a chance check it out!
http://home.att.net/~cougarsupportgroup

The CSG Needs Your Input!
We are currently developing a new section for the page that features small owner praises. We would like to continuely update this section on a weekly basis by adding new ones. We need all of you to send us your praises via email. They need to be short and to the point, only a few lines. Please send us your words of praise ASAP! We would like to start this section sometime next week.

Thanks!
Rob Joe
AKA "Badulah" & AKA "StageLeft"
CSG Caretakers

badulah

All:
We have updated the CSG home page! We have added a new section to our main menu. When you get a chance check it out!
http://home.att.net/~cougarsupportgroup

The CSG Needs Your Input!
We are currently developing a new section for the page that features small owner praises. We would like to continuely update this section on a weekly basis by adding new ones. We need all of you to send us your praises via email. They need to be short and to the point, only a few lines. Please send us your words of praise ASAP! We would like to start this section sometime next week.

Thanks!
Rob Joe
AKA "Badulah" & AKA "StageLeft"
CSG Caretakers

dasaint1

Thanks for the info. Are you new?? Don't remember seeing you before. If you are new, welcome aboard. If not, welcome back!!!

I had checked the driver side door for the psi reading, but it wasn't there. I didn't bother checking the passenger door.

Yes, I thought because over 60% of the weight of the car is on the front tires, that might cause it to bulge more. But it's always good to hear confirmation. Actually, I'm gonna use a tire gauge to check both the front and rear tires.

dasaint1

This get together is developing pretty nicely. Fastback2, I'm glad you can make it, and thanks for being our "tour guide."

The 4th of July falls on a Tuesday. I suppose everyone will be travelling to Lake Placid on Saturday (July 1) and spending the night over.
We can have our gathering that evening. Hey, fastback2, do you know of a nice bar & grill place? So we can all meet there at 7 pm and have some nice chow & good brew. And then Sunday, we could all go for a scenic drive that Fastback2 had mentioned. Of course, no CSG get together is complete unless we do car detailing to all the Cats involved. Sounds like a plan?!?

I would actually prefer a campground with cabins or cottages over hotels. I've done hotels on many vacations. Lake Placid should be scenic and perfect for the outdoors, so we can do some barbecueing and enjoy the campfire (and have our beloved Kitty sleeping next to us). Specifically, a cabin next to a lake or river would be ideal. What's everyone else's thoughts/opinions???

Hey, Krnch, glad you could join us. I'll ask Fastback2 if he could find igloo accomodations for our friends up north. Just kidding!!! Hopefully, more Cat lovers from Canada could join us. The more, the merrier.

badulah

4th of July weekend? I won't be able to make it to this meet. I have several friends from England who will be visiting me during that weekend.

This is a real bummer!
Crap!

krnch

dasaint1: ...LOL... : )

nhansen

Actually, I have been lurking around here for a couple months. I have a 99 Silver MTX that I got in July of 98, but just recently found the support group (A recent lull at work allowed for some web surfing).

I reside in the land of Cougars (Michigan) so my car has not seemed unique in a long time. It is nice to hear from all of you that still see it as something special!

ambercadabra

I don't think Rob and Lefty are square at all. At least from their pictures, they don't look like squares. )

ambercadabra

Ummmmm that kind of sucks that one of the big honchos of this whole CSG thing can't make it...aren't there any other dates we can look into so Rob and his woman can join us??

I don't mind a long drive, really...its just harder for me because I'll have to take a Friday and probably a Monday off of work so I can take my time driving... I'm just gonna hang out and see what you all decide, and I'll see if I can get it to work out...but I'm definetely voting for trying to find a weekend where we can include Rob, seeing as how he does an awful lot around here.

ambercadabra

I agree about the whole cottage/cabin thing for sure...hotels are boring...what good is a trip if all you see is the inside of a Holiday Inn?? If we're gonna be somewhere that scenic, I'd for sure go for a campfire, some marshmallows and ghost stories...about kittys, of course. Since I'm coming from Milwaukee, I'll bring some GOOD beer...LOL

stageleft

Thanks Amber, it's nice to have some defense. I personally think the square is a boring shape, I'd much rather be a rhombus (because of the silent H) or a complex polygon. :^)

stageleft

Amber:

I guess the news that the 4th is not the most optimal weekend is a bit of a downer. Just think though, all those other cars on the road would just add to the risk factor in getting somewhere, not to mention that if we didn't plan this thing three years ago for the 4th, we probably aren't going to be able to have a place to stay.

I like the idea of having an outdoorsy, multiple day gathering, it would be nice to really hang out with you all. I'm up for tenting, cabining, or just sleeping in the hatch (it's long enough, I've checked -- but I have to put the front seatbacks forward!). Unfortunately that weekend is bad for me too. There's just too much going on.

What does everyone think about a date in mid-July, after the 4th rush is over?

badulah

Amber:

Thanks!

badulah

and my Woman? LOL! I'll be sure to pass that on to her.

I have to agree with Lefty. The weekend of the 4th is going to be a busy one at the lake. We might be better off to have it another weekend. The end of July would be better for me, but if you guys want to stick with the 4th, i'll understand.

dasaint1

...auto wax (detailing) is probably a Care topic more than a maintenance topic, but here it goes, anyway (the Care topic has been taken over by the Lake Placid trip for now).

I just got my latest issue of Consumer Reports. In it, they tested 26 different Auto polishes (wax), 5 of Meguiar's wax products were tested.

No. 1 rated was Zymol Cleaner Wax. Last place was Meguiar's Cleaner Wax (paste). However, Meguiar's Gold Class ClearCoat Liquid Car Wax finished 12th place. They tested it for gloss, durability, cleaning ability, tendency to scratch or haze, and ease of use.

I'm a little disappointed that Meguiar's finished kinda low. Even Turtle Wax Emerald series did better.

They weren't very impressed with Mother's or Meguiar's 3 step (cleaner, polish & carnauba wax) products. They describe its ease of use as "from dawn to dusk." I certainly know what they mean by that.

dasaint1

Hey, what's so boring with square? It's got 4 right angles. It's easy to find the area and perimeter of a square (more so than other objects).

What's not to like?!?

dasaint1

I picked 4th of July 'cause I knew I could make it. I have to go away for a week to attend a job meeting sometime in July. I'm not sure what week yet. But let's see if we can find a weekend that all of us (or most of us) can attend to.

But let's stick to July, so we have ample time to plan it, and I didn't want it to coincide with the Cougarfest (or something) in August (is that the right month, Badulah?).

The next weekends after 4th of July will be July 8 & 9, July 15 & 16, July 22 & 23 and July 29 & 30.

Can everyone pick a date that they prefer to go and also pick an alternative weekend if possible. Hopefully, we can set this date settled and move on to sleeping accomodations.

A campground that offers both tent sites and cabins would be ideal. I could go either way. Amber, I didn't want Holiday Inn either. They won't let you do oil change on their parking lot.

gustafsc

I've used Turtle wax Zip wash for bathing, and Emerald for waxing. Had good results on my last car, and so far, so good on the Ash Gold clearcoat of my cat.

Weather forecast here in Chicagoland calls for 72F on Sat. Barring honeydo's, it's kitty care day. Had snow last Sat. Go figure.

As far as shapes are concerned, oblete spheroids are good from Sept to Jan 1st. They bounce funny;)

Skip G.

fish8

I use Meguiars, Turtle Wax and Zymol(not all at once mind you) and I really don't notice that much in the final appearance. A reason for this may be that I ALWAYS have so much wax on my car that it is hard to see any difference. The areas I notice a big difference is on the application and taking the wax off the car. Meguiars is always easy to buff off. In between full waxings, I use turtle wax spray. I'm not sure the exact name. I don't think this spray wax does much for protection of the paint, but it gives the car a little extra shine. Since it has some carnuba wax in it I guess it offers SOME protection.

fastback2

My weekend vote would be for July 22-23, with July 29-30 as an alternate. As far as info about Lake Placid is concerned, I've set up a web page at http://www.ggw.org/xvlfafe/cougar_road_trip.htm
I figured that it would be a good idea to set it up this way so that everyone has access to one page of Lake Placid info. Right now it's definitely a "bare bones" page as work has kept me pretty busy this week. I'm planning to add more to it this weekend. Any comments/suggestions are welcome.

In a way, going to Lake Placid later in the month is better as we will not have to deal with all that lovely holiday traffic (I lived near Boston for a while, and got an 'appreciation' for heavy traffic).

As far as accommodations are concerned, there are plenty of alternatives to the ol' Holiday Inn. The last place I stayed at was a small motel overlooking Oxbow Lake near Speculator (about 1.5 hr from Lake Placid). About a 100 yards south was a bar & grill while about a 1/4 mile up the road was a diner which had a tasty breakfast menu. I'm sure we can find a similar situation closer to Lake Placid. Actually, I wouldn't mind doing a campout either; I'll look for places that offer both campgrounds as well as cabins.

fastback2 aka Trailmaster

krnch

If it's not a right angle, it's a wrong angle.

krnch

July 22-23 is better for me than the 4th. I told my 'woman' about a possible trip to L. Placid for a CSG get-together. Her response was a sarcastic "Great! I'll get to spend the weekend with a bunch of [Cougar obsessed] people like you." I thought she liked people like me. Isn't that why she married me? : )

badulah

I agree with Krnch & Fastback2. Both weekends are MUCH better for me (and "my woman").

Krnch:
Your woman & my woman can hang out. I see they already have a lot in common. I received a similar response.

lesliep

I am new to the town hall. I just found it today when I was trying to see if anyone else has had the same problems I have.
I bought my car in May 1999 and have almost 24,000 miles on it. In the last eleven months, I have had four flat tires. I don't believe it has anything to do with the way that I drive it, as I had a saturn before this, and never once had a flat in 140,000 miles. I haven't yet checked the serial numbers to see if it is the same tire over and over. it has been in a different position on my car every time, which would be b/c of rotation.
Has anyone else had this problem? or heard of anything wrong with the tires? this is getting a little ridiculous. in case any of you haven't had the pleasure to find out yet, these tires are not exactly cheap. I have spent close to $1000 throughout this whole mess.
If it weren't for my tires, I would completely love my car. any suggestions?

badulah

Lesliep:
Which tires do you have on your Cat, the BFGs or the Firestones?

I have the Firestones and I think I speak for everyone in here when I say they are crap. I had a sidewall blow out the first week I had the car. I have never herd of anyone else having "Defective" tires, but we all agree that the Firestones wear terrible and usually need to be replaced by 25,000 miles.

By the way, Welcome to the CSG!

stageleft

Towards the end of the month (July) seems better to me too (at this point in time), so let's shoot for that. Fastback, thanks for starting to gather information on this! If you want, we can set up a link, or even add your info to the CSG web page? Just a thought, if you're really busy at work.

badulah

We could also post the date, time, & place on the web page once we finalize it.

badulah

DAMN! I was just reminded about plans I have in late July. I'm not sure when they are, but I will check as soon as I get home and let you guys know. I'm sorry about all of this. I'm usually never busy, July is just one of those rare months.

badulah

Ok, I just found out the only weekend I can make it is the weekend of the 22nd & 23rd.

If you guys can make it for this day, that would be really GREAT! But I understand if you want to have it on another weekend. The CSG doesn't just revolve around me, this is OUR club, not my club.

But you can sign up for MY club, the Badulah fan club! Just email me for details!

fish8

LOL LOL

fastback2

The weekend of the 22-23rd is fine by me. BTW, do fan club members get deals on cougar-related items? ;-}

fastback2

Probably the best way to take care of the LP road trip page is to set up a link to it from the CSG site. That way I can update it easily and the other CSGers can find it. I can even download some of the CSG graphics to give it the same "look and feel" as the main site. Thanks for the help!

Oh well, it's time to figure out how much I owe Uncles Sam and Pataki(Since I knew I owed, I didn't bother filing early)...

dasaint1

It seems like the vote is in for the weekend of 7/22-7/23. I should be able to make it that weekend. But I still gotta double check that date. I'll let you all know as soon as I know.

From what I've seen so far, we've got me, Fastback2, Badulah, Stageleft, Amber, Krnch and Fish8 coming. Did I leave anyone out? If so, please post and be counted. I'm assuming everyone's coming with their significant other (no, I'm not referring to the Kitty--I meant the other "significant other").

I wonder if the others in the other topic (forum) even knows we're planning this. An announcement in the CSG website should take care of that.

Fastback2:
How's the fishing in Lake Placid or nearby areas? Does anyone know how to cook/grill fresh fish?? Anyone here likes sushi???