Can’t Fix Stupid

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I am constantly amazed by the carelessness of drivers around me and in this particular case, that carelessness gets upgraded into the realm of “can’t fix stupid”.

Since I have had some issues with my internet service provider’s billing, I decided to stop by one of their offices.  Yes, I tried the phone but they were reluctant to help.  I thought a face-to-face visit might solve the problem, but no.  I was greeted by a very friendly person, but that is as far as it went.  The experience was a complete waste of time because the person on the other side of the counter gave me her minimum-wage’s worth of help.  But, I digress.

Back to my story…

On the way out of the internet provider’s office I noticed this parked sad and lonely SUV with a flat right-rear tire.  What struck me as odd was the ring on the sidewall showing evidence of severe wear.  It is very obvious, this tire had traveled a long distance completely flat.  So much so, that the sidewall material is showing through the rubber on the sidewall.  Just imagine how hot this sidewall got too!

Cord exposed on the tire’s sidewall due to severe under inflation

I suppose I am overly sensitive to stuff like this because I am very particular about the care of my automobiles.  However, in today’s world there are so many people who ignore the basics of automotive care.  Are drivers so oblivious they don’t notice issues with their vehicles?

Flat or under inflated tires are prevalent these days.  I’ve witnessed on several occasions SUV’s (driven by millennial soccer moms) with kids in tow and yet the tires on these vehicles are either low on air or past their prime (sometimes both!).  Then, I can just hear the conversations blaming tire quality when catastrophic failures like the one pictured above happen.

Can’t fix stupid.

Bedliner Clad Jeep

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The other day, I walked to a little restaurant next door to the place I work at and in the parking lot saw this bedliner clad Jeep.  The olive drab paint job is indeed bedliner.  How cool is that!

I realize this is not something special.  This Jeep’s owner decided to treat this vehicle to an iron clad paint job that will quite frankly last forever.  Truth is to be told, I did the same thing (except in black) to the entire underside of bowtie6.

Think about it, this is one hell of a cool idea!  I walked up to the vehicle and touched it – the surface was far from “smooth”.  It was quite rough but looked awesome.  So much so, the material also covered all the emblems in such a way they could easily be read.

Pretty cool huh?

Ford Tough

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Driving RedRock to work this week, I see this vehicle at a red light proudly wearing a Ford Tough sticker…

But wait a minute…  What is wrong here?  This is not a Ford Tough SUV!!  This is a Honda Pilot.  😯

I get a kick out of the different stickers people plaster on their cars…

  • Stick families (gotta include the dogs/cats)…
  • Holy rollers…
  • “My kid did this or the other special crap”…
  • Political affiliation – these are even more entertaining when comparing candidates vs car/SUV/truck…
  • Hardware (as in guns)…
  • In memory of…

And then, one of my favorites:  the ones that make no sense at all.  As in today’s featured picture making a Honda Pilot “Ford Tough”.  Wonder how the boys in Dearborn feel about that?

As we say here in the South, “Bless his heart”.  But it’s all good, after all he is a Clemson Dad.  😉

Question of Motor Oil Qualities

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I decided to change oil on bowtie6 and headed to AutoZone with three jugs of used oil and responsibly disposed of the old stuff in their recycling tank.  Since they let me do this, I try to keep business with them so I picked up an Ecotec compatible K&N oil filter and a 5 quart jug of Mobil1 5w-30 oil.

The fellow behind the counter scanned the goods and said the bill was almost $50.  This didn’t make sense because the posted price for the oil was $29.  He said that is the price with a Mobil1 oil filter; otherwise the price of the oil is $38.  This is a scam because the Mobil1 filters are slightly double what the K&N filters go for.  So at the end, the price is almost the same.

I told him I would pass on the oil; instead I just bought the K&N filter.  This is when I asked him why the price discrepancy because I can buy the same jug of Mobil1 oil from Wal-Mart for $23.

His reply was very interesting…

Before he started answering my question, he informed me he was a previous manager at a Pep Boys and had also been in charge of an automotive department at a Wal-Mart before working at AutoZone.  And, he gave me the “look”, as if to say what he was about to say was the inside dope on matters.  Then, he proceeded to tell me that Exxon-Mobil makes two different qualities of oil.  AutoZone gets the premium batches while Wal-Mart gets the scraps.  Thus the difference in price between the two.

According to this fellow, the AutoZone Mobil1 oil gets certified as premium oil.  He then informed me that the Mobil1 oil sold at Wal-Mart is of a lesser quality.  In his words: “the Mobil1 sold at Wal-Mart is the bottom of the mixing vats and the size of the molecules is not up to par with the batches they sell at AutoZone”.

Hmmmm…  Again, I did some Google searches on this subject and indeed it is a matter of debate.  All I have to say is that given the law-suit friendly climate prevalent in our nation today, why would a huge company like Exxon-Mobil expose themselves to loss by making two qualities of oil branded under the same name?

Yet more food for thought:  what about the Mobil1 sold at Costco?  They don’t sell the jugs, instead they carry the six-packs.  Yet the price is comparable to the Wal-Mart price.  Reckon this has to do with volume of good sold and not necessarily quality?

What are your thoughts on this?

Like my Dad used to say, “Opinions are like assholes, everyone has one”.  😉

Until next time…

Bad Wheel Bearing

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Pitted bearing race

Yesterday, I jumped in bowtie6 and went for a drive when not far from home I heard the classic rumble that comes from a bad wheel bearing.  On the way back home, the rumble developed a slight thumping.

I’m like, wtf? 😯 This is the second bad wheel bearing!  Back in April 2012, I posted an article describing the Rear Wheel Bearing Replacement.

So with my cousin Jim’s help, we pulled both rear axles from the housing and inspected their bearings.  Passenger’s side was normal; but the driver’s side bearing was very rough, as expected.

Jim busted the bearing using the same technique I described in the article from last time and sure enough, this is when we discovered the bearing’s race nicely pitted.

The majority of the race was in decent shape, except for the big round pit shown in the picture above.  The ball bearings were not smooth and showed slight pitting with a very dull finish.  Jim explained this is normal when particles from a bearing start to shear off and make a mush of themselves.

Pitted ball bearings from the bad bearing

This picture above shows three of the worse ball bearings – sorry for the picture quality – and as you can see they are rather dull-looking.  The crack on the race was caused by us when we took the thing apart.

RW207-CCRA rear wheel bearing

And of course, this is crappy Chinese-made stuff.  Jim has gone through 3 rear bearings on his TR4 and this is the second failure on bowtie6.  Unfortunately, it appears these wheel bearings are no longer made in the USA and as expected, this is yet another example of poorly made products from China. Jim explained this is bad quality steel on the race and/or the ball bearings and that once the surface starts to peel, it is only a matter of time before failure.

I ran a few queries on Google today and found versions of this type wheel bearing made in Japan.  From what I have read on some forums, the Japanese versions are of a higher quality.  Needless to say, I’ll be ordering some soon.  However if you know where I could find these bearings made in the USA, please let me know.

Driver’s side rear end

Passenger’s side rear end

Passenger’s side axle with good bearing