AI Stupid Question Thread - The automotive forum is calling about your car

The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > Automotive Insanity > AI Stupid Question Thread - The automotive forum is calling about your car

ilkhan: Oct 7, 2004; I LOVE Musk and his pro-first-amendment ways. X is the future.

Stupid question.
WTF is the difference between a hatchback focus and a c-max?

Or, given the c-max is hybrid/electric, whats the difference between a hybrid focus and a hybrid c-max and/or an electric focus and an electric c-max?

They seem to be pretty much the same damned thing to me.

# ¿ Feb 9, 2015 06:50

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# ¿ May 2, 2024 02:58

ilkhan: Oct 7, 2004; I LOVE Musk and his pro-first-amendment ways. X is the future.

2 stupid questions.

1: When people say $10k on the hood of every truck, do they mean invoice-$10k in incentives, or MSRP-$10k of incentives? Big difference.

2: Can somebody explain all the different headlight poo poo? Halogen vs projector vs HID vs LED vs whatever-the-gently caress.

# ¿ Mar 27, 2015 16:50

ilkhan: Oct 7, 2004; I LOVE Musk and his pro-first-amendment ways. X is the future.

IOwnCalculus posted:

1. Usually MRSP-$10k, since it lets them say a bigger number of discounts than Invoice-$x.

Headlights in a stupid-quick runthrough:

First, lens / reflector type is independent of bulb type. There are halogen projectors and HID projectors, and yes there are even (rare) HID reflectors.

The lens type does pretty much what it says on the name. Reflector-type bulbs use a shaped reflective surface to do much of the work to take the light from the bulb (which, in general, is leaving the bulb in all directions) to direct it forward in a pattern that's both more useful and meets local lighting regulations. The lens in front may also be shaped to help direct light where it needs to go, but in a lot of modern cars it's just there to be aerodynamic, clear, and protect the light. Relatively cheap to make, but larger and the cutoff at the top of the light pattern is usually not very sharp.

Projectors use a more accurately shaped glass lens to do this work. Properly designed, you can get full bulb brightness right up to a razor-sharp cutoff. They take up less surface area on the front of the car, but need more depth, and tend to be considerably more expensive.

Halogens are just high-powered incandescent bulbs. They still work by running electricity through a wire filament until it gets so hot that it glows. Simple, effective, and dirt cheap.

HIDs actually use an arc between two electrodes to produce their light. Because you can't do that on 12V, they also have a ballast setup that generates the voltage they need to operate.

Note that because the pattern of light emitted from the bulb varies based on the bulb type (HID vs Halogen), the bulb and housing need to be paired together. Installing HID bulbs into halogen projectors is just going to blind the gently caress out of oncoming traffic.

EightBit posted:

Halogen bulbs are the standard headlight bulb, cheap, but the light output tends to be a little low compared to HID or LED. HID bulbs are more like a fluorescent light compared to a halogen; they generate a much brighter point of light, but require carefully tuned optics to avoid blinding other drivers at night. LED bulbs are just LEDs, cranked up to provide light for your car; they consume less power and last longer, but are brand new and thus significantly more expensive. You can't just swap in HID or LED lighting without going through the trouble to change the reflector/projector setup in your fixtures, or you will cause vision problems for other people on the road and you will get less effective lighting. It's not legal to do so in many jurisdictions, anyway.

Perfect, thanks.

# ¿ Mar 27, 2015 17:22

ilkhan: Oct 7, 2004; I LOVE Musk and his pro-first-amendment ways. X is the future.

Speaking of brake fluid. I'm not going to run into issues with this stuff for fun driving street usage, am I?
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B003VXRPL0

# ¿ Apr 1, 2015 05:52

ilkhan: Oct 7, 2004; I LOVE Musk and his pro-first-amendment ways. X is the future.

Neptr posted:

Just bought this yesterday for my daily driver, to flush out the ATE fluid already in my lines. Hi-temp brake fluid is more hygroscopic than run-of-the-mill brake fluid, but that just means you need to change it more often if you truly get your fluid close to the boiling point. For street use, it works fine.

Good. Already ordered, so just making sure.

# ¿ Apr 1, 2015 14:16

ilkhan: Oct 7, 2004; I LOVE Musk and his pro-first-amendment ways. X is the future.

Filled with the car at an angle would be my guess. They filled it per instructions, except the flat and level ground part.
Or possible the posting the picture did that. One of them is dumb.

# ¿ Apr 18, 2015 06:53

ilkhan: Oct 7, 2004; I LOVE Musk and his pro-first-amendment ways. X is the future.

Waiting for avengers to start. No previews playing and its 80% full with 30 minutes to go.

edit: poo poo, posted this thinking I was in the monthly general chat thread.

It was loving awesome.

ilkhan fucked around with this message at 06:43 on May 1, 2015

# ¿ May 1, 2015 02:33

ilkhan: Oct 7, 2004; I LOVE Musk and his pro-first-amendment ways. X is the future.

Gnossiennes posted:

My husband and I are about to move to California (Santa Rosa) from Alabama in about three weeks.
...Any advice you guys could give?

Turn around at the border.

# ¿ May 3, 2015 17:14

ilkhan: Oct 7, 2004; I LOVE Musk and his pro-first-amendment ways. X is the future.

Gnossiennes posted:

I'm starting a job there in a few weeks, so unfortunately, turning around at the border ain't an option!

No fun guns.
No fun cars.
Basically no fun period.

And
Whatever you expect shouldn't have gov fees, it does.
Whatever you expect those gov fees to be, triple it.

# ¿ May 4, 2015 04:30

ilkhan: Oct 7, 2004; I LOVE Musk and his pro-first-amendment ways. X is the future.

Get a bigger discount and a few oil changes, then don't worry about it.

Buying off a lot you get however many miles on are on it at the time. If you want 0 miles, order from the factory and watch it roll off the truck. They always have a few miles on them from the factory, regardless.

# ¿ May 4, 2015 22:02

ilkhan: Oct 7, 2004; I LOVE Musk and his pro-first-amendment ways. X is the future.

Is there any downside/danger to starting a dyno pull at like 1500rpm, or do people not do it simply because the results suck?

# ¿ Sep 7, 2015 06:14

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# ¿ May 2, 2024 02:58

ilkhan: Oct 7, 2004; I LOVE Musk and his pro-first-amendment ways. X is the future.

My 4 day old car has a flat tire.
I don't see any nails in it, but it's hard to get a good view. It's not a slow leak, it was at 13 psi when I started it to go to work, I pumped it up to 32psi per the door sticker, and it was at 28 psi 4 miles later (others were at 42). It was at 20 when I got home.

What are the chances it's something covered by warranty?
Dealer is literally across the street from work, with an America's tire next door, so that's not an issue, just checking which to go to first.

# ¿ Sep 9, 2015 01:32

The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > Automotive Insanity > AI Stupid Question Thread - The automotive forum is calling about your car