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One of the craziest customers I had to deal with was a guy who had to be at least 85 years old complaining about how his R8 rolls back on hills. The manual R8 does have hill hold but it only stays on for about 2 seconds after you release the brake. If you take longer than that to go from braking to releasing the clutch it releases the brakes and you'll roll backward. I test drove the car three times and couldn't find any issue with it so I told him to come in and we'd go for a ride together. It was then I found out that he took a good 5-8 seconds to gather himself up enough to get going on a hill. I switched with him and showed him how if you did it (relatively) quickly the car wouldn't roll back. He said he'd practice later. He also liked to leave the car in first or second gear and drive around at 6k+ rpm while trying to carry on a conversation about beer. It was a frightening (and noisy) test drive. I also got a brand new A4 that came in because it smelled like gas in the car. Brought the car in sure enough it really smelled like gas. I lifted it up to see if any of the vent lines were loose and found the the floor pan on the passengers side was caved in and gouged from the front all the way to the trunk. I lowered it and removed the back seat and found that the fuel pump was broken off of it's threaded ring and only held in the tank by the back seat. The seat pan was filled with fuel. We contacted the customer and she told us that her boyfriend had taken it off road because it was a Quattro but got it stuck on a rock and someone with a pickup dragged them out. Apparently the rock pushed up on the plastic fuel tank hard enough to smash the pump from it's mooring. Shouldn't that be covered under warranty?!? Uh, no. Think it came to somewhere around 15k to repair. EDIT: We also had an R8 customer who brought his car in several times for wheel repair because he kept gouging them on curbs when he tried to park. The next time it came in it had curb feelers. Bugdrvr fucked around with this message at 21:03 on Sep 6, 2013 |
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Sep 6, 2013 20:59
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Falken posted:Petrol into a TDI. We had three TDI A3s when I started at Audi and every single one of them came in on the hook multiple times after the customers filled them with gas. That was the last time they had diesel anything for a loaner. Those stickers and warnings do nothing. Audi ended up issuing an update that includes installing a filler neck insert that only opens with the bigger diesel nozzle. I'm not sure that they will do a whole lot of anything though. I can imagine people will keep shoving the unleaded nozzle in there until the insert breaks and falls down the filler neck.
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Sep 10, 2013 05:47
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I always do the wiggle when I'm coming up on someone turning or pulling out and try to do it when lane splitting as well. I'm not sure if it helps gauge speed or just having something moving strangely catches the eye. I've also noticed that since I put an 80's French spec selective yellow bulb in lots more people move out of my way when lane splitting. So I guess weird colored headlights work to a degree.
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Sep 23, 2013 20:48
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As a motorcyclist who dislikes inattentive drivers as much as anybody (and who deals with MANY, MANY of them during my daily 60 mile commute), my opinion is SUV guy did nothing wrong. Even if the SUV almost creamed you because he's a lovely SUV driving douchebag, you catch your breath and focus more on not getting into the crap situation that caused you to almost get creamed. You don't assault someone. You surely don't break out their windows and stab them. If that went a little further he could have been murdered. If that were me and I had my wife and kid in the car I'd be playing loving motorcycle pinball until the cops got there.
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Oct 1, 2013 04:21
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This thread has finally convinced me that it's time to buy a dash cam. I'm going to see if I can bodge it onto my motorcycle since that's what I use for most of my commuting. I'm thinking I may be able to mount it in a stick on go pro mount or something. After a week or two I'll easily have enough footage for a 20 minute collage of people crossing the double yellows to swerve in and out of the the HOV lanes at whatever speed they feel like.
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Oct 23, 2013 20:30
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No, bro trucks going way over the limit is endemic to all of SoCal. Same thing with pickups full of poo poo barely hanging on at freeway speeds. Amazingly enough, I've seen three such junk wagons pulled over in the past week. Maybe the CHP is starting to get annoyed with the mattresses and rolls of carpet in the middle of the freeway.
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Nov 11, 2013 21:17
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Cakefool posted:Coming into work this morning at about half six, fairly empty a-road, I'm doing 65 for economy. I see a Mini tailgating a wagon up ahead, maybe a little over a metre between them at 58mph in the slow lane. Other than us the road is empty, so imagine my surprise when the Mini pulls out in front of me just before I pull level with him. I brake like crazy and probably came within a couple of inches of hitting him then drop back, fuming and making sure the dash cam was on, yup it was. Was this one of the cheap 32GB Class 10 cards from Amazon? I bought two of those for I think $12 each and they corrupt the data from both my GoPro and my Chinadashcam. I substituted a 16GB SanDisk and both cameras work perfectly. Stupid lovely cards. They seem to work ok for music and still pictures but I don't think they are able to write nearly as fast as they claim. Glad I didn't get into a wreck or miss out on filming a huge propane explosion.
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Nov 28, 2013 18:27
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IOwnCalculus posted:The problem is all of the above is effectively impossible when you're doing 60 in the HOV lane and the non-HOV lanes are crawling, and inevitably some jackass in the non-HOV decides to dive left without loving looking. I do this at least twice a week on a bike and have maintained relative safety. Slow down, move left, keep an eye on the idiots stopped in the fast lane, keep every last inch of roadway in your escape plan. I've never had anyone really gently caress with me while on my bike. I might be lucky or just good at being into and out of the ranges of idiot drivers as quickly as possible. Also, loving with bikers would raise the ire of the squadrons of CHP motor cops all up and down my commute.
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Dec 3, 2013 21:29
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superdylan posted:Say I'm on an empty 3-lane highway doing a brisk 63 in a 60, in the right lane. Coming up is a car in the middle lane going 58. Do I have to switch 2 lanes to go around, and 2 more to get back to the right lane, or do I stay in full-on keep right except to pass mode? This is in WA Not sure how it is in WA but in CA passing is fine in any lane. Most of the time if there is traffic the cruising lane is the leftmost while the rightmost is the one that you can use to actually pass people. In my short time living in WA I don't think I ever saw anyone doing more than 60mph so passing wasn't anything I thought residents of that state were even capable of. I did consider jumping off of a bridge while stuck in traffic on the 5 in Seattle at 11am on a Sunday afternoon. Being on a bike in the rain, in traffic that has no business being there along with being unable to lane split is pretty loving terrible.
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Jan 13, 2014 05:03
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Today on my way home a Harley passes me and I notice his tail light/s is/are out. I sped up so I could get next to him and, I don't know, point at the back of his bike or something but when he saw me pulling up he gunned it up to what I assume was his top speed (around 90mph is my guess) after which he slowed back down when he came up on a car. Just to see what would happen I pulled closer to him again and he again gunned it, this time going around the car in the same lane and then slowing back down. No guy I'm not trying to race you. You don't need to defend your bikes' honor by 'beating' my lovely Jap bike. I'm just trying to tell you that you've got no lights in the back of your bike AT ALL and you're probably going to catch an SUV up the rear end because of it. Oh well, guess he'll find out the hard way.
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Jan 21, 2014 05:30
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The CHP bike guys all seem to be pretty good riders from what I've observed. I guess all of the bad ones aren't going to around for long though.
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Jan 30, 2014 06:42
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If my car had a gigantic snow hat I would cruise around surface streets or parking lots for as long as it stayed up there. I would want to share the masterpiece with as many people I could before it disappeared forever.
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Feb 9, 2014 18:24
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Viper915 posted:The theory I developed while I was living in San Diego was that unlike back here in New England where people are at least marginally aware of the tread on their tire due to seeing it once a year or so while putting snow tires on our just getting stuck in the snow, southern Californians just drive on their tires until they pop. Never had I seen so many tires so completely bald, which of course means the second there's a mild rain shower everyone slides off of the road like it's coated with Crisco. Don't forget the 10 year old wiper blades that have wiping part attached by a thread. Don't forget it because I did (my truck sits unused almost all the time until it rains. I then re-remember I have wasted wiper blades and bald tires. Once it dries out I park it and continue my blissful ignorance). I was pretty amazed that I haven't seen any accidents due to the rain. I commute 60 miles a day so I was expecting to be stuck in traffic for days and have cars all over in ditches and what not. I did see a few motorcyclists lane splitting way, way too fast in the wet yesterday but they didn't crash either so I guess there's some kind of weirdness going on here.
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Mar 1, 2014 18:41
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I get the dash cam power from the key on power for the head unit. I'm sure there are other wires that have it as well but they would require effort to find and stuff. I wired that into a cig lighter socket and ziptied it to a support under the dash. The provided wire is pretty much the perfect length to hide from behind my mirror, down the A pillar and around to the center of my dash where the socket is mounted. Just don't get scared and think something is on fire the first time you drive at night. The red LED on the adapter is bright and will shine red from wherever you have it stashed.
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Mar 2, 2014 09:29
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CharlesM posted:That was BMW's answer when people complained about the iDrive. The slow as poo poo and depends on you having the right accent voice recognition. Newer models got redundant radio controls put back in. I don't think I have much of an accent (I grew up in PA not far from the Jersey border) but I haven't been able to get voice recognition to work in ANY car I've ever tried. I think that the cars just hate me though. One of my former co-workers is Vietnamese with a heavy accent and he has no trouble at all going through voice menus.
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Mar 8, 2014 07:39
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nsaP posted:Could just repost that Louis CK favorite thing clip on every page of this thread. I wouldn't even consider that bad riding. If you want to pass and there is an open lane and the others are being parked in, screw it. I almost, sorta feel bad when I come upon a 4 or 5 lane rolling roadblock and lane split between them. I'm sure splitting by at 70 wakes them up from their stupor for a few seconds, and I'm very sorry for it obviously, but goddamn move the gently caress over. If you ever used your rear view for more than checking your makeup you might notice there is about a half mile of cars stuck behind you while there is a quarter mile of no one in front. I am the people you share the road with.
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Mar 10, 2014 04:00
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Maybe get some double sided tape and stick it on to show you fixed it for the ticket and then yank it again. Hopefully you'll get lucky and not have to worry about it ever again.
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Apr 8, 2014 20:26
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At my dealer I see maybe 5% of the cars with a front plate. It's the law but they look lovely and you have to put holes in your bumper. The rule in SoCal seems to be, if you don't drive a tooner car or look poor the cops will never bother you AKA there's no real reason for them to think up a reason to pull you over and give you poo poo (I've pretty much confirmed this theory by going on a few ride alongs).
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Apr 10, 2014 04:33
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Crotch Fruit posted:Jesus now that sounds loving stupid. I own earbuds, and I love my earbuds for the simple fact that when there is music playing I cant hear a drat thing in the world around me, it's kinda nice when I can be staring straight at my wife and watching her jaw move but hear nothing but the sweet music. You can hear plenty with headphones in on a motorcycle. I usually have earplugs in but if I want to listen to music I have a set of Etymotics (Ety kids to be precise) that I like. You can easily hear cars and sirens and random parts falling off of my bike while wearing either. The Ety kids are especially nice as they block a ton of outside noise and they are limited to a safe db so I can just turn my iphone all the way up and have my music/podcast/navigation at a nice safe volume. Either way, unless you want to be deaf after a few years you're wearing some sort of sound blocking device while riding. Crotch Fruit posted:My most hated vehicles on the road are pickups, anything Dodge, and anything BMW. Years ago I remember a pickup owner telling me that muscle cars suck, pickups are the new muscle cars, his half ton pickup was faster than a Corvette. . . As for Dodge, I believe their entire marketing is designed to attract the worst low life scum of the roads. The vehicles are dirt cheap ( I agree 100% on the Dodge drivers. You forgot that to complete the look you need to install a set of Chinas best 20+inch chrome and black wheels. I'll add that ever since Kias/Hyundai successfully aped design details from enough cars to look expensive they seem to be the new BMW. I guess since the economy is poo poo the pissed off middle manager types can't afford a lease on a 3 series or a used 5 anymore so they get a shiny Korean Mercalike and proceed to floor it everywhere, cut everyone off and change lanes at least 5 times/mile during rush hour. Bugdrvr fucked around with this message at 19:32 on May 25, 2014 |
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May 25, 2014 19:26
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quality), they slap the "HEMI" badge on everything to try to convince you it's a race car, and every Dodge vehicle has an aggressive front end to ensure that they will only attract the real rear end in a top hat drivers. BMW is self explanatory.
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Uthor posted:If I see I'm pulling up to a stop at the same time as someone else, I tend to slow down and creep up to the line so I get there after they've already come to a complete stop. That seems to flip the "I was here first" switch and they just instinctively go first. I do the same thing. It just makes things so much easier than trying to deal with the "wave, creep, stop, wave frantically, go halfway through and then stop and wave some more" that you're going to get if you meet them on their own terms.
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Jul 12, 2014 04:29
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AncientTV posted:Got cut off today by some smug idiot. She was at the red X when I was at the green dot, and she shot out in front of me. I slammed on my brakes and laid on my horn, and all she did was smile and wave This happens to me a lot in my neighborhood. We have a big mix of 4 way and 2 way stops that are pretty randomly placed. Seems like if someone unfamiliar with the area is driving around looking for a parking spot they will assume that everyone has a 4 way because the last however many intersections had them and do a standard California stop when they see you coming.
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Nov 11, 2014 06:26
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Everyday Lurker posted:
You see lots of trucks like that here in San Diego. You also see chairs, sofas, beds and all sorts of other poo poo all over the shoulders of the freeway with the frequency increasing the further south you go. I'm not sure CHP gives a poo poo since I've never seen a trash truck pulled over.
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Nov 13, 2014 06:02
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InitialDave posted:It's ok as long as it's a safety inspection. If it gets to "oh no, that's not a factory-spec or otherwise approved air intake, even though your emissions themselves are in spec, so gently caress you", then it becomes something else. It's even better when the only thing that they care about is emissions while not giving one poo poo about safety. In CA you can have bald tires, torn wipers and one half working headlamp on your tweaked frame beater but it's good to go as long as it's passed the smog check. Put an aftermarket air intake with no CARB sticker on your perfectly maintained car? No registration renewal for you.
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Nov 23, 2014 06:02
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Those crappy digital 'slime' branded gauges that you get at Walmart are pretty accurate. I tested them a few of them against two digital air chucks at work and they are all within a pound. I keep one in each of my vehicles and one in the tool box at home. Much better than trusting a gas station air chuck that has been beaten and run over by hundreds of people.
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Nov 27, 2014 22:47
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It's funny that a lot of people don't even think about their coverage and have only state minimum. If you rear end someone in an S8 and send two of the passengers to the hospital with whiplash your 15k state minimum liability is going to do exactly jack poo poo. Upping your liability coverage is cheap and is a really, really good idea if you've got assets and would like to keep them/are planning on acquiring any in the near (or far) future.
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Dec 11, 2014 05:25
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Whatever the tires were, it's stupid that you'd need to drive your Corvette in a motorcade to get where you're going. I've driven many GT3s and a few GT2s with Pilot Sport Cup tires in the cold and wet and while they aren't sticky but you're not going to careen off into the center divide if you're just cruising home.
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Dec 20, 2014 07:45
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They have a movable barrier on the I-15 HOV lanes from San Diego to Escondido. Every time I went to work that way I was hoping that the doriftu truck would be moving them around because it's trippy to watch. Unfortunately the commuter lanes seem to have an average density of 3 cars a mile from what I saw so there wasn't really any need most days. Everyone seemed much happier stuck in bumper to bumper traffic than to have to ride share like poor people. I now commute up and down the 5 and it's the same thing (without the protection of a barrier). The 4-9 regular lanes will be solid brake lights and the HOV lane will be empty aside from one or two random cars or bikes. I usually squeeze far left and slow down to about 45 so I don't get taken out by someone jumping into my lane.
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Dec 21, 2014 21:25
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CHP will slowly lane split and look into peoples windows to give tickets. It doesn't help much seeing as how it looks like every other car has the inside glowing from a cell screen when I commute home at night.
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Dec 28, 2014 04:32
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I decided to repack and adjust the front wheel bearings on the Ranger because they haven't been done in a while. When I got the wheels off I noticed both front brake lines are cracked with the fuzzy strings poking out of the damaged rubber. I tow a decent amount and haul motorcycles around even more. A frequently loaded up truck with ready to pop brake lines. I'm the guy you share the road with. I had two tires installed just a month ago and they didn't say anything about death awaiting me and those unlucky enough to be in front of me so that kinda sucks too. Oh well. Rock Auto to the rescue. $26 shipped for new lines and an hour to install today.
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Jan 2, 2015 06:23
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kastein posted:Other drivers in parking lots make me so glad I mostly have 500 dollar beater offroad trucks with 1/4 inch thick steel bumpers I once came out of a store to my Ranger being a bit further forward than I parked it and the back bumper bent a little more than it used to be. There was also chunks of white bumper plastic and a puddle of orange (GM or VAG I'm guessing) antifreeze trailing away from whoever did the bumping. No note of course but yeah, I still feel like I won.
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Jan 12, 2015 06:22
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In CA the left lane is the cruise lane so there really is no undertaking. If there are more than five cars on the road they will stack up in the left lane with the other 3,4,5 or 6 lanes having fewer cars in them the more right you go. I like it especially when I don't want to speed on my bike during the busy times. I get on the freeway and into the left lane with everyone else and road train my way to wherever I'm going with only one side to worry about getting hit on. When I want to go fast I just stay in the right lane and pass everyone. The trick is to not get pissed when you're barreling down the right lane at 95 and come upon someone going the speed limit. Tailgating them and fuming about the one person per two mile stretch following the law makes you an even bigger dipshit than the rest of us hogging the left lane.
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Jan 17, 2015 21:46
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