Jsdirt

I do that in the summer. Truck stays parked unless I need to tow or haul something, and for long trips, I take the Volvo 940. Wife drives the 940 in the winter, so I only do that for 3 seasons. She gets 10 mpg more than the truck. That Honda would be a fun commuter. Hear that engine is a peppy one. Great mileage to boot.

WOW that front end looks TWEAKED! Can see how out of line the front wheel is with the rears - he's almost steering halfway to the right just to keep it straight! Gotta love our government. God forbid you remove some emission devices ... but you're free to endanger yourself and the public by driving with the front end falling out of the vehicle ... I call that, "democrat logic" .

How I drive, and where I live have alot to do with the miles I see. Back when I was 17, getting 12k out of tires was great!

Since I started using Permatex Extreme brake grease (purple stuff), I haven't had the uneven pad issue happen. The stuff the autoparts stores give you is garbage, IMO. Doesn't last very long. Man, you guys are setting records with brakes! Most I've ever got out of a set was with the EBS Yellows on the Silverado - 32k & change if I remember right, and they were paper thin. Got my money's worth out of that set. When I first got my license, 10k was about it, maybe 18k with a standard transmission.

Welcome to my world. I see and deal with idiotic engineering daily. I swear the bastards are doing this on purpose. There can be no other explanation for the stupidity I see!

That's gonna be MINT when it's done! Nice color.

Ahh, just noticed the BMW tag there ... Now I get it!

SWEEEEEET - thing will look mint when it's done. What the heck is BLAU? Must be fancy for "blue" ....

Well, I was close ... It's actually an Ampro - a14-piece set, model #: T75871 https://www.amazon.com/AMPRO-T75871-Filter-Wrench-14-Piece/dp/B00A4AKTR0 There's been a couple times where I needed something in between the sizes I have, but I made it work. I might sell this one at some point, and grab a 30 piece set. On the shop front, got a '08 Impala in for an AIR system P0411, and the accompanying "rejected" sticker. What a friggin waste of money. Lady is on a fixed income, but because she lives in this communist bastion, she has to shell out almost $200 in parts to get this POS, USELESS system working again. Makes me so mad!! Turns out, the thing had a stuck AIR solenoid valve, and a bad solenoid valve relay. Of course, it's a GM specific relay, with ZERO information on it. Might just hack the wiring and install an old school cube relay. Stupid, useless garbage ... In between that toilet, I helped a single mom that lost all her lug nuts out on the main road here. Amazed the wheel didn't completely fall off - it came off the studs, but the rotor was riding in the drop-center of the rim! Crazy. Had her 2 year old girl in the car, too. Replaced all 6 studs and nuts, then added a gallon of coolant and 2 quarts of oil to her engine, and replaced a busted pressure sensor with a regular rubber stem (at her request, since none worked anyway). Probably a good thing she broke down there! An engine is MUCH more spendy than 6 studs and lug nuts. Told her she was all set, but she gave me $30. When she wasn't looking I put it back in her console ... but she was pretty sharp. She gave me a hug, and stuffed it back in my pocket, lol.

I think the one I have is made by Astro. I'll have to look & get the p/n & get back to you on that. But, yeah - well worth the money in aggravation saved. Most new vehicles have ridiculously inaccessible oil filters, except for a handful of them.

GM doesn't help things there, by surrounding it with the oil pan and bellhousing. After my 1st oil change on the Silverado back in '07, I bought a kit similar to this one. Made it 100x easier. https://www.amazon.com/XtremepowerUS-30Pcs-Filter-Wrench-Socket/dp/B015WTI0TQ/ref=sr_1_13?s=automotive&ie=UTF8&qid=1524225408&sr=1-13&keywords=oil+filter+socket+set Of course, that first oil change required 300 ft./lbs. of torque to remove the factory-installed OE filter ... Just did an oil change on a '03 2500HD with the 6.0 & 4L80E. On that one, GM routed the exhaust literally 3" away from the drain plug ... so not only can you not get a socket on it, but the stream of oil hits the exhaust and fans out everywhere, making a huge mess! Some engineering these days, I'll tell ya ...

Indeed!

I hear that, Jim! I was thinking of getting some goats. Should've done that before I spent $5 LARGE on a damn mower ...

Subsonic .22's - works for my dad in the heart of communism (urban central MA).

That's exactly how I learned, only it was my dad and grandpa helping me. Neighbors back in my old 'hood didn't do much but call the cops on my loud bikes, cars, friends, and parties ... Speaking of big sockets, I ran into the same situation trying to remove a front axle from a '04 Ram 2500. Of all the places, Tractor Supply had not only the 3/4" drive, 1-11/16" socket, but a 3/4" drive breaker bar, and adaptors down from 3/4" to 1/2", and vice-versa. Auto parts stores were all a big FAIL on that one. As I'm typing this ... yep ... it's SNOWING again ....

This is getting friggin ridiculous ...

No stranger to brake dust running EBC Yellows on the Silverado. In just 200 miles, my front mags are BLACK. Never seen brake dust so bad in my life. Price I'm willing to pay for unbelievable stopping power in a 6k lb. truck, though. Can only imagine how great they'd be in a car. Next time I'll have to see if they make a set for the Grand Marquis. That thing stops just as good as the truck with just it's plain-Jane, stock parts-store pads! I'm a big fan of these things.

WORST SPRING EVER ...

Front end on the truck looks hideous without chrome, IMO. The Camaro just plain looks hideous ...

The reason I ended up buying a tire machine and balancer 13 years ago was for that exact same reason. It was Town Fair Tire that was the last straw for me. My '72 El Camino got new wheels, lug nuts, and tires all the way around. They scratched the wheels, butchered and cross threaded the lugs, then the idiot kid comes out squealing the shit out of my power steering, and laughing about it ... right in front of me! Sad part is the kid didn't see anything wrong with this until I laid into him in front of a showroom full of people. Haven't had anyone do tires for me since.

Sounds like they need to hire some guys with experience, instead of fresh out of tech or high school. If the tire machine is in good shape, there's no reason they should be scratching wheels, unless they don't know how to use a tire iron carefully ... or just plain don't give a crap. I got my set from a car dealer out in CA off eBay 8 years ago. They came wrapped TIGHT with plastic, straps, & foam liner on a pallet. Took me quite a while to unpack the set. Wasn't a single mark, nor even a speck of dirt on them. They came off a '10 LTZ - only had 900 miles on them. They cost a bit, but back then I had never seen these wheels before, nor had anyone else. Here's the seller, but they don't have anything for sale at the moment: https://www.ebay.com/usr/uwin.tires-wheels-accs

Good choice. I've had my Corsa setup for over 11 years & 92k miles now. Hangers and clamps have become stalactites of rust, but the muffler and pipe are still solid - just a bronze color. I cut my stock pipe - was MUCH easier than jacking the truck 5' in the air. I could always weld it back together if I decide to sell it, but doubt there's a market for a stock exhaust system. Better off just keeping it in the barn where it's been for the last decade + ... for what reason I have no idea. I do live in MA, so just in case the state goes full commie on noise I guess ... I remember when my tips looked that purrty. Long, long ago. Whole truck was purrty then.

Definitely not a mud tire, but better than the glorified car tires they come with most of the time.

Meaty tires. Look like they'd be great off road & in snow. Good lookin' ones too.

Ahh, yep! No "R" on the end of "wide" ... and I believe that was supposed to be 11" rather than 8. 11.61" to be exact. Pretty fat. Been one of those weeks!