Another day, another automotive repair...

denverpilot

denverpilot

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DenverPilot
Flat tire on the Subie. Nail. Right next to a plug where that tire took a screw before.

Had road hazard insurance and could have pressed to fix or replace but with AWD it would have been all four and I’ve gotten plenty out of these things and the tires I had have been discontinued and I don’t trust he replacements Goodyear came out with for them yet.

Decided it was time to put new tires on it. Went Continental.

They’ll probably outlast the car. Ha.
 
Last year, about this time, I replaced the Continentals on my Subie with Michelin. So far, so good.
 
WTF? Have you always had this much bad luck with cars and trucks, or has the past few weeks been an anomaly?
 
I'll tell y'all that I put Sumitomo's on my wife's Mercedes after reading a bunch of reviews - they were every bit as good as the Michelin Pilot Sport's it started with - for about 40% of the price. Lasted about 2/3ds as long - a real win.
 
jsstevens said:
Doubled the value? :)
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Mmm. Almost. Probably about 30%. LOL! 2000 Subaru Outback with 136,600 on it. You can look up whatever fiction KBB or Edmunds says about those numbers if you like.

SkyDog58 said:
WTF? Have you always had this much bad luck with cars and trucks, or has the past few weeks been an anomaly?
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It’s an anomaly inside an entire year full of anomalies.

I’d kinda like to get back to flying now... or at least not having monthly disasters. But at least nobody’s dying this month. It’s getting better! :)

Even going to the office after buying tires didn’t help.

The APFS garbage that trashed the work Mac yesterday caused by the upgrade to High Sierra had also trashed one of the Windows VMs that resides therein.

It was my primary way to manage the phone system. Guess what I got to do all afternoon once I got to work and realized my tools were busted. Yay. Broken Windows profiles and missing files. Fun.

I figure I’m just building up good karma for something. Don’t know what yet, but it’ll be nice when it finally kicks in. Hahaha.

Of course that won’t happen. I’ll just make my own luck by working my butt off as usual. Maybe a new truck sometime next year.
 
denverpilot said:
A co-worker also told me that joke this week. Haha. Interesting timing on your part.
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It was reported that in one of the less affluent parts of town, a Yugo was involved in a push by shooting...

And this is how you do the dome light ina Yugo.


(Damn, it’s nearly 2:00am and I’m posting on PoA. Nate, you’re a bad influence on me)
 
seems like i get something with one my trucks every year too :( fuel pump went bad the other day, nice expensive fix, perfect timing too, day before i had to drive 55 miles to the airport to go to work! fortunately i was able to convince a friend to drop me off in exchange for tacos next tuesday
 
denverpilot said:
It’s an anomaly inside an entire year full of anomalies.
.
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I hear that. I’ve had a few years that it seemed everything was going south. It sucks. This year had some bad moments for me as well and it isn’t over yet. Oh well.

I know it’s a bit early for new year wishes but here’s wishing you a much better year in 2018. :cheerswine:
 
We have 3 Subies; all 2nd gen H6 outbacks. I have read the spec on the tires is mandatory tread depth within 2/32 on all 4 and all 4 the same model tire. When we have had a single tire damaged beyond repair, I have found a suitable replacement on ebay.

Until Desser starts making retreads, I will pay a premium for Michelins as they are worth it in my experience.
 
Zeldman said:
I have never seen a good street tire made by Goodyear.

I have refused to buy a couple cars because they had Goodyear tires.
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When I bought the (used) Cobalt it had Chinese tires that had all the traction of hockey pucks on ice. I replaced them with Goodyear Triple Tread's. Now I can control the car.
 
Zeldman said:
I have never seen a good street tire made by Goodyear
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I’ve never liked Goodyears either. Wife’s present car came with them, thankfully they’re now shot and after the holiday I’ll order a set of Primacy MXM4s for it.
 
denverpilot said:
Flat tire on the Subie. Nail. Right next to a plug where that tire took a screw before.

Had road hazard insurance and could have pressed to fix or replace but with AWD it would have been all four and I’ve gotten plenty out of these things and the tires I had have been discontinued and I don’t trust he replacements Goodyear came out with for them yet.

Decided it was time to put new tires on it. Went Continental.

They’ll probably outlast the car. Ha.
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Be grateful, the tires on the coach are 750.00 each.. there are 6
 
Zeldman said:
I have never seen a good street tire made by Goodyear.

I have refused to buy a couple cars because they had Goodyear tires.
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These were great...


Norman said:
When I bought the (used) Cobalt it had Chinese tires that had all the traction of hockey pucks on ice. I replaced them with Goodyear Triple Tread's. Now I can control the car.
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The TripleTread is what was on it. The directional ones. They’ve been discontinued, sadly. They did great in everything but ice, and that’s because they were directional. The sipes were cut to dig going forward so they always got low marks on ice. But we get very little ice here, and they dug like snow shovels on snow and mud.

Tom-D said:
Be grateful, the tires on the coach are 750.00 each.. there are 6
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I hear ya. The Michelins on the dually cost a lot more too. That’s why it isn’t the commuter car.

Commuting whenever I can in the 17 year old car that’s cheap to maintain is a good thing. :)
 
I started running Michelin Defenders on my bug. Prior, I had run several other brands, including some other Michelins, and could only get about 10-13 months out of a set. Didn't matter what the mileage rating was. I've had these on three years now and have about 89K miles on them and they look near new. I typically put 40K+ miles on the bug every year.
 
I have Goodyears on the Yukon at the moment, too. They’re really aggressive, but I don’t think they’ll last as long as my usual BFG All-Terrain KO2 choice for trucks that don’t need heavy load ratings out here in the snow and mud.

The tire store was out of stock on the BFGs when I put them on, so I went with their recommendation. They’re wearing “okay” but not nearly as well as the last set of KO2s that went over 70,000 on a truck, which for an aggressive mud and snow tire is really good.

The heavy hauler dually has Michelins on it. Road tires, they’re listed as M+S all season, but they’re crap in anything but dry conditions. It’s mostly because they’re so hard to get the high mileage warranty numbers. But great for thousands of miles of towing.

We have a guy from back east at work who still puts winter tires on his Corolla. I suppose it helps him once in a while, but with over 300 days of sunshine a year, our days when snow traction is needed in town is pretty small as a percentage of miles driven.

Out here I see a lot more mud days than I see snow days, but I see both more than his vehicle does.

I get putting performance tires on a sports car in summer and winter tires on it in winter, but a Corolla? Heh. Nah.

But whatever. Habits die hard. He’s used to east coast snow that doesn’t go away and slushy ice in the warmer parts of winter.
 
JustinD said:
seems like i get something with one my trucks every year too :( fuel pump went bad the other day, nice expensive fix, perfect timing too, day before i had to drive 55 miles to the airport to go to work! fortunately i was able to convince a friend to drop me off in exchange for tacos next tuesday
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In tank fuel pumps for trucks for trucks produced between 2001-2013 can be had for between $75-125 used, come with at least a 90day warranty and can be installed with 2 to 3 hrs labor. And possible yo be a driveway DYI if you have a good floor jack to support and lower the fuel tank.
 
AggieMike88 said:
In tank fuel pumps for trucks for trucks produced between 2001-2013 can be had for between $75-125 used, come with at least a 90day warranty and can be installed with 2 to 3 hrs labor. And possible yo be a driveway DYI if you have a good floor jack to support and lower the fuel tank.
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Got so tired of dropping the tank on my 99, that I cut a door in the bed. 400K miles and on it's 11th pump. Almost every time I had to change prior to cutting the door, it was a full tank. Worst was changing that thing 3 times in two days...two new pumps, different vendors and they failed within 5 minutes of being installed. Talk about being hacked off...
 
Craig said:
Got so tired of dropping the tank on my 99, that I cut a door in the bed. 400K miles and on it's 11th pump. Almost every time I had to change prior to cutting the door, it was a full tank. Worst was changing that thing 3 times in two days...two new pumps, different vendors and they failed within 5 minutes of being installed. Talk about being hacked off...
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Something is very very wrong if pumps are failing at that rate.
 
I agree. Don’t know what would cause that, but that frequency is way out of norm.

We operated a 2001 V6 Silverado as a delivery truck to 550k on the original engine and just 2 transmissions. Only replaced the fuel pump once
 
Goodyear makes decent tires for racing, and good radials for big trucks, but the icing on the cake for Goodyear are the folks that think Goodyear makes a good tire for cars and will keep buying Goodyear.

I'll buy junk yard Maypops before I would let anyone ride on a Goodyear.
 
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Several years ago, I had 3 sets of Continentals on my Audi, and I had one tire on all 3 sets develop a sidewall split well before the tread life was exhausted. I was somewhat suspicious that the dealer servicing the car was to some degree responsible for those occurrences, but I could never prove it. I eventually went to Bridgestone RE950s, which were far better tires.

I can’t argue with Michelin Defenders, but they’re a bit pricey. I’ve had good performance and tread life with them.

My wife’s car (AWD) has Firestone Destination LE2s with a little over 70k miles on them, and they’re down to about 3/32. I’ll have to replace those soon, before it snows.

We had Goodyear TripleTreds on a Subaru years ago, and liked them. That might be the only Goodyear tire that I’d consider.

I also tried Coopers on my truck, mostly because the tire place close to my house carries them exclusively, and the place does a good job getting them installed quickly. The tires themselves seemed to perform just fine, but after about 35k miles they were badly cupped and making noise. I was not blaming the tire, but had appealed to both the tire place and Cooper directly for help identifying the cause. To say that I was unimpressed with their responses would be an understatement. As a result, I’m not inclined to give either of them another chance.


JKG
 
JGoodish said:
We had Goodyear TripleTreds on a Subaru years ago, and liked them. That might be the only Goodyear tire that I’d consider.
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Yeah, that’s why I opted out of exercising the remaining prorated warranty. It would have forced me to whatever their replacement is for the TripleTread and my tire place said they’re so new, they’ve only seen one set of them installed on anything. Non-Directional, the tread pattern didn’t look like anything special, the warranty numbers didn’t look at all interesting, in all, they looked like the usual boring mediocre Goodyears.

I’m not a fan of being a beta tester anyway, but definitely not with tires. Heck I got all nervous when BFG switched from the standard A/T T/A to the KO2... but that worked out okay. First set of A/T T/As went about 50,000... KO2s went 70,000.

Putting the Goodyears on the Yukon was one of those moments you know you’re making a mistake for convenience, but if I get 40-50,000 out of them I’ll call it a wash. Anything lower than 40, I’ll be mad, but I’ll know it was, as Jimmy Buffett says, “My own d*** fault...” and just replace them and leave their prorated warranty on the table.

We’ll see on the Subie tires.

There’s a solid chance both the Subie and the Yukon will be gone before they need tires again anyway. Eventually I’ll save up and get a new truck. It’ll come with whatever factory 30,000 mike crap all new trucks seem to come with. So I’ll probably be buying no new tires for at least three to five years, depending on the timing of all of this.

A lot of changes in five years in the tire biz, usually.
 
Mike and Nate: I don't know what to tell you, but 4 of the 5 GM trucks I've had since 1984 have all eaten some part or parts regularly. My '84 S-15 used to eat brake pads and tail light bulbs. The '86 GMC ate front bearings and sparkplugs. The '93 Chevy would eat an alternator about every 40K miles. This "99 eats fuel pumps, DRL bulbs and window regulators. Most of the pump failures have been due to low output pressure.
 
Craig said:
Mike and Nate: I don't know what to tell you, but 4 of the 5 GM trucks I've had since 1984 have all eaten some part or parts regularly. My '84 S-15 used to eat brake pads and tail light bulbs. The '86 GMC ate front bearings and sparkplugs. The '93 Chevy would eat an alternator about every 40K miles. This "99 eats fuel pumps, DRL bulbs and window regulators. Most of the pump failures have been due to low output pressure.
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If I recall, you live not that far from Graham, TX. Go talk to Jim at K&K Motors on highway 67, (800) 766-2009. He is someone that has been I. The parts and repair biz for a very long time and might be able to help solve your various parts problems.
 
Thanks for the suggestion Mike, but Graham is about 90 miles from Justin. As soon as the diesel truck is up and running good, the '99 goes away. I've got a friend that wants it for a complete body off overhaul project for him and the grandson.
 
Craig said:
Mike and Nate: I don't know what to tell you, but 4 of the 5 GM trucks I've had since 1984 have all eaten some part or parts regularly. My '84 S-15 used to eat brake pads and tail light bulbs. The '86 GMC ate front bearings and sparkplugs. The '93 Chevy would eat an alternator about every 40K miles. This "99 eats fuel pumps, DRL bulbs and window regulators. Most of the pump failures have been due to low output pressure.
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Very odd.

My ‘04 Yukon used to eat DRLs too. Fixed that with cheap Chinese LED bulbs from China. They work fine in the DRLs. After a while they start burning out and twinkle, which I figure makes them more effective as DRLs since those style DRLs are generally worthless. But there’s better quality LEDs I could use if I cared.

I use better LEDs for the backup lights. Make a big difference how far you can see through the rear tinted glass.
 
denverpilot said:
Very odd.

My ‘04 Yukon used to eat DRLs too. Fixed that with cheap Chinese LED bulbs from China. They work fine in the DRLs. After a while they start burning out and twinkle, which I figure makes them more effective as DRLs since those style DRLs are generally worthless. But there’s better quality LEDs I could use if I cared.

I use better LEDs for the backup lights. Make a big difference how far you can see through the rear tinted glass.
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I just had to replace the second DRL bulb in 11 years in my GMC Duramax/Alison. Biggest POS of truck I ever had. 2 bulbs in 11 years..!!! I'm gonna trade it off for a new F-150 and start wearin' the dresses that come with it... :lol::lol::lol:
 
I put Yokohama Geolanders on our Outback, only AT tire I could find that fit. Gives it a nice 'butch' look and seems to do better in the snow and mud than the factory street tires.
 
I think the DRL problem is a combination of how and where they are mounted and vibration. Most of the ones I had fail, you could see the filaments had stretched prior to failing. I solved the problem by not replacing the bulbs when they failed. Since then, the housings have suffered impacts and are shells with no lenses.

Too funny Zeldman... for some reason, I've always had problems with any GM vehicles newer than the '73 Delta 88 I inherited from my grandfather. The only other maker that I had any where near the amount of trouble with, was a Mercedes I bought used. Dumped it after about 6 months of ownership. The car with the fewest issues and problems was my little '81 Subaru wagon. The only thing that killed it was spinning a main bearing in the used motor that went into it. At the time, finding another motor was a pretty lost cause. I gave up after about 8 months of trying.

Only reason I'm dumping the '99, is that the motor and trans both need to be gone thru. I turned over 400K on it the other night and lots of little stuff is failing on it. With a value of less than $1k, it doesn't make any financial sense for me to put money in to it.
 
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