Quote from: Eye of the Tiger on September 28, 2014, 11:26:55 AM
The cost of mounting and balancing wheels, which is mostly labor, has nearly doubled in the past ten years. Yet, tire changers still only make minimum wage.

Thanks Obama!

Quote from: Soup DeVille on September 28, 2014, 11:28:19 AM
Thanks Obama!

I will not comply. Tire mounting and balancing is one of the few services I will pay for, and it pisses me off every time. I may have my own tire machine someday

This car sold at Barrett-Jackson Vegas last week for $36,300.  If I was there, I'd be sorely tempted to bid on it.

QuoteExtremely rare #3 of 10 Millennium Edition Mulliner wide body car built. LeMans vents, Flying B hood ornament, Mulliner push-button start, wood steering wheel and shift handle, Parktronic, Mulliner exhaust, matching golf umbrellas, Connolly leather interior in natural tan and magnolia piping, 5-spoke 18" wheels exclusive to the wide body, massive 6.8 Liter turbo V8 factory rated at 420hp and 588 ft/ lbs of torque, medium Birdseye Maple wood and premium sound system. Commemorative plaque shows #3 of 10 Millennium Edition is mounted in both driver and passenger door jambs.

Sure beats a Camcord.

6.8L AND a turbo, only 440hp? Junk

Quote from: Laconian on September 28, 2014, 01:55:44 PM
6.8L AND a turbo, only 440hp? Junk

And something like a 4700rpm redline

Quote from: Laconian on September 28, 2014, 01:55:44 PM
6.8L AND a turbo, only 440hp? Junk

Dat torque doe.

Why are aftermarket head units so ugly?  Save for high end brands like Mcinstosh or Denon

It seems I finally solved a gremlin on the M5. It would ocassionally show DSC and electronic start assistant errors during a drive. They would stay on and annoy the hell out of me until I restarted the car. With a restart sometimes they'd go away.

I thought it was the steering angle sensor and had it cleaned and the errors reset in the computer. After a week or so the errors came back. After more research in BMW forums I found that alignment may cause this. So I took it in and sure, the alignment was very out of whack. Been driving it a bit now and so far so good.

Quote from: MexicoCityM3 on September 28, 2014, 05:51:51 PM
It seems I finally solved a gremlin on the M5. It would ocassionally show DSC and electronic start assistant errors during a drive. They would stay on and annoy the hell out of me until I restarted the car. With a restart sometimes they'd go away.

I thought it was the steering angle sensor and had it cleaned and the errors reset in the computer. After a week or so the errors came back. After more research in BMW forums I found that alignment may cause this. So I took it in and sure, the alignment was very out of whack. Been driving it a bit now and so far so good.

Is that designed to do that? If so that's pretty neat that the car will tell you that it's out of alignment.

that's sweet!

And really they should put in an "alignment light", the sensors are doing what they are supposed to do!...

Quote from: thecarnut on September 28, 2014, 05:57:53 PM
Is that designed to do that? If so that's pretty neat that the car will tell you that it's out of alignment.

Quote from: AutobahnSHO on September 28, 2014, 06:01:16 PM
that's sweet!

And really they should put in an "alignment light", the sensors are doing what they are supposed to do!...

From what I researched for this to happen your alignment needs to be VERY out of whack. The computer uses info from the steering wheel position sensor and the individual wheel speed sensors (along with some other stuff) for the stability system. If it doesn't like what it sees it will throw a "steering angle sensor value plausibility" error. There is an internal counter that increases every time the computer sees this weird values and lowers by one after each drive with no errors. If the counter goes above 40 the computer will disable the stability and start assist systems and show an error to the driver.

This counter going up and down and my alignment being just beyond the threshold of this problem explains my errors coming and going away.

When I got the car I knew it had hit a curb just before. I did fix the wheel and "took a look" at the suspension and thought everything was ok because it drove ok, with an ever so slight pull to the left - which I didn't really notice until AFTER I had read that might be the cause. It was stupid of me to not have it aligned knowing it had had a hit.

Quote from: 68_427 on September 28, 2014, 04:50:54 PM
Why are aftermarket head units so ugly?  Save for high end brands like Mcinstosh or Denon

They're going after poor people. New cars don't need decks and can't really accept them.

Quote from: 280Z Turbo on September 28, 2014, 06:33:07 PM
They're going after poor people. New cars don't need decks and can't really accept them.

Mine is a 1999.  I am poor.

If I can still buy this one when I'm ready I think I will.

http://www.crutchfield.com/p_291350IBTR/Nakamichi-NA350iBTR.html?tp=5684

Poor people have poor taste, so there is your answer.

If the Mcintosh that was available in Subarus wasn't so unreliable I'd look for one.

Man up and get a becker.

Becker = Ted Danson?

I liked that show.

Quote from: Rupert on September 28, 2014, 10:04:59 PM
I liked that show.

First couple of seasons were pretty good. 

Quote from: 280Z Turbo on September 28, 2014, 06:50:22 PM
Poor people have poor taste, so there is your answer.

Well, OK, sure:

But also, the headunits that have mutli-color options for their displays are always displayed in the most obnoxious, flashy colors that are available. Catches your eye, I suppose, but makes em look tackier.

The head unit I bought for the wagon is one such: Yes, its a mid-priced unit, and yes, its fairly awful looking: but it looks a lot more presentable with the display colors toned down and matched to the instrument panel lights than it does in full ghetto fabulous mode.

Had my first rental car experience this week -- two days in a moderately dinged up 2013 Kia Rio with moderately shitty tires. I was surprised by how smoothly it went after seeing so many travel horror stories any time I looked up reviews of an agency. No line, and fairly reasonable prices for an airport location ($60/day including fees). I was kind of surprised that they'd rent out a car without cruise control, though.

What a piece. How was the electric steering. Did the direct injection inject enough power to make it not ridiculously slow?

Quote from: Eye of the Tiger on October 04, 2014, 06:44:20 AM
What a piece. How was the electric steering. Did the direct injection inject enough power to make it not ridiculously slow?

The steering wasn't great but it was less objectionable than in some Rios I've driven. I wasn't pushing it much because the tires seemed pretty bad, though. Power was okay except when I needed to merge onto a highway from a dead stop. Overall one of the better subcompacts.

I don't know what question this answers, or what that thing on the roof is




but I think it justifies considering a Spark for my next vehicle.

Looks like speakers to me.

Quote from: Soup DeVille on October 05, 2014, 06:19:50 AM
Looks like speakers to me.

Obviously some sort of sub-sonic zombie destroying speakers.

I'm impressed...

Mexico sets new record for largest parade of classic cars

Quote from: FoMoJo on October 06, 2014, 05:50:28 AM
I'm impressed...

I didn't attend but several friends from the club were there. When you have 20 mill people you can do these kinds of records.