Old thread is in autosage so I'll start a new oneCan /o/ identify the car being driven in this picture? What is it? Funny story, it would help me to know.
>>28692745You couldn't google the current Mercedes models you lazy retard?
Is $1015 too much to replace the two front control arms? At first I thought it was, but after watching the YouTube video it looks like a lot of work. We also got quoted $835 for front sway bar links and bar assembly. that one I know is way, way too much. This mechanic just charged us $960 to reprogram throttle body adaptation, replaced rear latch assembly, and leak detection pump after evap bullshit which I thought was a great price considering how much fucked up shit they fixed. This is for a 2012 Fiat 500 sport that has a trade in value of $500 lol. The intrinsic value is way higher though, you guys probably know what I mean: it's a street legal car ffs. Barely over 100k miles.
>>28692749>white dialsIt's not a Mercedes. It's a Nissan or Mitsubishi or something.
>>28692749Not the white car, the car that the person taking the photo is driving.
>>28692745Lotus Elise?
>>28692749>>28692757>>28692758Oh, and all I know is it's "really rare."
>>28692762The single wiper blade narrows it down a bit
>>28692761No match
What's the best way to learn wrenching? I have a beater truck I want to limp along to a million miles
>>28692774Look up how to fix something on YouTube whenever something goes wrong or seems off. Buy parts off rockauto if you have alternative transportation, otherwise make the day trip to napa or wherever
>>28692774>I have a beater truckYou're off the the best start. Buy the mechanic tool set from harbor freight, jack, 2 jack stands, and then you can do 95% of jobs.
>>28692745
>>28692779How do I know when something needs preventative maintenance? I'm autistic so I can understand "check engine light, throws P0157, replace O2 sensor", but all vehicles accumulate wear across all the parts and I'd rather not fix a problem when it leaves me stranded on the side of the road.>>28692786I currently have most of what's in that kit, one thing I currently want to learn is how to build engines. I understand that things like resurfacing / boring cylinders is probably outside the range of DIY for a while, but I know just enough to know I'll fuck it up if I try right now and it frustrates me.
>>28692788The gauges are different, though?
Replaced brakes and rotors, something I've never done. Before replacing, one rotor started to have this ring worn into it. After new pads and rotor installed, the same wheel had said ring appeared again. What did I mess up on?
>>28692800looks like the caliper may be sticking, drive down the road throw her in nuetral and see if the car drifts to the side that rotor is on.
>>28692805With a flashlight I can't see any gap, so I believe that true. Somewhere else someone recommended lubing the caliper pin. Any idea if it could be anything else?
>>28692798That pic has aftermarket gauges, just look it up on google.
>>28692836Oh yeah, ok, thank you, anon!
>>28692817could be that, could be the brake piston getting stuck after you let off the brakes, could be a bunch of different things. If something is sticking driving hitting the brakes hard rto drop 5-10 mph then seeing if it pulls to that side will give the answer.
>>28692800That's fuckin weird. Find Jesus.
>>28692800Go her an alignment and ask the shop. I bet the wheel is out of spec and you or a prior owner hit something
Can you realistically turn a cheap plastic interior into a luxury interior?
>>28693110diamond stitched leather covering all the panels with carbon fiber epoxied over the remaining trim will usually do it, but why go through the trouble?
>>28692745I've found a work manual for my engine. Skyactiv-d 1.5 But nowhere in it does it mention specs and part numbers.Where could I find this? For example I dont know how to choose a replacement fuel filter. I dont even know how to chose a replacement engine air filter. No, I cant just go open it up and look at the piece for the numbers. I dont have a place my own wrenching garage. >>28693092Its your life anon. You will have less grip.Just buy all season tyres like me and dont have to change.
>The front jacking position is so deep under the frame that I cant possibly reach it with my small jack.Why do they do this?Whats a work around?
>>28693230diagram is showing spots along the side trim for jacking, the jack points are just for a full front or back lift, you can always jack along the normal roadside points to get it in the air and put a jackstand under. or drive her up on ramps, 50$ buys a pair of cheapos from harbor freight, then use the central jack points from there.
Will there be any issues or major loss of performance with adapting a 3 inch cat for 2.5 piping?
>>28693306No. The difference isn't big enough to worry about, but make the change as gradually as possible/reasonable to preserve some velocity. The cat is going to slow the flow substantially, before we even talk about the size change, which means a big increase in static pressure at the cat. Do a good job and you won't have any problems
>>28692752Control arms shouldn't be hard, that price seems ridiculous. Spend the difference on tools and do it yourself.
>>28693230red looks like jack points, blue works if you are careful and can get a good angle with your jack
Any got any recommendations for a product that 'hides' micro scratches on windows? Guess some of the wind storms I had over the summer got sand/dirt in the brushes/guards for side windows and now after having the windows go up and down during the autumn. They are now scuffed and creating a safety hazard when the sun hits them just right and cant really see through them well.
>>28693230My car is similar. The easiest way I've found to get all four wheels off the ground is to back up onto some ramps, then slide my jack in behind the front tire (picrel), lift the front end onto jack stands placed at the pinch welds or near the control arms depending on what I need to do. Then you can lift the rear off the ramps and put it on stands as well if you need to mess around back there too.
>>28693672Lifting a small car one side at a time is a pain in the ass and sketchy to boot. Pinch welds work fine if you just need to get one tire off but for bigger jobs you're gonna want to lift the whole front end at once.
Are these tire inflators any good at $100?
>>28693092Depends on if theres ice on the road a lot, Ive gotten stuck at the bottom of a hill on snow/ice in 4wd, switched to some cheap winter tires on a set of junkyard steelies and zoomed up the same road and conditions in 2wd in my truck. It makes a huge difference in stopping too
>>28693770seems excessive. I haven't had any issues with pic rel
Any suggestions for an OBD reader that also has monitoring available? Preferably one that's not horrifically expensive; maybe $150 or under. Bonus: it connects to your phone and/or computer to let you review the data there too.
>>28692745Might as well repost my old issue since I was in the middle of it when we hit bump limit.>My 08 Towncar's battery died today at the grocery store under strange circumstances. I'd charged up the battery at home with my battery tender the night before. At home the car started up fine. I go in and shop for an hour and I come out and it won't start. Put my battery jumper on it and it starts right up, first crank no problem.>Is this a shitty battery? or is it something else?>If it was the starter I wouldn't think that my battery jumper would get it to start and I don't see how the alternator would be the issue since the car was off. Should I just throw down for a new battery, its the one that came with the car when I bought it and I have no clue how old it is.To which an anon asked me.>when the battery was dead was it cranking just very slow, just clicking, or doing nothing at all?To whit I replied.>just clicking>Starter fires, engine does nothing. If I jump it then it fires right up and keeps charge while the engine runs.So my impression is that if its an alternator issue then it would still be losing power with the engine running since it wouldn't be converting engine power into electricity. And if it was a starter issue then it wouldn't start at all. Which makes me think its the battery going to shit. That said the car refusing to start after a brief 1 hour sit in the grocery store parking lot still confuses the hell out of me.Am I mistaken?
>>28694206A drive down to the store shouldn't drain a good battery even if the alternator isn't charging it. You should get many starts out of it. So your battery is just a dud. It will hold a charge for a few minutes off the charger but it ain't holding much of a charge and it is self-discharging. You need a new battery.
What's a good tire jack/lift to pick the tires up 12-18" to put them back on? Sometimes at work it can be hard for me to get tires put back on the car quickly. The two worst causes of it for me are big heavy awkward truck tires, and cars that use lug bolts instead of lug nuts.
cheapest good sedan with stock cd player and backup camera
>>28694322Get whatever car you want and add those aftermarket.
>>28693092If there's no snow/ice then no problem as long as you're driving like regular traffic.If there is then you are now driving a sled
>>28694322cadillac cts-v
What's a decent mode of transportation for a poorfag living in rural south U.S.? For context: I make about 15 a hour and my commute range for most of the places I travel to is around 4 miles (6.4 km).
>>28694413Cheap beater car or a bicycle if you're willing to be miserable.Try to find an early 00s Toyota or Honda with under 200,000 miles.
>>28694413What's your budget? Don't know about state laws but you can get e-bikes now that are fast, you don't even need a fast one 4 miles is nothing
I have 100K miles on a 2002 Japanese carI just noticed the check engine light came on, but a couple of days ago the battery died (8 years, pretty good run)How much should I be worried? Kinda cash strapped because my wife just got out of a coma, but at the same time, my wife just got out of a coma, so having more than one car is kind of important
>>28694413get yourself an electric scooter my guy. it's hard to go wrong with any of gotrax's offeringsalso you can custom flash all of them afaik to get way higher than advertised top speeds
>>28694427>What's your budget?6k, and I live in Georiga. Nothing specifically against e-bikes from what I know.
>>28694478Get an electric bike/scooter and soup the shit out of it. Flashy lights, spinner rims, air horn, hydraulics, etc.
>>28694478>6k,Pffft, you can afford a good beater for $6K. Don't listen to these dinks telling you to get an E bike.
>>28694506Americans so do obsess over them despite their infrastructure being outright hostile to then, lol.
>>28694537Our country is massive, we don't live in some queer "walkable city".
Backup camera is foggy as shit. I think the plastic cap is covered in tiny scratches because it looks clear from the outside and I've scrubbed the shit out of it with a microfiber cloth soaked in alcohol. Anyone know techniques to restore it?
>>28694206It's always better to buy the battery if yours is more than a year old. At worst, you know you have a good battery in it, so you can cross that off the troubleshooting list if the problem persists, plus you get ahead of maintenance you'll end up needing to do later anyway.
>>28694627>Our country is massiveeurope is bigger than americahell, a 3rd world country like brazil is as well lol
>>28694627>Our country is massive....so why do you recommend something that's not suited for it?
>>28694755You forgot to add Alaska
>>28694961>You forgot to add Alaskalol alaska isnt connected to this le large landmass
>>28694980And yet it's still part of the country. Wild, right?
>>28695025>Wild, right?Wild how do are too stupid to comprehend the point Im making, going to your cope technicality
>>28694506I live in rural Wisconsin and have an ebike in addition to my cars. It was under 700, no registration, no insurance, tops out at 37mph, already has lights and blinkers and a horn and stuff. I could totally commute on it even though most of the roads around me are 55mph county highways. It's honestly not a bad option if you're tight on money especially if you don't get cold winters. With a 4 mile commute you wouldn't even have to charge it but maybe once every two weeks so it's cheap as hell to run. If you'd rather have a car do that though there's obviously many more benefits
>drop my car off to get ceramic coated>He has a stupid fucking eurofaggot accent>Starts telling me all my body panels have been repainted, I'm pretty sure he's wrong but I also do not care.How badly am I gonna get fucked by this? Feel like he's angling for a scam.
I have a 2002 Chevy TrackerIt only has 100K on the clockBut the batter died hard a couple of days ago, like, didn't even click, couldn't run the dome light, nothingReplaced the batter and noticed that the check engine light is onI know that when batteries die cars can throw codes that are just BSHow do I check the codes myself?
>running late to a meeting, park in a 15-minute spot>after the meeting there's a normal spot open just opposite, so I just re-park by driving into it in a couple of seconds>end of the day car won't start>cranks and cranks so battery and starter are probably fine, but no ignition>plug in OBD2 scanner just in case>no codes>check all fuel/engine related fuses and relays>all looks good>spray starter fluid into air intake to check if it's a fuel or ignition problem>car starts a bit rumblier than usual but then runs normally>all good afterwards, starts without starter fluid toowhat could have been the issue? did I just flood the engine with my quick cold start re-parking?
>>28695154How do you bike with only a few feet separating you and a vehicle casually exceeding your top speed? That seems like a headache if your city is tailored for bikes.
>>28695714*isn't
Can I be lazy and paint this or do I need to clean off the light surface rust first
Went to change a fuse for the first time on my truck after my gauge lights stopped working, and noticed that the previous owner had them in a different configuration. Any reason why that would be?>>28696308Def clean it off
>>28696314Alright pal. You win
>>28696325Burfect
current going price for a BMW X3 2012? my dipshit brother bought one even though he's meant to be poor
>>28692745I am now the proud owner of a 2017 2.0 TFSI Audi A5. It has 75k miles. Are there any things that i should keep in mind when it comes to taking care of this car other than possible oil consumption, yearly oil changes and 5 year timing belt changes?
>>28696314>Any reason why that would be?Because he's a fucking idiot that doesn't know what fuses are for and why you shouldn't put a higher amperage one in.
>>28696325Should done the best of both worlds - paint it in rust convertor. Shit's magic.
I figure this may be the best place to ask, so here goes. I bought picrel recently and was doing some research on wheel dimensions. I want to throw a set of RS Watanabes, but I'm not too sure of size that will fit. I'd like a set of classic 8 spokes. Google shows the offset is 45 mm for both an NA Miata and my car. Though the bolt pattern is slightly different. My factory tire size is a 155/80R13 with a 5 or 5.5 inch wide wheel, factory. Watanabes start at either 8 or 8.5 inch width, depending on rim. I'd like to keep the factory offset. These are seemingly popular on Miata's, so I thought I'd ask if anyone thinks or knows these will clear on my car being similar era and size.
