Ongoing General Automotive Thread 2.0

[curves2000]

Originally Posted by Bill Bumface

Those tires are going to age out regardless unless you drive a LOT. 8-10 years is the general guidance for the longest amount of time you should use tires for before they should be removed for safety.

I'd sell the ones you can't use right now.

Very true about tires aging out, I am trying to delay that as much as possible. The current tires that are on the car are a MotorMaster Chinese made tire. Smooth driving tire but seem to be very firm already and pretty much all the reviews indicate that they don't last at all so I can see me burning through these very quickly, perhaps even by the winter.

I am more interested in maintaining the good Michelin and Goodyear tires as opposed to extending the life of these cheap ones. I have never really stored tires in Calgary before.

[TorqueDog]

It’s a hydrodip. The genuine SVAutobiography / SVR carbon fibre engine covers are $4,000 on eBay, which is mental.

Also, to answer cam_wmh: two coats of ceramic were applied on the RR.

[curves2000]

Does anybody know where I can get some engine coolant test strips? I want to see if the coolant is corrosive. Colour is good, the km's date of when it should be change is ok and the strength is good.

For those who don't know what I am talking about, it's a strip to test the PH level of the coolant.

I am trying to find some strips locally to use for all the cars as opposed to guessing and changing out a ton of coolant. Trying hard to support local but it may one of those Amazon purchases.

thx

[TorqueDog]

OilDepot.ca sells them and ships from Edmonton, but they look like they sell in bulk... and I have a hard time believing you're gonna need 70 of the things. Even Amazon sell them in packs of 100.

[Bill Bumface]

Originally Posted by TorqueDog

It’s a hydrodip.

Consider yourself judged

[Erick Estrada]

Originally Posted by TorqueDog

It’s a hydrodip. The genuine SVAutobiography / SVR carbon fibre engine covers are $4,000 on eBay, which is mental.

Also, to answer cam_wmh: two coats of ceramic were applied on the RR.

What kind of floor mats are those in the Land Rover? Looks like you can sleep on them.

[photon]

Originally Posted by Erick Estrada

What kind of floor mats are those in the Land Rover? Looks like you can sleep on them.

Hah I wondered the same thing, it's down below the pictures I missed it to.

Originally Posted by TorqueDog

Floormats are from Easirider in the UK who does lambswool rugs for RR, Bentley, etc.

[Table 5]

Originally Posted by Erick Estrada

What kind of floor mats are those in the Land Rover? Looks like you can sleep on them.

He might have to when the LR inevitably leaves him stranded.

[PepsiFree]

Originally Posted by Table 5

He might have to when the LR inevitably leaves him stranded.

As a former owner, can confirm

[TorqueDog]

Originally Posted by Bill Bumface

Consider yourself judged

You’re welcome to contribute to a GoFundMe to buy me the genuine CF version. I sure as hell am not dropping $4k on an engine cover!

Originally Posted by Erick Estrada

What kind of floor mats are those in the Land Rover? Looks like you can sleep on them.

They are unbelievably plush, makes me want to drive without shoes on. Really well made product.

[Table 5]

We've talked about this before, but man is it cool to see clean survivors like this, especially in Canada.

https://www.facebook.com/marketplace...rral_code=null

We had a Mazda 323 from this era, and they were fantastic cars. Unlike this one though, I'm pretty sure it rusted out well before the 90s were over.

[Bill Bumface]

That era of Mazdas were great. I think I mentioned it before, but I had a Protege GT (with no 3rd gear, needed oil every other fill up) and it was still one of my favourite cars I ever owned:

[Erick Estrada]

https://www.roadandtrack.com/news/a6...nt-admin-says/

Great news! Auto Start-Stop may be going away or hopefully rendered as an option that can be turned off permanently (like BMW used to do). I know some people don't mind it and that's fine but I can't stand it especially on a manual transmission car which I'm currently driving.

[undercoverbrother]

Originally Posted by Erick Estrada

https://www.roadandtrack.com/news/a6...nt-admin-says/

Great news! Auto Start-Stop may be going away or hopefully rendered as an option that can be turned off permanently (like BMW used to do). I know some people don't mind it and that's fine but I can't stand it especially on a manual transmission car which I'm currently driving.

Can we add Auto Hold to the list as well.

[speede5]

Originally Posted by undercoverbrother

Can we add Auto Hold to the list as well.

Agree to disagree, this is a fantastic feature.

[photon]

My BMW has auto hold which I've never had before. Still not sure where I stand on it, most of the time it's pretty transparent, probably the only time it is a bit annoying is in stop and go traffic where I just want to start rolling a bit but not very far between the auto start and the auto hold sometimes it's like there's a minimum speed my car can start going with and it's too fast for some situations.. but that's pretty minor it's only been a handful of times I've felt that since I got it. So it's fine I guess? I can turn it off anytime.

Auto start stop I think I actually like, the BMW continues to surprise me with how good it is on gas and if that's part of it I'm 100% ok with it. That might partly be because it's a mild hybrid so there's the electric motor there to smooth things out. And if I really don't want it I can put it in sport mode.

[Sliver]

Originally Posted by speede5

Agree to disagree, this is a fantastic feature.

No kidding. I wouldn't do without it at this point. Had it since my 2012 CLS.

[Wormius]

Meh. It’s okay. It’s not really super useful though in a lot of scenarios, and of those situations putting it into “park” does the same thing. I guess it might save you from rear-ending somebody if you yourself get rear-ended.

[TorqueDog]

Originally Posted by Wormius

Meh. It’s okay. It’s not really super useful though in a lot of scenarios, and of those situations putting it into “park” does the same thing. I guess it might save you from rear-ending somebody if you yourself get rear-ended.

Don't rest your vehicle on the transmission's parking pawl; use your handbrake, that's what it's actually for.

[Erick Estrada]

Originally Posted by TorqueDog

Don't rest your vehicle on the transmission's parking pawl; use your handbrake, that's what it's actually for.

Our old house had a pretty steep driveway and my wife ruined the parking pawl of her Outback by always just putting it in park and not using the parking brake to take on the weight of the vehilce. If you are ever testing a used vehicle and it clunks when you take it out of drive it's likely because the previous owner did the same as my wife parking on inclines/declines without using the parking brake first. Maybe manufacturers could better explain this as it seems a lot of people with automatic transmissions rarely use the parking brake.