Normal load, not full load.
You ask the customer how they use the vehicle and adjust loading accordingly. Load will alter camber readings hence also toe. Set the vehicle up with the load the owner normally places in it and you wont go wrong.
-- Xeno
You haven't worked on earthmoving machinery, that much is clear.
-- Xeno
Getting rid of regular maintenance and tuneups seems to have done the trick.
-- Xeno
The fuel system *still exists*. It just no longer looks like a carburetor.
Technology, pure and simple. And competition from OS makes.
They were underrated for the task. It's something that immediately came to my notice the first time I did a timing chain change on one.
A decently rated timing chain should be good for 200k miles at the least. That would see most engines out.
I've had all sorts. I prefer FWD.
I consider my *time* as being valuable and I have many better things to do with it than work on servicing my own car.
-- Xeno
That was my experience. Coming from RWD experience I had to learn how to drive FWD. Traction control and stability control is raining on my parade though and I can't turn them off. Many RWD cars now have the same stuff and if you can't turn it off I doubt you can steer by throttle either. It's for the children...
If it was going to take me three weeks to do a wheel alignment on my own car, it would be taken to the professional wheel aligners and they would get the job.
It's not that they have to, it's that they *can do it in 1/2 hour*. In fact, with the right wheel aligner, I could do a full wheel alignment in significantly less time.
It'll be unheard of around here too.
Doesn't matter to me but I have better things to do with my time.
As a professional mechanic, I have all the professional tools at hand anyway.
Care more, maybe. Less experience tends to mean more mistakes are made. That has been my experience dealing with cars that home mechanics have worked on.
You don't pay the tradesman for what he does, you pay him for what he knows and his *experience*. These days that can also include access to TSBs and relevant factory data.
That also applies to mechanical work and, over a 50 year span in the trade, I have seen more than my fair share of examples that attest to it.
-- Xeno
Lots of traps for the unwary in that little task.
-- Xeno
I can't argue but my point is that I've heard everything. The problem is that the advice has to be both logical and actionable.
Saying "buy only Brembo or Meyle" is actionable, but not logical. Saying "don't buy Chinese crap" is logical but not actionable.
For advice to be useful, it has to be both actionable and logical. I've never heard that in rotors other than buy solid and don't buy drilled/slotted rotors.
Other than that, there's no way for a person to tell if one rotor is gonna be better than another.
Hence pragmatically ... a rotor is a rotor is a rotor is a rotor.
I'm never talking racing. They drive on bald tires for heaven's sake in racing! :)
I'm not gonna disagree that we all can see the mark of good quality on some things when we have two to compare in our hand, but it's too late if you order on the net.
Yup. I have nothing against good suppliers. I use Brembo and Meyle but if someone else gave me a rotor at a better price, I'd consider them too.
That's not the measure of warp. Warp is measured on a flat bench. Just like head warp is measured.
The only person who says their rotors warped that I will ever trust is one who measured the warp just like you'd measure head warp.
If they haven't measured it, it's not happening. And nobody measures it. So it didn't happen.
It "could" happen. But it doesn't (on street cars). The problem is the temperature never gets hot enough.
Now they can be "warped" from the factory; but that's different (and rare).
I think we're talking about two different kinds of disc brake systems. I had the Nissan 300Z which had the rear disc also as the rear parking brake, but my bimmer has the rear disc and a separate rear parking brake.
The piston arrangement is different as is the way to retract them.
You don't *twist* pistons in disc brakes that I own that don't have the parking brake as part of the disc brake itself.
At least I don't.
How?
Nope. How you gonna tell runut from warp with a dial gauge?
Now you're straining credularity.
How you gonna tell runut from warp with a dial gauge?
On the entire freaking Internet, find *one* picture (just one) of a technician actually properly measuring brake rotor *warp*.
Just find a *single* picture please. Just one. On the entire freakin' Internet.
Find one.
That's not warp. Nothing on this planet is going to fix warp. There's not enough metal to remove.
Which is why I wish I had done these half-dozen jobs:
I never once said "never" but "almost never" which is different, and we're only talking street, and I have references that back up everything I say whereas you provided zero references for what you said.
I'm not here to argue opinions. I only argue using logic.
Just read the references I provided and then provide some references that back up your point of view.
The "Warped" Brake Disc and Other Myths of the Braking System
The 'Warped Rotor' Myth
Warped Brake Rotors - Vibrating Reality or Internet Myth?
Stop the +IBg-Warped+IBk- Rotors Myth and Service Brakes the Right Way
Raybestos Brake Tech School, Part One: Rotors Don't Warp
I'm not gonna argue vehemently because, in practice, while I've seen those "wavy" rotors too, my rotors tend to be smooth so I don't deal with "scoring".
However, anyone who says "any scoring of rotors will fail it" has NOT looke up the manufacturer's spec for scoring tests.
I have. Long ago.
The result was shockingly huge.
I don't remember the actual number but I remember being shocked at how huge it is. Something like tens of thousanths of an inch in width huge.
We're talking Grand Canyon in rotors.
I may be wrong but if someone says "any" scoring, that's just preposterous. Let's see a manufacturer's spec for anyone who says that.
Sorry. It's just not logical that 'any' scoring fails a rotor.
I was joking, but I still don't get why I see people use them all the time when they slip too much because they fit so badly and only on a few edges and they are huge compared to the right-sized box wrench so they don't fit in a car.
I'm gonna start a "Save the bolts" non-profit political group to enact stringent adjustable-wrench control laws!
One rounded bolt head is too many. :)
Good point. But I would rather have paid $100 for the tool to measure to know that I twisted the bolt as far as it could go.
In the case of my rear camber, it was maxed out at 0 degrees, so, in hindsight, I guess I could have done it sans any measurement at all.
:)
For me, I get a new car when the old car has a repair that isn't worth paying. That's less likely nowadays as I'm retired on a low budget.
Thanks for summarizing the most important advantage. I've found that anyone who can't summarize the most important factor generally does not understand the issue.
So thank you for summarizing what is new information for me. Much appreciated!
Thanks. Makes sense. I love learning where the lesson makes sense.
I just mentioned that, but I didn't look for references. Do we all generally agree that the *spread* is what causes the coking?
0W30 has a spread of 30 5W30 has a spread of 25 10W40 has a spread of 30 30W40 has a spread of 10
I was watching a video by the MythBusters on how to get out of a car that is sinking in a pond (pool in their case) where someone mentions to roll down the windows ... heh heh ...
When's the last time you saw a roll-down window?
Egads. Here we don't go below 20F and where I lived back east for decades, we maybe got to 0F for a few days of the year.
The additives to create a wider spread though, I'm told, tends to carbonize in the engine, so, for example, I'm told, (we'd have to look this up),
I'm told, but I'd have to look up to confirm, that the wider the spread, the more the cabonization in the engine.
Is that true? I don't know.
But I don't think at the temperatures I start my vehicle in, that any viscosity range matters. At your starting temperatures, they do.
I don't think I've seen rust on my cars in decades, but when I lived back east with my Z cars, they rusted out like crazy.
So a lot of this stuff depends on the environment.
I haven't bought plugs in a while. I'm thinking half the price you're quoting. But it has been a while.
I stand edified that carbs to EFI is a *major* factor in improving engine life. Less liquid gas in the oil is a good thing for engine life.
Gearing matters.
I don't believe it.
A car engine is almost never run at full bore BHP. And gearing makes a huge difference anyway.
Sounds good that bigger engines last longer but I don't believe it. We'd need some facts.
Exactly my point.
Exactly my point.
Now if you use the truck at full bore BHP to pull an airplane to takeoff speeds on the airport runway, then the bigger engine should last longer. :)
I agree with you that we'd have to compare the life of a big engine veruss a small engine in a vehicle where they both do the same things which we can assume are normal things.
If you pull redwood trees uphill, then I can see bigger engines lasting longer.
But if you just tool around town, like I do, I can't imagine that a bigger engine has any longevity over a smaller engine all else being equal.
Gears make a bigger difference.
But have you needed to do any of these repairs?
To me, these half-dozen repairs almost nobody does at home, but I *wish* I had done at home when I had the chance.
My recommendation to a kid of 30 or 40 years old would be to *do* them when he has the chance, just as I'd tell him to climb that mountain he always wanted to climb.
When he gets older, he won't be able to do it anymore, and the economics of the benefits will be less as he ages.
This is true. I *love* my Fluke 75. But any $10 meter will work just fine. I agree with you.
I agree with you that, for the most part, there aren't a lot of special tools needed for new cars.
I just looked in my tuneup kit, and I saw some special distributor wrenches and a special flat file and the spark plug gappers, etc., so I think one thing that did not change over the years is the need for special tools.
In both yesteryear and today, there are 'some' but not many special tools needed - but for the most part - the tools needed are about the same.
I think the main difference is that a lot of us have battery-powered tools that we never had in days of yore. We also all have air tools now.
Did everyone at home have air tools in the olden days?
I agree on Midas Muffler because they do other stuff and there is no way they're staying in business on just mufflers nowadays.
I disagree on the dealer being required for anything.
To me, the dealer is whom you go to when you're under the original factory warranty and then that's the last time you ever go do the dealer.
I have nothing against the dealer except one thing, which is why they're called the 'stealer'. But that's a biggie.
The only other reason you go to the dealer is to buy parts that they might stock where you need them now (e.g., you broke a bolt or forget a gasket and you're in the middle of the job) but expect to pay more than double for those parts than anywhere else.
I go to an indy for alignment and clutch and tires, etc., where I couldn't imagine payking the price for the same job at the dealer.
Of course, I *wish* I could do these jobs myself at home!
But I think I lost my chance. If some 30-year-old kid asked me if they should do those jobs, I'd say "Hell yes", just as if they asked me should they hike down into the Grand Canyon or if they should hike across the Sahara Desert (with water).
If you don't do it when you can, you'll never do it ever. And you'll never learn anything if you never do it.
That would be my advice, anyway.
I took a quick peek at the Internet and it does seem that a summary is needed if we were to REPLACE our SS exhaust today....
"Stainless steel grades used in a car exhaust manifold"
Apparently a magnet should be helpful to determine if you have the better
400 or the less-better 300 series SS exhaust...."What grade of stainless steel does Bob's Muffler use in its exhaust systems, and why? "
There are two primary categories of stainless steel tubing used in automotive exhaust systems: 300 series and 400 series.
The issue of heat cycling is of great importance.
Not only is 300 series stainless a poorer choice for exhaust systems, it is also more expensive and would unnecessarily increase the price of an exhaust system.
400 series stainless is not as pretty as 300 series and will have a brownish hue to it, due to the fact that it has a higher carbon content than 300 series.This means the 300 series stainless will polish up better for appearance. The carbon content in 400 series also makes it magnetic, unlike 300 series which is a simple test to determine which series you+IBk-re dealing with.
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