The Car Thread ... !

[ActionableMango]

Suddenly inspired to post my A4. No mods or anything (just tints). I love this car (although when my lease is up, I have some decisions to make)

Looks really good. I greatly prefer cars without mods. Almost everything that gets bolted on looks tacky to me.

As someone who owns a black car, I am certain that you took this picture 5 milliseconds after washing it. Because 10 milliseconds after washing a black car it looks dirty again.

 

[lowendlinux]

Looks really good. I greatly prefer cars without mods. Almost everything that gets bolted on looks tacky to me.

As someone who owns a black car, I am certain that you took this picture 5 milliseconds after washing it. Because 10 milliseconds after washing a black car it looks dirty again.

I like the stock look too but I'll mod the heck out of anything you can't see. I love to look of amazement that comes over people eyes when they start seeing all the non-obvious mods.

 

[ActionableMango]

i like the stock look too but I'll mod the heck out of anything you can't see. I love to look of amazement that comes over people eyes when they start seeing all the non-obvious mods.

I couldn't agree more. "Sleepers" really appeal to me.

 

[AustinIllini]

Looks really good. I greatly prefer cars without mods. Almost everything that gets bolted on looks tacky to me.

As someone who owns a black car, I am certain that you took this picture 5 milliseconds after washing it. Because 10 milliseconds after washing a black car it looks dirty again.

Hey, thanks! Yeah, much like on my phone, I don't mod my car. I like the intended user experience. Also, it's a lease, so...

Although I'm leaning towards buying a B8.5 S4 for my next car if the price is right

 

[Apple fanboy]

Looks really good. I greatly prefer cars without mods. Almost everything that gets bolted on looks tacky to me.

As someone who owns a black car, I am certain that you took this picture 5 milliseconds after washing it. Because 10 milliseconds after washing a black car it looks dirty again.

You think black is bad? My wife's car used to be black and I hated it for that reason. Now she has a white one! Omg it's impossible to keep clean.

 

[D.T.]

Hey, thanks! Yeah, much like on my phone, I don't mod my car. I like the intended user experience. Also, it's a lease, so...

In my mind, there's always a bit of compromise with stock - noise, vibration, harshness, emissions, etc., but I get people who want to use the car as delivered and don't want the extra hassles that are introduced with aftermarket.

One of Vettes I leased, it had a T1 suspension setup and a big cam ... hahahaha, yes, I did reverse everything before turning it back in
[doublepost=1510963669][/doublepost]

You think black is bad? My wife's car used to be black and I hated it for that reason. Now she has a white one! Omg it's impossible to keep clean.

I've owned a white car, it seemed like it stayed way cleaner that my black cars. I mean, it showed some dirt, but it seemed like it stayed much "brighter", where black just becomes +dull+ with a day of dust exposure ... sitting the garage.

 

[0388631]

Don't notice that with pearl or metallic blacks. On the other hand, silver, particularly darker shades, hide dirt well until it's too much.

 

[SactoGuy18]

More on my 2015 Honda Fit: I found for the best ride quality I have to pressurize the tires (tyres) to 34 psi (234.4 KPa) front and 33 psi (227.5 KPa) rear when cold. Any significant deviation from that will result in a dramatic drop in ride quality. Given how low profile tires are even on high-end sedan (saloon) vehicles, no wonder automakers spend a huge amount of money on suspension design.

 

[0388631]

More on my 2015 Honda Fit: I found for the best ride quality I have to pressurize the tires (tyres) to 34 psi (234.4 KPa) front and 33 psi (227.5 KPa) rear when cold. Any significant deviation from that will result in a dramatic drop in ride quality. Given how low profile tires are even on high-end sedan (saloon) vehicles, no wonder automakers spend a huge amount of money on suspension design.

I was looking into tire design yesterday morning. I remember the days of large sedans using normal profile tires and that itself provided enough comfort with suspension making up the rest. Looking at today's sedans, the tire profiles are slim. Really good suspension setups, sometimes complemented with air bags, help a lot. The only issue I have with modern sedans is wind noise, which thicker glass would help out with. Though, and I'm guessing here, is that thicker glass isn't DOT approved and the motors would blow often. Or thicker carpeting. The current trend is to pump engine noise into the cabin through a pipe in the firewall (I believe that's the correct method).

I'm not sure about your Fit (I'm still surprised Honda makes these!), but if it's on RFTs, simply switching to non-RFTs would shed some weight, handling, and improve ride quality by a large margin!

 

[SactoGuy18]

I'm not sure about your Fit (I'm still surprised Honda makes these!), but if it's on RFTs, simply switching to non-RFTs would shed some weight, handling, and improve ride quality by a large margin!

Honda starting making the third generation model in 2014 in Japan and at their new plant in Celeya, Mexico, and just had their mid-model change a few months ago. Known as the Jazz in Europe, I believe they'll get the mid-model change early next year.

 

[D.T.]

Car show today, pretty good one too, it's like just around the corner. I entered this one the same year I got my car, back in 2015, in fact, like2 weeks after it was delivered

 

[840quadra]

Well this just happened. Picked this car up for a song. For mod haters I am sorry. Yanking the 4.2 v8, and will be installing a 2.7t with a few OEM+ accessories attached. FWIW the existing 4.2 had timing chain failure, so I am not recycling a good running motor.

 

[0388631]

That home garage looks familiar. Not being too well informed on Audi engines, are you removing the 4.2 v8 stock engine and replacing it with a smaller engine from the same lineup/era? That's a B6, if I'm not mistaken. The headlights are simple unlike the B7, and the old B5s had thinner headlights of the same design.

I did have to lookup the engine, and that's a B6 S4 Avant, is it not? I recall the V8s in these cars being problematic, but that can't be the reason behind the engine swap, can it?

 

[D.T.]

Good show, solid turnout, they changed up to non-judge for late models, so a bunch of us got "People's Choice" type awards (just shy of a participation trophy ), but it was more about just hanging out with some other car enthusiasts. Got the heads up on a big show in March I'll probably be attending.

 

[D.T.]

Not being too well informed on Audi engines, are you removing the 4.2 v8 stock engine and replacing it with a smaller engine from the same lineup/era?

@840quadra Yes, explain yourself

 

[44267547]

I couldn't agree more. "Sleepers" really appeal to me.

Speaking of sleepers, storing the T.T. Ford SHO for the winter sadly. I had a short time with it since I purchased it back in August, but the most fun I have had with a car in a long time. I have driven quite a few fast cars, but this car really shocked me with the raw power it puts out and what a few tune modifications under the hood can make a huge difference for performance.

 

[elf69]

yesterday had a meet for the Hyundai coupe club (Tiburon for you state side)

Sadly due to members forgetting etc only 3 of the 7 showed up...

My black 2.0L RD2 far end.
Silver 2.7L V6 GK
Blue 1.6L GK

 

[840quadra]

@Relentless Power , it is nice to see there is some HP to back your screen name .

@840quadra Yes, explain yourself

That home garage looks familiar. Not being too well informed on Audi engines, are you removing the 4.2 v8 stock engine and replacing it with a smaller engine from the same lineup/era? That's a B6, if I'm not mistaken. The headlights are simple unlike the B7, and the old B5s had thinner headlights of the same design.

I did have to lookup the engine, and that's a B6 S4 Avant, is it not? I recall the V8s in these cars being problematic, but that can't be the reason behind the engine swap, can it?

The 4.2 is an all aluminum v8 with decent power for the time of 340hp, 302 Lb-ft torque. When properly maintained part of that process is removal of the engine to replace the timing chain tensioners. Something many owners skip, resulting in failure of the timing system, and bent valves or worse.

I own a 2000 Audi S4 which has a twin turbo v6 that originally had 250hp, however with a mild tune, exhaust, and downpipes will reliably produce ~330hp, and ~390 Lb-ft of less peaky torque. From there, you can install slightly larger turbos and change fueling on the stock components to pull in around 450hp , even more. The goal for me is around 430 at the wheels, but that will depend on what turbochargers I go for.

The entire reason for this purchase / change. A driver that was not paying attention to their surroundings, darted into my lane without warning or even looking. I lost control of my S4, and spun it backwards into the ditch, and struck those awesome and amazing cables. Hind sight I should have stuck to my lane and pitted them like you see on the cop shows, but that is a totally different discussion. Thankfully I did not hit any other cars in this process, and nobody was injured (including myself). Airbags didn’t deploy, and after a quick tire change, I was able to drive the car home. Sadly, the front door no longer seals, and the A-pillar where the fender meets the door is pushed in. Not worth fixing at that point, the unibody is significantly damaged.

I already have a good portion of the parts to upgrade my outgoing S4, so I decided to put all of it into this car, and nickname it starship Phoenix (yes I am a trek geek) .

 

[lowendlinux]

More on my 2015 Honda Fit: I found for the best ride quality I have to pressurize the tires (tyres) to 34 psi (234.4 KPa) front and 33 psi (227.5 KPa) rear when cold. Any significant deviation from that will result in a dramatic drop in ride quality. Given how low profile tires are even on high-end sedan (saloon) vehicles, no wonder automakers spend a huge amount of money on suspension design.

You sound like a Jeeper playing with tire pressures..it takes most of us a couple weeks to figure out what pressure to run for me is 26psi in front and 24 psi in the rear

 

[elf69]

agree, took 6 months find right pressure for my car.

it's got bigger alloys fitted so factory pressure chart no good now.

on my 2001 tubby 35psi front and 30-32 rear depending if carrying or not.

 

[D.T.]

I already have a good portion of the parts to upgrade my outgoing S4, so I decided to put all of it into this car, and nickname it starship Phoenix (yes I am a trek geek) .

First, glad you weren't injured in that event.

Secondly, OK, you are officially Car Guy of the Month™

 

[840quadra]

First, glad you weren't injured in that event.

Secondly, OK, you are officially Car Guy of the Month™

LOL IDK about that, the new SHO , and other cars posted are more worthy. I just buy and maintain other people’s 2nd hand scrap.

 

[D.T.]

Well, that's some serious wrenching you've described. Heck, you're making me feel bad about not even wanting to installed my own headers

 

[bunnspecial]

So, since turning on the heat in the MGB for the winter(an under the hood process) I've had steam from the vents and an overwhelming stench of antifreeze in the cabin.

I'd conceded the fact that the heater core was probably bad, although I called John Twist(top MG mechanic, now retired) on Friday to get his confirmation. I hadn't heard back from him, so I went ahead and ordered a replacement thinking that I'd change it over the long weekend.

John called me back today, and told me that he can count on one hand the number of bad cores he's seen in 40 years-most often the problem is a loose or bad hose clamp that causes coolant to spray into the pressure box. He went on to describe heater core replacement as "the single worst job on the car-worse than removing the engine." Granted if you have your ducks in a row pulling the engine is a 3 hour job, but still that's saying something.

So, it looks like I'm going to be visiting NAPA to get some hose clamps, and then probably returning the $100 heater core. Still, at least I'll have it if in fact it's bad.

 

[D.T.]

^ Like for the informative post, do_not_like the situation
[doublepost=1511211109][/doublepost]OK, it's looking like the most recent Jeep GCs are pretty solid. We all know FCA is not the most reliable, but it appears their Jeep brand is a bit isolated from this, and the GCs are on the better end of the Jeep service spectrum.

So I've done a BYO, Jeep GC, 4x4 _if_course_,the High Altitude package, all "blacked out", standard dark 20" wheels, the Lux Package, Tow (7200 lbs), full electronics, Safety Package (with AAC, crash mitigation, side sensors, lane departure, etc.), dual panoramic glass roof, this package is actually above the Limited, so it has all the convenience features, automated lift gate, upgraded lighting heated front and rear, pretty much you name it.

I think this may be the new family ride. Just not sure about the V6 vs. the V8, as people know from my posting in this thread, I love me some 8-cylinders, but the 3.5L Pentastar is pretty outstanding, and this really isn't a performance vehicle. Amazingly with the V6, an a ~25g tank, it has over a 600 mile range.