Cars & Bikes, Driving & Riding

[CBear3]

Should be a fun two year "rental."

Also, it made me go look and Z8's are going for north of $200k. Man did I miss that.

[Kane]

I just performed what is probably the easiest car repair ever, even though it sounds like disaster.

On Friday, after work, my wife's 2016 Subaru Forester informed her that the ABS, Hill Assist, and Traction Control all needed serviced, and her brake lights weren't coming on in the back. It also wouldn't let her shift out of park. Every internet search I did all said the same thing. A dinky little plastic switch under the brake pedal dubbed a "stoplight switch" was bad or going bad.

Fast forward to today, and they have one at AutoZone. Easiest replacement part ever. You twist it 90° and pop out the switch, then unplug the wiring harness. The new one was just as easy to put back in. Car fixed.

$40.

[offsides]

Wow. Truly amazing and stupid (at least to me) that a broken brake light switch would not let a car move.

[CBear3]

Yea for electronics.
Have to have the brake depressed to get out of park. Couldn’t possibly use a mechanical link or hydraulic pressure from the master cylinder, let’s put a little switch behind the pedal that gets mashed constantly.

[NTP66]

This, from the same manufacturer that produces those stupid boxer engines...

[Kane]

What's really crazy to me, is that they also tie in those other systems to this stupid switch, too. There is a shift release, too, but you need a flat screwdriver just to get at it and the manual is cryptic about it.

[mamaemeritus]

Can we talk aftermarket remote start systems?

I bought a Mazda CX-5 in April. I have read in multiple places that the Mazda remote start with app is shite. I wasn't a huge fan of the dealer, so I don't know that I want to get anything installed there. I have read on forums that you can install these simply yourself, here are the parts needed, blah blah. But I am a complete dolt when it comes to these kinds of things.

So, that said, should I just find a place in the PGH area that does these? Any recommendations?

[dodint]

Probably out of your area but Car Stereo One in Latrobe did one for my Dad and it turned out well. I've gotten other work done there as well, highly recommend.

[NTP66]

PA Lawmakers discuss possible changes in vehicle registration issues

The Pennsylvania House Transportation Committee discussed two bills in a hearing on Tuesday. The bills were introduced after the 2016 decision by PennDOT to no longer require drivers to display a registration sticker on their license plate.

​Representative Barry Jozwiak (R) introduced House Bill 1509. It creates a new two-in-one sticker, verifying a vehicle is registered in Pennsylvania and has passed inspection.

​​”Since that time, however, we have seen that the elimination of the registration sticker on the license plate has caused a significant threat to public safety and the roadway safety of the consumer and the motoring public,” said Representative Jozwiak in a co-sponsorship memo. “The absence of stickers has hindered the performance of both law enforcement and PennDOT.”​​

Without the stickers, some law enforcement officers have turned to other technology, like Automated License Plate Reader Systems (ALPRs), which automatically find visible license plates, and ​determine whether the vehicle is in compliance with registration and other laws.

Get ****, Barry.

[AuthorTony]

What a load of horse manure. In Feb of 2018 some drunk ass crashed into my property and caused over $10K in damage. He's been driving without a license for over 20 years and in that time has been charged 30+ times for offenses like driving without a license, driving an unregistered/uninsured vehicle, driving with stolen plates, etc. He rarely gets more than a fine and probation so I don't tell me anyone gives a crap about public safety. Admit it's a cash grab to fleece law abiding citizens or f off.

[NTP66]

Source of the post Admit it's a cash grab to fleece law abiding citizens or f off.

[NTP66]

My dad noticed a strong smell of gasoline the other day in his BMW, so he took it to his dealership. The rednecks in VA that worked on his car failed to actually secure the #6 injector, and it was spraying fuel all over the manifold.



His dealership is apparently billing the VA dealership for the labor (didn't think that was possible, but that's awesome).

[Shyster]

Source of the post Admit it's a cash grab to fleece law abiding citizens or f off.

Agree on the cash-grab part. The lack of a sticker on the license plate also makes it more difficult for the cops to execute pretextual traffic stops based on expired stickers.

[offsides]

How about the emission sticker cash grab for some of us?
I have to pay $25 for a sticker that says exempt. I put less then 5000 miles on my Honda a year, so I don't need an emission sticker but I still need a sticker that says I don't need a sticker. Nothing is checked so they don't care about emissions, just some cash.

[dodint]

To build on that, my Antique car doesn't require emissions either but also does not require a sticker. So they *could* do what you want, but, they don't.

[NTP66]

How about the emission sticker cash grab for some of us?
I have to pay $25 for a sticker that says exempt. I put less then 5000 miles on my Honda a year, so I don't need an emission sticker but I still need a sticker that says I don't need a sticker. Nothing is checked so they don't care about emissions, just some cash.

Same for both of our cars.

[offsides]

To build on that, my Antique car doesn't require emissions either but also does not require a sticker. So they *could* do what you want, but, they don't.

Yeah, I have two cars with antique plates that require no inspection or emission stickers. I also have a car with a vintage plate that does require a state inspection sticker but no emission or emission exempt sticker.

[NTP66]

In other news, my '07 TL-S broke 70k miles last week and that kinda makes me sad.

[Kane]

Why sad? That's pretty damn low for being 12 years old. My '11 Elantra will be hitting 100k in the coming months.

[NTP66]

I dunno, it just seemed to be in the 60k range forever (>2 years in reality). I'll probably drive a little more on the weekends because my wife's slow driving makes me crazy.

[Willie Kool]

Yeah, my 14 Regal is only a couple thousand miles away from 70k

[offsides]

My 14 Accord has 18k. Don't need to drive much when you're retired.

[dodint]

I'm still hunting for my BMW Z4, planning to buy next month. But I did a last ditch sweep of other interesting cars to see if anything else out there can pique my interest. It's going to sound absurd, but I love this car:

1997 Ford Thunderbird LX - $6,900









This thing is well optioned, hyper clean, cheap, and basically the peak version of the Thunderbird of my youth. And Rusty was my favorite NASCAR driver. My uncle had one from the generation before when he lived with us when I was about 7 years old. It has the same modular 4.6L V8 that my SVT Cobra had.

Main downside is that I can't Time Trial it like I can the Z4; and it's pretty much too nice to use as a winter car. It's also a bit on the long side for daily city driving; but, I've always loved big coupes and could overcome that pretty easily.

If this thing is still there in mid-September it will have to be put into the decision matrix.

[robbiestoupe]

I learned stick on an '88 Thunderbird. The turbo gauge was my favorite attribute.

[dodint]

My realization that this car has the 2V version of the 4.6L V8, which gets only 205hp rather than the 4V version which got 305hp that was in my SVT Cobra has dampened my enthusiasm for it.

My Mustang wasn't really fast with 305hp; this Thunderbird is hundreds of pounds heavier and has 100 less hp. It has less hp than the inline 6 in my current car.