Edmunds Members - Cars and Conversations

jmonroe1 · June 4

xwesx said:
I do not. And, I don't think I would use it for that, anyway!

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And here I thought Alaskin’s were environmentally conscious.

jmonroe

qbrozen · June 4

@xwesx said:
@qbrozen They are all nice wheels - the first example definitely the snazziest, but I also do not think the current set detracts from the car in any way. I wouldn't trade them for the set below it, but perhaps the first or last option, for sure!

These are my current wheels. Not bad but kinda generic.

xwesx · June 4

Oh! I was thinking the second photo of the red car was yours. LOL Yeah, any of those are an improvement. Nice wheels, but the style isn't right for that car.

driver100 · June 4

Jimmy McGill is the star in Netflix Better Call Saul. His lawyer business isn't going very well and this is the car he drives:

I won't make you guess, it's a Suzuki Esteem 1998

oldfarmer50 · June 4

driver100 said:
Jimmy McGill is the star in Netflix Better Call Saul. His lawyer business isn't going very well and this is the car he drives:

I won't make you guess, it's a Suzuki Esteem 1998

Being that it’s supposed to take place in New Mexico I assume the rust spots are painted on.

jmonroe1 · June 4

xwesx said:
Oh! I was thinking the second photo of the red car was yours. LOL Yeah, any of those are an improvement. Nice wheels, but the style isn't right for that car.

————————————————
I think @qbrozen plans to stick chrome or brushed nickel badges in the appropriate front/rear/side areas around the car to dress it up. If not, he should.

jmonroe

ab348 · June 4

xwesx said:
Oh! I was thinking the second photo of the red car was yours. LOL Yeah, any of those are an improvement. Nice wheels, but the style isn't right for that car.

The 5-hole cloverleaf wheels are great. I did some searching though and discovered that there are at least two types: the ones you pictured and another with 5 smaller holes that do not look quite as good.

roadburner · June 4

qbrozen said:
A sidestep from the tire subject: I’d love to find different wheels for the Alfa. I really really want the Alfa cloverleaf or even phone dial wheels. No luck so far. The bolt pattern is quite odd. They did make them for the 156 but obviously getting them here would be quite the costly feat.

Cloverleaf or phone dial.

jmonroe1 · June 4

oldfarmer50 said:

driver100 said:
Jimmy McGill is the star in Netflix Better Call Saul. His lawyer business isn't going very well and this is the car he drives:

I won't make you guess, it's a Suzuki Esteem 1998
Being that it’s supposed to take place in New Mexico I assume the rust spots are painted on.

————————————————
We all knew you’d notice that right off but didn’t want to ruin it for you, so we didn’t say anything.

jmonroe

Michaell · June 4

I’m pretty sure that Esteem has shown up in a different TV show or movie, but I can’t think of what it is off the top of my head.

kyfdx · June 4

qbrozen said:

@xwesx said:
@qbrozen They are all nice wheels - the first example definitely the snazziest, but I also do not think the current set detracts from the car in any way. I wouldn't trade them for the set below it, but perhaps the first or last option, for sure!

These are my current wheels. Not bad but kinda generic.

For a '98, those aren't bad wheels. I'd kill for those cloverleafs, though

jmonroe1 · June 4

kyfdx said:

qbrozen said:

@xwesx said:
@qbrozen They are all nice wheels - the first example definitely the snazziest, but I also do not think the current set detracts from the car in any way. I wouldn't trade them for the set below it, but perhaps the first or last option, for sure!

These are my current wheels. Not bad but kinda generic.

For a '98, those aren't bad wheels. I'd kill for those cloverleafs, though
————————————————
We can start a poll.

I like the cloverleaf rims too but I like the ones on the red car better. So there. That’s my vote.

jmonroe

stickguy · June 4

Red car. I am not a big fan of wheels that are wide open like that.

explorerx4 · June 4

I like wheels with large openings because it's easier to clean the barrels.

corvette · June 4

Michaell said:
I’m pretty sure that Esteem has shown up in a different TV show or movie, but I can’t think of what it is off the top of my head.

I can't recall whether it was in Breaking Bad or whether Saul had already crossed over to the dark side and had a DeVille/DTS at that point.

tjc78 · June 5

@corvette said:
I can't recall whether it was in Breaking Bad or whether Saul had already crossed over to the dark side and had a DeVille/DTS at that point.

Definitely correct for BB. I haven’t watched BCS yet.

driver100 · June 5

jmonroe1 said:

oldfarmer50 said:

driver100 said:
Jimmy McGill is the star in Netflix Better Call Saul. His lawyer business isn't going very well and this is the car he drives:

I won't make you guess, it's a Suzuki Esteem 1998
Being that it’s supposed to take place in New Mexico I assume the rust spots are painted on.
————————————————
We all knew you’d notice that right off but didn’t want to ruin it for you, so we didn’t say anything.

jmonroe

He's the expert of knowing about rust spots.

driver100 · June 5

ab348 said:
Another car carrier ship laden with electric vehicles is burning out of control in the North Pacific Ocean apparently about 300 miles from the Alaska coast:

https://www.reuters.com/world/us-coast-guard-responding-cargo-ship-fire-near-alaska-no-injuries-reported-2025-06-04/

I read that article and then I saw further down another ship went down earlier;
"In 2022, a ship carrying 4,000 luxury cars, including Porsches and Bentleys, sank off the Portuguese Azores archipelago nearly two weeks after it caught fire."

Wow, 4000 Porsches and Bentleys are in the ocean.........what a waste! I didn't think a ship could carry 4000 cars. My head is spinning thinking about it. The cost of these cars is going to skyrocket as insurance rates go through the roof!

driver100 · June 5

oldfarmer50 said:

driver100 said:
Jimmy McGill is the star in Netflix Better Call Saul. His lawyer business isn't going very well and this is the car he drives:

I won't make you guess, it's a Suzuki Esteem 1998
Being that it’s supposed to take place in New Mexico I assume the rust spots are painted on.

four Esteems were used in the show, and they were sourced from individuals in Denver, Phoenix, Houston, and Oregon. The production team found the cars in these different locations, meaning Jimmy McGill likely purchased his Esteem secondhand from one of these sellers.

I guess the one he drives came from Denver or Oregon.

graphicguy · June 5

roadburner said:
I spent part of the afternoon cleaning up the interior of the C43; I accept the fact that it's going to get dirty on vacation but once I'm home I want to detail it sooner than later.

You had me at RED!

jmonroe1 · June 5

driver100 said:

ab348 said:
Another car carrier ship laden with electric vehicles is burning out of control in the North Pacific Ocean apparently about 300 miles from the Alaska coast:

https://www.reuters.com/world/us-coast-guard-responding-cargo-ship-fire-near-alaska-no-injuries-reported-2025-06-04/
I read that article and then I saw further down another ship went down earlier;
"In 2022, a ship carrying 4,000 luxury cars, including Porsches and Bentleys, sank off the Portuguese Azores archipelago nearly two weeks after it caught fire."

Wow, 4000 Porsches and Bentleys are in the ocean.........what a waste! I didn't think a ship could carry 4000 cars. My head is spinning thinking about it. The cost of these cars is going to skyrocket as insurance rates go through the roof!

————————————————
The cost of the real estate at the bottom of the ocean where those Porsche’s settled just spiked. Not too many fish are going to be able to afford to stay in their old hoods now. Things are tough all over the world.

jmonroe

ab348 · June 5

driver100 said:

I read that article and then I saw further down another ship went down earlier;
"In 2022, a ship carrying 4,000 luxury cars, including Porsches and Bentleys, sank off the Portuguese Azores archipelago nearly two weeks after it caught fire."

As the saying goes, it was in all the papers. Three years ago.

roadburner · June 5

I took the C43 in for its windshield replacement. The shop is really good- in and out in 90 minutes with all of the Distronic sensors calibrated. The owner has a collection of Lego cars, including the big F1 cars, a Ferrari and a Ford GT.

driver100 · June 5

ab348 said:

driver100 said:

I read that article and then I saw further down another ship went down earlier;
"In 2022, a ship carrying 4,000 luxury cars, including Porsches and Bentleys, sank off the Portuguese Azores archipelago nearly two weeks after it caught fire."
As the saying goes, it was in all the papers. Three years ago.

Those EVs are supposed to be saving the planet......they aren't doing much good sitting at the bottom of the ocean.

fintail · June 5

roadburner said:
I took the C43 in for its windshield replacement. The shop is really good- in and out in 90 minutes with all of the Distronic sensors calibrated. The owner has a collection of Lego cars, including the big F1 cars, a Ferrari and a Ford GT.

I've had to do two replacements on the wagon, both at Safelite, both no issues, everything calibrated fine.

First one they couldn't get an aftermarket unit, so I got an OEM. 3 years later that one was claimed by a rock, this time they only had aftermarket - I got the fancy model with acoustic glass, some kind of UV tint, and I can see where it is set up for head up display (which is rare on cars of my year). Quality seems fine, as windshield issues are common in my area, I am not spending extra on an OEM.

imidazol97 · June 6

Is the inner surface of the glass more reflective for the heads up version. My 03 lesabre had that. The better reflection meant the dashboard was reflected in the windshield. Sometimes annoyingly.

My Malibu also is reflective and the light biscuit color of part of dash reflects. Don't have headsup. But I do have the flashing crash impending alert, the red light in the windshield.

That dash reflection also is annoying. I never connected the inner reflectivity on Malibu with the heads up crash alert till now. Lol

fintail · June 6

imidazol97 said:
Is the inner surface of the glass more reflective for the heads up version. My 03 lesabre had that. The better reflection meant the dashboard was reflected in the windshield. Sometimes annoyingly.

My Malibu also is reflective and the light biscuit color of part of dash reflects. Don't have headsup. But I do have the flashing crash impending alert, the red light in the windshield.

That dash reflection also is annoying. I never connected the inner reflectivity on Malibu with the heads up crash alert till now. Lol

On my car there's a small section almost with like a pattern embedded in it that you can only see at certain angles. It's in the location where the HUD would display on the windshield.

My car has a brown dash pad, reflections aren't an issue - not sure if in a MB there's a reflectivity difference or if the systems are similar at all. MB got into the HUD game late than some others, hard to find a MB before the late 2010s with it.

imidazol97 · June 6

https://www.motor1.com/news/761717/2026-ram-1500-v8-hemi-returns/

oldfarmer50 · June 6

imidazol97 said:
Is the inner surface of the glass more reflective for the heads up version. My 03 lesabre had that. The better reflection meant the dashboard was reflected in the windshield. Sometimes annoyingly.

My Malibu also is reflective and the light biscuit color of part of dash reflects. Don't have headsup. But I do have the flashing crash impending alert, the red light in the windshield.

That dash reflection also is annoying. I never connected the inner reflectivity on Malibu with the heads up crash alert till now. Lol

I’ve been meaning to ask you, how has your experience with the Malibu been? Are there any weak spots that would give someone a problem? I’m looking at early 2020s models and wondering if they are as reliable as the previous generations. The ones I drive at work seem to hold up pretty well.

imidazol97 · June 6

The generation 9 Malibus are a different animal from the one I have and love. Mine has a nonturbo 2.5 l engine. Great. Smooth. I even liked the nonturbo so much I recommended son/DIL buy the Toyota Venza he still drives (she traded her Buick for a Mach E in red.

The seating is higher than the 9 generation.The Gen 9 felt like sitting in a Camaro or ATS Caddy, low and butt on the floor. I never drove a Gen 9. The turbo engine would kill it for me. I dislike the turbo in my Cruze, I think it's a 1.4L.

I recommend reading some of the threats on cruzetalk.com for the generation 9 Malibus to see persistent problems.

I'd buy another Gen 8 if available new or as a Florida car driven regularly but low mileage with good maintenance. I do not have any friends/acquaintance with Gen 9 to even ask their experience to help you.

My thought is the long buildout on the Gen 9 means they should have caught most weak areas--like the Buick leSabres for the last years had little things fixed that were in 2000 models...

venture · June 6

My insurance agent called today and said since the rates went up so much from last year on our cars, would I like them to find another company with more reasonable rates?

I asked what took them so long because I paid it a few days ago. The invoice I got in the mail was postmarked May 30th.

I'm probably going to look for another insurance agent.

corvette · June 6

@venture - you can still ask them to shop the rate around, and can probably cancel the policy you bought for a prorated refund. They will not proactively offer that as an option, since it's disfavored by the carriers they are appointed with to shop the policy at any time other than renewal, but if the customer requests it, that's usually a different story.

venture · June 6

corvette said:
@venture - you can still ask them to shop the rate around, and can probably cancel the policy you bought for a prorated refund. They will not proactively offer that as an option, since it's disfavored by the carriers they are appointed with to shop the policy at any time other than renewal, but if the customer requests it, that's usually a different story.

Maybe I'll do that. The company I have now has been really good with claims. It's going to have to be a substantial savings.

corvette · June 6

venture said:
The company I have now has been really good with claims.

That's excellent info to have. My neighbor, OTOH, bragged about switching homeowner carriers and gushed about how good the new carrier was, so I asked whether she'd had a claim. The answer was no. So, all we really know is that the new carrier is good at taking her money.

stickguy · June 6

my take is that after 40 years, the only thing an insurance company has ever done for me is take my money. So going with the one that takes the least seems like the smart way to go.

jmonroe1 · June 6

corvette said:

venture said:
The company I have now has been really good with claims.
That's excellent info to have. My neighbor, OTOH, bragged about switching homeowner carriers and gushed about how good the new carrier was, so I asked whether she'd had a claim. The answer was no. So, all we really know is that the new carrier is good at taking her money.

————————————————
You took the words right out of my mouth.

I’m supposed to be with a very good company (a largish regional company) and I’ve only heard good things about them from anyone I’ve talked to about how they handle claims. I’ve been with them for more than 30 years but I’ve never had any claims. If I ever get one I’ll find out how they treat me which is the only thing that matters as far as I’m concerned. But, so far they’ve never returned a payment so I know they’re excellent at that. Who knew?

jmonroe

mjfloyd1 · June 7

@qbrozen said:

@xwesx said:
@qbrozen They are all nice wheels - the first example definitely the snazziest, but I also do not think the current set detracts from the car in any way. I wouldn't trade them for the set below it, but perhaps the first or last option, for sure!

These are my current wheels. Not bad but kinda generic.

I’m a wheel whore but I suspect that changing wheels and tires will end up being a money losing proposition.

sb55 · June 8

mjfloyd1 said:

@qbrozen said:

@xwesx said:
@qbrozen They are all nice wheels - the first example definitely the snazziest, but I also do not think the current set detracts from the car in any way. I wouldn't trade them for the set below it, but perhaps the first or last option, for sure!

These are my current wheels. Not bad but kinda generic.

I’m a wheel whore but I suspect that changing wheels and tires will end up being a money losing proposition.

My 2007 Miata had 9 year old tires that had aged out. My OEM wheels started to peel and look bad. I looked into refinishing the wheels but that costs $150.00 each. And I'd need to jack up the car, remove wheels, go to tire store and dismount tires, send wheels out and wait. Then buy tires and remount. In the long run, it cost less and was way easier to buy new wheels with tires mounted from Tirerack. I like the new look and it took an hour rather than weeks.

mjfloyd1 · June 8

If there is something wrong with the wheels and the tires have dry rot, that makes sense. The wheels that @qbrozen is talking about do not appear to need refinished and I assume that the tires are ok and not dry rotted. I presumed that he was just going for a different look and that, in my experience has been a money losing proposition. I’d doubt that what you would recover in any increased price would equal what it cost to buy the new set - unless you find the one wheel whore looking for a 4 cylinder Alfa with just those wheels. 😵‍💫

jmonroe1 · June 8

sb55 said:

mjfloyd1 said:

@qbrozen said:

@xwesx said:
@qbrozen They are all nice wheels - the first example definitely the snazziest, but I also do not think the current set detracts from the car in any way. I wouldn't trade them for the set below it, but perhaps the first or last option, for sure!

These are my current wheels. Not bad but kinda generic.

I’m a wheel whore but I suspect that changing wheels and tires will end up being a money losing proposition.

My 2007 Miata had 9 year old tires that had aged out. My OEM wheels started to peel and look bad. I looked into refinishing the wheels but that costs $150.00 each. And I'd need to jack up the car, remove wheels, go to tire store and dismount tires, send wheels out and wait. Then buy tires and remount. In the long run, it cost less and was way easier to buy new wheels with tires mounted from Tirerack. I like the new look and it took an hour rather than weeks.
————————————————
And that probably included checking the torque on all 20 lug nuts.

jmonroe

jmonroe1 · June 8

mjfloyd1 said:
If there is something wrong with the wheels and the tires have dry rot, that makes sense. The wheels that @qbrozen is talking about do not appear to need refinished and I assume that the tires are ok and not dry rotted. I presumed that he was just going for a different look and that, in my experience has been a money losing proposition. I’d doubt that what you would recover in any increased price would equal what it cost to buy the new set - unless you find the one wheel whore looking for a 4 cylinder Alfa with just those wheels. 😵‍💫

————————————————
I agree but as long as you break even, if it makes the car more appealing and you get a quick sale because of it, that could make it worthwhile doing.

jmonroe

tjc78 · June 8

Almost a home repair gone wrong! One of our baths at the shore had an extremely slow drain. I had no snake or tools here … but I had a wire hanger. I knew it was a hair clog so usually a bent wire hanger will work.

So yesterday I went in and pulled out a pretty large wad of hair, but the drain was still slow. Well I couldn’t leave well enough alone and I took the overflow off and tried to go down through it. Bad move… all I did was push the clog through more and make it worse.

Off to Amazon I went.

Grabbed a six foot long one of these.

Went down through the overflow till I met some resistance and went back a bit then used the plunger to get the little claws to engage. Wow pulled out a ton more hair, twice.

Now it drains perfectly. I don’t think it ever drained that good since we moved in.

$14 vs $300 to call the man. I’ll take it.

jmonroe1 · June 8

tjc78 said:
Almost a home repair gone wrong! One of our baths at the shore had an extremely slow drain. I had no snake or tools here … but I had a wire hanger. I knew it was a hair clog so usually a bent wire hanger will work.

So yesterday I went in and pulled out a pretty large wad of hair, but the drain was still slow. Well I couldn’t leave well enough alone and I took the overflow off and tried to go down through it. Bad move… all I did was push the clog through more and make it worse.

Off to Amazon I went.

Grabbed a six foot long one of these.

Went down through the overflow till I met some resistance and went back a bit then used the plunger to get the little claws to engage. Wow pulled out a ton more hair, twice.

Now it drains perfectly. I don’t think it ever drained that good since we moved in.

$14 vs $300 to call the man. I’ll take it.

————————————————
I agree and so will I.

I found a hair gadget at one of the big box places that is plastic with grabers that look like saw teeth to grab the hair. About 30 inches long and very flexible. Works great and it costs less than what you got ripped off for.

jmonroe

imidazol97 · June 8

@jmonroe1 @jmonroe

Those barb edged things to do work. I have spares under my sink now.

stickguy · June 8

I have a few types of drain clearers. the saw tooth, and ones with a pill shaped end that is sort of like velcro. The biggest issues with the saw one was getting it through the grate (and getting the clog back out)

my wife should be bald by now given the amounts of hair I pull out. First time I did the new house shower (after about 6 months it was already running slow) I tried that and it was tedious. Finally occurred to me that the drain cover had screw heads. 2 Philips later, and that came right off, and pulled a hair clog the size of a chipmunk with it (hair entangled in it). After that, cleaning out the drain pipe to look like new was a dream!

ab348 · June 8

I’ve got a grabber thing about 30” long that looks just like that except for length. It has grabber fingers on the end that open up when you push the plunger and then close when you release it. It’s turned out to be surprisingly useful getting things out of otherwise inaccessible spaces.

tjc78 · June 8

@jmonroe1 said:
————————————————
I agree and so will I.

I found a hair gadget at one of the big box places that is plastic with grabers that look like saw teeth to grab the hair. About 30 inches long and very flexible. Works great and it costs less than what you got ripped off for.

jmonroe

I have those at home and was gonna buy them for here but I was afraid they weren’t long enough.

nyccarguy · June 8

@tjc78 - nice job with the unclog. I sell a product called Blue Monster Drain Banger. Run hot water. Pour it down the drain. Run hot water. It dissolves all the hair without the toxic smell.

Michaell · June 8

nyccarguy said:
@tjc78 - nice job with the unclog. I sell a product called Blue Monster Drain Banger. Run hot water. Pour it down the drain. Run hot water. It dissolves all the hair without the toxic smell.

We use a product called Thrift, which works the same way. Just took care of the shower drain the other day with it.

explorerx4 · June 8

I get a #3 haircut once a month. That cuts down on hair down the drain.

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