The Automotive Thread

My cousin bought a ~10 year old 5 series. Told him not to but he did anyways. Paid about $12k for it IIRC, traded it in about six months later when an independent shop told him it'd be $5500 to make it road worthy.
If the itch must be scratched, find one som3 old dude had that has a binder of service paperwork

 

I didn't buy this one. It looked amazing, drove amazing, it had a brand top and top motor. There was no proof of any of the major services being done on the Carfax, lots of little stuff reported in it. At 125k miles, I expected more to have been done.

The wife was the voice of reason. While she was really only concerned with it not having a back seat, I used the time she was thinking about it to research parts and major service costs. That was a discouraging bit of research.

I think what I'm really after is something that handles like it's on rails. Something low, light and fast. I started browsing the 350z and 370z.

 

They are made near my hometown, and there's a glut of them from factory employees leasing them. As someone who gets unreasonably irritated by car trouble, do not bother. There's a few dozen German nerds who don't mind doing the work themselves, knowing the car will be road-worthy for about 4 months out of the year. Some of the late 90's models were over-engineered as fuck, and those may not be the mechanic's retirement fund that the later models were. My buddy has a 95 (ish) M3 that is just fucking stupidly powerful, and functionally bulletproof. He's done some of the work himself, but from the sounds of it, for a near 30 year old car, not much was needed.

Ahem, there's always the two-wheeled option....

My sister just got a 2008 Chevy Silverado 2500 with 108k on it for $8500. I'm not thrilled, because it's one of the bailout years, but the guy down the street used it as a legit farm truck, so it didn't have much wear/tear on it. She's now trying to sell her 08 Wrangler that's been a basket case. Here's hoping it works for her gardening/landscaping business (she runs a greenhouse). I think $8500 is kind of a steal, considering the market these days. I still can't find a Tundra or a Tacoma with a 6ft bed for under $44k, which is fucking stupid.

 

I kinda wish I still had the desire to ride a motorcycle on hard surface roads with other cars. I just.... don't. As far as speed and thrills go, it doesn't get much cheaper and accessable than a used motorcycle. I guess I got it out of my system 20 years ago. Last time I rode on public roads was 2009ish, when I borrowed my friend's bike to take wife for a ride.

I wouldn't mind having one for track use, like on VIR. I just don't love it enough to actually go that route.

 

Is it a regular cab? 4x4 or 2wd? That seems super low for a 3/4 ton with those miles. My 2011 1/2 ton with about 15k more miles books around $12k for average condition and when I sold my dad's GMC 2500 a few years ago the KBB had it at about $25k for a private sale

Also, a farm truck without much wear & tear? Lower miles sure, but I have yet to see a farm truck that hasn't been beat to hell

 

It's good to see that you finally came to your senses.

The bailout era quality control issues didn't really affect GM's full size trucks, because that's their number one moneymaker, and they didn't cut corners on them.

Hell, up until a couple of months ago, my work truck was a '08 2500 Silverado that I would drive out to the middle of nowhere regularly.

The cars/ smaller trucks and SUVs are a whole other story.

 

I have a tire that's losing about 2 pounds every day. I can't find a nail or any evidence. I took it to a shop that I trust and have them do other work for me. They couldn't find anything either. I didn't see them do it, but they said they tried the soapy water test, with no luck. The stem looks fine. I think I've got about 5-8k miles left in these tires, and don't really want to replace them yet. Is there anything else I should check? Is there a way to reseal the rim or something? (No idea what I'm talking about.) Or should I just go ahead and replace them?

 

I know they make TPMS safe sealant now, and I run Slime in all my lawnmowers and yard equipment tires. But, I don't really want to do that. I'll probably just get a new set, but it bothers me that I can't figure out why.

 

It could also be so small that it needs the weight of the vehicle in certain spots to make the leak appear.

 

Air up the tire to about 60 psi and try again.
Do your own soapy water test. Check around the bead seating surface.
Put it around the valve stem, then wiggle it around. Pour some INTO the valve stem.

It's got to be coming out from somewhere.

Oh, and for the love of God, DO NOT try any kind of sealant.
I have NEVER seen one that actually worked, and you've just ruined the tire for any further repairs.

For that matter, I've never seen ANY "leak stopper" that worked worth a shit. That goes for cooling leaks, oil/ transmission, A/C systems, etc.

Here's how it usually goes: Captain Dipshit decides that my estimate to repair his leak is too high, so he heads down to the parts store, where Johnny Cheesedick sells him a "miracle" leak stopper.
The "leak stopper" does jack shit, and he ends up running it dry of whatever fluid was leaking, resulting in him taking it back to me for a much more expensive repair.

Bravo, sir. Grade A decision making.

 

This. I had a very slow leak in a bike tire, when I finally pulled the tube and tried soap, there wasn't any sign of a leak until I squeezed the tube

 

I had a three piece wheel leak once and couldn't find it. Took it to a place that had a machine that pushed it into a giant tub and held it down under water. Ended up being a wheel defect.

 

As others mentioned, it could be the bead or the valve stem or core. Have you checked to be sure the core is tight in the stem? The tub idea with higher pressure is a great way to check the whole tire and wheel. It could even be a tiny crack in the wheel. I had a car with aluminum wheels with over 200k miles and it developed corrosion around the bead seat and started leaking. My local independent tire shop found the leak and used some sealant on the bead seat and remounted the tire. Problem solved.

 

I'm probably going to need new tires in the nexr few months. What's everyone running on their trucks?

Most of my driving is probably 90/10 on/off road, snow & ice, wet fields, etc.

The past several sets I've had have been Bridgestone Dueller Revo's.

 

I had Coopers on my Xterra and liked them quite a bit.
https://coopertire.com/en-us/find-tires/all-tires/discoverer-at3-4s

 

I've been running Firestone Transforce A/Ts on my truck for years.

All the fleet trucks where I work run BFG K02 A/Ts. Good stuff.