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What's the best way to get paid (however little) to take a cross-country roadtrip? There seem to be a million of agencies for car moving but i'm wondering if there's one in particular I should be looking at or if anyone has tips. Basically I'd like to get paid to drive a cool car (or any car) to the other side of the country. Is that silly? People need their cars moved long distances, no?
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Sep 16, 2017 11:13
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Yu-Gi-Ho! posted:Check the air pressure, they may be massively overinflated. If they're not, get the shop that installed them to rebalance them. Thanks. I made an appointment to have the tire balance and alignment checked today. I'll ask them to check the pressure too.
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Sep 16, 2017 15:10
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Avian Pneumonia posted:What's the best way to get paid (however little) to take a cross-country roadtrip? When people pay to have a car shipped, it's on a truck.
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Sep 16, 2017 18:21
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Avian Pneumonia posted:What's the best way to get paid (however little) to take a cross-country roadtrip? Google "car driving service" and you'll find several.
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Sep 16, 2017 18:25
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My friend is a car broker and i do runs for him occasionally. I dont think you'll make much money but if you like road trips and arent picky about where you end up its great.
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Sep 16, 2017 19:03
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Two questions... What's a reasonable price to expect to pay for a decent detailing job? I just bought a used Mazda CX-5 and want to get it cleaned up thoroughly at least once. Does anybody have a trunk organizer they're happy to recommend? like one of those compartment bin things for throwing jumper cables etc in.
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Sep 16, 2017 19:19
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MMD3 posted:Two questions... There was a deal on at a local place a while back and I got mine done for about 100$ CDN. It didn't look superb when it was done, but it did look good. And it saved me from having to do it after the winter. For me it was worth it.
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Sep 16, 2017 21:41
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MMD3 posted:Two questions... What a "decent detailing job" is to you is the first question you need to ask yourself. The detailing scale goes all the way from the "hand wash down the street for $5 that will scratch your car, but you have no idea because you think it's good because it's hand washed" to the "99% correction that will make the car look better than when it left the factory, but also take 100+ hours and cost thousands".
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Sep 16, 2017 21:51
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Yeah, a serious detailing job that will probably be better than you could do yourself will run about $100. Improvements on that can cost some serious dollars. How far you want to go is up to you.
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Sep 16, 2017 21:56
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Deteriorata posted:Yeah, a serious detailing job that will probably be better than you could do yourself will run about $100. Improvements on that can cost some serious dollars. How far you want to go is up to you. Yeah, I'm mostly looking for a thorough deep clean interior and a wax job. $100 or therabouts is what I'm hoping to spend but ok sure there's a wide range of level of detail depending on who you get
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Sep 16, 2017 23:42
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MMD3 posted:Yeah, I'm mostly looking for a thorough deep clean interior and a wax job. $100 or therabouts is what I'm hoping to spend but ok sure there's a wide range of level of detail depending on who you get $100 is fairly reasonable for what you mentioned. In a big city that will run more than $100 on average. Depends on if the wax job includes power buffing panels and clay bar. Here's a gold standard in Chicago: http://www.simonsshineshop.com/services_exterior.html And more literally http://goldcoast-carwash.com/?page_id=58 what you mentioned would be $305 Can't beat free espressos and poo poo. I like that place a lot, if I had money to burn I'd be detailing often. Michael Scott fucked around with this message at 00:13 on Sep 17, 2017 |
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Sep 16, 2017 23:48
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Nuggan posted:Thanks. I made an appointment to have the tire balance and alignment checked today. I'll ask them to check the pressure too. All tires balanced and rotated and had the pressure adjusted, car runs smooth as heck now, thanks for the advice guys.
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Sep 17, 2017 00:41
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I am currently shopping for a car and will be looking at a used 2016 4Runner 4x2 this week. It has around 40,000 miles and was formerly a rental car. What specific things should I look for when I actually get to see the car? I know the general things to look at when buying a used car, I'm more curious about model-specific things.
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Sep 17, 2017 01:36
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The biggest red flag is that it was a rental, but you're not going to find a way to look for a transmission/transfer case failure at 80k miles because everyone wanted to do brake stands and see if they could spin the tires in 4wd.
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Sep 17, 2017 01:52
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Godholio posted:The biggest red flag is that it was a rental, but you're not going to find a way to look for a transmission/transfer case failure at 80k miles because everyone wanted to do brake stands and see if they could spin the tires in 4wd. Yep, I realize some people probably flogged it pretty hard. Luckily extended warranties are surprisingly cheap for these things in case anything major goes wrong. I'm definitely going to take some time to pick over the thing before deciding. Also, it's RWD. I guess that's one less major driveline part to worry about.
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Sep 17, 2017 02:08
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Godholio posted:The biggest red flag is that it was a rental, but you're not going to find a way to look for a transmission/transfer case failure at 80k miles because everyone wanted to do brake stands and see if they could spin the tires in 4wd. Issa 2x4 though...
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Sep 17, 2017 02:21
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Good point, I glossed over that. A RWD SUV is the second red flag.
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Sep 17, 2017 03:09
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Former rental AND buying a lovely extended warranty? Will wonders never cease
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Sep 17, 2017 04:00
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big crush on Chad OMG posted:Former rental AND buying a lovely extended warranty? Will wonders never cease Well, it is the stupid question thread. I figure I'll give the car a fair shake, if something looks off then I won't get it. I think I can haggle on the warranty, I've actually had good luck with them in the past.
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Sep 17, 2017 05:24
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Mom's car - 2003 Toyota Avalon, 160k. Drivers door window has been stuck closed for awhile. The motor is getting power, and the lights dim noticeably when you use the switch to try to get it to move (they dim the same amount if you try to close any other window while it's already closed, i.e. locked rotor current I guess). However, the window doesn't move, and hasn't for quite awhile. Every now and then it'll randomly work, but once rolled up, doesn't move again for months. I don't know much about cable-driven window regulators, but feeling inside the door tonight, one cable is tight, one was a bit loose. The window itself hasn't slipped out of its frame or anything like you get with a typical regulator failure, but again, I've never dealt with a cable driven regulator. Think this would be the regulator, the motor, or should I just shotgun both? How much of a PITA is it to do this job? It looked like everything was held in with standard bolts (no rivets thank gently caress), and there's a reasonable amount of access once the speaker is removed. I'm kinda tempted to just shotgun both the motor and regulator, if it seems like a job I could DIY with a basic socket set. DogonCrook posted:My friend is a car broker and i do runs for him occasionally. I dont think you'll make much money but if you like road trips and arent picky about where you end up its great. How do you get back home after that? I'd be up for something like that once or twice a year. MMD3 posted:Two questions... Depends on how far you're going with it. Are you just looking for a wash, hand dry, vacuum, blowing the dust out of crevices, and cleaning the glass? Probably $20-30 depending on your market. Want the upholstery cleaned? Throw in another $40-60. Leather conditioning I don't know, it's not something I've ever had done nor was I ever trained in (a loooooong time ago I was a professional carpet cleaner, and our business also did car upholstery cleaning, but 99% of the training of a carpet cleaner, besides sales, is just knowing what chemicals to use on different fabrics). If you're getting the headlights restored, you can probably throw in $30-50. Wax? Varies from $20-100 depending on the place and if they're going balls to the wall or just a quick buff n wax. My mother just dropped $70 on a wash, with headlight restoration and what I'd call a good interior cleaning, but no seating area leather conditioning (they did treat the leather on the doors; the seats are still in good shape, especially for an 03). They didn't wax it. If you want to get the upholstery cleaned (assuming cloth), you might consider renting a rug doctor with the upholstery attachment. It'll be a lot cheaper, but it takes a few hours if the car is really filthy. You might contact a local carpet cleaning company and see if they do car interiors too, they'll likely do a better job than a car wash. They generally have ozone machines too, if there's any foul odors in the car. If you're wanting to go crazy and get the car looking brand new, you're looking at possibly 4 figures. But it's a Mazda CX-5, I'm gonna guess you just want it to look like a clean family hauler. Leave the paint correction to the people with BMWs, Mercedes, etc - I have a friend with a (salvage title with panels that don't even line up right) M5 that spends thousands a year keeping his car looking pristine (aside from the rear quarters not lining up....). He spends more on detailing than he does on gas/maintenance, he only drives it a few thousand miles a year. No idea on the trunk organizer, I could use one myself. I keep a floor jack, 4 way wrench, basic tools (socket set), and nice beefy jumper cables with me. More than anything I'd like to keep the jack from rolling around the trunk. smax posted:I am currently shopping for a car and will be looking at a used 2016 4Runner 4x2 this week. It has around 40,000 miles and was formerly a rental car. What specific things should I look for when I actually get to see the car? I don't know 4Runners in particular, but that mileage makes me think it probably spent a lot of time on the highway going between cities. ... former rental stigma aside, highway miles are generally pretty easy on a vehicle. But rental fleets don't tend to see the best maintenance. Look closely at fluids (especially transmission fluid), ask about service history (they probably won't be able to tell you much, if anything). Unless you're getting one gently caress of a deal on it though, I'd run away just based on it being a rental. Fleet cars don't bother me, but rentals do (also if you're just basing rental on carfax or autocheck showing it as fleet... they used to lump them together). Still... I know how I treat rentals. I know how everyone I know treats rentals. Take a good close look at the transmission fluid, and give it a smell. It won't smell great, but it smells burnt, or isn't a light pink color, run the gently caress away. randomidiot fucked around with this message at 09:57 on Sep 17, 2017 |
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Sep 17, 2017 09:53
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Avian Pneumonia posted:Basically I'd like to get paid to drive a cool car (or any car) to the other side of the country. Yu-Gi-Ho! posted:How do you get back home after that? I'd be up for something like that once or twice a year.
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Sep 17, 2017 11:58
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InitialDave posted:Bet you can't get from Denver to San Francisco by 3pm tomorrow. Watch out for bulldozers. Yu-Gi-Ho! posted:Mom's car - 2003 Toyota Avalon, 160k. A motor/regulator combo shouldn't be too expensive on a car like that, and the labor is pretty much the same. Not a stupid question, but a stupid comment: holy gently caress is that garbage little 12V AGM battery in a Prius expensive.
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Sep 17, 2017 15:18
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I'm looking to figure out the smallest (in terms of dimensions) open differential I can find. It's for a weird motorsport application, and I'd pretty much only need the internals. Normally I'm pretty good at googling but this is proving to be a real pain in the rear end. I've been looking for a production Kart open diff but I don't think they make something like that. I'm thinking like Formula Ford and Formula 500 small. Designed for less than 100 HP. Edit: Hell even an ATV diff or something similar would work. Target Practice fucked around with this message at 19:37 on Sep 17, 2017 |
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Sep 17, 2017 19:11
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ATVs and golf carts are probably your best bet.
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Sep 17, 2017 19:46
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Yeah, an ATV is likely the best option. Centre diffs from 4x4 transfer cases are pretty small, and generally tough, but might be overkill.
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Sep 17, 2017 19:48
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On the courier thing car brokers cast a real wide net so they use them a lot. You basically tell a broker i want x and i only want to pay this much and the broker calls you when they find it. Like if its a new car he'll pinpoint the most hosed dealership in the state and bend them over some more because of their desperation. My aunt does a lot of those and she flies down and brings them in because instead of a couple days shipping its same day or next day. The flipside is sales and say if you take a wrx thats a good selling car anywhere but in texas its kinda meh. Take a pristine southern car north to co and it will reliably get 1 to 2k more. I do those and i fly home. If i took a bus i could probably make a little money but i always hang around too, and i try and get a day or two in of snowboarding if i go. On a pick up you dont have time to take a bus so im not sure you could make money but my aunt just loves driving and is retired so its great for her to travel and do what she loves. Ive never been asked to ship a ferrari or porsche and i kinda doubt itll ever happen so it wont ever be anything cool like that. If you want to do it call up some private brokers and network. You can always find them at auctions. Its a good number to have they dont charge to look for cars for you and most are like a 500$ flat fee for most cars when you buy but they will save you far more than that overall. Chat them up give them your number. If theres like a website coordinating this where you can find bids in every city is the only concievable way to make a living. I dont know if that exists though or if the work is steady enough. If you could go city to city getting jobs it might be viable. Texas probably has more of this going on than other states, but i imagine the north east coast would be the same.
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Sep 17, 2017 20:07
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A diff from a lawn mower might be even smaller. Probably won't handle a lot of power, though.
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Sep 17, 2017 20:09
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rear end posted:They finally decided to recall the V8 Chargers as well. It's literally the same alternator that keeps dying on the V6's. I can ask for reimbursement, but I think this alternator is on its way out too (when my first alternator died, battery saver mode message kept popping up more and more often until it finally kicked the bucket), so I can't ask for reimbursement. Yeah you can. Call Chrysler yourself (dealer will probably try to punt), open a case for reimbursement of the previous alternator(s). You will need the invoices. If you paid out of pocket for 17 alternators that failed per the recall symptoms, Chrysler will reimburse you for those 17 alternators. If your current alternator is not the revised recall part, Chrysler will replace it under the recall. The two are not mutually exclusive.
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Sep 18, 2017 07:15
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IOwnCalculus posted:A motor/regulator combo shouldn't be too expensive on a car like that, and the labor is pretty much the same. Problem is, I can't find the combo - aftermarket or OEM. Only separate. A motor on Rockauto is $112 (new, not on Amazon though) or $115 (reman, including $30 core - same one is $112 on Amazon), the regulator would be $80 if it was in stock (it's $122 on Amazon; a brand new OEM regulator is $110-120 online from various dealers, but the motor is $300-500 from the dealers). I think I'm gonna go ebay for a used one. Pick n Pull has a couple of 00 and 01s that finally started showing up (00-04 use the same part), but all of them except for one have been on the yard for more than a week - and the Pick n Pulls here want $33 + tax for a regulator w/motor. I've found an ebay storefront from a Toyota-only junkyard that has a used regulator with motor (OEM) for $50 + $10 shipping, they have plenty of them, and most importantly, they're tested and come with a 6 month warranty. The more I look at how the regulator works, the more I think the motor locked up, but it's drat difficult to unbolt the window from the regulator without the window halfway down. You can't pull the motor off the regulator without pulling the regulator. Most of the walk-thrus I found said to just cut the cable to let the window drop free (obviously with someone holding it so it doesn't break), and write off the regulator as a lost cause at that point. I'll see if I can finagle it out in one piece; if I can I'm pretty sure I can unjam the motor. The windings seem good in it (it's pulling power, not blowing fuses, dims the lights as much as the other windows do when they're all the way up), and up until it died, it moved smoothly, quietly, and quickly. So I might be able to figure out what's wrong and keep it as a spare. The walk thrus make it look dead simple once the window is halfway down - 4 10mm bolts on the regulator, 2 on the window, and a plug. It's just getting access to the bolts on the window that's a bitch when the window is stuck closed. Upside is a part that I thought was NLA for her car... I found a few NOS listings for it. Her center console cover broke, and before it broke, the leather was split and peeling off. I found a NOS one from a Toyota dealer on ebay for $104 shipped. Only real concern is it'll probably be a bit darker than the rest of the interior - I assume the leather has faded some from 14 years of sun (no tinting, and it's rarely seen the inside of a garage). But it's a two tone interior anyway (as Toyota loved to do in the 90s and 00s), so it may work out pretty well. DogonCrook posted:On the courier thing car brokers cast a real wide net so they use them a lot. You basically tell a broker i want x and i only want to pay this much and the broker calls you when they find it. Like if its a new car he'll pinpoint the most hosed dealership in the state and bend them over some more because of their desperation. My aunt does a lot of those and she flies down and brings them in because instead of a couple days shipping its same day or next day. Interesting. I wouldn't be in it for the money, just for the basically free road trips. I have a coworker who has his dealer license and goes to auctions, I may ask if I can tag along sometime just to see what it's like. randomidiot fucked around with this message at 07:31 on Sep 18, 2017 |
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Sep 18, 2017 07:25
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Is tire rack the goon approved site for tires? Looking for some winter tires for an 04 accord
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Sep 19, 2017 02:43
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Tire rack is fine. I've purchased about 6 sets of tires from them over the years.
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Sep 19, 2017 02:45
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I've bought from both Tire Rack and Discount Tire Direct, I've had good experiences from both.
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Sep 19, 2017 02:58
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I used to go with Tire Rack a lot but if you can wait for Discount Tire Direct to do a holiday rebate sale, they're really hard to beat on price.
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Sep 19, 2017 05:07
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IOwnCalculus posted:I used to go with Tire Rack a lot but if you can wait for Discount Tire Direct to do a holiday rebate sale, they're really hard to beat on price. bruh you're av is terrifying
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Sep 19, 2017 12:40
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Everyone loves tire rack but I love the free shipping at discount tire direct, I've never had a cheaper price shipped from tire rack.
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Sep 19, 2017 13:55
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violentlycitrus posted:bruh you're av is terrifying And to think, that was broadcast on daytime over the air TV!
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Sep 19, 2017 15:24
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If you're willing to do a little more work, I usually buy my tires from Amazon (with prime shipping), and either bring the vehicle in to discount tire and have them swap the tires out, or pull all 4 wheels and being that whole mess to them. Depending on tire size it can be a -lot- cheaper to go through Amazon. I've bought at least 10 sets this way.
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Sep 19, 2017 17:21
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IOwnCalculus posted:And to think, that was broadcast on daytime over the air TV! I hope whoever was responsible faced harsh sanctions for broadcasting those filthy words
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Sep 19, 2017 23:09
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Can any Ford guys lend me your knowledge? I have a super lovely Mercury Sable (4th gen, I THINK a 2003) that I got as a "company car" in that it's owned/maintained/insured by the small business I work for, but not exactly what one would picture as a company car. It is better than equally rusty Villager it replaced that had a staved in side, however. I only got the Sable because my boss was stuck with the van for a week after I took his actually reliable car on an 800 mile work trip and he couldn't take driving it. We do a lot of business with the local Ford dealership so he just took the Sable as an in-kind trade and there I was with a "new" car. Anyway, I was driving to a meeting 20 miles or so away yesterday a blinking encircled exclamation point was flashing at me. As I was closer to my meeting than home, I just kept on trucking. There was no shuddering, misfiring, power loss, etc. to show anything was amiss. I was driving on two-lane blacktop in dry conditions in around 70 degree weather and didn't hit anything in the road or anything. Just started blinking angrily. When I got to the meeting, I saw it was a transmission fault/error code. When I left said meeting, the code either resolved itself or the bulb burned out and there were no issues. Don't look a gift horse in the mouth, and I don't have to pay for any of the parts/labor etc, but it's got 178k on the clock and if it's going to need major work, it'll just get scrapped and I'll get a newer beater. Is this car dying? Please tell me this car is dying. Please. Thank you.
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Sep 20, 2017 00:09
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This image calls it a "Check transmission" light. Could be that something was overheating that cooled down while you were in a meeting. It will probably be back, soon, and strand you somewhere, probably somewhere really loving inconvenient. It sounds like it might be new beater time; if this was me I would definitely take it as a sign to "upgrade" to a shiny "new" 2008 car.
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Sep 20, 2017 00:16
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