[96firephoenix]

That generated a question in my mind - I wonder if a place like Discount Tire (America's Tire in some areas), whose service I've been impressed with, who offers 'free' tire rotations and balancing as necessary for tires purchased there, would go ahead and do the full rotation on a directional tire including the demount, remount, balance, included in that 'free'.

Have you checked with them?

they only cover a wheel-level tire rotation, I.e. you will have to pay for mount/balance service on a directional tire rotation. Unless if you drive a LOT, you're only looking at spending that once a year

 

[mdxstang]

Just adding to the tire rotation topic - I just read the warranty details of Michelin, Continental, Pirelli, and Goodyear as a sample - they all indicate that their warranties are void if the tires aren't rotated per the vehicle manufacturer's recommendations.

 

[mdxstang]

they only cover a wheel-level tire rotation, I.e. you will have to pay for mount/balance service on a directional tire rotation. Unless if you drive a LOT, you're only looking at spending that once a year

That makes sense and is what I assumed but you never know. The additional cost of the mount/balance if one wants a full rotation isn't significant, especially when considered against the cost of the tires or especially the vehicle. It'd be about $40 (2 tires crossing sides) per about every 8K or so miles. That's less than the cost of a dinner or just a handful of Starbucks trips for many people.

The MDX owner manual indicates the front/back rotation as a supported one for directional tires so it'd be possible to just do the front/back and be within the bounds of the tire warranties.

 

[rka4570]

Refined my using Carpro Essence +. It removed a few spots in the coating as well as some micro scratches from drying the car with a microfiber drying cloth. I purchased a Metrovac Master Blaster and no longer towel dry my cars.

 

[mdxstang]

I purchased a Metrovac Master Blaster and no longer towel dry my cars.

I just looked that up. It was around $500 if I was looking at the same product. I guess I'll just continue towel drying my cars.

Did it work well though? Do you think it was significantly better than, for example, a leaf blower?

 

[rka4570]

I just looked that up. It was around $500 if I was looking at the same product. I guess I'll just continue towel drying my cars.

Did it work well though? Do you think it was significantly better than, for example, a leaf blower?

My MDX is black and it gets light scratches no matter how carefully you towel dry the car. I have a Milwaukee leaf blower that I was using. Areas where I feel this dryer is superior than a leaf blower.

Advantages:

1. Higher speed airflow gets air from crevices more efficiently.
2. Filtered air flow - Reduces the possibility of blowing dirt on you car.
3. Rubberized tip on the hose is easier to maneuver and get into crevices. Rubber tip is less likely to damage your paint vs the hard plastic tip of a leaf blower.
4. Much easier to direct air flow from the hose rather than large leaf blower.
5. High flow air compression somewhat heats the air aid in drying.
6. With the 30' long hose I mounted the dryer on the garage wall where it very convenient to use.

Cons

1. Higher cost vs leaf blower

The Metrovac dryer is definitely on the higher end price wise and is considered enthusiasts/pro detailer level equipment. There are other car dryers on the market some priced around the $100.00 range.

 

[JTM]

Did tire rotation today. While on it, gave them a nice bath.

 

[datechboss101]

Stretched her legs out today. Left home around 4:30am to go to Hollywood for DMV things (gotta love South Florida). Boward County (where Hollywood, FL is located) is behind in items that Orange County, FL has, such as an appointment system & a card reader for transaction. Had to get the registration done cuz the Benz wasn't registered since 2019 yet the California plates had valid stickers till June 2022. Unfortunately, my buddy got pulled over and was cited for no current registration. After the DMV event, I stopped by Acura of Pembroke Pines while heading home to get her a quick inspection before I start work on Monday with the god awful city driving (RIP my pride and joy), and got the Timing belt job w/ an OC&TR OTD price on paper.

Also broke another feat for 2022: First month within the year where the monthly MPGs was above 20.

 

[mrgold35]

Gave the MDX a bath real early today and it was tough with dusty winds blowing 45-55 mph with gust 60 mph. Pretty much surrounded by wildfires in and around my state of NM with visibility down to a few miles with dust and smoke.

 

[mdxstang]

Pretty much surrounded by wife fires

That sounds pretty horrific.

 

[datechboss101]

Got a new job and started commuting since Monday. This MPG thing is biting my rear end, since today I filled up and dang I got 19.355 MPG while driving cautiously enough. Can't emphasize the amount of caution I am taking. Time to save up for an econobox.

 

[tsd345]

Got a new job and started commuting since Monday. This MPG thing is biting my rear end, since today I filled up and dang I got 19.355 MPG while driving cautiously enough. Can't emphasize the amount of caution I am taking. Time to save up for an econobox.

I'm surprised at this. I get EPA rating out of my 2017 Hybrid and can surpass that easily enough with some sunk cost for 93 octane which I use anyway. I assumed the EPA ratings for gas vs. hybrid (26 vs. 27 combined) would be close, but the gas version would get at least the 22 mpg I got out of my 2010 MDX Tech.

 

[mdxstang]

Got a new job and started commuting since Monday. This MPG thing is biting my rear end, since today I filled up and dang I got 19.355 MPG while driving cautiously enough. Can't emphasize the amount of caution I am taking. Time to save up for an econobox.

But you already said you got as high as around 30mpg in the past. I guess your new commute must involve a fair amount of city driving - or you just haven't done it enough to really know.

If this is a career type job you can just move closer to work to solve the mpg issue - few miles = few gallons.

If you really want an econobox just sell the MDX and buy a used econobox and pocket the difference so that once you get tired of the econobox you can then buy whatever your new fancy is. I know you love your MDX and probably won't do this but I'm just offering practical advice.

Alternatively just do a bit of basic math and calculate what the mileage difference between the MDX and an econobox really is in terms of dollars per month or year and you might find it's not as significant as you thought and probably doesn't justify buying an additional vehicle, which carries along with it insurance, maintenance, out of pocket cost (hopefully you're smart enough to not get a loan for it), etc.

 

[MCRacer]

I'm surprised at this. I get EPA rating out of my 2017 Hybrid and can surpass that easily enough with some sunk cost for 93 octane which I use anyway. I assumed the EPA ratings for gas vs. hybrid (26 vs. 27 combined) would be close, but the gas version would get at least the 22 mpg I got out of my 2010 MDX Tech.

hybrid 'city" mpg rating is mid 26 ish and very easy to achieve even in stop and go traffic. IIRC the non hybrid "city" mpg is around 18 mpg give or take. The EPA combined for the hybrid is 27, the epa combined for the non hybrid is lower, 22 mpg.

 

[jefferson88]

Time to save up for an econobox.

Doing the math as suggested by mdxstang:

Let's assume you bought a 2010 Prius with 150,000 miles on it for $9,000 (current market value) that gets 50 mpg city/hwy, and you commute 12,000 miles per year. Assume Gas is $4.00 in Florida.
The MDX, at 20mpg, would consume 600 gallons of gasoline, costing you $2,400 annually.
The Prius would consume 240 gallons, costing $960 annually.
It would take 6.25 YEARS of only driving the Prius for the fuel savings to justify the purchase of the econobox, excluding insurance, tax, registration fees, battery degradation, and maintenance of a 12 year old, 150k mile vehicle.

I personally couldn't stand 6.25 days of driving a Prius so I'll keep my MDX.

 

[MCRacer]

Doing the math as suggested by mdxstang:

Let's assume you bought a 2010 Prius with 150,000 miles on it for $9,000 (current market value) that gets 50 mpg city/hwy, and you commute 12,000 miles per year. Assume Gas is $4.00 in Florida.
The MDX, at 20mpg, would consume 600 gallons of gasoline, costing you $2,400 annually.
The Prius would consume 240 gallons, costing $960 annually.
It would take 6.25 YEARS of only driving the Prius for the fuel savings to justify the purchase of the econobox, excluding insurance, tax, registration fees, battery degradation, and maintenance of a 12 year old, 150k mile vehicle.

I personally couldn't stand 6.25 days of driving a Prius so I'll keep my MDX.

you hit the nail on the head.

I suspect that if is a second vehicle, after factoring in insurance, licensing, maintenance etc. it would never pay off.

Now if it is replacing a vehicle that is in need of replacing, then factoring in economy MAY sway one. As an example the MDX hybrid was a $1500 increase in price. So deciding between the hybrid vs non hybrid, it COULD pay off in 3-5 years and for us the performance increase alone was worth the $1500. In our case the first year COVID hit and we only put about 4K miles on the hybrid.......... not much fuel savings. Another option we looked at was the Q5 plug in vs. non plug in. The ONLY reason the Q5 plug in would have paid off was the federal and state tax credits brought the premium down into a reasonable number. (now buying for performance another story) The Q5 was actually our first choice but non available.... But again it was the performance AND tax credits.

Our process has always been to buy a vehicle we wanted and liked after the tradeoffs, and then drive it for 1-2 DECADES or near 200K miles. And it has worked, usually by 150K-200K miles little if any repairs needed beyond "normal". even with a 10+ year old car. One of, if not the Least expensive car we've owned was a Mercedes. 97E420 bought from my brother for $8k in 2006 with 90K miles on it, drove it for 15 years, it hit 190K miles, DW decided as much as we liked the E420 she wanted to move to a SUV, sold the E420 for $4500. Very troublefree car, great performance, 18mph city, high 20's on the highway. But for us now the MDX hybrid is a better fit with the traveling we do.

But in general "switching" cars to get better mileage is usually a fools errand.

 

[datechboss101]

But you already said you got as high as around 30mpg in the past. I guess your new commute must involve a fair amount of city driving - or you just haven't done it enough to really know.

If this is a career type job you can just move closer to work to solve the mpg issue - few miles = few gallons.

If you really want an econobox just sell the MDX and buy a used econobox and pocket the difference so that once you get tired of the econobox you can then buy whatever your new fancy is. I know you love your MDX and probably won't do this but I'm just offering practical advice.

Alternatively just do a bit of basic math and calculate what the mileage difference between the MDX and an econobox really is in terms of dollars per month or year and you might find it's not as significant as you thought and probably doesn't justify buying an additional vehicle, which carries along with it insurance, maintenance, out of pocket cost (hopefully you're smart enough to not get a loan for it), etc.

New commute is more than just a fair amount of city driving; I don't even touch the Turnpike or I-4 at all...... Basically, the city driving is what caused our 99 Accord to become a money pit.

Ideally, would have gone the used market and saving up money to buy in cash, but I'm still seeing what my previous ride costs now (a 6 y/o Nissan Econobox) still asking near MSRP! Anything decent within the past decade with reasonable mileage is kinda high. Idea here is to move the MDX back into weekend status, since I miss having the fun aspect of driving it. Plus, I know it doesn't sound economical after a certain amount of time, but I want to keep my MDX as long as possible, maybe trying to beat the timeframe we owned our 99 Accord.

I need fuel to last me for a long time between fill-ups because of the entry level IT position I am in and the pay rate. Fuel prices especially 87, is roughly 1/4 of my hourly pay; we can clearly forget premium since that's well over $5/gal. The job I am at is less than half mile from my dads former employer. Previous car came at like 26 MPG in city and heavy abusive pizza delivery driving. Just shocked to still see 19 MPG while I am driving cautiously, minimizing the amount of time the MDX sits in idle, and drive within 45 MPH to 60 MPH. Just can't emphasize the amount of caution I am using here.

Here's the thing though. I am planning to aggressively save so it will take at least 6 months to save a good amount for a decent car that I can use on the daily and use the MDX on the weekends. With that said, if I have to go to an auto loan, I would prefer it being my own bank or from the manufacturer directly. Hopefully by then the used market will crash and prices will come down. But I got at least 6 months to evaluate whether or not an econobox is worth it as a daily and keep the MDX as a weekend whip, or just daily the MDX and buy something interesting as weekend toy. Definitely do got plans to go back into investing in cryptos and maybe try out stocks while heavily saving.

A co-worker did advise me to go new especially in this market.

Doing the math as suggested by mdxstang:

Let's assume you bought a 2010 Prius with 150,000 miles on it for $9,000 (current market value) that gets 50 mpg city/hwy, and you commute 12,000 miles per year. Assume Gas is $4.00 in Florida.
The MDX, at 20mpg, would consume 600 gallons of gasoline, costing you $2,400 annually.
The Prius would consume 240 gallons, costing $960 annually.
It would take 6.25 YEARS of only driving the Prius for the fuel savings to justify the purchase of the econobox, excluding insurance, tax, registration fees, battery degradation, and maintenance of a 12 year old, 150k mile vehicle.

I personally couldn't stand 6.25 days of driving a Prius so I'll keep my MDX.

I'm expecting my final significant insurance premium hike in June and from next year, my premiums should start to go back down. This would be from my 2 at-faults from 2020. I could try to change my route, but that would mean hopping onto the FL turnpike for roughly 15 miles considering work is really close to the turnpike exit and home is ~4 miles far from the turnpike. Maybe hitting one or two toll booths along the way.

 

[mdxstang]

Definitely do got plans to go back into investing in cryptos and maybe try out stocks while heavily saving.

A co-worker did advise me to go new especially in this market.

I suggest sticking with lower risk, long track record investments such as real estate and mutual funds - definitely not crypto or individual stocks.

It'll be your money buying the car - not the co-worker's. Used cars are less expensive than new cars and depreciate at a lower rate. This bubble of weird car prices we're in right now will end at some point but even with the bubble used cars are less expensive than new cars and will depreciate less. Your co-worker is giving you bad advice.

The main reason you're talking about getting an econobox is to save money so it'd be counter-productive to buy a new one and pay attention to Jefferson's math he kindly provided..

You just started a job in IT. I assume you just graduated. If you received any type of engineering degree you had to take a lot of math courses. You only need the most basic of those math skills you likely have to quantify what I'm saying but the trick is - you actually have to do the math to see the results. This is what gets most people - they seldom do the math and rely on emotions, desires, vague ideas, and worse - what clueless co-workers or family members suggest to them (who also fail at doing the math).

I'm just trying to help you out.

 

[datechboss101]

I suggest sticking with lower risk, long track record investments such as real estate and mutual funds - definitely not crypto or individual stocks.

It'll be your money buying the car - not the co-worker's. Used cars are less expensive than new cars and depreciate at a lower rate. This bubble of weird car prices we're in right now will end at some point but even with the bubble used cars are less expensive than new cars and will depreciate less. Your co-worker is giving you bad advice.

The main reason you're talking about getting an econobox is to save money so it'd be counter-productive to buy a new one and pay attention to Jefferson's math he kindly provided..

You just started a job in IT. I assume you just graduated. If you received any type of engineering degree you had to take a lot of math courses. You only need the most basic of those math skills you likely have to quantify what I'm saying but the trick is - you actually have to do the math to see the results. This is what gets most people - they seldom do the math and rely on emotions, desires, vague ideas, and worse - what clueless co-workers or family members suggest to them (who also fail at doing the math).

I'm just trying to help you out.

Yeah. I see your point. I’m going to see over a 6 month period whether or not to proceed with an econobox purchase. Hopefully prices will lower by then, especially gas prices which would literally justify dailying my MDX due to low fuel prices. Also for this time frame I really should have my money work for me, until I get into my intended path in IT, which probably happen around this time next year due to needing certifications. I already have some investments so I would just add more, and hopefully see some long term investments.

I am planning on creating a spreadsheet for budgeting since I already have a ginormous spreadsheet that’s being used for fuel calculations and consumptions relating to the MDX. This way I can see if its actually realistic for me to go and aggressively save up.

Not sure if this is something noteworthy but other than me, there’s like one other Honda here at work and a bunch of econoboxes. My MDX is an obvious standout in the crowd.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[datechboss101]

Just calculated fill up #2 since working. Boy oh boy, 18.9 MPG. This is definitely going to be a fun few months, as I really hope gas prices can actually drop down below $3/gal.