Nope. I removed the failed pads and glazed rotors, replaced them with higher line Raybestos parts and sent the customer on his way. The customer daily drove that car for another year and a half and 14,000 miles without incident before trading it in on a new Maxima. The problem was the crappy pad quality, and only…

Those are great numbers for a half ton. For comparison, my 2005 crewcab 3/4 ton 5.9 Cummins longbed 2wd Ram is 325 horse/610 tq and rated to tow 12,000lbs. Gets about 17 mpg combined and gets 20 on the highway on level ground if you keep it to 65 or less.

Are you trolling? Your comments underline just how astoundingly out of touch you are. That ‘84 Celica was built 33 years ago. That’s the Stone Age, three full generations of automotive technology in the past. When carburetors were still common on new cars, FFS. Direct injection, can-bus, HPCR, self parking, stability…

This is generally true. But - specifically - when you have critical or stuck torx, Allen head or Phillips head fasteners, a quality tool often makes the difference between getting it out and stripping it out.

Yup. Many S Series Saturns (at least 91-96) do that too, using the #1 plug firing resistance to sync the crank signal. Aftermarket plugs mess with this function, set codes and make the car run poorly.

Exactly. Back at Saturn we had a 5 gallon bucket filled with brand new fancy plugs we took out of customer cars (Splitfires, Bosch Platinum, etc) - all of which caused check engine lights, misfire codes, and poor drivability. Installing a set of factory plugs fixed it every time.

Having watched a set of store brand Autozone brake pads glaze the rotors and fail less than an hour after install, and having replaced over the years at least ten sets of brand new cheap semimetallic pads on Camrys for hideous noise complaints I’d disagree with you. Cheaping out on brake pads is a really bad idea,…

Not on newer cars (like, 2007 up) with 10,000 mile oil change intervals. The Blackstone testing only went to 5,000 miles, and Subaru is the only major manufacturer I’m aware of that still recommends changing the oil that frequently.

Used body and interior parts from your local U Pull It yard. Hard suspension parts, engine covers, locks, wheels, door panels, window regulators can all be found for cheap if you’re diligent - and a used taillight works just as well has a new one.

24 year mechanic and three time dealership service manager here. Most dealer techs have families and mortgages and can’t just quit and find another decent paying job easily, and car dealership mechanic work isn’t Google or Facebook IT work, it’s demanding physical labor in the heat and cold, and you get paid by the…

There are rules. One of them is to use an approved gasoline transfer container - and that looks like the kind we have used at each of the three dealerships I’ve service managed. They are perfectly safe if you’re not an idiot and not only knock it over, but let it drain gas all over the floor and then run a power…

^^^ this.

The brake fluid standard is DOT 3, 4, 5, 5.1 etc

As a dealer tech and then a shop owner, I’ve seen three Fram oil filters (installed elsewhere) fail in use and take out engines. The last one was ten years ago, but that’s when I stopped being a generalist, doing 20+ oil changes a week. I won’t put Fram oil filters on anything. Same with the $3 no name cheapies, saw…

Yup. 4K intervals don’t have any real relevance when everything I own has a recommended interval between 7500-11,000 miles.

AWD, ease of entry and exit vs. a car, cargo space. And they’re usually more durable and comfortable over cratered urban streets since they have more suspension travel than the car it’s based on, and taller tire sidewalls, which are less subject to pothole damage. (And I drive a Fit Sport, so you know where I spent my…

I’d guess it’s because they were never sold here.

Preorders aren’t sales. How many model 3s has tesla actually delivered to customers?

Currently driving a friend’s Crosstrek. Love the car and I would buy one except it is painfully slow. 268 hp would be great, but even 225 would be enough to get me to consider the car, especially if they could tune it to run on regular. Fuel economy and cost matter when you drive a lot.

More stuff breaks after you’ve had the car for longer than a week.