Edmunds Members - Cars and Conversations

venture · July 2020

driver100 said:
Mike, your skills are actually quite rare so are highly valued.....in the right situation.

Just using this as a learning moment, not accusing anyone or anything;
What Is The Dunning-Kruger Effect?
Put simply, the Dunning-Kruger Effect is the tendency for people to misjudge their abilities. People with less than average abilities tend to overestimate their true abilities, while those with higher than average abilities tend to not realize how much better they are. That is, some people are too stupid to know how stupid they are, while smart people assume most can do what they can. In their original 1999 paper entitled “Unskilled and unaware of it: How difficulties in recognizing one’s own incompetence lead to inflated self-assessments,” Dunning and Kruger claimed that the “miscalibration of the incompetent stems from an error about the self, whereas the miscalibration of the highly competent stems from an error about others.”

I guess the point is....it is sometimes hard to know who is an expert, and it is hard for experts to understand that others can't do what they do. But, everyone is probably good at some skill, but very few - probably no one is good at everything!

“The fundamental cause of the trouble is that in the modern world the stupid are cocksure while the intelligent are full of doubt.”

― Bertrand Russell

venture · July 2020

jmonroe1 said:

venture said:

roadburner said:

tjc78 said:
The most important skill in DIY is knowing when you are in over your head.

Everyone has their own threshold for when that occurs.
I agree; I have just encountered so many “professionals” that don’t even have a minimum level of competence that I want to at least know something about the subject. I think about driver’s buddy with the wannabe Maserati and how the dealer told him that his car would need a $1K “reset” after a battery replacement. I’m not enthusiastic about allowing a “professional” to give me, as the Brits put it, “a jolly good rogering.”

About the only things I don't do any more is roofing (because I don't go up on a roof any more) and appliance repair (because my threshold is very, very low).

Major replacements such as furnaces and A/C systems I leave to the pros too.
It doesn’t sound like you have much fun anymore. If you want to fix that stop over at flip house #2.

jmonroe

I would, actually, like that. So much to do and so little time...

driver100 · July 2020

venture said:
Doesn't it seem like something should be in that oval on the back of a $10 bill? Maybe the boss said, "That's enough designing. Send it out". Sort of like the grills on the new Hondas.

Waiting for someone to come through with the right price!

ab348 · July 2020

I saw an article on CNET about a newly-introduced Marantz A/V receiver that can handle 8K video. Seeing the pic of the back panel of the thing in the article made me glad I an no longer an audio/videophile. I had a headache just looking at it, and now better understand @graphicguy 's frustration at hooking up his new device.

stickguy · July 2020

Did BMW make that thing?

roadburner · July 2020

driver100 said:

stickguy said:
On the flip side, it’s also cheap to have it done, so relatively a wash. I don’t really enjoy wrestling tires off either, or having to jack up and brace the car without a lift. So I stick to stuff where the wheels stay on the ground, and there are limited amount of fasteners to break.
Plus you need the right tools and these days do you have to hook back up air pressure monitors etc......? Even jacking up the car and being around it is a situation I don't want any part of these days.......there are always cases of cars falling off a jack.

Putting a car on jack stands properly simply isn’t that hard. 99% of the cases involving cars falling on someone involve a person who is either lazy, stupid, or both- so these incidents usually end up being nothing more than the Law of Natural Selection operating as expected.

jmonroe1 · July 2020

ab348 said:
I saw an article on CNET about a newly-introduced Marantz A/V receiver that can handle 8K video. Seeing the pic of the back panel of the thing in the article made me glad I an no longer an audio/videophile. I had a headache just looking at it, and now better understand @graphicguy 's frustration at hooking up his new device.

WOW, that thing looks like it could handle two moon shots simultaneously from different continents.

jmonroe

oldfarmer50 · July 2020

venture said:

roadburner said:

tjc78 said:
The most important skill in DIY is knowing when you are in over your head.

Everyone has their own threshold for when that occurs.
I agree; I have just encountered so many “professionals” that don’t even have a minimum level of competence that I want to at least know something about the subject. I think about driver’s buddy with the wannabe Maserati and how the dealer told him that his car would need a $1K “reset” after a battery replacement. I’m not enthusiastic about allowing a “professional” to give me, as the Brits put it, “a jolly good rogering.”

About the only things I don't do any more is roofing (because I don't go up on a roof any more) and appliance repair (because my threshold is very, very low).

Major replacements such as furnaces and A/C systems I leave to the pros too.

Roofing is one of the few things I might still attempt. Banging with a hammer and keeping a straight line is something even I can still do. There are other things I can still do but would rather have someone else do. For example, I’m putting in a new front door and I’m hiring it out even though I put in the original door and many other doors over the years. The thought of holding a heavy door while I shim and level is just no longer attractive.

oldfarmer50 · July 2020

venture said:
Doesn't it seem like something should be in that oval on the back of a $10 bill? Maybe the boss said, "That's enough designing. Send it out". Sort of like the grills on the new Hondas.

There’s probably something written in invisible ink.

ab348 · July 2020

oldfarmer50 said:

venture said:
Doesn't it seem like something should be in that oval on the back of a $10 bill? Maybe the boss said, "That's enough designing. Send it out". Sort of like the grills on the new Hondas.

There’s probably something written in invisible ink.

I could never figure out how you could tell if your pen or printing press ran out of invisible ink.

jmonroe1 · July 2020

oldfarmer50 said:

venture said:

roadburner said:

tjc78 said:
The most important skill in DIY is knowing when you are in over your head.

Everyone has their own threshold for when that occurs.
I agree; I have just encountered so many “professionals” that don’t even have a minimum level of competence that I want to at least know something about the subject. I think about driver’s buddy with the wannabe Maserati and how the dealer told him that his car would need a $1K “reset” after a battery replacement. I’m not enthusiastic about allowing a “professional” to give me, as the Brits put it, “a jolly good rogering.”

About the only things I don't do any more is roofing (because I don't go up on a roof any more) and appliance repair (because my threshold is very, very low).

Major replacements such as furnaces and A/C systems I leave to the pros too.
Roofing is one of the few things I might still attempt. Banging with a hammer and keeping a straight line is something even I can still do. There are other things I can still do but would rather have someone else do. For example, I’m putting in a new front door and I’m hiring it out even though I put in the original door and many other doors over the years. The thought of holding a heavy door while I shim and level is just no longer attractive.

You too should come over to flip house #2. We have two outside doors and the fire door from the garage to the basement still on our “to do list”. Of course neither of us will do that by ourselves. That’s a team work job...at least for us it is.

jmonroe

stickguy · July 2020

Roofing is easy. I just won’t go on the roof.

venture · July 2020

jmonroe1 said:

oldfarmer50 said:

venture said:

roadburner said:

tjc78 said:
The most important skill in DIY is knowing when you are in over your head.

Everyone has their own threshold for when that occurs.
I agree; I have just encountered so many “professionals” that don’t even have a minimum level of competence that I want to at least know something about the subject. I think about driver’s buddy with the wannabe Maserati and how the dealer told him that his car would need a $1K “reset” after a battery replacement. I’m not enthusiastic about allowing a “professional” to give me, as the Brits put it, “a jolly good rogering.”

About the only things I don't do any more is roofing (because I don't go up on a roof any more) and appliance repair (because my threshold is very, very low).

Major replacements such as furnaces and A/C systems I leave to the pros too.
Roofing is one of the few things I might still attempt. Banging with a hammer and keeping a straight line is something even I can still do. There are other things I can still do but would rather have someone else do. For example, I’m putting in a new front door and I’m hiring it out even though I put in the original door and many other doors over the years. The thought of holding a heavy door while I shim and level is just no longer attractive.
You too should come over to flip house #2. We have two outside doors and the fire door from the garage to the basement still on our “to do list”. Of course neither of us will do that by ourselves. That’s a team work job...at least for us it is.

jmonroe

It's much easier to hang a door with help. I like to do them by myself though so I don't have to share all the bad language and new, made-up, words.

nyccarguy · July 2020

venture said:

jmonroe1 said:

oldfarmer50 said:

venture said:

roadburner said:

tjc78 said:
The most important skill in DIY is knowing when you are in over your head.

Everyone has their own threshold for when that occurs.
I agree; I have just encountered so many “professionals” that don’t even have a minimum level of competence that I want to at least know something about the subject. I think about driver’s buddy with the wannabe Maserati and how the dealer told him that his car would need a $1K “reset” after a battery replacement. I’m not enthusiastic about allowing a “professional” to give me, as the Brits put it, “a jolly good rogering.”

About the only things I don't do any more is roofing (because I don't go up on a roof any more) and appliance repair (because my threshold is very, very low).

Major replacements such as furnaces and A/C systems I leave to the pros too.
Roofing is one of the few things I might still attempt. Banging with a hammer and keeping a straight line is something even I can still do. There are other things I can still do but would rather have someone else do. For example, I’m putting in a new front door and I’m hiring it out even though I put in the original door and many other doors over the years. The thought of holding a heavy door while I shim and level is just no longer attractive.
You too should come over to flip house #2. We have two outside doors and the fire door from the garage to the basement still on our “to do list”. Of course neither of us will do that by ourselves. That’s a team work job...at least for us it is.

jmonroe
It's much easier to hang a door with help. I like to do them by myself though so I don't have to share all the bad language and new, made-up, words.

I'm fluent in "bad language."

roadburner · July 2020

ab348 said:
I saw an article on CNET about a newly-introduced Marantz A/V receiver that can handle 8K video. Seeing the pic of the back panel of the thing in the article made me glad I an no longer an audio/videophile. I had a headache just looking at it, and now better understand @graphicguy 's frustration at hooking up his new device.

If you look closer it’s actually pretty simple; the lower jacks are for speakers while the RCA jacks are redundant inputs for the HDMI inputs. Lots of inputs=lots of jacks/sockets.
This perceived complexity is why so many HTS installers get away with charging very high prices to set up mediocre systems.
When we go to Homearama in Louisville and check out the systems in some very expensive new construction I’m amazed at what is passed off as high end home theater. I recall in one home there was a HTS installed in a huge family room and the one subwoofer was hardly bigger than the one in my cheap and dirty basement 5.1 gaming system- yet the “professional installer” charged more for that puny SW than I paid for the HSU VTF 2 I have in my primary 7.1 HTS.

sda · July 2020

roadburner said:

tjc78 said:
The most important skill in DIY is knowing when you are in over your head.

Everyone has their own threshold for when that occurs.
I agree; I have just encountered so many “professionals” that don’t even have a minimum level of competence that I want to at least know something about the subject. I think about driver’s buddy with the wannabe Maserati and how the dealer told him that his car would need a $1K “reset” after a battery replacement. I’m not enthusiastic about allowing a “professional” to give me, as the Brits put it, “a jolly good rogering.”

I'd say jolly bad, actually

tjc78 · July 2020

driver100 said:

28firefighter said:

jmonroe1 said:

28firefighter said:
There are some things with cars that any decent mechanic worth anything can figure out and do on their own - oil changes, brakes, suspension, etc.

However, my opinion (which along with $3.99 will get you an egg mcmuffin), is that once you get out of that and into more serious diagnostics/repair requires an expert who actually knows and understands your car whether that be a dealer or an Indy. For instance, the Saab went to a shop that specialized only in Saabs - the BMW does the same. That way, you're at least speaking to someone who understands the various moving parts and you're more likely to get some critical thinking vs. plugging into the computer and then randomly throwing parts at a problem which adds up fast.

Lately I've had an urge to try and fix things at home and on the car myself, mostly just to prove to myself that I can. I'd say my success rate is around 85%, which isn't terrible. More impressive to my wife is that those fixes are still holding and haven't blown up...
And I’m sure that you have found out by now that skills learned for the first time on one job can be used when you do other jobs. Even learning which end of the wrench to use when you drive nails.

jmonroe

That said, I'd like to learn to do brakes and a brake fluid flush, but I'm a ways off from any of our cars needing it.
Even if I knew how to change brakes and do a brake fluid flush (I imagine you could learn to do it fairly easily - it isn't rocket science) I would not do it. Brakes should be left to experts who have insurance and have all the proper qualifications. If your brakes fail because you didn't do it right....you could be very sorry....that is one that lives could depend on.

As mentioned if you are just doing pads it’s pretty easy.

roadburner said:

ab348 said:
I saw an article on CNET about a newly-introduced Marantz A/V receiver that can handle 8K video. Seeing the pic of the back panel of the thing in the article made me glad I an no longer an audio/videophile. I had a headache just looking at it, and now better understand @graphicguy 's frustration at hooking up his new device.

If you look closer it’s actually pretty simple; the lower jacks are for speakers while the RCA jacks are redundant inputs for the HDMI inputs. Lots of inputs=lots of jacks/sockets.
This perceived complexity is why so many HTS installers get away with charging very high prices to set up mediocre systems.
When we go to Homearama in Louisville and check out the systems in some very expensive new construction I’m amazed at what is passed off as high end home theater. I recall in one home there was a HTS installed in a huge family room and the one subwoofer was hardly bigger than the one in my cheap and dirty basement 5.1 gaming system- yet the “professional installer” charged more for that puny SW than I paid for the HSU VTF 2 I have in my primary 7.1 HTS.

Yep! In reality very few of those RCA jacks will ever be used. I’m impressed by the turntable input. Many receivers have omitted that for the last two decades.

jmonroe1 · July 2020

roadburner said:

ab348 said:
I saw an article on CNET about a newly-introduced Marantz A/V receiver that can handle 8K video. Seeing the pic of the back panel of the thing in the article made me glad I an no longer an audio/videophile. I had a headache just looking at it, and now better understand @graphicguy 's frustration at hooking up his new device.

If you look closer it’s actually pretty simple; the lower jacks are for speakers while the RCA jacks are redundant inputs for the HDMI inputs. Lots of inputs=lots of jacks/sockets.
This perceived complexity is why so many HTS installers get away with charging very high prices to set up mediocre systems.
When we go to Homearama in Louisville and check out the systems in some very expensive new construction I’m amazed at what is passed off as high end home theater. I recall in one home there was a HTS installed in a huge family room and the one subwoofer was hardly bigger than the one in my cheap and dirty basement 5.1 gaming system- yet the “professional installer” charged more for that puny SW than I paid for the HSU VTF 2 I have in my primary 7.1 HTS.

You just gave away the secret of how to go about hooking up a complex system. You can’t look at the whole thing. You have to work it in pieces.

That kinda reminded me of looking over a schematic diagram one day when a young lady, that worked in our commercial department, marched into my cube and said, “hey @jmonroe, you got it figured out yet, my customer is getting antsy”. I said, “I’m getting there, the problem is in this section here”. She said, “with all those lines, I’ll never know how you guys can figure that stuff it out”. I tried to explain to her you have to attack it in pieces. She walked away saying thanks for trying to explain it but it’s still Greek to me”. Some people get hung up with the BIG picture.

jmonroe

driver100 · July 2020

roadburner said:

driver100 said:

stickguy said:
On the flip side, it’s also cheap to have it done, so relatively a wash. I don’t really enjoy wrestling tires off either, or having to jack up and brace the car without a lift. So I stick to stuff where the wheels stay on the ground, and there are limited amount of fasteners to break.
Plus you need the right tools and these days do you have to hook back up air pressure monitors etc......? Even jacking up the car and being around it is a situation I don't want any part of these days.......there are always cases of cars falling off a jack.
Putting a car on jack stands properly simply isn’t that hard. 99% of the cases involving cars falling on someone involve a person who is either lazy, stupid, or both- so these incidents usually end up being nothing more than the Law of Natural Selection operating as expected.

There must be a fair number of "lazy, stupid people". If you consider these statistics;

Along with those 150,000 people who injured themselves closing a car door, another 10,000 each year are seriously injured when using a jack or other type of hoist.

Millions of people open and close car doors ever day, and 150000 people a year injure themselves doing it. What percentage of people jack up their car, yet 10000 a year injure themselves doing that? I would say, that's a huge number of injuries, for the number of people who actually do this kind of thing.

stickguy · July 2020

generally, you are doing a risk/reward analysis, along with cost/benefit.

so putting up new blinds to save say $50/each? Easy call, because there is no risk to me, and if it gets screwed up, worst that happens is it is crooked or falls down. Neither result is fatal or painful. Falling off the roof of a 2 story house, well, different story! Same reason I paint. It is pretty easy, no real risk, and expensive to have done.

using the brakes example, different inputs. Usually you need more than just pads (and even then, there are some extras). so once you are getting into jacking the car up and mucking around in the wheel well, some risk there. Then there is the places (especially on a modern car) where you can manage to break something else like an ABS connector. So yeah, it is not horribly complicated, but there are plenty of chances of a "gotcha" moment, especially if you are not really experienced with it (and of course have all the right gear). And since it it quick for a pro, the cost of the labor is really not all that high (I can get brakes installed for less than they want to charge to put up a ceiling fan).

cutting into plumbing or gas lines, same thing. The opportunities to have something go horribly wrong are much higher!

houdini1 · July 2020

driver100 said:

jmonroe1 said:

28firefighter said:
There are some things with cars that any decent mechanic worth anything can figure out and do on their own - oil changes, brakes, suspension, etc.

However, my opinion (which along with $3.99 will get you an egg mcmuffin), is that once you get out of that and into more serious diagnostics/repair requires an expert who actually knows and understands your car whether that be a dealer or an Indy. For instance, the Saab went to a shop that specialized only in Saabs - the BMW does the same. That way, you're at least speaking to someone who understands the various moving parts and you're more likely to get some critical thinking vs. plugging into the computer and then randomly throwing parts at a problem which adds up fast.

Lately I've had an urge to try and fix things at home and on the car myself, mostly just to prove to myself that I can. I'd say my success rate is around 85%, which isn't terrible. More impressive to my wife is that those fixes are still holding and haven't blown up...
And I’m sure that you have found out by now that skills learned for the first time on one job can be used when you do other jobs. Even learning which end of the wrench to use when you drive nails.

jmonroe

Of course....always the wide end with the jaws.

When I was dating my future wife, and visiting her and her parents at their lake house, my 63 Dodge Dart was making a grinding noise. Figuring it had something to do with the brakes, I took the tire off and about 10 brake parts fell out on the ground. Not having any idea how to put them back together, I took the other front tire off to see how the assembled brakes looked. Then it was pretty easy to put the parts back together and be on my way. Future father in law was impressed (he graduated 2nd in his chemical engineering class at Tulsa University) with my impromptu repair and said he would never have thought to do that.

A few years later I found him sweating in a stifling hot garage, trying to snap the cover that fits under the door of his freezer back on. He couldn't find the little holes that the grill snapped into because they were blocked from sight by the overhang of the bottom of the freezer door. I took the grill from him, opened the freezer door, which exposed the holes, and snapped it back into place. He just stared at me for a minute, shook his head, and walked away. This very brilliant man always thought I was a genius.

houdini1 · July 2020

houdini1 said:

driver100 said:

jmonroe1 said:

28firefighter said:
There are some things with cars that any decent mechanic worth anything can figure out and do on their own - oil changes, brakes, suspension, etc.

However, my opinion (which along with $3.99 will get you an egg mcmuffin), is that once you get out of that and into more serious diagnostics/repair requires an expert who actually knows and understands your car whether that be a dealer or an Indy. For instance, the Saab went to a shop that specialized only in Saabs - the BMW does the same. That way, you're at least speaking to someone who understands the various moving parts and you're more likely to get some critical thinking vs. plugging into the computer and then randomly throwing parts at a problem which adds up fast.

Lately I've had an urge to try and fix things at home and on the car myself, mostly just to prove to myself that I can. I'd say my success rate is around 85%, which isn't terrible. More impressive to my wife is that those fixes are still holding and haven't blown up...
And I’m sure that you have found out by now that skills learned for the first time on one job can be used when you do other jobs. Even learning which end of the wrench to use when you drive nails.

jmonroe

Of course....always the wide end with the jaws.
When I was dating my future wife, and visiting her and her parents at their lake house, my 63 Dodge Dart was making a grinding noise. Figuring it had something to do with the brakes, I took the tire off and about 10 brake parts fell out on the ground. Not having any idea how to put them back together, I took the other front tire off to see how the assembled brakes looked. Then it was pretty easy to put the parts back together and be on my way. Future father in law was impressed (he graduated 2nd in his chemical engineering class at Tulsa University) with my impromptu repair and said he would never have thought to do that.

A few years later I found him sweating in a stifling hot garage, trying to snap the cover that fits under the door of his freezer back on. He couldn't find the little holes that the grill snapped into because they were blocked from sight by the overhang of the bottom of the freezer door. I took the grill from him, opened the freezer door, which exposed the holes, and snapped it back into place. He just stared at me for a minute, shook his head, and walked away. This very brilliant man always thought his daughter had married a genius.

stickguy · July 2020

there is book smart, then there is street smart...

roadburner · July 2020

driver100 said:

roadburner said:

driver100 said:

stickguy said:
On the flip side, it’s also cheap to have it done, so relatively a wash. I don’t really enjoy wrestling tires off either, or having to jack up and brace the car without a lift. So I stick to stuff where the wheels stay on the ground, and there are limited amount of fasteners to break.
Plus you need the right tools and these days do you have to hook back up air pressure monitors etc......? Even jacking up the car and being around it is a situation I don't want any part of these days.......there are always cases of cars falling off a jack.
Putting a car on jack stands properly simply isn’t that hard. 99% of the cases involving cars falling on someone involve a person who is either lazy, stupid, or both- so these incidents usually end up being nothing more than the Law of Natural Selection operating as expected.

There must be a fair number of "lazy, stupid people". If you consider these statistics;

Along with those 150,000 people who injured themselves closing a car door, another 10,000 each year are seriously injured when using a jack or other type of hoist.

Millions of people open and close car doors ever day, and 150000 people a year injure themselves doing it. What percentage of people jack up their car, yet 10000 a year injure themselves doing that? I would say, that's a huge number of injuries, for the number of people who actually do this kind of thing.

You answered your own question; there are a LOT of lazy and stupid people in the world.
driver, I get it- for you it's a badge of honor to pay a "guy" to do most everything involving mechanical or technical issues- that's fine.
But don't treat brake jobs and properly jacking up a car as if they are fiendishly complex procedures that only trained technicians should attempt- because they just aren't.

dino001 · July 2020

ab348 said:
I saw an article on CNET about a newly-introduced Marantz A/V receiver that can handle 8K video. Seeing the pic of the back panel of the thing in the article made me glad I an no longer an audio/videophile. I had a headache just looking at it, and now better understand @graphicguy 's frustration at hooking up his new device.

I wonder how many people actually use this many output channels in any house and they how many of those have actually come across a media that's capable of using that setup to its fullest those at least ones. Seems like just adding relatively cheap stuff to keep prices up, otherwise the competition would kill the manufacturers same way TV did. I think a nice 5.1 is all person needs. 6.1 or 7.1/7.2 can have its use for a dedicated multimedia room in a huge house. I have 6.2 Pioneer Elite, several years old, use only one subwoofer and have to keep it down because of neighbors. I like the cinematic sound and the stereo is really nice.

jmonroe1 · July 2020

houdini1 said:

driver100 said:

jmonroe1 said:

28firefighter said:
There are some things with cars that any decent mechanic worth anything can figure out and do on their own - oil changes, brakes, suspension, etc.

However, my opinion (which along with $3.99 will get you an egg mcmuffin), is that once you get out of that and into more serious diagnostics/repair requires an expert who actually knows and understands your car whether that be a dealer or an Indy. For instance, the Saab went to a shop that specialized only in Saabs - the BMW does the same. That way, you're at least speaking to someone who understands the various moving parts and you're more likely to get some critical thinking vs. plugging into the computer and then randomly throwing parts at a problem which adds up fast.

Lately I've had an urge to try and fix things at home and on the car myself, mostly just to prove to myself that I can. I'd say my success rate is around 85%, which isn't terrible. More impressive to my wife is that those fixes are still holding and haven't blown up...
And I’m sure that you have found out by now that skills learned for the first time on one job can be used when you do other jobs. Even learning which end of the wrench to use when you drive nails.

jmonroe

Of course....always the wide end with the jaws.
When I was dating my future wife, and visiting her and her parents at their lake house, my 63 Dodge Dart was making a grinding noise. Figuring it had something to do with the brakes, I took the tire off and about 10 brake parts fell out on the ground. Not having any idea how to put them back together, I took the other front tire off to see how the assembled brakes looked. Then it was pretty easy to put the parts back together and be on my way. Future father in law was impressed (he graduated 2nd in his chemical engineering class at Tulsa University) with my impromptu repair and said he would never have thought to do that.

A few years later I found him sweating in a stifling hot garage, trying to snap the cover that fits under the door of his freezer back on. He couldn't find the little holes that the grill snapped into because they were blocked from sight by the overhang of the bottom of the freezer door. I took the grill from him, opened the freezer door, which exposed the holes, and snapped it back into place. He just stared at me for a minute, shook his head, and walked away. This very brilliant man always thought I was a genius.

But, his daughter knows better.

jmonroe

explorerx4 · July 2020

@houdini1,
Well, he was a chemical engineer, not mechanical.

qbrozen · July 2020

ab348 said:
Somebody's got some 'splainin to do:

https://globalnews.ca/video/rd/f9f8fee2-c0ba-11ea-ae36-0242ac110003/?jwsource=cl

I'm no engineer, but if someone told me to cross a span that long that has NO support underneath with a truck weighing that much, I'd have parked it and walked home.

andres3 · July 2020

driver100 said:

ab348 said:

jmonroe1 said:

It’s hard to believe that even young people would think like that. We were all young at one time and when we think back to some of the things we did back then we shudder.
The expression "clueless youth" didn't just pop up out of thin air.
We didn't know back then the brain doesn't get completely formed until late 20s. Especially the part that relates to danger and doing things beyond your control. Maybe applies to young people and some older ones who drive faster than they should

Maybe they think their brains are good enough to multitask and wrongfully think driving slower is OK while on their cell phone??

Just ran into a left lane camper holding up traffic in the left-most lane clueless to the world around them as they were on their cellphone.

andres3 · July 2020

oldfarmer50 said:

driver100 said:

ab348 said:

jmonroe1 said:

It’s hard to believe that even young people would think like that. We were all young at one time and when we think back to some of the things we did back then we shudder.
The expression "clueless youth" didn't just pop up out of thin air.
We didn't know back then the brain doesn't get completely formed until late 20s. Especially the part that relates to danger and doing things beyond your control. Maybe applies to young people and some older ones who drive faster than they should
From an evolutionary perspective there is some group benefit from young people being risk takers. If young Johnny eats that unfamiliar fruit he might die or he might discover a new food source for the tribe. If no one takes the risk then no one may survive.

*Raises hand!*

Hint: Cars don't spontaneously combust at 100+ miles per hour, and the world isn't flat.

andres3 · July 2020

jmonroe1 said:

oldfarmer50 said:

driver100 said:
Hmmmm....Mileage Blocker;
Important information!

If the mileage filter is not activated, the diagnostic equipment (Including the equipment used by the dealerships) not able to detect it.

The use of this device is intended only for research purposes, outside of public roads, and it allows testing on vehicles on dynamometer stands or in laboratory conditions.

Well, your Carfax may look different, and when you take the car in for service they may wonder why some items are wearing out early.....etc.

Oldfarmer, were you looking into these "for a friend" who was asking?
No, I’m worried that outfits like that could be causing the fraudulent adulteration of mileage on thousands of cars. I wonder why the government would allow them to be sold. Despite what the manufacturers say, there could only be one purpose for such a device...fraud.
My ‘75 Grand Prix was the first car I owned that had a catalytic converter. That caused unwanted constipation for the 400 CID V8 to the point I had to do something. So, I removed the plug on the bottom of it and drained a full gallon of the constipating pellets from it. It ran so much better after that minor surgery. Took less time than doing an oil change.

Fast forward to when I bought my ‘80 Park Ave. That car had the 350 CID V8 and because it was a smaller engine with the same size catalytic converter the performance was even more noticeable. When I climbed under the car to remove the plug, I got a surprise. GM no longer provided a drain plug. They now had a pressed in plug. Rather than chisel it out and having to go to a dealer for a new pressed in plug, if they even made such a thing, I looked in the J.C. Whitney catalog and found a “catalytic converter eliminator pipe”. It fit perfectly and I no longer had a constipation problem with that car either. In fact, because the entire catalytic converter was removed, the performance increase was even more noticeable than just removing the constipating pellets like I did on my Grand Prix.

A little more fast forward (maybe 2 years). A friend at work came to me with a new copy of the J.C. Whitney catalog. They no longer called it a “catalytic converter eliminator pipe”. Now, because it circumvented a pollution system device, it was renamed a “catalytic converter test pipe”. The instructions said that if you suspected that your catalytic converter was clogged, you should remove it, install the “test pipe” and if your car ran better, you found the problem. So you were then instructed to remove the “test pipe” and get a new catalytic converter because it was illegal to leave the “test pipe” permanently installed. Yeah right, I’m sure everyone followed the newish government law and did that.

jmonroe

So that's where the term "test pipes" comes from!!! You learn something new every day here. My A3 ran and sounded great with "test pipes" as my downpipe, cat removal, and a Borla muffler/tailpipe.

Really magnified the glorious DSG sounds and lighting fast shifts.

CA takes draconian law to some higher order of obnoxiousness. It isn't good enough to pass the smog test (sniffing test at the tailpipes). You have to pass visual inspection for "CA/CARB APPROVED" stamped on all your emissions system parts. So what is more important, the air quality, or that someone got paid an excessive ~~fee~~ bribe to stamp a part with "CA/CARB approved?"

andres3 · July 2020

graphicguy said:

carnaught said:
@graphicguy, your system sounds awesome. In these days of being home bound, you deserve it and should really enjoy it!

Thanks! Assembled and maintained over a series of years. You can really go over the top, way over what my set up is.
ab348 said:
@graphicguy good luck with that new receiver. I had never heard of 13.2 sound formats before, but I don't pay much attention to that sort of thing these days.

One thing I noticed in looking at all the different receivers they have on offer is that none of the manufacturers (at least the ones they carry) seem to have progressed very much in the display department - all of them have the same blue dot-matrix LED displays they had 20 years ago. I would have figured that by now they would have adopted the same sort of color graphic displays that automakers use in the the instument cluster.
lol! So true. You’d think dot matrix displays would be long gone by now. But, the UI on these current receivers for set up are worlds better than what was on my old receiver.

I hope your Denon lasts you longer than the 3.75 years my Denon 4520 also "made in Japan" gave me. Like I said, if they supported it with replacement parts, I'd of spent a reasonable amount to repair it, but no way am I committing to $200 + shipping without a guarantee they have parts for it.

I was actually slightly disappointed with its performance, but it was a very good receiver when it worked. I've come to the conclusion there's just no way a 30 pound receiver can compete with a 50 pound HK (at the amp level at least).

It only had 1 other flaw other than its lack of durability and longevity. They made it impossible to apply the fantastic pre-amp processing power to the 7.1 analog inputs. Only direct transfer, clean, pure, but off.

abacomike · July 2020

Well, my Mercedes service department had me come in so they could install new wiper blades to hopefully solve the chattering problem I have experienced in steady, heavy rains.

The new blades are much heavier and thicker than the OEM blades. I have not driven in heavy rains for some time because I am usually back home by 1:00 or 2:00 PM, just before the afternoon thunderstorms begin. I could not make out the brand of blades, but I was told they were manufactured by Bosch. I really don't care who manufactures them - I just want the chattering and skipping to stop.

Time will tell because it is inevitable that I will be driving in a heavy rainstorm over the next several weeks.

fintail · July 2020

I remember Bosch assemblies being pretty thick. Can you post a pic, especially where the blade mounts to the wiper arm? I am curious as to what they did, I suspect maybe just used an off the shelf Bosch part.

abacomike said:
Well, my Mercedes service department had me come in so they could install new wiper blades to hopefully solve the chattering problem I have experienced in steady, heavy rains.

The new blades are much heavier and thicker than the OEM blades. I have not driven in heavy rains for some time because I am usually back home by 1:00 or 2:00 PM, just before the afternoon thunderstorms begin. I could not make out the brand of blades, but I was told they were manufactured by Bosch. I really don't care who manufactures them - I just want the chattering and skipping to stop.

Time will tell because it is inevitable that I will be driving in a heavy rainstorm over the next several weeks.

abacomike · July 2020

Talking about heavy rains, it brought back memories of my son and oldest grandson when they were visiting me 3 years ago in August. We were experiencing our usual mid-afternoon thunderstorms when both of them ran outside and stood on the catwalk adjacent to my front door. They stood there remarking about the lightning, thunder and torrential rains for over 1/2 an hour. They were totally mesmerized by the experience.

I understood why they were so enthralled with the experience - they live in Palm Desert CA where it's possible not to see a drop of rain for a year or two. As for thunder and lightning - my grandson, who was 17 at the time, hadn't seen rain and thunder for 5 years which is when I took him to Universal Studios in Orlando.

cdnpinhead · July 2020

For the unfortunates who exist in the desert areas of the world, rain is more properly defined as "water which falls from the sky" -- it's an event. "Rain" is for those who take it for granted.

andres3 · July 2020

graphicguy said:
Well....looks like SW OH is back on the mandatory mask wearing in public again. For reasons that just confound me, some (not many) of our local citizenry just doesn't get how important it is to wear a mask.

Saw someone get kicked out of my local Costco yesterday for taking her mask off in the store. Why this is, when Costco has made it abundantly clear that it's a requirement to wear a mask inside their stores, is totally confusing to me. As she was being escorted out, I heard her say she would never shop at Costco again. At which, about a dozen people applauded her decision.

The other question, why Costco? They are very serious about keeping their stores as antiseptically clean as they possibly can. How is that a bad thing and why does that bother so many people?

Having recently been slightly maybe at most chance 1% exposed (test results took 7 full days to get back; negative, as I suspected 99%, I think I might have an answer, though it doesn't excuse the behavior.

You start feeling like you are the virus itself, and you get the vibe that people may want to "avoid" you. The feeling that a few people don't want you around or close to them is noticeable (even if it was less than a 1% chance). It might be rational or understandable, but it can definitely make one feel isolated or shunned. Justified or not, it's not a good feeling to be unwelcome or looked at as "tainted" in some way.

oldfarmer50 · July 2020

houdini1 said:

driver100 said:

jmonroe1 said:

28firefighter said:
There are some things with cars that any decent mechanic worth anything can figure out and do on their own - oil changes, brakes, suspension, etc.

However, my opinion (which along with $3.99 will get you an egg mcmuffin), is that once you get out of that and into more serious diagnostics/repair requires an expert who actually knows and understands your car whether that be a dealer or an Indy. For instance, the Saab went to a shop that specialized only in Saabs - the BMW does the same. That way, you're at least speaking to someone who understands the various moving parts and you're more likely to get some critical thinking vs. plugging into the computer and then randomly throwing parts at a problem which adds up fast.

Lately I've had an urge to try and fix things at home and on the car myself, mostly just to prove to myself that I can. I'd say my success rate is around 85%, which isn't terrible. More impressive to my wife is that those fixes are still holding and haven't blown up...
And I’m sure that you have found out by now that skills learned for the first time on one job can be used when you do other jobs. Even learning which end of the wrench to use when you drive nails.

jmonroe

Of course....always the wide end with the jaws.
When I was dating my future wife, and visiting her and her parents at their lake house, my 63 Dodge Dart was making a grinding noise. Figuring it had something to do with the brakes, I took the tire off and about 10 brake parts fell out on the ground. Not having any idea how to put them back together, I took the other front tire off to see how the assembled brakes looked. Then it was pretty easy to put the parts back together and be on my way. Future father in law was impressed (he graduated 2nd in his chemical engineering class at Tulsa University) with my impromptu repair and said he would never have thought to do that.

A few years later I found him sweating in a stifling hot garage, trying to snap the cover that fits under the door of his freezer back on. He couldn't find the little holes that the grill snapped into because they were blocked from sight by the overhang of the bottom of the freezer door. I took the grill from him, opened the freezer door, which exposed the holes, and snapped it back into place. He just stared at me for a minute, shook his head, and walked away. This very brilliant man always thought I was a genius.

That’s street smarts vs book smarts.

roadburner · July 2020

The current DIY discussion reminded me of one poor soul on one of the BMW topics on Edmunds from years ago. Several of us had convinced him to buy as set of winter wheels/tires and change them over himself. His nutcase of a wife found out and refused to let him perform the changeover himself- she was worried "a wheel would fall off or something." He ended up taking the wheels and tires to a shop to have the work done. He later mentioned that his wife was letting him refill the windshield washer reservoir on his own.
I didn't have the heart to ask him to surrender his Man Card, as it was painfully obvious that he had already turned his gonads over to his wife some time ago.

houdini1 · July 2020

oldfarmer50 said:

houdini1 said:

driver100 said:

jmonroe1 said:

28firefighter said:
There are some things with cars that any decent mechanic worth anything can figure out and do on their own - oil changes, brakes, suspension, etc.

However, my opinion (which along with $3.99 will get you an egg mcmuffin), is that once you get out of that and into more serious diagnostics/repair requires an expert who actually knows and understands your car whether that be a dealer or an Indy. For instance, the Saab went to a shop that specialized only in Saabs - the BMW does the same. That way, you're at least speaking to someone who understands the various moving parts and you're more likely to get some critical thinking vs. plugging into the computer and then randomly throwing parts at a problem which adds up fast.

Lately I've had an urge to try and fix things at home and on the car myself, mostly just to prove to myself that I can. I'd say my success rate is around 85%, which isn't terrible. More impressive to my wife is that those fixes are still holding and haven't blown up...
And I’m sure that you have found out by now that skills learned for the first time on one job can be used when you do other jobs. Even learning which end of the wrench to use when you drive nails.

jmonroe

Of course....always the wide end with the jaws.
When I was dating my future wife, and visiting her and her parents at their lake house, my 63 Dodge Dart was making a grinding noise. Figuring it had something to do with the brakes, I took the tire off and about 10 brake parts fell out on the ground. Not having any idea how to put them back together, I took the other front tire off to see how the assembled brakes looked. Then it was pretty easy to put the parts back together and be on my way. Future father in law was impressed (he graduated 2nd in his chemical engineering class at Tulsa University) with my impromptu repair and said he would never have thought to do that.

A few years later I found him sweating in a stifling hot garage, trying to snap the cover that fits under the door of his freezer back on. He couldn't find the little holes that the grill snapped into because they were blocked from sight by the overhang of the bottom of the freezer door. I took the grill from him, opened the freezer door, which exposed the holes, and snapped it back into place. He just stared at me for a minute, shook his head, and walked away. This very brilliant man always thought I was a genius.
That’s street smarts vs book smarts.

I'm sticking with genius !!

oldfarmer50 · July 2020

roadburner said:
The current DIY discussion reminded me of one poor soul on one of the BMW topics on Edmunds from years ago. Several of us had convinced him to buy as set of winter wheels/tires and change them over himself. His nutcase of a wife found out and refused to let him perform the changeover himself- she was worried "a wheel would fall off or something." He ended up taking the wheels and tires to a shop to have the work done. He later mentioned that his wife was letting him refill the windshield washer reservoir on his own.
I didn't have the heart to ask him to surrender his Man Card, as it was painfully obvious that he had already turned his gonads over to his wife some time ago.

We all do it’s just that a smart wife will let you think you’re still in charge.

driver100 · July 2020

I saw one of these yesterday and thought that is kind of a strange design. Little tailights, big overhang in the front....nothing really glamorous or outstanding about it. Took awhile to find one, checked Desotos, Dodges, Plymouths, Chryslers............anyone want to take a guess.

stickguy · July 2020

Definitely a Chrysler.

explorerx4 · July 2020

I would guess Chrysler Newport.

ab348 · July 2020

That's a 1963 Chrysler.

You should really be over in the Mystery Car Pics topic for this sort of stuff.

graphicguy · July 2020

ab348 said:
I saw an article on CNET about a newly-introduced Marantz A/V receiver that can handle 8K video. Seeing the pic of the back panel of the thing in the article made me glad I an no longer an audio/videophile. I had a headache just looking at it, and now better understand @graphicguy 's frustration at hooking up his new device.

Yeah...as @roadburner mentioned, a lot of that is redundant. That Marantz has copper shielding throughout. 8K content simply doesn’t exist in any mainstream form. Like 3D, I kind of question the demand for the format.

I know of NO ONE who’s ever used an RS232 port on an AVR. The speaker connections assume 7 main/surround channels and 4 “height” channels for Dolby Atmos and DTS X. My speakers offer very wide dispersion so I don’t feel the need for height channels. I do have 2 subwoofers (RB, your HSU is nice). One for the mid bass and one for lower Hz. Both are made by one of the original members of a well respected internet audio company (SVS). Mine are PSA.

Why anyone is using an AVR for AM or FM radio is also a curiously. Both formats are limited in both frequency and are very compressed (except for the HD channels). Most radio stations can be heard via HD, which is a digital format that you can get via the internet. This particularly AVR that I just installed has WiFi capability. So, I can stream stations from that. No need for an antenna.

The analog connections (white/red) are for outputting to a separate amp. I did that for a while on one of my older installations. But, the amps in the top end AVRs these days are really good. Mine has a large power supply and individual amp modules that are isolated from each other (another reason why it’s so big and heavy). So, I don’t use a separate amp anymore. The Denon I just installed has no problem effortlessly driving my entire system to reference levels and beyond.

IF you have ANY component so old that you have to connect it via RGB, co-axial, component or Any analog cables, this probably isn’t the AVR for you. It would be WAY overkill for an installation that would utilize those connections. That said, I do know people who are still married to their VHS/Beta tapes (which look terrible even when compared to DVD disks).

HDMI is THE way you want to connect whatever you can. Most current AVRs have more than enough HDMI connections. HDMI (current) cables can carry Ultra HD (4K) video and multiple channels of lossless audio. So, the optical cable connection is redundant, too...and that’s just for audio.

At the end of the day, I know how to hook up the most complex Home Theater systems. I’ve done it many, many times for myself and many, many times for others. If you are easily confused, don’t care how to utilize one of these AVRs, don’t care how to maximize performance, yeah...I guess hire someone to do the installation for you. Be prepared to pay dearly for the privilege. Me? I do it for a 6 pack of local brew.

The issue isn’t just making the connections, it’s wrestling with a 50+ pound AVR (which is what mine weighs). I don’t just twist speaker wires in a terminal, it’s terminating them with high quality spade or banana plugs. Believe it or not, it used to be worse. It used to be every component to be connected to an AVR had 4 separate connections you needed to make...3 RGB and one optical, co-axial or component cables. Now, it’s just one HDMI.

This is my first Denon AVR. It’s built extremely well. It is powerful. It has great decoders and DACs. It’s firmware can be updated via WiFi. My hope is that I get as many years from it as I got from my Pioneer Elite (10+). My only beef, at this price point, you’d think they could include a universal remote that lights up. That was not to be, though. I do use my Firestick remote for ON/OFF and Volume control. But, when I have to switch component ports on the AVR, I have to use the Denon remote. Minor inconvenience. But, still.......

I’m sure that’s more than ANYONE wanted to know. But, that is how I get the picture and sound that I get (big hat tip to LG OLED TV technology, too). Watching Saving Private Ryan again with this current setup (LG OLED and Denon AVR) was simply stunning.

roadburner · July 2020

My 20 and 12 year old Denon AVRs are still working great.

ab348 · July 2020

The mass insanity has now spread to a group of workers at Ford, who want the company to stop making police vehicles:

https://www.cnet.com/roadshow/news/ford-employees-police-cars

driver100 · July 2020

explorerx4 said:
I would guess Chrysler Newport.

Yes, hard to find unless you specify Newport....it must have been a less popular model...and it is a 63.
I find even the earlier 59 to 61 models looked a lot more appealing:

graphicguy · July 2020

My late uncle had one of these (the pic is not his, but the color is right). I remember my Father (a Lincoln-Mercury man) making fun of him for having a Chrysler. Looking back, pretty darned cool car...

https://images.app.goo.gl/QGMhYZGQghhL1aSb7

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