Go Green By Driving It 'Til The Wheels Fall Off

xwesx

Last ten years.... hmm....

Surprisingly few, actually. I think I fixed more flats in the first five years I drove than in the following fifteen!

I think I have had about six instances where a tire leak was detected and required repair, but only three of those actually needed the use of the spare. The other three, I caught them early and was able to pull off the tire, pull the offending debris, plug it with a repair kit, remount it, and drive to the next available air without even needing the spare.

Steve, those things always come in groups, it seems. You'll probably go awhile before your next one again!

stever

I better go check the Outback - one of the alloys always has a slow leak. Too old for a TPMS system on it either.

I destroyed a tire in '99 in Labrador with the same van driving a long way on gravel and not even knowing I had a flat for a mile. 11 years later, and durn if the same thing doesn't happen in Newfoundland.

But there plenty of other flats in there. Les Schwab fixed two for me free in my my Boise decade and I remember having to pay for another one, all on the Subaru. My log says I've had 4 flats on the Quest and one stripped stud. The recent flat was on a set of tires that I got new in June 2010.

So, seven flats in 11 years. Still don't want runflats.

explorerx4

One thing you know, your spare is in good shape.

stever

Yeah, but I'm on my third jack on the van.

hpmctorque

Not once, in the past 10 years. Maybe I've been lucky, but, regardless, that's what a spare is for.

the_big_al

Interesting discussion. Enjoyed what I've read. I'm a drive it till the wheels fall off (or it gets forcibly taken out of service which I'll try and post in another post) as well. Coincidentally, all 3 of my vehicles are 2004 Chevy's. Astro (work van), Impala (family car) and Colorado (personal "beater" truck). The truck and van have 100K+ miles on them and the car has almost 80. The car was bought new in late 2004. The van was acquired with about 85K on it about 3 years ago, now has 126K on it. The truck was acquired 6 months ago with 108K on it, now has 111K on it.

But since this a reply to a flat tire post, I'll have to say that in the last 10 years, I think I've had a total of 2 maybe 3 flats. One on the Impala when it was almost new, an old work van, and oh yes, my old S-10 received two flats at the same time while cruising the freeway at 80 MPH (another story for another day). Oh, and lest I forget the tire slashing that occurred on my Sonoma almost 10 years ago that also took out two tires that brings my total to 6 maybe 7 flats in 10 years, but only 2 that a spare came in handy. The other 2 a spare wouldn't and didn't help....

For me, not having a spare would be a non-issue. In fact, the only flat I've had in at least 6 years was on my old work van.

the_big_al

I like to drive my vehicles until the wheels fall off, or at least until it no longer becomes financially responsible to do so. (meaning the cost of repairs add up to at least a car payment a month).

My short list of vehicles is since 2001, since that is really when I started acquiring vehicles on my own dime, a 1995 GMC Sonoma, 2001 Chevy S-10, 1994 Ford Taurus, 2004 Chevy Impala, 1991 full size Chevy van, 2004 Chevrolet Astro, 1987 Chevy S-10 Blazer, 2004 Chevy Colorado.

That sounds like a lot, but here's a short history on all of them. The only purchase that might be deemed silly was the Impala. You'll see why. I purchased a 1995 GMC Sonoma in 2001 that had about 75K miles on it. The dealer (my uncle) warned me against buying this particular truck. He said it was in rough shape. Since it was optioned out EXACTLY like I was looking for, I didn't take his advice and bought it any way. It was an 2wd extended cab, V6, manual transmission and all power options, including fog lights. It was a pretty decked out truck. At 80K I replaced the clutch, at 85K the transmission went because the wrong shift tower gasket was used and all the tranny fluid leaked out (another long story that belongs in a forum akin to "oil change fiascoes") and at 90K the thing started an electrical fritz that would occasionally keep the truck from shutting down when the ignition was turned off. I would often have to resort to putting the truck in gear and popping the clutch to kill the motor and pull a couple of fuses to kill the power. At around 99K this particular glitch became permanent and ritual I had to perform every time I drove. This in turned cause premature fuel pump failure. So now I had a truck that I couldn't start and once started I couldn't get it to shut off. All in all it was a total nightmare. Driving home from the autoparts store with a new fuel pump that I was intending to replace myself so I could once again start the truck so I could then figure out how to shut off the truck, I drove past a Chevy dealership that had a loss leader ad up that said "2001 Chevy S-10" $10,500. This was in 2003 so it wasn't that old of a vehicle. On a whim I pulled in and said I was looking for an S-10. Albeit with all the problems I'd had with the Sonoma, I still loved the truck and ALL of the problems I'd had with it thus far were not the fault of the vehicle, rather those that did a shoddy job replacing this. All the the problems I'd had including the electrical gremlin were traced back to the clutch replacement I'd had done a couple year prior.

So I we walked the lot and happened up the "loss leader" truck. We had looked at several S-10s but none of them had what I was looking for. I was a little more lenient in what I was willing to live with, but I still required an extended cab V6 model. Everything else, including the transmission which was really high on my list was up for elimination of inclusion. I took at look at this truck and realized it really was a nice truck. It was an LS model, extended cab, V6 no power options and automatic transmission, but full carpet, CD player, cloth seats, alloy wheels, pretty much everything the Sonoma was minus power and manual transmission. To keep this story shorter, I bought the truck. Paid 10,500 for it. They took my old truck and gave me 1,000 for it. I didn't care. I wanted it gone.

The new one had 26K miles on it. I drove it for the next 8 years. I put another 125K miles on it with few repairs. A couple major, some minor, but I don't think I spent more than 2K in repairs aside from tires and basic maintenance. That truck was still going strong and I had just replaced the rear U-joints and put fresh tires and wheels on it when it was forcibly taken out of service in late 2010 by an inconsiderate left hand turner.

The vehicle that replaced that good ole boy was a 1987 S-10 Blazer i bought for $500. I kept it for 6 months. It ran like crap when I bought it and had a major coolant leak(s). I knew it ran like crap, but I didn't know about the coolant issue. I tuned it up, got it running perfectly, but then it started spewing coolant from places I didn;t know it could spew. Rather than trace every leak and tear completely into it and replace every gasket I decided it wasn't worth it, I'd only paid $500 for and I'd gotten my use out of it as my brother called about that time and offered me his 2004 Colorado for me to use. I decided that a 6 year old reliable vehicle with no issues was worth WAY more than the trouble I was going through with the Blazer so I sold it to a buddy for I think $300.

The Colorado so far has been mostly trouble free except for a fuel issue which I think has to do with the filler neck that I am currently investigating. It will be driven till the wheels fall off as it's perfect for me and the uses I need. It's not my S-10 which I loved, but it will do for now.

When I got married my wife had a 1994 Ford Taurus, the only non GM product I've ever owned. And probably the only car I regret getting rid of. In 2004 we discovered we were pregnant with child #1. Experiencing first parent jitters we went out and traded a perfectly running, no problems ever except for a water pump, not even an oil leak or cracked dash panel vehicle for a brand new Impala. Not that Impala was a bad vehicle, but the Taurus was perfect. It did have 90K on it, but it was perfect. So, lesson learned. We still have that Impala though. It now has 75K on it, but has been perfect so far as well. Well, not perfect. The dash gauges have gone wonky, but that's an easy fix. We've had it since new and now with 3 kids, the only thing that will force us to get rid of it will be the need for space. But it will probably hang around to be a car for the kids to drive when they get older, although that's ten years away so who knows?

The full size Chevy van came with the business we purchased and was used until it blew some oil hoses at around 220K. It was such a beast anyway that we decided to purchase a newer more reliable and more efficient vehicle for work in the form of a 2004 Chevrolet Astro. That vehicle is also still on the road with very minor issues. It was purchased with 85K on it and now has 126K on it and runs strong and smooth.

That's my vehicle history. A lot of vehicles, but aside from the Impala purchase, I feel all were purchased and used as needed until it was no longer feasible to keep the on the road...

hpmctorque

Your experiences fit into this discussion like a glove. Congrats!

Mr_Shiftright

I don't even carry a spare. There may be a jack in there somewhere, I dunno. I suppose if I was going across the desert I'd buy a can of Slime or something and a cigarette lighter air pump....I guess.....

The only persistent flats I get are on my mountain bike, and it's ALWAYS the back tire....grrrrrr....

Reason? THORNS.

xwesx

Having them become unreliable is one thing, but having them be "forcibly taken out of service" has to be the most frustrating part of long-term ownership. That happened with my '96 Subaru Outback. 220,000 miles and it was running like a champ. I expect I would probably still be driving that car were it not for that fateful night.

xwesx

I'm the opposite! Perhaps even a bit manic about it.

I acquired a full-size spare for my Forester when I purchased a set of winter rims (used set that included five matching rims with tires) for it. Any time I go on a long trip, I find some place to strap on that spare (unless I'm already using it, but that's another story altogether...).

andres3

My point was that for most people, you use a spare tire so rarely that it is ALMOST a non-issue.

But peace of mind is important for some people.

Mr_Shiftright

I got a AAA card with 100+ miles towing. Oh what the heck, maybe I will buy a can of Slime.

andre1969

My point was that for most people, you use a spare tire so rarely that it is ALMOST a non-issue.

But peace of mind is important for some people.

My experience with flat tires has been infrequent enough that I can actually remember most of the details.

I had two on my '68 Dart, in 1995 and in 1996.
Had one on my '79 Newport, in 1997. Tire went flat in the parking lot at work, and when I put on the temporary spare, it went flat by the time I got home!
When I had my '69 Bonneville and was storing it at my grandmother's, my uncle moved it (I'm surprised he got it to start, as it could be a pain) and ran over a rake he had left in the yard! I forget the year, but probably around 1993-94.
With my 2000 Intrepid, I've had three flats (2000, 2001, and 2005), and one wheel stolen off the car (2006).

So, in my 25 years of driving, looks like that's nine different instances that a spare would have come in handy (I'm counting the '79 Newport twice, since its spare went flat, too!)

Looks like it's been averaging out to about once every three years (9 instances, 25 years of driving). Considering the last one was 5 years ago, I guess I'm overdue!

fezo

I can't rightly place the last time I had a flat. Maybe that's because I always call AAA to deal with it but even so it's been a LONG time.

I remember having a tire blow at high speed in 1974 on my old Volvo 140. No AAA yet - or at least no cell phone to call them. Nothing like changing a tire with people zipping by at 80....

xwesx

Maybe it is just because I regularly drive in areas where 100+ miles between filling stations, let alone places with tow trucks, is not uncommon. So, if I can reasonably guarantee (e.g., hedge my bet!) that I will not end up losing hours or days of my time by carrying some spare parts along, I will do that.

In 1996, the second time I drove my '69 Econoline up to Alaska, I had a wheel bearing fail about 50 miles south of the Alaska Highway (upper end - at the entrance to Boya Lake Provincial Park) while on the Cassiar Highway. A friend and I ended up spending a full day there waiting for a tow truck from Watson Lake to finally arrive, then we spent CAD300 for the ~65 mile tow, along with three days waiting for the replacement part to come from Edmonton. Now, I carry stuff like that (spare belts, hoses, bearings for my old rigs, etc) with me if there is a reasonable chance I might need it. Had I had one with me at the time, I could have done the repair before it even failed and saved money along with gobs of time. As it was, it started making noise shortly after starting up the Cassiar, and I was just hoping I would make it. :sick:

Back then, the Cassiar was 2/3 dirt (about 450 miles long), if you could even call it that, and was a long and challenging (as well as stunningly beautiful!) drive. When things went well, it was at best about a 12-to-14 hour drive. The last time I drove it with my (then) new Forester in Sept of 2009, I punched out the full length in 7.5 hours. At that point, only about 50 miles or so was gravel.

Mr_Shiftright

Carrying spare parts might work for you on a '69 truck or something like that, but it's pretty much a waste of effort on a modern car. You can't hardly fix anything on them by the side of the road. Come to think of it even changing a wheel bearing on an old truck isn't going to be easy unless you have a punch and a sledge hammer, and presuming you have a new grease seal and proper tool to seat it.

andre1969

I remember the ballast resistor or something like that going bad in my Granddad's '76 GMC pickup when we were on vacation out west in 1982. Happened as we were going up the road to the campground at Mount Whitney, as I recalled. I think he got a new one at some local auto parts store. Probably a good thing, because our next stop after Mount Whitney was Death Valley!

Mr_Shiftright

i'm picturing one of those postcards with the skeleton in the desert, clutching a ballast resistor.... :P

xwesx

Hahah; that would be the best post card ever. :shades:

Funny you should mention the bearing replacement (in your previous reply), as it was a rear wheel bearing, which does have to be pressed. There are generally many places along the way that have little shops with the equipment to do that sort of thing, but not necessarily the means to get a non-functioning vehicle to them!

In my case, the work was fairly easy to replace the bearing. The hard part was getting the bearing for a 30-year-old van to a small town in northern Canada! I did all the work on it myself other than the pressing. Once the part was in hand, I gave him the axle, he pressed the new bearing on, and I put it all back together. Simple, but it took four days. :sick:

You're right, though - there are many things that can go wrong and are not fixable on the side of the road. Again, it is more about hedging bets and peace of mind. I have done some pretty crazy roadside repairs or temporary modifications though, including repacking bearings on the fly.

windowphobe6

My current ride ('00 Infiniti I30) is going on twelve years old. This is actually fairly typical for my cars, since I'm pushing 60 and have owned only six.

johnvkaravitis

John Karavitis I disagree with your premises and your position entirely. First off, what it cost to manufacture your current "rust bucket" is a sunk cost. It's GONE. No way to recover that money. In addition, the car was built with an expected service life (call it 100,000 miles) and an unchangeable MPG max. Driving it "until the wheels fall off" is clearly a strawman argument meant to lead the unassuming to agree with your position. In the years since you had purchased your vehicle, more fuel efficient cars would have been designed and built, thereby reducing the impact on the environment, which, let's face it, is what you're really driving at (pun!), and not whether it "makes more sense".

The cost of producing all the parts, etc., that you would use to keep the "rust bucket" on the road itself has a negative impact on the environment, as it takes trucks burning gas and factories using energy to produce and deliver all those goodies that keep your "rust bucket" going. John Karavitis

Now, before you think that I jumped into this thread just to be argumentative, I owned a Detroit "Big Iron" Chevy from the late 80s for almost 15 years. Yes, I did so because I was told that it "made sense" to maintain a car rather than to go into debt buying a new one every few years (I didn't give a damn about "the environment", it was a financial issue). But the headaches that I had over replacing damn near every part of that piece of crap, from the radiator all the way to the exhaust/muffler (the transmission included - only the engine is still factory original) was not worth it. In fact, I recently bought a new car, and even though it still has less than 5,000 miles on it, I'm already looking forward to my next car. I figure, a new car once every 5 years is good. YOu get your money;s worth, and then move on, let someone else have the headaches. NO WAY am I ever going back to the nonsense of constantly running around keeping a "rust bucket" in good shape. I am NOT dealing with that nonsense ever again.

As for Mother Nature and the environment, Mother Nature is a [non-permissible content removed], she's got it coming to her.

John V. Karavitis

Mr_Shiftright

I think if you turned a powerful enough searchlight on *any* motivation to buy a new car, or to keep an old one running for a long time, or to buy an electric car, etc.----all of these positions are in some sense as much psychological as they are rational.

In other words, you could find flaws in any position on the spectrum from buying new cars once a year to keeping an old beater running for 500,000 miles.

It depends on how far you want to drill down in your analysis.

For an analogy:

"I bought my muscle car in 1968 for $4000, and sold it in 2008 for $40,000. I drove it for a while, then stored it, and now i've made a $36,000 profit!"

COUNTER: "Yes, but have you included the cost of storage and insurance?"

RESPONSE: "Well even with all that, I come out ahead"

COUNTER: "How about inflation. What's the buying power of that $40,000 compared to those 1968 dollars?"

RESPONSE: "Well okay but my friend bought a 1968 Mercedes 4-door, and it ended up rusting away. He got nothing for his money"

So you see, there are lots of angles to any "rational" decision.

isellhondas

Be careful what you say.

About three years ago, I stopped by the local watering hole after work. One of the guys had just been called for Jury Duty for what he said was the third time in five years. He wasn't happy! Others joined in saying that they had been recently called and what a PITA that was.

I spoke up and told everyone that I had NEVER in my life been called for Jury Duty. Guess what was waiting for me in the mailbox when I got home THAT NIGHT??

Then, I had an "old man" customer grumble about the lack of a "full size spare" in a car he was thinking about buying from me. The older the customer, the more of a big deal that seems to be.

so, I asked him..." When did you last have a flat'?

" Well, it's been quite some time but you never know"

I then told him that I hadn't had a flat since I was a poor kid in college driving cars with marginal tires.

Well, guess what my wife found on her CRV sitting in the garage the NEXT DAY? Yep!

hpmctorque

Regarding your sunk cost argument, of course cars that are currently in existence are sunk costs, but they have value in terms of future usage.

Your second paragraph is also true, but the parts required to keep the average car on the road until it is scrapped comprise far fewer materials and resources than what's required to manufacture a new vehicle.

Your third paragraph is a personal example of one, which is statistically not meaningful. In addition, it's a statement of preference rather than one of facts.

Your last of four paragraphs is an emotional response, and has minimal relevance to the topic.

Unfortunately, there are few, if any, comprehensive, unbiased studies on this topic. Most of the messages, including mine, represent opinions, which is why I agree with Shifty's response to your message. I'm unable to disprove your position, any more than you can prove it. The purpose of this discussion is to give a voice to balance the biases of powerful industry, political and "green" interests, who lobby to scrap and replace the current stock of vehicles prematurely.

lmcdrm

How long do you drive a car...?

Well, it all depends on the car now, doesn't it...?

Currently, our family fleet has 3 Chryslers and a Mazda.

1994 Chrysler Town & Country van - 120k miles on the clock, about 50 on a new motor and transmission. Currently has a salvage title because it was stolen and the idiot took out all of the middle and rear leather seats (over 3K to replace at dealer) and so the insurance totaled the vehicle, we bought it back (only about 20K on the new motor at that time) and found a complete interior at a wrecking yard for under $500...!

2001 Chrysler PT Cruiser - about 95K miles on the clock. Former daily driver, now part time show car, part time driver. No major issues - except an appetite for front brake pads (roughly once a year!)...

2002 Chrysler PT Cruiser - about 70K miles. Part-time daily driver. My 76 year old mom uses this car when she needs to.

2008 Mazda 3 Sport - just about 40K miles.

I've got no reason to replace any of them and we'll see how long they keep going...

Mr_Shiftright

Another consideration with pushing a car to extreme mileage is safety---there could be structural failures, cracks, metal fatigue, etc.

bobw3

"I owned a Detroit "Big Iron" Chevy from the late 80s for almost 15 years. "

There's the problem...owing a late 80's Chevy The "drive it till the wheels fall off" really only applies to cars with good long term reliability, like Honda, Toyota and a few others. Yes, there will be folks with American build cars that last a long time trouble-free by in general if you had a late '80s Accord or Camry, you'd have a better chance of driving it longer with less repairs.

andre1969

1994 Chrysler Town & Country van - 120k miles on the clock, about 50 on a new motor and transmission. Currently has a salvage title because it was stolen and the idiot took out all of the middle and rear leather seats (over 3K to replace at dealer) and so the insurance totaled the vehicle, we bought it back (only about 20K on the new motor at that time) and found a complete interior at a wrecking yard for under $500...!

A similar thing happened to a co-worker of mine, who used to have a 2002 Grand Caravan that she had bought brand-new. She came out to the parking lot of her apartment complex one morning to find that it was missing. By the time it was recovered, it was so trashed that it got totaled.

First, the thieves were inept at breaking into it, so they messed up both front doors, and then either the sliding door or the liftgate, before they were able to actually get in. Then, they tore up the steering column. Took it out to some rural area, and stopped right in the middle of the road, where they dumped out the second and third row seats, and everything else that was in there. The next morning during rush hour the debris caused a traffic backup. Eventually the stuff got cleared to the side, and someone went through the mess, found some personal stuff that had my co-worker's contact info, and called her.

A couple nights later, the police saw the van being driven and gave chase. The thieves tried to ditch the cops in a neighborhood, but accidentally went down a cul-de-sac with no other way out. At that point, they stopped the van, jumped out, and ran. Unfortunately, they left it in gear, so it idled forward until it finally hit a tree.

In addition to the seats being removed, the thieves had used the Caravan to steal ATVs and other off-road equipment, so in the process the interior got trashed and muddy.

It still had a book value of around $10-12,000 at this point, and was still driveable, but with all the damage it accumulated, it was enough to total it out.

greg128

There's the problem...owing a late 80's Chevy The "drive it till the wheels fall off" really only applies to cars with good long term reliability, like Honda, Toyota and a few others

Well I owned a 1989 Chevy Astro. We bought it at 19K. My wife used it for her side business for a number of years
-. At about 90K I sold it to our company. At about 160K my brohter-in-law
drove it after it overheated and blew the head gasket. Rather than pay for that we bought a junkyard 4.3L for $300 and had it installed for $700.
At about 190K we sold it to a neighbor for $300. Several years later he was still driving it and it had 360K on it with the original tranny and the same motor.

The best thing about that vehicle were the super cheap repair costs. Of course it was 10 years ago but I remember paying around $100 for a starter at my local auto repair and at another time we paid $85 for the climate control fan motor. Rotors were $20. When I read about the cost to replace items on new cars, especially imports, I hit the floor. How can a new alternator cost $1000 or a A/C repair $3000?

lemko

I knew a guy who had a 1970 Chevrolet Impala he drove to 700K+ miles. Metal fatigue is what did it in when the frame broke.

Mr_Shiftright

One of my Saab Turbos was a high mileage (250K) car and the control arm broke in half when backing up one day....not at the ball joint, but the actual arm.

occupant1

Older cars were made with this thing called METAL. Newer cars are composites, plastics, resins, and SOME metal. Replacement parts for older vehicles have already been made. Take my '76 Gran Torino for example. A lot of parts for this car you can't BUY new. You put used parts on a used car. The environmental impact of me purchasing a headlight switch or a set of brake rotors is the fuel used by the FedEx truck (which is flex fuel and PZEV according to the label on the side of the last truck to bring a box of joy from RockAuto to me) to deliver it to my house. That's it. They already smelted the iron. They already molded those plastics back in the 70s and 80s. They painted it and plated the chrome before I was BORN, man! If I don't buy the part it'll sit there until I do.

I have owned my car for 3 years. I have driven it less than 5000 miles in that time. If I had a newer smaller car, sure it would have a smaller carbon footprint, but if I had a car with working AC, I'd drive it MORE often instead of combining/eliminating trips like I do now. Then what? If I put 15000 miles on an '06 Fusion versus 5000 miles on a '76 Gran Torino. Is there any benefit? I don't think so. I'll keep my clunker, thank you very much.

My wife, OTOH, she drives more. Well, she has ME drive HER vehicle more. She doesn't like to drive but she still wants to not ride in my hoopty. So her 2000 Durango with 220K miles and a V8, that has been driven 48000 miles in the same last 3 years (granted the first 40K was in the first 2 years and we've driven a LOT less in the last 12 months and will continue to put only 8-10K a year on it or its replacement), will get traded for something here in the coming weeks. We're considering new Explorers, Fusions, Tauruses, Chrysler 200s, new Durangos, all sorts of vehicles. All of them will certainly have less environmental impact than the old 318 V8.

My wife and I and our two youngest not-in-school children will only need a compact-midsize sedan to run around during the week. We can always drive two cars on the weekends to get all 7 of us somewhere together. We can always RENT A MINIVAN if we need to go out of town or take a vacation trip or go see Grandma and Grandpa. $400 a week for a minivan rental, 3 or 4 times a year, is WAY cheaper and more convenient and less impacting on the environment, than keeping a $3000 late 90s Suburban sitting atop the driveway for the rare moments it's needed.

Am I making sense?

stever

Sounds like you may have one car too many.

I have one that sits in the garage for most of 8 months of the year. Would make more sense to buy some Blizzaks and stick them on the minivan.

hpmctorque

Yup, you're making sense. However, if you said you were going to keep driving the Durango (assuming it's still running okay), instead of replacing it, that would make sense too. It's possible that the environmental impact of the incremental gas your 318 would burn would have less environmental impact than manufacturing one of the replacement vehicles you're considering.

daveyboy8

i can certainly appreciate the thought of a new car every five years or so.I personally would never buy brand new,just because of the loss of money after driving it off the dealers lot.i have bought four cars off lease,and have driven them until the "wheels fell off 'so to speak. my 95 chevy lumina was a absolutely great car,and made it to 270k until the oil pump decided it had enough.my 01 focus is still going,240k on the clock.no engine or trans problems,just basic pm's and replace brakes,plugs,struts,etc. as necessary.im a saab fan,and have an 85 turbo 900 that runs like a clock,165k on the odometer,no apparent issues.i use the salvage yards for parts as necessary,trying to do my part to recycle good parts.i can disagree and agree with both sides of discussions i have read,i believe it is an individual preference.i like getting as miles as you can out of them ,unless they are making you broke.i enjoy everyones comments.

pnordan

My '04 GC currently has 235/65/17 tires, I would like to replace them with little larger tire.

Can I use 235/75/17? Is this tire too large?
I seem to remember that I had used this size on a 2000 GC I had in the past.

the_big_al

this question might be better asked in a tire forum. But in a short answer to your question... I wouldn't recommend it. You will be stepping to a larger diameter tire for which your computer is not calibrated for. Your speedometer and odometer will be off and your abs braking system might also be adversely affected.

If you want a larger tire, I would first ask, what are you looking for? And why do you want a larger tire? By larger, do you mean wider, taller, more aggressive, or all the above? What will you be doing with the tire/vehicle? Off roading more? Street racing? Canyon carving? Urban commuting? There are tires suited for all types of driving, some skewed more towards certain types than other. Some try to be all around good at everything, and usually end up being mediocre at best in all.

I would take these questions I just asked you, answer them and post them in the forum linked at the bottom of the page. Answer what type of driving you do, or plan to do. You want a "larger" tire, so describe by what you mean larger, and list what type of vehicle you own with the pertinent specs. Current size on the vehicle, and the year make and model. I think you'll get a better response there.

Then go visit TireRack.com and you can also type in your year make and model and get a list of tires sized for your vehicle. You can also specify type (street, sport, offroad etc) and they also have a spot where it will tell you any optional sizes that will fit if any.

http://townhall-talk.edmunds.com/WebX/.ee95103/3149!make=CATS&model=Tires&ed_mak- - eindex=.ee95103

andre1969

my '85 Silverado got a flat the other day, when my roommate took it to work. He's not exactly car-savvy, so I told him not to try changing the tire, that I'd do it. Unfortunately, easier said than done. First, the chrome lug nuts that held the wheel in place were rusting, and puffing up, so the lugwrench that normally fit on them wouldn't. So, I run back home, throw a bunch of tools in the car, go back, and got the lugs off with a 7/8" socket.

Then, the real fun began...trying to find someplace to put a new tire on. Sears didn't have the right size in stock, and the people working there were moving a bit slow, and seemed sort of attitudinal. I had to stare one down like a mongoose honing in on a cobra to even get them to acknowledge my existence! :mad: BJ's was no better. Again, they didn't have that size in stock (255/70/R15). The guy at the counter said he could order it and have it there in 24 hours. But, when he tried, the computer system denied him. He needed some passcode from his manager. Calls his manager, and manager, naturally, doesn't answer.

Next stop, NTB. They had four of this size in stock, but were so backed up that they wouldn't be able to get to it until the next morning. And, they were expensive...something like $130 per tire, plus $30 to mount and balance.

At this point, I was getting tired, cranky, and hungry, running out of daylight, and my back, which I had pulled a muscle in the other day, was starting to really act up. So, I figured I'd go back to the truck and put the spare on. Well, it had been so long since that spare had been taken down from under the truck that everything that held it in place was rusted solid, so it would have had to have been broken free. And, even better, the spare was flat, too. And dry-rotted enough that even if it had air in it, would have been a blow-out waiting to happen.

So, the truck's still up at the restaurant, resting on three tires and a jackstand. Fortunately, my '67 Catalina uses the same 5", 5-bolt pattern, and I checked its spare, and it's still in good shape, and holding air. So, today I'm ordering a new tire online, gonna look into some new lugnuts, and gonna use the Catalina's spare tire to get the truck home. And, I guess I've spent enough $ in the repair shop, because my mechanic said that if I bring the rim and the new tire to him, he'll mount it for free!

hpmctorque

Not a fun experience, for sure, but, then, newer can get flat tires too.

On another matter entirely, do you plan to display any of your cars at the Rockville show this year? Was talking to someone who's there every year yesterday, and he told me there will be more foreign cars there this year.

andre1969

Not a fun experience, for sure, but, then, newer can get flat tires too.

True, but if the Park Ave had gotten a flat, I've got road hazard courtesy of BJ's, a spare tire that isn't dry-rotted and easy to get to, a fairly common tire size, and a lug wrench that still fits the lugnuts!

As for the Rockville show, yeah, I'll be there this year. This time around I'm putting the Catalina in the show. They always put the Pontiacs in the same area, so I should be in the same place where I had the LeMans last year. If it rains though, I probably won't go. The area where the show field is (and even the spot where they have to park spectators once the parking lot fills up) is pretty steep, and can get slick in the rain.

I think I've been to that show every year now since 2003, with the exception of 2009. It was canceled in 2002, I think, because of the DC sniper, and in 2009 it got rained out, and I had other plans for the day they rescheduled it to.

Mr_Shiftright

Nope, too much of a difference, almost 6%. No more than 3% difference is recommended.

xwesx

That's quite an adventure! Even though it didn't really help, at least you had all those options nearby!

I'll have to relate my most adventurous flat story one of these days. Hahah; eight years later and I still think about it every time I drive by that spot on the road.

andre1969

That's quite an adventure! Even though it didn't really help, at least you had all those options nearby!


And it isn't over, yet! I'm home now, but did something kinda dumb. I had gone out during lunch, got the lugnuts I needed for the truck. I ordered 20, figuring I might as well replace them all, since otherwise I'll just go through this fiasco again, the next time another wheel has to be taken off. They had five on hand, so the parts guy gave them to me.

Well, yesterday, I had driven my '79 New Yorker to work. It had been behaving fairly well of late, lulled me into a false sense of security, only to leave me stranded at work that afternoon! A coworker drove me home, and today I took the LeMans to work, and to the parts store to get the lug nuts. Well, on a whim, when I left work today, I tried the New Yorker. Got it to start up, so I figured hey, while it's running, let me get this thing home!

So, here I am, at home, with a car that may or may not start up again, and guess where the lugnuts are? In the LeMans, which is still at work! D'oh!

So now, my plan is, when my roommate comes home, get him to run me up to work to get the LeMans home, and then take me to the restaurant to put the spare tire on the truck. And then, hopefully this little ordeal will be over!

I swear, I feel like I'm playing "Musical chairs" but with cars!

xwesx

Hahahahaha; that's awesome, Andre. I can absolutely appreciate (and empathize) your plight! As the saying goes...

It's not over 'till it's over (and sometimes not even then). :sick:

explorerx4

How about getting AAA? It could save you a lot of trouble.

fintail

I think Andre's fleet might cause him to be blacklisted :shades:

explorerx4

I think they have a Gold level or something like that.
It allows you more tows.

Mr_Shiftright

His dance card would be full in a month...they'd banish him from AAA.

the_big_al

Didn't you post a pic a while back with all your cars?