Ontopic A Thread About Butt Mustard, For Those Who Drive Automobiles

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Sarcasmo

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Mar 28, 2005
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New thread for general car postings and information.

I'll start.


How old are the tires on your vehicle?

Check them, even if they look (and were sold to you as) brand new tires with unworn treads.

The date of manufacture is indicated by the last group of digits in the DOT manufacture code on the sidewall of the tire. The number is often stamped in a recessed rectangle. The DOT code tells who manufactured the tire, where it was made and when. The last group of digits in the code is the date code that tells when the tire was made.

Before 2000, the date code had three digits. Since 2000, it has had four. The first two digits are the week of the year (01 = the first week of January). The third digit (for tires made before 2000) is the year (1 = 1991). For most tires made after 2000, the third and fourth digits are the year (04 = 2004).

In the photo below, the date code is 8PY806. The 8PY is a manufacturing shift code, and the date the tire was actually made was 0806, which is the 8th week (08)in the year 2006 (06).

tire_date_code_3b.jpg


Many stores will try to sell you tires that have been lying around for 5 or 6 or even 10 years. Never buy tires that are more than a few years old based on their date code, as older tires lose elasticity and are more prone to failures like tread separation, which can kill you at highway speed.

The_More_You_Know.jpg
 
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Any decently busy store will go through inventory quickly enough that they wont have 3+ year old tires, it would be rare for them to have tires more than a year old.

Fun facts, there is no set age for tires to be replaced in the US, however in Europe I believe they want you to toss tires older than six years.


Edit: really good stores send inventory back based on age.
 
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Since there's this thread I guess I want advice. I intend to buy a new-used car sometime this year. My requirements are that it needs to have enough space for 2 car seats and a double stroller, get really good gas mileage (above 30mpg), have a decent stereo system, and a moonroof. I want to spend $16K or less. I'd rather it not have more than about 30K on it. What do you all recommend?
 
Any decently busy store will go through inventory quickly enough that they wont have 3+ year old tires, it would be rare for them to have tires more than a year old.

I finally remembered to cut and paste that from another site based on an experience we had last week, but TireRack.com shipped Wranglers for my FJ last year that were made in '06. Last week Discount offered tires for the Benz from mid-'08 (that's almost 5 years now).
 
I finally remembered to cut and paste that from another site based on an experience we had last week, but TireRack.com shipped Wranglers for my FJ last year that were made in '06. Last week Discount offered tires for the Benz from mid-'08 (that's almost 5 years now).

Tire rack has huge warehouses that dont really move a lot. Dunno what was up with Discount though, what size tires were they? Off-sizes sit around for a while.
 
Since there's this thread I guess I want advice. I intend to buy a new-used car sometime this year. My requirements are that it needs to have enough space for 2 car seats and a double stroller, get really good gas mileage (above 30mpg), have a decent stereo system, and a moonroof. I want to spend $16K or less. I'd rather it not have more than about 30K on it. What do you all recommend?

45mpg http://atlanta.craigslist.org/atl/ctd/3652930392.html
 
I should have said I don't want to drive a manual. There's nothing worse in stop and go traffic and driving short distances, which are usually my two states of being. And I've heard that it's incredibly expensive to fix a VW if something goes wrong. Any opinions?

They make auto. You lose a couple mpg though. It's so high as is that it doesn't matter much.
 
I should have said I don't want to drive a manual. There's nothing worse in stop and go traffic and driving short distances, which are usually my two states of being. And I've heard that it's incredibly expensive to fix a VW if something goes wrong. Any opinions?

If you do preventative maintenance, i wouldnt say it is a huge amount more, but a lot of people wait till shit breaks before fixing it.
 
If you do preventative maintenance, i wouldnt say it is a huge amount more, but a lot of people wait till shit breaks before fixing it.

Wouldn't the costs of preventative maintenance equal the costs of repairs though? I always wonder about this. I usually just wait until stuff breaks other than doing the change oil and other fluids type of stuff. I get my breaks done when it's time. Get my tires replaced when they give up. I never ever ever take my car to a dealership for anything. My mechanic is reasonable but says that VW parts are the expensive bit. Labor is labor.
 
Not necessarily, and doing PMs will keep the car running in optimum condition so you will get max MPGs.
PM also typically finds minor issues before they become major issues which allows you to plan for the repair.

Example: regular flushing of the cooling system every year to every 2 years will keep the cooling system running fine.
Never flushing the cooling system allows corrosion and sediment to build up, clogging the radiator and the passages. Never flushing the cooling system can also slowly alter the pH balance of the coolant, allowing it to eat away at the internals. GM's DexCool is real bad about this.
 
Wouldn't the costs of preventative maintenance equal the costs of repairs though? I always wonder about this. I usually just wait until stuff breaks other than doing the change oil and other fluids type of stuff. I get my breaks done when it's time. Get my tires replaced when they give up. I never ever ever take my car to a dealership for anything. My mechanic is reasonable but says that VW parts are the expensive bit. Labor is labor.

http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20110128102459AARVoFR
 
Fuel cleaning packages are mostly crap though. Modern gasoline has so many detergents and cleaning agents in it that there is really no need to get a fuel service unless you are in the habit of using old gasoline (or are under extreme use conditions)
 
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