finding the signal in an industry filled with noise
Over 3 years ago, I posted on the benefits of using your spare tire before it aged…
Recently ABC picked up on the same story, as you can see here.
Ordinarily I take pride in being ahead of the curve, but this time I’m just despondent at the number of people who not having read my blog have inadvertently put themselves at risk.
Tell a friend…
I’m referring of course to the Motor Trend long-term update that has a lot of people talking…
Now granted, automotive journalists are an agressive bunch, but I can’t see how a company known for products that don’t require much in the way of care and feeding can spec brakes and tires that wilt so easily… Not that soft tires and brakes are a bad thing – they usually bring with them better handling, stopping and feel from the driver’s seat. It’s just that in the LS’ case it has no excuse – no one’s every penned a flattering word on the car’s handling or braking; it’s not the car’s M.O…
For the past ten years I’ve been trying to convince people that all wheel drives cars and SUVs need winter tires more than two wheel cars (due to the added mass the tires need to bring to a stop, and in the case of SUVs inherently inferior braking and handling and tires with hard rubber designed to take the punishment of off roading).
if a picture is worth a thousand words this video from Automobile is worth many times that.
Sure it’s spring again, but now you’ll be safer come next year…
When your tires were new, they had 10 to 11/32 of an inch of rubber on them.
To pass state safety inspection you are required only to have 2/32s. That’s only 18-20% of what you started with.
Here’s the thing – testing shows that you’d have to have a deathwish to drive with less than 4/32” (just over a third of the original) in the rain or 6/32” (just over half original depth) in the snow.
Most mechanics still follow the state minimum but given that tires are typically cheaper than insurance deductibles as the wet and slippery weather approaches I hope you’ll consider replacing yours a bit too soon rather that a bit too late.
I went with a friend of mine to pick up his car after alignment the other day, and as I reviewed the alignment printout eyed the ‘thrust angle’ specification first – it was not at 0 or .01, not at .02. it read .03, far greater than I find acceptable for my own cars. (Thrust angle is the angle at which the car is going down the road – the greater the thrust angle the farther to one side the rear tires are in relation to the front).
So I looked at the rest of the specs – it was the toe at the rear that bothered me; there wasn’t symmetry – one rear wheel was toed in 50% more than the other.
We questioned the tech on why that wasn’t brought in closer and were told, “I hate to give you the Dobbs answer but it is within specification.”
That phrase is a red flag, Read the rest of this entry »
Anyone who knows me can tell you I’m addicted to my phone. Taking calls 24/7 or pictures of the one paragraph in your average car magazine worth reading, my phone gets more use than most. So when it failed last Friday I was understanding; we’d been through a lot and it had given me good service…
What I didn’t realize until I got an identical replacement phone was how badly I needed a new one. Apparently the speaker, the headset port and the battery were barely functioning but I’d accepted their performance as normal because the degredation happened over time.
And so it goes with tires, wiper blades, air filters and especially shock absorbers (the old bounce test or visual inspection doesn’t work anymore now that shocks are gas pressurized rather than simply hydraulic). If you have any doubt, replace ‘em with the same or higher quality and you’ll see what you’ve been missing. Come to think of it this applies to significant others too…
But I digress… If you’re considering a used car, factor in how much it would cost to replace these items or have the seller include them in the deal.
Mercedes is going back to fixed service intervals rather than ones based on how the car’s been used. Click here for more…