Teh Official "Dude Where's My Forum?" Thread, Brought to you by the minds of Box, and her fiancée, Lorelei Options

[Bitter]

Seems that way, I hope he's OK.

We got a customer who's looking to sell a black 97 Firebird TransAm.

This post has been edited by Bitter: Feb 16, 2019 - 11:12 AM

[njccmd2002]

do you have his cell, call him

[Bitter]

I don't have any contact info, I had his old address at one point but he's moved since then. Sadly I didn't install any spyware on the laptop I sent him.

[richee3]

Today we (finally) got some new tires put on the 4Runner. The Uniroyals were absolute crap, so we ended up with BFG KO2’s. We were on the fence between those and Goodyear Wrangler Duratracs with the Duratracs being better in snow but worse for handling. The 4Runner already handles like poop so we decided on the BFG’s. I wanted 285’s but Brigette said we have to stick with 265’s.

[Bitter]

Chonky tire, hope it's not too loud on the road once it wears in some. We've been selling the Cooper SRX as a good street tire for daily driver truck/frame SUV's, they seem to have good road traction and ride quiet and smooth. Probably not enough off road prowess for your uses though.

[richee3]

Chonky tire, hope it's not too loud on the road once it wears in some. We've been selling the Cooper SRX as a good street tire for daily driver truck/frame SUV's, they seem to have good road traction and ride quiet and smooth. Probably not enough off road prowess for your uses though.

Right now it's only barely louder than the tires that came off of it but I expect them to get louder as they wear. Astonishingly, 75% of my handling complaints of the 4Runner are now eliminated. I knew the Uniroyals were garbage but what I had previously assumed was garbage soft suspension was entirely sidewall flex. I'm on the fence about leveling out the front end to help eliminate the last of the nosedive, plus it looks weird with these meaty AT's and the front end sitting so low. Offroad performance was secondary for us, since we've only been offroad a handful of times. We just want something that we don't have to worry about puncturing on the trail. Or the highway for that matter since apparently I'm married to someone that can tear up tires on her commute to work like nobody's business.

[Bitter]

Careful, she's gonna tear up your 'tire' now for saying that.

[Bitter]

We have a customer with a 4Runner Sport that has the X-REAS system and boy is he going to be upset when we talk to him about that. Either buy the ludicrously priced X-REAS shocks/struts (which may not be bad) and new X-REAS gas cylinders or buy Bilstein parts which are also much more expensive than regular Monroe Quick Struts like he's accustomed to.

[richee3]

We have a customer with a 4Runner Sport that has the X-REAS system and boy is he going to be upset when we talk to him about that. Either buy the ludicrously priced X-REAS shocks/struts (which may not be bad) and new X-REAS gas cylinders or buy Bilstein parts which are also much more expensive than regular Monroe Quick Struts like he's accustomed to.

I loved the XREAS in my old 4Runner. That thing handled great, almost dangerously good. No nose dive, no body roll, and inspired more confidence than it ever should in corners. Made it easy to forget that I was in a top-heavy SUV. I never had to replace it though, otherwise we likely would have replaced it with Bilstein 5100's and did away with XREAS. Our '16 doesn't have XREAS (now only available on Limiteds) or KDSS, just the standard overly soft off-road friendly and therefore not highway friendly suspension. It's actually more desirable to a lot of people, and the fact that it doesn't have KDSS means that it's only a special color and some medium-grade shocks away from being a TRD Pro. Considering that we don't do a lot of off-roading, KDSS would be a big upgrade for us and it would even still be an upgrade for off-roading. Non-KDSS models like ours are better for lifting more than 3" and even at that lift, they sit level instead of having the "KDSS lean" so a lot of people prefer non-KDSS models like ours. Just not really worth trading ours in for a different one and if I did, I'd probably look into a 14-15 Limited to get certain features like XREAS back, or at least step down from a Trail into an SR5 Premium. All of that aside, I'm pleasantly surprised at the handling improvement that the KO2's have made. And they've been gripping the snow and ice we just got significantly better than the Uniroyals ever could.

If I recall correctly, didn't some mkIII Supras get XREAS?

[Bitter]

That I don't know and I wasn't familiar with KDSS until now, it looks like a swaybar disconnect system but done with hydraulics, neat.

He seems to think his 4Runner rides/handles poorly though it does have 170K miles on it. He saw the outer sheath of the rear shocks are rusted and flaking away and is convinced he needs new ones all the way around. However his pocketbook says to shut the hell up and he really needs to listen to his pocket book and quit calling us for pricing every damn week because the price isn't changing. I too suggested the 5100's, way cheaper than the dealer parts and will ride/handle every bit as good but I know he'll still bitch about it no matter what we do. Factory parts, no no it doesn't ride right we should have done the bilstein We do the 5100's, no no it's not right we should have done the factory parts. YOU BOUGHT IT WITH 170K MILES BUDDY, HOW DO YOU KNOW WHAT IT RODE LIKE WHEN NEW?

[richee3]

That I don't know and I wasn't familiar with KDSS until now, it looks like a swaybar disconnect system but done with hydraulics, neat.

He seems to think his 4Runner rides/handles poorly though it does have 170K miles on it. He saw the outer sheath of the rear shocks are rusted and flaking away and is convinced he needs new ones all the way around. However his pocketbook says to shut the hell up and he really needs to listen to his pocket book and quit calling us for pricing every damn week because the price isn't changing. I too suggested the 5100's, way cheaper than the dealer parts and will ride/handle every bit as good but I know he'll still bitch about it no matter what we do. Factory parts, no no it doesn't ride right we should have done the bilstein We do the 5100's, no no it's not right we should have done the factory parts. YOU BOUGHT IT WITH 170K MILES BUDDY, HOW DO YOU KNOW WHAT IT RODE LIKE WHEN NEW?

KDSS is supposed to be a nice upgrade for handling on the highway as well as improving suspension flex when off-roading. You'd think that it would be impossible for it to be an improvement over my massive permanently connected sway bars on the road but apparently it makes a night and day difference in body roll, so I wish ours had it. Not gonna bother retrofitting it though.

The 5100's are supposed to be a suitable replacement for XREAS on the 4th gen, and some people claim they're an improvement over XREAS on the 5th gen. Sounds like that guy should have bought a different 4Runner or looked his over a little closer before buying it. Ours had the sheath on the rear shocks starting to rust away as well but the suspension itself was still perfectly functional. It rode pretty smooth, maybe just a touch rough over certain bumps, but it was never uncomfortable. He'd probably be perfectly happy with the Bilsteins if he wasn't the type of customer that claims his windshield wipers don't wipe right ever since he called you guys for an estimate on the 5100's.

[Bitter]

Oh so you must know this guy too? Cause that's exactly him. We replaced an engine in his other 4 runner he bought used (after a very long story which ends in hilarity) and he immediately complained that...It's getting poor MPG, it's burning oil and it's running rough. Pulled up the MPG on his info display, within 10% of the published EPA mileage. Checked his oil level, it was on the dot, did an oil change and sealed the fill cap and drain plug to start a 1000 mile oil consumption test, he sold it before the 1000 miles was up for his current 4Runner. At least he likes the Cooper SRX's we put on it.

Ok so the long story on his first one...He bought it used, didn't bother having us inspect it, called up about it running rough, stopped by but never let us diagnose it, ended up taking it to Toyota where they tore the engine down and determined it was running like **** cause it had been overheated. Overheating was not covered by his warranty he bought with the truck so he had to pay Toyota for removal and tear down and didn't get an engine out of it. It comes to us with the engine torn down to a block and one head bolted on and a bare engine bay. We installed a Jasper engine, figured out where all the parts went, put it all together, runs great, no problems with the engine. I think it needed converters too...his were melted inside. Anyway then came all the above complaining and bothering us all the time about stuff. Really annoying guy, never shuts up, knows it all, causes about 90% of his own problems. Oh and something was wrong with his HVAC, smelled like a rat went to the gym and then had sex with a dead fish and was living in the vents. I didn't even want to get into that, but we sprayed some stuff through his vents so we wouldn't hurl when we were working on the car.

[Bitter]

Damn Dodge dealer smoked a PCM in a car we sent for them to flash update for the new trans then tried to stick us with paying for their ****up and got ****ty with my boss, boss got his old friend there to straighten it out but still. This is the second time a dealer ****ed over a car like this.

[richee3]

Oh so you must know this guy too? Cause that's exactly him. We replaced an engine in his other 4 runner he bought used (after a very long story which ends in hilarity) and he immediately complained that...It's getting poor MPG, it's burning oil and it's running rough. Pulled up the MPG on his info display, within 10% of the published EPA mileage. Checked his oil level, it was on the dot, did an oil change and sealed the fill cap and drain plug to start a 1000 mile oil consumption test, he sold it before the 1000 miles was up for his current 4Runner. At least he likes the Cooper SRX's we put on it.

Ok so the long story on his first one...He bought it used, didn't bother having us inspect it, called up about it running rough, stopped by but never let us diagnose it, ended up taking it to Toyota where they tore the engine down and determined it was running like **** cause it had been overheated. Overheating was not covered by his warranty he bought with the truck so he had to pay Toyota for removal and tear down and didn't get an engine out of it. It comes to us with the engine torn down to a block and one head bolted on and a bare engine bay. We installed a Jasper engine, figured out where all the parts went, put it all together, runs great, no problems with the engine. I think it needed converters too...his were melted inside. Anyway then came all the above complaining and bothering us all the time about stuff. Really annoying guy, never shuts up, knows it all, causes about 90% of his own problems. Oh and something was wrong with his HVAC, smelled like a rat went to the gym and then had sex with a dead fish and was living in the vents. I didn't even want to get into that, but we sprayed some stuff through his vents so we wouldn't hurl when we were working on the car.

Call it a lucky guess. So I assume that he's not well off and has to buy older cars with some problems? If that's the case, why buy a cheap 4Runner with some issues over a newer Rav4 or something for the same price. Is your boss in the habit of charging "stupid" fees? Extra fees for having to deal with the issues this guy caused himself because of stupidity? I feel that fees like that are not unfair.

Damn Dodge dealer smoked a PCM in a car we sent for them to flash update for the new trans then tried to stick us with paying for their ****up and got ****ty with my boss, boss got his old friend there to straighten it out but still. This is the second time a dealer ****ed over a car like this.

I have seen some of the techs that live that Mopar or No Car life... not surprising that they don't get along with computers very well.

[navseal345]

Toyota must think their hub caps/wheel cover are made of frigin gold. One for a '01 Camry is still like $90!

[bloodMoney]

Toyota must think their hub caps/wheel cover are made of frigin gold. One for a '01 Camry is still like $90!

I know!!!

I tried replacing my sister's hubcaps for her matrix, and my parts guy's cost was like $80/ea.

Are you kidding me????

[navseal345]

But you kinda need an oem one because the O'Reillys ones look like dog poo.

[Bitter]

[navseal345]

^^^ Hacker!
I completely understand (as no words show up in Bitter's post).

This post has been edited by navseal345: Feb 27, 2019 - 12:01 AM

[narly_charley]

I just realized that I didn't replace the fuel injectors or spark plugs while I had the top rear of my 3MZ torn apart to change the valve cover gasket... I wanted to do some maintenance this year, but I refuse to tear it back apart unless I have to.