[reader50]

Originally Posted by subego 

What’s the current default? If you don’t mind the intrusion, what kind do you have?

On the CA DMV page, they're in reading order. Newest is upper-left (white with cursive), and the oldest is lower-right (black). I have two of the latest - white with cursive. My oldest vehicle is a '98, so the latest style has been issued at least since then.

Turns out you can order the Black-with-yellow-letters today here. The Blue-with-yellow and Yellow-with-black plates have not accumulated enough orders to go live yet.

[subego]

The black with yellow is pretty sweet, though yellow with black or blue with yellow would work better on my van.

[Thorzdad]

Are all of you required to have plates front and rear? Indiana still has just the single plate on the rear.

[subego]

Illinois is two-plate.

[OAW]

Missouri is two-plate as well.

[Laminar]

We're two-plate. I bought my wife's car from Oklahoma and it did not have a front plate. I went through the hassle and expense of ordering the factory front plate holder kit, it came with some 1/4" rivets so that I can drill the bumper and rivet it in place. My rivet gun can only do up to 3/16" rivets so I'd have to also buy a bigger rivet gun. Or I could attach it some other way, but that barrier was enough for me to give up and just not install the front plate. Four years and no issues yet...

[reader50]

Here are the states that are 2-plate vs the 1-plate states. CA is 2-plate.

[Thorzdad]

Indiana also does not require vehicle emissions testing, except in the two counties east of Chicago.

[subego]

Emissions tests are required in Chicago.

There are no emissions testing stations in the city.

[Laminar]

They should offer emissions testing at all of the Little Free Libraries.

[subego]

I’m open to any plan greater than zero.

[reader50]

Originally Posted by subego 

There are no emissions testing stations in the city.

Accident or conspiracy? ie - gas station owners benefit from the required commuting.

[subego]

For the one which used to be in the city, I’m almost positive it was closed on account of gentrification. No idea why they didn’t relocate it.

[ghporter]

The State of Texas has changed a lot of plate designs over time, and one change has been to the (very broad) range of Veteran Specialty plates. These feature things like specialty badges, the seals of the various military branches, and - the largest group - military decorations.

Here is an image of the wide variety of these plates. Unfortunately, my wonderfully talented state managed to goof up at least one image…yep, my decoration.

Anyway, they ran out of numbers and had to increase how many characters show up on the plate. Which shrunk the decoration/seal/badge part of the Veteran plate. Here’s a picture of such a plate (the blank version):

[subego]

Originally Posted by subego 

Trying the Rain-X wiper fluid. Not sure about it. Unsurprisingly, it’s very streaky, and I can’t stand a dirty windshield.

Yeah. Can’t take the smearing. Back to Prestone and Aquapel when this runs out.

[subego]

[Laminar]

The I-PASS is triggering me more than the streaks.

[subego]

That it’s upside down? More aerodynamic that way.

[subego]

So, when I’m coasting and then hit the gas, there’s often a short rattle.

That likely the tranny?

[Thorzdad]

My vote would be a loose heat shield on the exhaust.

[reader50]

Could also be the driveshaft (or halfshafts if you're FWD) or the differential.

But before spending money at the repair shop, check the storage locations. Under seats, spare tire bay, etc. A change of acceleration may just be moving around the loose tools you forgot in those locations. It can be awkward for the repair shop to discover inappropriate purchases, laugh among themselves, bring them to your attention, charge you for the privilege, and post the discovery on YouTube.

[subego]

It’s definitely a mechanical issue. Every now and again I run across other cars with the exact same rattle. Also, I can hear it better with the window open.

I was asking because the place I took it to is really pissing me off, and was wondering if the guy’s insistence it couldn’t be the transmission was a reason to be more pissed.

As it happens, since I made this post, I was able to get a slot in with a dealer who claims there’s no extra wait. This other mechanic can go fuck themselves.

I fully expect the dealer to throw a sudden wait on me, but I’ll take my chances.

[subego]

Originally Posted by Thorzdad 

My vote would be a loose heat shield on the exhaust.

Oooh… not an implausible diagnosis!

Brings back memories of a cracked radiator fan cowling on my old Jeep that a dealer couldn’t track down, but fuckin’ Midas could.


Edit: I’m not too worried about the dealer tracking this down because of the aforementioned hearing it on other cars… whatever this is, it’s a common problem. The mechanic I took it to couldn’t find it, but my guess is they didn’t try particularly hard to replicate the problem.

[andi*pandi]

I vote heat shield or exhaust.
There's enough construction around me that every time I go in for an oil change I ask them to tighten the damn heat shield.

[subego]

Another data point is it only happens once the car is warmed up, and it was far more prevalent over the summer.

[Laminar]

I think you have the Tigershark 2.4L?

https://www.jeepcherokeeclub.com/thr....246345/page-2

My bets:
- Loose heat shield (tighten it)
- Detonation (try a couple of tanks of 91+ octane and see if it goes away)
- VVT rattle (lol best of luck)

[subego]

That looks like the right engine, but the conditions it occurs here seem different. I can’t watch the video right now to see if it’s the same sound, but I will asap.

[subego]

If I’m reading correctly the VVT rattle seems to happen on a cold start, so it’s not that. The engine needs to be warmed up

[subego]

I forgot to mention. Because my car was in the shop I was using Uber, and got to ride in a Model 3 a few times.

No sir, I didn’t like it. Inside felt empty and unfinished. Trim seemed cheapish. No physical climate control interface is dumb. The giant screen is hugely distracting.

Did have pickup tho.

[Laminar]

Originally Posted by subego 

I forgot to mention. Because my car was in the shop I was using Uber, and got to ride in a Model 3 a few times.

No sir, I didn’t like it. Inside felt empty and unfinished. Trim seemed cheapish. No physical climate control interface is dumb. The giant screen is hugely distracting.

Did have pickup tho.

They somehow play in the Luxury space based on brand cachet alone, because the actual fit, finish, and interior quality are worse than, say Nissan or Mitsubishi. Everything about the car is built as cheap as possible and you can tell.

They'll snap your neck back for sure but for the money, if you're drivetrain-agnostic, you can get a much better place to sit and drive.

[subego]

While I like to drive fast, and would like a car designed for it, I like to drive smooth, so the acceleration isn’t a big draw for me.

Honestly, in the city, it just made me ill.

[Laminar]

Originally Posted by Laminar 

In Iowa they replate after 10 years. In the last couple of years they went from a fairly benign white/light blue plate:

Spotted in the wild:



Maybe a bit hard to tell, but it's a blue-letter license plate. Is it weird that the license plate letter coloring tipped me off to the fact that this was an undercover cop before the extra antenna did?

[subego]

The black pairs nicely with the Audi.

Just got my winter tires put back on (with 4 new TPMs… fuck you, Firestone). Maybe this happens every time and I forget, but they’re driving really stiff.

[Laminar]

Were the old sensors broken? It's common to "rebuild" them when swapping between wheels, which is just redoing the seals, but they should last a long time.

I took my truck to Firestone for tires and an alignment and they called and told me my oil was really dirty and needed changed. I let them know that I had just changed it the prior week and it had about 20 total miles on it, so they could kindly kick rocks on that one.

[ghporter]

Last week, my car informed me that it was due for service. Unlike my BMW, which would essentially call the dealership and set up an appointment, my current vehicle just tells me “B1 Service is due”, and lets me set up the appointment. So right now I’m sitting in the waiting area while they do this scheduled service, plus look at a few other things I asked for.

We’ve stayed with this dealership for a very long time for a number of reasons, and their service department is one of them. Yeah, I can change oil and filters and such, but that sort of thing isn’t “fun” anymore. On the other hand, the dealership’s service department is always on top of things like software tweaks and service bulletins, so our infrequent visits for service are worthwhile just for that.

[subego]

Originally Posted by Laminar 

Were the old sensors broken?

Yup. Only lasted 6 years. The ones on my all-seasons are close to 9 and are still working.

[MacNNFamous]

Originally Posted by Laminar 

I took my truck to Firestone for tires and an alignment and they called and told me my oil was really dirty and needed changed. I let them know that I had just changed it the prior week and it had about 20 total miles on it, so they could kindly kick rocks on that one.

I sold a car once with BRAND new pads and rotors, cleaned calipers up, painted them, fresh slide pin grease, bedded the pads and listed the car for sale.

Guy come and looks at it, wants to take it to his mechanic to have him look it over.

Car goes up on the lift for 15 minutes, mechanic comes out and proceeds to tell me how much work this car needs, and I play dumb and keep trying to get more information from him, and he says it's running rough, probably a MAF, and that the trans fluid looked dirty, and the brakes needed rotors and maybe calipers.

At this point I was just like yeah that's funny I just did the trans fluid a few months ago and the brakes are literally brand new and have maybe 2 miles on them from bedding them but they're mint.

I didn't budge on my price at all. What a moron.

[andi*pandi]

This is why people have trust issues with mechanics.

I'm about to go get a leaky tire fixed. Hope they don't try to sell me any headlight fluid.

[ghporter]

We once took a car into a “tire and battery” place (that happened to be nearby) because super hot Texas summers had cooked the battery to death. We only wanted the battery changed, but they pounced on the tires being microns away from having too little tread. They pushed HARD, and we wound up knuckling under. Since the car had special tires (a Honda S2000 - man we miss that car), we wound up spending a whole lot of money. Later research pointed out that this chain was known for hard selling. But unfortunately we didn’t have any recourse. Good thing the tires were a brand we knew and trusted.

Since then, we have ALWAYS either gone to Sears for a DieHard battery, our dealership (more pricey but very trustworthy), or (once) an AutoZone because “Is it the battery or the alternator”? For tires, Discount Tire has always done us well, even for oddball tires (like the S2000’s), including their pretty darn good road hazard warranty.

Basically, find someone you can trust and stick with them. How do you find a trustworthy mechanic/shop? Ask friends, look at Yelp and Google, and so on.

[subego]

The recommendation I got for a regular mechanic was a bust, so I’m still on the market, but the (chain) tire and brake place I took chance on has worked out for the most part.

The TPMs they just put in are already acting up though.

[andi*pandi]

Tire fixed (valve stem) no upselling besides a gentle nudge that the oil is due soon. This was a place the town facebook peoples gush over. Not every garage knows Subaru so I might go there again for non-emergency stuff.

[subego]

I know Joe Isuzu.

[Laminar]

I know Joe Camel.

[ghporter]

I’d have expected Joe Camel to be subego’s line… but I remember those ads, and it’s nice to know other people do.

When we did that regular maintenance visit I mentioned recently, we also asked them to see if they could find where a “rattle” we heard was coming from. It sounds like either a sheet metal heat shield is bumping something, or a rock (or fastener) occasionally rattles loose. Guess what…of course it didn’t show up for the shop guys. I even drove the car around with their shop foreman in the passenger seat, and the noise wasn’t there. On the way home though, yes we heard it. The good part is that they tried their darndest to make something rattle and they couldn’t. One guy even shook the whole right rear suspension with all his might and nothing made noise. There is clearly nothing “important” or “serious” that’s loose. It’s just a pain to have something make noise in a mechanically fine vehicle.

[subego]

Talking about it in this thread convinced me my rattle isn’t dire, so I’m just going to wait until summer to get it fixed. I’ve discovered it likes to hibernate once it gets cold.

[reader50]

Originally Posted by ghporter 

I even drove the car around with their shop foreman in the passenger seat, and the noise wasn’t there. On the way home though, yes we heard it.

You'll laugh about this one day, after finding it's a loose bolt for the passenger seat. The big foreman was too heavy, preventing the rattle.

[ghporter]

That is quite possible. Or when the body shop fixed our “crunch” in August they left something inconveniently inside something.

Whatever it is, we now know it is NOT “a problem”, and that’s a good thing.

[ShortcutToMoncton]

What car is it?

[subego]

Originally Posted by Thorzdad 

Finally saw one!

[Brien]

Originally Posted by Thorzdad 

Indiana here. The standard plates here are an interesting experiment in dark patterns, subtly nudging everyone to opt for the (arguably) more attractive “patriotic” option, warming the hearts of any real ‘merikan who sees it.

The subtle zzz on the official bmv image of the standard-standard plate is an especially nice touch, as it really is sleep-inducing. It’s a really fugly plate.

I’d have loved to own the original NV Test Site vanity plate:


…but the mushroom cloud upset some folks, so we got this instead: