My car is a piece of shart

[GOPHER FREAK]

Re: My car is a piece of shart

Guess we're going foreign on our next purchase.

Actually just about anything other than headlights is actually going to be a more difficult repair on a foreign car. The resistors are rather difficult on anything other than full size American pickups or RWD cars with V-8s. The are generally right on the firewall and on anything with a transverse engine it's going to require removing some stuff to get at. Some repairs are just harder than others no matter foreign or domestic. Just be glad it isn't an evaporator or something really difficult or expensive. I just did the Evap and heater core on my 1995 Dodge Ram (331,000 miles on the Cummins Turbo Diesel) and it was no picnic let me tell you. It took me about 10hrs, and I'm generally 30-40% faster than book time.

 

[GOPHER FREAK]

Re: My car is a piece of shart

They're all weathers and don't have particularly pronounced treads. Would that hurt me?

Lots of reviews I'm reading for my current tires say they're pretty much useless in snow.

I running Goodyear Wrangler Silent Armors at the moment on my Ram. They are aggressive, good in snow and mud and are quiet. They also wear like iron. I've got 50,000 on mine and are still over 1/2 tread with no weather checking. Not cheap, but will pay for themselves over time.

I've had lots of tires and really don't care for goodyears as a general rule, but these have been excellent.

I read someone recomended BFG Long trails, and they were a great tire, however the old T/A's are discontinued except in the 265/75/16 size and the new one have a tread similar to passenger car tire and they suck. If you are looking for a decent tire for a cheap price, look at Kuhmo Road Venture AT's. Dirt cheap, around $90 a tire on tirerack.com and very capable. A little noisy on the highway, but you are driving a Jeep Wrangler, so that is part of the charm. My dad has them on his Dakota and likes them a lot.

 

[brookyone]

Re: My car is a piece of shart

I just did the Evap and heater core on my 1995 Dodge Ram (331,000 miles on the Cummins Turbo Diesel) and it was no picnic let me tell you. It took me about 10hrs, and I'm generally 30-40% faster than book time.

I spent many years in a Chrysler / Dodge service dept. That's a job no tech ever wanted to do.

 

[MarkEagleUSA]

Re: My car is a piece of shart

The resistors are rather difficult on anything other than full size American pickups or RWD cars with V-8s. The are generally right on the firewall and on anything with a transverse engine it's going to require removing some stuff to get at.

All the ones I've ever done were inside under the passenger side dashboard... and most were easily accessible (as it's a common failure believe it or not).

 

[gscott13]

Re: My car is a piece of shart

Thinking about replacing the 225/75/R16 all weathers that came on my Wrangler with some Bridgestone Dueler all terrain 265s. The current tires are just too dinky looking - they look like they'd be more at home on a Volkswagen Beetle.

Tough to find a good price up here, though. Place I visited wants $765 for 4, free installation, plus free rotations every 5000 miles. Think I can do better?

I've had the bridgestone duelers on my 2001 tacoma since the day i bought it... probably goes without saying that i've been very pleased with them... great in the snow...

that said, and given the title of the thread, my above mentioned 2001 Taco has been sitting at the dealership after failing a recall inspection of the frame... instead of cutting a check like they did for the owners of the 94-00 tacoma owners (because dana corp. still makes frames for the '01), i am getting a new frame, leaf springs, lower control arms, etc... and while it's apart, i am taking advantage of the discounted labor rates they are offering to have a bunch of other work done., O2 Sensor, alignment, exhaust from the cats on back, drive belts, front brakes, and some other things...

should be interesting to see how it drives given such major surgery...

 

[icebadger]

Re: My car is a piece of shart

All the ones I've ever done were inside under the passenger side dashboard... and most were easily accessible (as it's a common failure believe it or not).

The internets seem to agree with you:
http://dodgeforum.com/forum/diy-do-...001-2006-stratus-sedan-by-infraredmonkey.html
&
http://www.stratusphere.net/blowerrepair.html

So maybe I'll end up trying it at some point, assuming I don't win the lottery.

 

[Twitch Boy]

Re: My car is a piece of shart

Think I did it.

Went with Firestone Destination AT's. Good reviews, and the stealership got me a good deal - 4 255's for $600 installed. Of course I'm going to splurge and do the spare too

They come in Monday and go on as soon as I can get down there again.

Now to find someone to take those 225's off my hands.

 

[Hammer]

Re: My car is a piece of shart

As I said before, I was not happy with the Firestones on my old Ranger. Hopefully you have better luck with yours.

 

[Twitch Boy]

Re: My car is a piece of shart

As I said before, I was not happy with the Firestones on my old Ranger. Hopefully you have better luck with yours.

Well, 43K ain't TOO terrible for AT's, which are pretty short lived to begin with.

Most of the reviews I read were a wash. They said Destinations were among the best you could get, not just for the money but in general. If I went with the Duelers or KO's I was going to pay through the nose for them, and even they had some less than favorable reviews. We shall see what happens - I don't drive a huge amount, so I should get a few years out of them.

Plus I've got everything through my dealer now, so I have one place I can go if I need help. What issues did you have with the Destinations?

 

[Hammer]

Re: My car is a piece of shart

Well, I had a chunk come out of the tread at less than 10K miles for starters. They just didn't wear well at all. I expect more than 40K miles out of a set of tires, especially since that truck was 2WD and my off-road use consisted of turning onto a gravel driveway. I'm much happier with the Wranglers, both on my old and now my newer Ranger.

 

[gscott13]

Re: My car is a piece of shart

Well, 43K ain't TOO terrible for AT's, which are pretty short lived to begin with.

Most of the reviews I read were a wash. They said Destinations were among the best you could get, not just for the money but in general. If I went with the Duelers or KO's I was going to pay through the nose for them, and even they had some less than favorable reviews. We shall see what happens - I don't drive a huge amount, so I should get a few years out of them.

Plus I've got everything through my dealer now, so I have one place I can go if I need help. What issues did you have with the Destinations?

i had four new dueller ats put on my truck when i had all the recall work done and the toyota dealership only charged me $615 for 4 265/70/16s mounted and balanced. what was the estimate you got out where you are at?

truck seems to be running pretty well after being completely torn down and put back together. only a couple of minor things that i need them to correct. new springs make a world of difference...

 

[Twitch Boy]

Re: My car is a piece of shart

i had four new dueller ats put on my truck when i had all the recall work done and the toyota dealership only charged me $615 for 4 265/70/16s mounted and balanced. what was the estimate you got out where you are at?

truck seems to be running pretty well after being completely torn down and put back together. only a couple of minor things that i need them to correct. new springs make a world of difference...

Quoted $765 for 4 new 265/75/R16 Revo2's at the place I looked. Even higher at my dealership. (In their defense, I understand that tire is pretty new on the market.)

The BFG KO's I was also considering would have needed to be shipped up and would have run me over $1000. Forget that.

I realized $600 for 4 Firestones installed was about as good as I was going to get. Plus I was having second thoughts about 265's anyway - possibly too big and would affect my snow performance more. The Rubicon takes a 255 stock and that looks fine. Oddly, Firestone 245's would have cost me $80 MORE.

 

[Twitch Boy]

Re: My car is a piece of shart

Well, Hammer, you may be spared me getting those Firestones after all.

Apparently Lithia of Anchorage's service department can't count their balls and get the same number twice. They said they'd have the tire for me this morning, which turned to this afternoon. Turns out they looked up the wrong farking tire, and now they have no clue what's going on.

Back to the other place I go!

 

[BadgerAlum@WMU]

Re: My car is a piece of shart

I had a rotor/caliper/pad replacement a few weeks ago.

Two weeks later, I had somehow got three of my lug studs on the front passenger wheel sheared. Got those replaced.

Then heard a *clunk* on braking/releasing.

Puzzled and worried over the clunk for days. Missed a day of work thinking it was a ball joint. The guy who did the brakes/studs wouldn't answer my calls.

Called in another guy. He looked over the ball joints. They're fine.

Finally went to a garage today. He looked everything over and declared that it was a plastic bottle rolling around in the back of the van. Everything else was tight and looked good for a 15-year-old Astro.

Clunk is gone. And I feel stupid for getting all turned inside out about it. The tires need balancing/rotating but otherwise it's in good shape.

 

[Lady wore Black]

Re: My car is a piece of shart

I had a rotor/caliper/pad replacement a few weeks ago.

Two weeks later, I had somehow got three of my lug studs on the front passenger wheel sheared. Got those replaced.

Then heard a *clunk* on braking/releasing.

Puzzled and worried over the clunk for days. Missed a day of work thinking it was a ball joint. The guy who did the brakes/studs wouldn't answer my calls.

Called in another guy. He looked over the ball joints. They're fine.

Finally went to a garage today. He looked everything over and declared that it was a plastic bottle rolling around in the back of the van. Everything else was tight and looked good for a 15-year-old Astro.

Clunk is gone. And I feel stupid for getting all turned inside out about it. The tires need balancing/rotating but otherwise it's in good shape.

That is up there with my mom running over the only tree in North Dakota with her 1996 Dodge Caravan back in 2007.

With my current car issues, I am driving my husband's car. His car does not like me. It has a faulty CO2 sensor that trips the check engine light. It always goes off when I am driving, not him.

 

[brookyone]

Re: My car is a piece of shart

I had a rotor/caliper/pad replacement a few weeks ago.

Two weeks later, I had somehow got three of my lug studs on the front passenger wheel sheared. Got those replaced.

Then heard a *clunk* on braking/releasing.

Puzzled and worried over the clunk for days. Missed a day of work thinking it was a ball joint. The guy who did the brakes/studs wouldn't answer my calls.

Called in another guy. He looked over the ball joints. They're fine.

Finally went to a garage today. He looked everything over and declared that it was a plastic bottle rolling around in the back of the van. Everything else was tight and looked good for a 15-year-old Astro.

Clunk is gone. And I feel stupid for getting all turned inside out about it. The tires need balancing/rotating but otherwise it's in good shape.

Reminds me of an experience I had during my time in an auto service dept. Customer drives in with complaints of a strange, persistent rattle from his rear suspension...take the car for a road test and verify the rattle. Inspect all suspension components and underbody back in the shop, no problem found. Check the trunk...he's got at least 200 empty aluminum cans stored in there...problem solved. Ah...the guy knew the cans were in there but couldn't imagine what the rattle could be.

 

[walrus]

Re: My car is a piece of shart

I had a rotor/caliper/pad replacement a few weeks ago.

Two weeks later, I had somehow got three of my lug studs on the front passenger wheel sheared. Got those replaced.
.

Were the studs on the same wheel you got the brakes replaced on?

 

[bigblue_dl]

Re: My car is a piece of shart

Thinking about replacing the 225/75/R16 all weathers that came on my Wrangler with some Bridgestone Dueler all terrain 265s. The current tires are just too dinky looking - they look like they'd be more at home on a Volkswagen Beetle.

Tough to find a good price up here, though. Place I visited wants $765 for 4, free installation, plus free rotations every 5000 miles. Think I can do better?

I'd recommend going with these, BF Goodrich All-Terrains:
http://www.tirerack.com/tires/tires...6ATAKO10&vehicleSearch=false&fromCompare1=yes


Great tires, from my experience, and they'd look great on a Wrangler. Especially when you wrap them around these, :
http://www.tirerack.com/wheels/Whee...odel=DC-1&wheelFinish=Machined+w/Black+Accent

If you want cheaper, the Yokohama Geolander isn't a bad tire:
http://www.tirerack.com/tires/tires...R6GEOATS&vehicleSearch=false&fromCompare1=yes

Another very badass tire, that I had on my last truck, and I will probably buy for my new truck, the Nitto Terra Grappler A/T:
http://www.discounttire.com/dtcs/tires/nitto/product/submitProductSize.do?r=MNMINT|pc|55414&pc=40194

Ideally, very shortly I'll be able to get new wheels and tires for my truck, I'm sick of these puny 265's. I'm thinking 305's, and probably Nitto's, or if I decide to splurge, I would love to get the BFG's. Then for wheels...I learned my lesson on aluminum, never again. Chrome, Welds, Am. Racing or Dick Cepeks.

I want to do the same kind of thing for my Jeep, but I'm going to focus on getting the Cummins 3.9 installed in that before getting to the wheels and tires.

 

[Twitch Boy]

Re: My car is a piece of shart

I'd recommend going with these, BF Goodrich All-Terrains:
http://www.tirerack.com/tires/tires...6ATAKO10&vehicleSearch=false&fromCompare1=yes

Yup, KO's. Considered those, but no one has them in stock so they'd have to order them and they'd cost over $1000 installed.

Allegedly my dealer can get me 4 Firestone Destination ATs in 255/75 for $600, but they have their heads up their rears and may have looked up the wrong tire, so I'm continuing to shop around. The other place I looked has the Firestones in a 265/75 for $640 - I may just go there if my dealer continues to screw the pooch.

 

[bigblue_dl]

Re: My car is a piece of shart

Yup, KO's. Considered those, but no one has them in stock so they'd have to order them and they'd cost over $1000 installed.

Allegedly my dealer can get me 4 Firestone Destination ATs in 255/75 for $600, but they have their heads up their rears and may have looked up the wrong tire, so I'm continuing to shop around. The other place I looked has the Firestones in a 265/75 for $640 - I may just go there if my dealer continues to screw the pooch.

I would never go to a dealer for tires. I've always been able to find better prices going to tire shops or in the case of the last time I bought them, online.