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Post by Clipper on Sept 20, 2024 19:44:21 GMT -5
I needed to replace the tires on the car. The tires that are on it are cheap Continental brand and they have 39K miles on them. I noticed the other day that the fronts are almost down to the wear bars. The last tires I bought were about 4 or 5 years ago. Replaced the Goodyear Wranglers on my truck with Pirelli Scorpion LT truck tires. 4 tires mounted and balanced for about $650 out the door.
Today I ordered Michelins, 235/65R18's. 88,000 mile warranty, full road hazard, roadside assistance, and free balancing and rotation for the life of the tire. They are a lot smaller, lighter duty passenger tire, but they cost $800 out the door. OUCH! Who knows, they may outlast me, haha. Sam's club wanted $793 for a comparable Goodyear, but the Tire Discount outlet here price matched Sam's and I got a better tire.
Everything has gotten so darned expensive that I figured I might as well bite the bullet and get the best I could buy for my money and not have to do it again in 3 or 4 years.
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Post by BHU on Sept 21, 2024 10:05:36 GMT -5
Those are the same size tires on my Rav4 but Goodyear's. They were on it when I bought it & have plenty of tread left. I'm thinking of getting winter tires but I'm going to wait to see how this season shapes up. Last winter I didn't need them as we had hardly any snow. I'll bet that $800 you paid is probably what winter tires will cost me. I can remember when mounting & balancing was included in the tire price. Not anymore.
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Post by Clipper on Sept 21, 2024 11:03:26 GMT -5
Those are the same size tires on my Rav4 but Goodyear's. They were on it when I bought it & have plenty of tread left. I'm thinking of getting winter tires but I'm going to wait to see how this season shapes up. Last winter I didn't need them as we had hardly any snow. I'll bet that $800 you paid is probably what winter tires will cost me. I can remember when mounting & balancing was included in the tire price. Not anymore. One of the first things I wanted clarified. Charging to mount and balance is a rip-off. I would tell them to stuff the tires where the sun don't shine if they insisted on charging for mounting and balancing tires I just paid $800 for. Maybe ok to charge for cheaper tires with a slim profit margin, but you know that there is a larger profit on the more expensive tires. They can afford to eat a few bucks. I don't miss having to change tires in fall and again in spring. For the price of mounting and balancing I always bought rims and kept the snows mounted so it was just a matter of swapping them out fall and spring. Thankfully we don't need winter tires here. All seasons work just fine for the minimal amounts of snow we usually get here. I was waiting in line at the gas pump at Sam's club the other day and there was a pickup from Vermont with studded snows on rims in the back of it. I hadn't seen a studded tire since we quit coming North in winter. He might have been in town for the NASCAR race this weekend but I have no idea why anyone would be driving around in the 80 degree sunshine in Tennessee with their snow tires in the back of the truck. If he is here for the race he will be lucky if someone doesn't steal them while he is in the speedway. |
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Post by BHU on Sept 22, 2024 8:47:30 GMT -5
Another ripoff is tire rotation. All they do is zip them off & on with an impact wrench, takes them 10 minutes at the most. Last time I had that done on my truck they charged me $40 & I wasn't happy about it either especially since I paid them $300 for new pads & rotors in the front & the front tires were off anyway. I argued with the service advisor & he knocked it down to $20.
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Post by Clipper on Sept 22, 2024 18:17:22 GMT -5
I am double covered for free rotation. I still have several more free oil changes at the dealership and they ask me whenever I come in for service if I want the tires rotated. Front rotors and pads are probably the next item I will have to address. They aren't shot yet, but the front brakes do 70% of your stopping so with almost 40k miles I am sure they won't last much longer.
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Post by BHU on Sept 22, 2024 18:59:00 GMT -5
Tell me about it. Wife's car needs a new radiator soon. Right now it's just dripping coolant but it won't last much longer & I need to get it done befote the weather goes the other way. Shop wants about $725 to do it. I find one online at Rock Auto for less then $100. I matched the part # with one from NAPA & they want almost double that. I just have to double check that it fits. Probably be a 3 hr job for me if everything goes right but I can save about $600.
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Post by Clipper on Sept 22, 2024 21:57:20 GMT -5
Changing out a radiator is a pretty involved and time consuming process. I have done it when I was younger, and when I was younger there was actually room under the hood to get a wrench in and actually reach and see what you were doing. I have gotten too old to be bent over under the hood and God forbid I should have to get on a creeper UNDER a car. Heck, I would have to have help getting up off the ground and then I probably would need to see a chiropractor, LOL.
Those days are gone. In the 60s we changed transmissions and engines and replaced brakes and exhaust systems ourselves in our driveways or with a chain hoist hung from a tree. My dad and I actually did a ring job on a 225 slant six out of a 65 Plymouth Valiant convertible in his garage. I bought the car in 71 for $350 because it was burning oil like crazy. My dad actually was a great mechanic. He ran a Gulf Station on the corner of Herkimer Rd and Keyes Rd for a while in the fifties while he was going to college at night to finish his engineering courses.
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Post by BHU on Sept 23, 2024 18:14:13 GMT -5
Well, she may not need a new radiator after all. I went out this morning to take a closer look at the rad & it looked to me that coolant was leaking from the lower radiator hose. I went at it & after draining the coolant & two hrs of fighting with it with a few curse words thrown in I was able to remove the hose with a rotted clamp causing the hose to leak. I had to remove the fan assembly to get at the clamp because of the position it was in. Thanx, Toyota! I changed the clamp, refilled the radiator & took it for a spin & all seems good but I'll keep an eye on it just to be sure.
It really burns my you know what that the shop told her that she'd need a new radiator soon & gave her an estimate of $750. to do it. No trained mechanic & I'm not one, can mistake a bad radiator for a leaking hose. I hope they had fun writing that estimate because it's the last one we'll ever get from that outfit.
You can't trust anybody.
Sorry for the rant.
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Post by Clipper on Sept 23, 2024 22:45:55 GMT -5
I am glad she didn't need a new radiator. Sad that we can't trust a dealership service department anymore. I do have a bit of confidence in the Dodge Dealer where we bought the Blazer although I most likely would not pay the labor prices a dealer gets for any mechanical work other than my free oil changes and tire rotations. I don't trust the local Chevy dealer. Their reputation is not the best. The only work they will get from me is warranty work. If it is not a warranty item I will take it to my go-to independent shop.
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Post by BHU on Sept 24, 2024 12:11:53 GMT -5
This is a privately owned shop, not a dealer. I checked things over again a couple hours ago & no leaks.
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Post by Clipper on Sept 25, 2024 7:22:39 GMT -5
Great news for sure. I am sure you were hoping that you would not have to take the fan assembly back off again fix another leak.
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Post by BHU on Sept 25, 2024 19:11:30 GMT -5
Great news for sure. I am sure you were hoping that you would not have to take the fan assembly back off again fix another leak. Damn right. They don't give you much room to work that's for sure. But I saved close to $750 buy making sure whether or not that radiator was leaking. I've owned numerous vehicles since I started buying them many moons ago & I have probably replaced only two radiators in all that time. |
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Post by Clipper on Sept 25, 2024 22:05:12 GMT -5
Back in the day when there was more room under the hood you could take one of the old copper radiators out by just removing the fan shroud and disconnecting the hoses. Sometimes you didn't even have to remove the fan. When I had the radiator on the Blazer replaced a while back I was surprised to see how flimsy and fragile the aluminum core was.
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