|
TKIY posted:- Any harm in rotating the tires each time I swap out winters/summers?
|
# ¿ Oct 5, 2016 19:08 |
|
|
# ¿ May 9, 2024 18:47 |
|
TKIY posted:It's actually AWD and I only put on maybe 15k km a year. Winters are directional though so I know I can only rotate them front to back. The benefit of rotating diagonally never was obvious to me, unless there's an alignment problem maybe? I've never changed tires on an AWD. My own cars have all been FWD. For comparison my former company car was RWD, had a powerful-ish engine and I drove it hard whenever conditions allowed. It wore about even. I'd hazard to guess that most AWD vehicles still wear faster in the front, but the only way to be sure is to measure. Vernier caliper depth probe if you wanna be fancy but a simple measuring stick will do too.
|
# ¿ Oct 5, 2016 20:06 |
|
Winter tires give you poor grip on hot pavement, and actually perform better at lower temps. Still, relatively poor grip (compared to what is possible with more optimized tires) in the hot and dry is still plenty of friction for safe transportation unless you drive like a maniac. The real issue imo is wear, which will be unnecessarily high if you roll on a much too soft compound. Bad economy but plenty safe I'd say.
|
# ¿ Oct 21, 2016 05:33 |
|
Rotten Cookies posted:Are Blizzaks an AI approved winter tire? "Winter tire" can mean different things in different places from what I understand. I am assuming that you are talking about tires specialized for grip on snow and ice? I dunno if there's an AI hivemind when it comes to winter tires. I've researched the Swedish market enough to make an informed purchase for this winter. FWIW, winter tires is Serious Business in these parts, subject of heated debates and strong opinions. Every year there's like three or four fairly extensive tire tests carried out by car magazines and the like. Among the studless tires I keep seeing top performance scores for Nokian Hakkapeliita R2, Pirelli Ice Zero FR, Michelin X-Ice X13 , Goodyear Ultra Grip Ice2 and Continental Conti Viking Contact 6, which leads me to believe that you won't go far wrong with any of those. I can find a description of a test from 2015 that featured bridgestone blizzak ws70 among the other usual suspects. Unfortunately the test results are behind a paywall, but if you wanna shell out 30 SEK (a bit over $3US) you could enlighten us all with what is says. I'd be glad to translate if google should prove unhelpful. Linky: http://www.vibilagare.se/test/dack/dacktest-2015-friktionsdack My guess is that bridgestone's winter tires are most likely fine, probably way better than your average all-seasons, but perhaps not the best money can buy on snow and ice.
|
# ¿ Nov 21, 2016 22:24 |
|
The Door Frame posted:I mean "cold, dry weather with little to moderate snow" for winter tires and "very cold weather, moderate to deep snow" for snow tires. It doesn't matter greatly if there's a lot of snow or a little, if there's just enough on the road to prevent your rubber from making good contact with the pavement, you're left with very little friction if your tires don't have the tread and rubber compound needed to grip the snow rather than the road surface. My opinion is that if you can reasonably expect to ever need to drive on any amount of snow or ice at any pace even beginning to approach the legal speed limit, you should probably have tires on that can handle those conditions well. And even if snow might be an obvious signal to slow way down, ice can take you by surprise. It also makes sense to me to use tires that will perform the best when conditions are the worst, even if you sacrifice grip when conditions are better - it will probably be enough anyways. Then again my opinion is probably formed by my driving style, paranoia for the safety of my family and by my environment. Most drivers in this world seem to make do just fine without ever changing between summer and winter sets after all. I just figure that if you're gonna go through the hassle of owning two sets of wheels and doing the bi-annual swap, why not go for summer tires that are optimized for warm, wet roads and a winter set that can handle snow well? It's not like a set of real snow tires are terrible on dry roads as long as the temperature is low enough. They're not all that expensive either.
|
# ¿ Nov 22, 2016 00:33 |
|
Olympic Mathlete posted:Why do diesels sound different to petrol engines?
|
# ¿ Nov 22, 2016 10:07 |
|
CornHolio posted:Would these wheels fit on my 1997 Volvo 850? Just make sure the tires are something you actually want on your car. The tread pattern looks a bit odd/archaic to me, make sure they're not chinesium. Also it's a good idea to check for the stamp indicating the time of manufacture. It's no good if they're twelve years old even if they were only "used three months last winter". If things are not quite to your liking it's at least grounds for informed haggling.
|
# ¿ Dec 13, 2016 06:20 |
|
Henrik Zetterberg posted:serpentine belt in our 06 Odyssey https://youtu.be/KoYMPoDb3qo (I'm sure there's a better video somewhere but this is the first one I saw and I'm phoneposting
|
# ¿ Dec 16, 2016 20:15 |
|
Henrik Zetterberg posted:Well, spent 6 hours trying to replace the belt today. There isn't nearly enough room to get a breaker bar in there and rotate it far enough to loosen the tensioner. I tried from the top and the bottom with no luck. Ended up breaking half the stupid plastic rivet things trying to remove the splash guard. Returned the belt and tool, bought more plastic rivet thingies, only to get home and find out they're too big. Goddammit. Well that sucks to hear, I feel complicit in suggesting it would be easy. I saw a video where the guy used a socket on a ratchet, with a cheater pipe for added leverage, it looked like the pipe was angled forward and up. He said something like "there's very little space you just have to be patient and finesse it".
|
# ¿ Dec 19, 2016 07:45 |
|
Surprise T Rex posted:I'm in the market for new tyres, mainly for city driving in a 1.2 Fiat Punto. I've been looking at shelling out for a full set of Michelin Energy Saver Plus, but I'm not sure if paying for premium brands is basically me throwing money away, or if they'll actually have any benefits beyond just buying some cheapo no-brand things. I know they claim better MPG and everlasting durability etc. but I never know whether that's all just ad-speak. Michelin makes tyres just like all the other manufacturers do, I very much doubt that they have some proprietary magic. If you want longer lasting/easier rolling tyres, you need a harder rubber compound, meaning you sacrifice grip. It's all compromises. Just watch out for the chinese ones, any known non-chinese brand will make good tyres according to whatever compromise that particular model demands. Whenever I shop for tyres I go with ze Germans, they are aways the cheapest with freight included: http://www.mytyres.co.uk/ . Things might be different where you live though of course. They also show ratings for grip in bad weather and rolling resistance as well as customer reviews, whatever those are worth. There are tests done by auto journalists that give indications of performance in real-life conditions if you want to be a more informed consumer. If I were to own just one set of tyres I'd make sure they were all-weather, but I don't live in the UK so what do I know? What kind of tyres do most people put on their cars where you live?
|
# ¿ Dec 29, 2016 16:53 |
|
Yu-Gi-Ho! posted:If you use the higher percentage alcohol, yes. The cheap poo poo (which is like 80/20 alcohol/water) will freeze easily. Get some 97%+ rubbing alcohol. Ethanol-based washer fluids are the most common where I live, though I believe isopropanol is also in use. Diluted down to 1/3 alcohol and 2/3 water they're good down to at least 0F or -18C. Also there's a bit of detergent added, some perfume, some dye and that's pretty much it.
|
# ¿ Jan 11, 2017 19:19 |
|
The Door Frame posted:How the hell do you get the awful smell of a mouse infestation out of a car? since I bought a twenty dollar chinese ozon generator it's the first thing I try with anything smelly I can't readily attack with soap and water. Sometimes it helps a lot, sometimes a little. Doesn't seem to hurt anything that I have noticed.
|
# ¿ Jan 23, 2017 20:18 |
|
Fwiw, my car gets driven only weekends when weather/road conditions/health permit me to bike to work, and it's not really driven every weekend either. The worst that's happened to it from disuse thus far is enough rust on the brake rotors that they squeal a bit for the first few decelerations.
|
# ¿ Feb 9, 2017 18:17 |
|
I'm planning a garage build. Breaking ground is at least a year off, so it's not a thread-worthy project yet. As it stands, there's zero chance of a building permit for anything bigger than a 25m2 footprint and a 4m total hight. It's gonna be wood framed, wood paneled with a concrete tiled gable roof in order to harmonize with the surroundings. The plan for workspace optimization is to extend the slab a bit outside the human-sized door, with some type of light roof construction over it and not have a threshold in that doorframe, so things on wheels can be rolled in and out as needed to make more room temporarily. My AI stupid question relates to the roof trusses: if they're gonna be wood, and up to code (snow load) they will probably look something like this drawing I made. It looks like I'll get a bit over 1,8 m between the bottom of a large-ish car and the floor - is this a useful maximum height to lift a car, or should I look into some other (I assume more complicated and expensive) roof ideas to get more vertical clearance? Any other suggestions or critique is welcome, obviously. It's a small garage or no garage at all, and I'd like it to be as useful/good as possible.
|
# ¿ Mar 3, 2017 16:40 |
|
MoonCricket posted:I've been working on a project 280z and I'm at the point where I need to teach myself how to weld. I have a lincoln weld pak 100 that I really dont know where I got it and have used it to successfully weld a few things in the past but they weren't pretty. What I know I am going to need weld is patching a lot of spot welds where I am replacing the spare tire well, a few spots in the floor pans, and I know I want to reinforce the chassis but I haven't got to that point yet. I have practiced on some sheet metal that came out of the spare tire well donor car and at a low setting I am either not making a successful weld or blowing through it. 100A is useful for thin sheet metal, though it's nice to be able to go higher for sure. I assume the "mig conversion" you mention is a shield gas add-on to a machine build for flux core only? If you end up buying a better welder you'd still have use for a gas bottle and regulator, some hose and at least some of the fittings such a conversion would include. The solenoid gas valve would be integrated in any serious MIG welder so that would be a bit of a waste in such a case.
|
# ¿ May 21, 2017 06:04 |
|
The Wonder Weapon posted:Alright, I got my car up on jacks and it seems stable enough so works for me. I've never wrenched on a Porsche but unless there's some German humor going on there, that center nut has nothing to do with removing the wheel. When a wheel doesn't come right off after removing the lugs (which is entirely normal), I usually just kick it with increasing force until it pops off. Once I had a really stuck wheel that wouldn't budge. I put the lugs back really loose (millimeter or more away from becoming tight at all) and went for a very slow and careful drive diagonally up a kerb, which made the wheel come off.
|
# ¿ Jun 10, 2017 19:38 |
|
About a year ago I had a puncture in a tire plugged (paid through the nose too, like 70% of the price of a new tire because it was kind of an emergency, thanks to the rubbish Volvo space saver spare wheel). The plug is now failing and I'm losing pressure. I want to have a go at fixing this myself this time. All I can find locally and fast enough is kits with the reamer, needle and plugs, as well as bike tire repair stuff. Looking at youtubes of tire patching from the inside, it seems like a large bike patch is the same thing as a car patch. Since I can't readily seem to get my hands on those mushroom plug/patches in a timely manner, my plan is: -mark the tire's position on the wheel so I hopefully won't need to re-balance -remove tire -drill out and replace the old plug -buff, clean and patch the inside using bike patch and vulcanizing solution -reassemble and drive happily for two more summers or however long this current set of tires lasts. Is this a dumb idea?
|
# ¿ Jun 26, 2017 06:55 |
|
rdb posted:As long as you have a surefire way to break and remove the bead, which to be honest, is the biggest pain in the rear end. I would rather pay walmart $17 or whatever they charge to remove it and patch from the inside. I'd rather do it myself than go to a mechanic who'll just half-rear end it again. The only dude I know who might do it for anything approaching $17 has his shop a ways away, and I want a patch behind the plug so this doesn't reoccur. I cobbled together a bead breaking tool a few years ago, so that's not a problem:
|
# ¿ Jun 26, 2017 12:59 |
|
Invalido posted:About a year ago I had a puncture in a tire plugged (paid through the nose too, like 70% of the price of a new tire because it was kind of an emergency, thanks to the rubbish Volvo space saver spare wheel). The plug is now failing and I'm losing pressure. I want to have a go at fixing this myself this time. All I can find locally and fast enough is kits with the reamer, needle and plugs, as well as bike tire repair stuff. Looking at youtubes of tire patching from the inside, it seems like a large bike patch is the same thing as a car patch. Since I can't readily seem to get my hands on those mushroom plug/patches in a timely manner, my plan is: So I dismounted, re-plugged, patched and re-mounted the tire and it holds air. Sadly I could see some damage to the side wall on the inside. The nylon cord was visible in several places, and an appropriate amount of rubber particles corresponding with the damage was in there too. My guess is that this damage happened when the screw that caused the puncture was still in the tire and it was driven at way too low pressure by an oblivious driver, probably me. There's no blistering of the sidewall on the outside as far as I can tell so that's good i guess. As I see it my alternatives are: -Drive it as is and pretend it's fine, keep an eye out for blisters. -Replace with one new tire of identical type, keep it in the back so I don't mess up the differential due to the uneven diameter on the same axle (car is FWD) -Replace two tires to have same wheel diameters on one axle. Probably put the new pair up front where they wear faster since the current tires have plenty of life in them before water planing should be an issue. -Replace all four because symmetry I hate making these types of decisions, but I'm leaning towards alternative one or three.
|
# ¿ Jul 2, 2017 13:54 |
|
0toShifty posted:The combo patch/plug is available at most car parts stores - but in the back at the commercial desk. The shops use rubber cement - but they buff the tire's internal surface so that the cement makes a seal. I can and will get identical tires to the current ones. If what you say is true I might just go for one, though it bothers my sense of symmetry. No shop will replace it/them I don't think. The last few times I've shifted my own rubber and brought the wheels dismounted to a guy I know to get them balanced, I'll probably do that. The sketchy tire is in the rear right now but I'll get this sorted ASAP. I agree that it makes plenty sense to not have crappy tires in the rear compared to the front. Thing is, these are the summer set, so better tread up front (assuming all tires are good) is probably less of an issue than a tire that will roll on snow/ice/slush. I have a different set for that.
|
# ¿ Jul 2, 2017 16:13 |
|
I find that removing the wheel and submerging it in water is effective, generally. A leak of that size would be a very small stream of bubbles, but might be visible. You'll need a way to weigh the wheel down. Last time I checked for a leak I just plopped the wheel in a lake and stood on top of it.
|
# ¿ Jul 5, 2017 17:47 |
|
Studs are a lot better in certain icy conditions - you're guaranteed to always have at least some grip on studs, which isn't always the case without them. On most frozen surfaces it's pretty much a wash compared to studless tires of comparable quality. They're worse that studless in every other conceivable way; road wear, noise, fuel efficiency, ride comfort, traction on dry road etc.
|
# ¿ Nov 24, 2017 19:23 |
|
Josh Lyman posted:Are there any issues with this plan other than the obvious joke of towing with a Prius?
|
# ¿ Mar 5, 2018 13:57 |
|
Breakfast Feud posted:I would be very careful mucking around with meters near the starter. The amperage present there is in DANGER levels, don't go poking around with a horror freight meter.
|
# ¿ Mar 11, 2018 16:39 |
|
slothrop posted:
My H7 lights are acceptable since I installed Philips X-tremeVision bulbs. They're not magic but quite a bit brighter than the bulbs they replaced at least. To me they're worth it, your mileage may vary.
|
# ¿ Jun 25, 2018 06:51 |
|
Macaroni Surprise posted:Thanks for the help. So if the engine is hot, running AC will make it worse? And running the heat would do nothing? Running the heat cools the engine down. The heater core is like a second radiator, and the airflow over it is provided by a different fan. Running cabin heat at full blast is a time tested (uncomfortable) way of preventing the engine from overheating.
|
# ¿ Jul 14, 2018 07:44 |
|
Dagen H posted:2002 Civic EX, D17A2, 4AT. It cold-starts/runs/drives fine, but if run up to temp then allowed to heat-soak for 5-15 minutes, it won't run under load. Any attempt to accelerate causes it to cough, sputter, and die. It sounds to me like fuel, but I just installed a new Delphi pump module this spring. I also don't get the heat-soak connection. Thoughts? According to what I've learned from Car Talk, you might have a bad ignition coil.
|
# ¿ Jul 31, 2018 17:10 |
|
Surprise Giraffe posted:I have to remove some tremedously rusted torx screws from inside the wheel arch of my Golf MK5 tdi so I can replace the rear bumper. Trying today I got a couple off but the others are so burred at this point no amount of wd40 or elbow grease will shift them it seems. I'm planning to go get a full set of Torx bits tomorrow plus maybe a few more alan keys and try the next size of torx up, then if that doesn't work presumably the shape should fit the right size of alan key as the teeth are almost gone. Am I going about this the right way? Someone mentioned cutting it off but I have no clue how to achieve that. seized and damaged fasteners is one of those things that we all have to deal with from time to time, and these problems can sometimes escalate to absurd levels of frustration and collateral damage. Depending on the screw/bolt/nut and its location, there are many methods you can try. A few that come to mind: -penetrating fluids. There's marginally better stuff than WD-40 out there, but none of them are magic. All evidence to the contrary is anecdotal. -hammering in an oversize bit. Torx bits can sometimes grip well enough even in totally round holes or damaged allen heads. -put a vise grip on it. -cut a slot in the thing with a small cutting disc (dremel or similar) for a flathead driver -impact driver (the manual ones you whack with a hammer are really cheap and sometimes do the job but usually only come with flathead and phillips bits in the kit) -heat. A propane torch or the like will soften the rust and make things move a bit through thermal expansion. Not great if plastic, rubber, paint or the like is nearby obviously. -hammer and chisel. A cold chisel applied tangentially on the edge of whatever is stuck can make it move. A sacrificial flathead screwdriver is not as good as a proper chisel but can be abused to perform the same task in a pinch. -welding a nut or something to whatever is stuck and apply torque to the nut. The heat from the welding usually also helps loosen things up. If you can't finesse the damned thing to move, you must destroy it. Cut or grind or chisel the head off, drill it out of its hole. Split a stuck nut. Drill a hole and insert a bolt extractor (good luck with that, they hardly ever work and usually make things worse when the hardened steel extractor breaks off inside the hole you drilled for it.)
|
# ¿ Aug 2, 2018 21:03 |
|
Surprise Giraffe posted:How unlikely am I to get through the bolt on my Golf's drop links with a dremel multitool cutter? It looks quite a bit thicker than the sort of thing you usually see those applied to. On the other hand it's a bit tight back there for an angle grinder. Not sure which to go for.. If you have a cutting disc just a tad more than twice the diameter of what you want to cut it's doable. When making deep cuts with a dremel you'll need a steady hand and keep things straight because the discs will bog down or shatter if you're getting bound up on the walls of the slot you just cut. If you're thinking about buying either of these tools the answer is to get both. A small rotary tool doesn't have to be labeled "dremel" to be useful either, though their name brand cutting discs with the flexible spindle are really good and resilient.
|
# ¿ Aug 15, 2018 21:17 |
|
Dr. Kyle Farnsworth posted:Is there a good beginner resource y’all can suggest? I don’t have the space or tools to do stuff like my own oil changes at the moment but I love reading threads in here. I know the very basics of how engines and systems work but there’s a vast gap between “I know mostly in theory how an internal combustion engine works” and “here’s me pulling out the old engine and replacing it by one from a different manufacturer” like some of you guys do. Youtube is an amazing resource. Most normal DIY jobs on most normal cars are covered in some detail, usually with really bad camera work by a heavily accented man with hairy arms. As for tools, a large-ish 1/2 or 3/8 drive socket set is the first thing to get IMO. After that, hydraulic floor jack and a pair of jack stands. With those things you can do a lot.
|
# ¿ Aug 17, 2018 10:04 |
|
Hed posted:2011 Ford Edge AWD. 108k miles on it. Your dust shield could be rubbing, that can make a racket.
|
# ¿ Aug 25, 2018 20:51 |
|
A new crush washer for the drain plug is really nice to have. I've never used a torque wrench for that job, but if you re-use the old washer you need to tighten the plug much harder for it not to leak, sometimes to the point of being scary. They're really cheap too, like a dollar or less.
|
# ¿ Sep 9, 2018 16:19 |
|
kid sinister posted:I hate this truck. 1997 Ford F250 HD. It had a 5th wheel tailgate once upon a time that was beat to hell, which also beat the hell out of my back bed corners. I'm trying to put a brand new regular tailgate on it. I used a ratchet strap to pull the bottoms back into shape, but now the top corners are too close! I'm trying to figure out how to move the top of the back right corner outward again. I tried to put a ratchet strap around a tree, but the truck's suspension took all of the strap tension instead of that corner. Any ideas? As previous poster stated, spread it with a jack. Probably doesn't need to be a powerful or big jack either (not all hydraulic jacks like to work when laying on their side). Use lumber to reach where you need to push, use flat things that won't break or deform too much to spread the load over a bigger area if the sheet metal is giving way in a manner you don't like. Or you could try parking between a pair of trees or similar anchor points and use two ratchet straps in opposite direction. Pull in a roughly horizontal direction and the truck's suspension should be out of the picture.
|
# ¿ Oct 3, 2018 06:18 |
|
Wowporn posted:I’m getting a new car tomorrow that has leather seats, the car’s 11 years old but it was kept in such good condition that the leather still smells like new gross leather, is there a good way to dissipate the leather smell without wrecking the seats? I’ve heard people describe ‘baking’ the car to get interior smell out but I dunno if that sounds like a smart idea If you can't learn to live with it like PP suggested, I guess you could try doing what I normally do with smelly cars: I bought a corona discharge ozone generator from aliexpress a few years back for like $20. It's worked very well on a handful of cars so far smelling of stale cigarette smoke, mold, nasty lingering air freshener and general funkyness. Maybe it would work on leather smell too. I've heard UV light generators are better, but they cost way more for the same 03 output. Perhaps they can be rented?
|
# ¿ Oct 8, 2018 12:38 |
|
Wowporn posted:I'll see if I stop noticing them after a while, but I know if I'm riding in the backseat of a car with leather seats I'm like 4x more likely to get queasy from the ride so I'm nervous about it. I've heard people recommend ozone, I've never even smelled ozone before though so well see if it's an improvement over the leather or not The ozone smell goes away before you go into the car is the general idea. It reacts not only with smelly things but also mucous membranes and lung tissue and the like. Just air it out and wait for a while and the car should hopefully smell like nothing at all, or at least a whole lot less than before the treatment.
|
# ¿ Oct 8, 2018 22:22 |
|
builds character posted:Does anyone have strong opinions on tire chains? I need to get some and wanted to check before buying the lovely cable versions for $40 Not a strong opinion, but it seems to me that if you need nice snow chains due to frequent use you should upgrade everything else first. I've had a lovely set in my spare wheel well for years but only ever used them once for testing. I can put them on with minimal cursing and they work. I have a fwd car with good snow tires. When it snows bad here my biggest problem is traffic (trucks and buses get stuck and cork up the roads), not lack of traction. If I needed snow chains on the regular I'd get a four wheel drive with more ground clearance and maybe studded snow tires before I went shopping for nice chains.
|
# ¿ Oct 17, 2018 06:21 |
|
Suicide Watch posted:So I spilled some water in my car and now it has a mildew scent. I'm thinking of using an ozone machine to clear out the scent–does anyone know if there are places that have these machines for rent? Home Depot/Lowes don't seem to offer them If you can't rent, can wait for shipping and don't mind the danger (use an extension cord or something to turn on and off, don't touch the exposed electrical connections when plugged in, don't breathe the ozone) you can get your very own "ceramic plate ozone generator" from aliexpress for like $20: It's a bit sketchy but it's cheap and it works great. I mounted mine in an open plastic box and I usually run a small fan in the car too in order to get better penetration I guess.
|
# ¿ Oct 18, 2018 20:16 |
|
wesleywillis posted:Took my summer tires off and need to get them replaced, also my rims refinished before the new tires.
|
# ¿ Oct 27, 2018 20:39 |
|
The Door Frame posted:Ok, for a cheap and semi-temporary valve cover patch, should I use an aluminum brazing rod or JB weld? Have you brazed aluminium before? I haven't (only copper and steel/stainless), but I assume heat control will be important if you choose to go that route, aluminium melts at only 660C which can't be very far from where the brazing rod melts. Also I think you won't get the awesome capillary wicking action in the holes or groove, which I assume means you will need to keep the temp lower to sort of smear the rod on rather than let it flow outright. If it was me and I couldn't tig weld it I'd go for the JB unless I could try on a test peice of the same material first.
|
# ¿ Nov 5, 2018 13:36 |
|
|
# ¿ May 9, 2024 18:47 |
|
Godholio posted:Try SAE sockets. This. I once rounded a non-metric oil plug badly. This was in my late teens before I had much in the way of tools or experience. I ended up using a pump in the dipstick tube for the following oil changes on that car before it was junked. Oh, a wire brush on the bolt head to get rid of the rust there at least is a good start for sure. Cold chisel and hammer can work sometimes should sockets and visegrips fail. At that point the plug will be so mangled there's nothing to lose by even more destruction.
|
# ¿ Dec 11, 2018 09:28 |