Please follow the link to comment in support of a proposed rule to require vehicles in the US to be designed with some pedestrian safety considerations. It will hopefully keep some obviously dangerous designs off of our roads.

edit: the embeds weren't working because of me! fixed now

Imagine you were in my weirdly dirty shoes, driving along a back road somewhere between 30 to 35 miles per hour, behind a pickup truck. Oh no, tragedy strikes!

"TINK TINK TINK TINK TINK"

Damn. You just got this car, too!

Alright, now back to my perspective. First of all, out of all the times for my car to start making this noise, it had to be when I was driving like a civilized human being?! I knew it wasn't the engine, I knew it wasn't the transmission. The "tink" was coming from the rear. I pull off on the side of the road and get my body as low as possible to the ground and poke around. Brakes look fine, axles look and feel fine, suspension looks fine. Nothing's wrapped around anything and slapping a piece of metal. Damn.

Fast forward to a handful of yards down the road in a parking lot, still "tink"ing when it rolls. Tink going forward, tink and a little clunk going in reverse. It's gotta be the differential. I've lost all hope, so I start calling a local dealership for the closest date I can bring in my car to get it looked at by a real mechanic. Nothing available today. After some more "close" inspection, I eventually accepted defeat and drove (very slowly) back home.

After the heart wrenching (and tink-y, but thankfully short) drive back home I realized I can easily check my rear differential by jacking up the rear of the car and spinning the wheels by hand. I do just that, and it spins freely with no "tink". What?

Wait, what's that?

Oh. There looks to be some sort of nail. What's that saying? Can't see the forest for the trees? What a fool can't see he can't believe? I'm not sure.

Keep in mind, the sound it made was LOUD. Like, someone hitting a wood spoon onto a pot lid, LOUD. I'm not sure if "tink" is really the right word, but I'm rolling with it. I assumed it was mechanical, because when a car makes a sound like this you automatically think worst case scenario.

By this time, I had called my brother in law to help. He had a theory: what if that "nail" was long enough that when it had the weight of the car on it, it would hit the inside of the wheel?

That very well could be the case.

Luckily, the penetration could not have been in a better place to be plugged! (Mostly because I don't want to replace all 4 tires at the same time just yet!)

I drove (still, slowly) to a tire shop a couple of miles down the road. I wasn't entirely convinced this would fix the main problem, but it needed to be removed anyways.

I wait in the lobby for who knows how long. Eventually, one of the shop guys comes into the lobby and drops a piece of metal on his desk.

Holy shit. That'll do it! That pin is almost 5 inches long, about twice as long as I have sidewall on my tires! It absolutely solved the tink problem 😉

Moral of the story: if your car sounds like it's hitting a wooden spoon on a pot lid, double check and make sure you didn't run over a metal rod longer than your wheel is thick before looking for mechanical issues!

And that's my first experience with driving over nails (or other pins and metal pieces) in over 4 years of driving! I hope my little story was fun to read, and I hope you immediately realized it was something in the tire unlike me over the course of several hours!

In my youth I had a 2nd Gen Eclipse and I loved it! It got me more than a few dates. I always wanted more from Mitsubishi and planned to buy whatever their fastest car was as I got older and had money. Sadly the company fell apart (in my opinion), but watching this reminded me of what I loved about their products back in the day!

That Lancer!! Wow.

What do you all think of them?

What sub-$100k car has the nicest interior?
Nicest could mean most luxurious, coolest looking, most modern, etc.

@cars

Mid engine Porsche sounds like it could be a fantastic combination! If I were 12 again I'd totally have a poster of this on my wall.

Apparently my factory alignment was shit, and the tires are already up for replacement. The workshop I went to gives me three options. Please let me know if the prices look good, and which among the three would be the best choice.

1. KENDA - 235/60R18 XL VEZDA TOURING 4S (KR211)

   • Good (according to the workshop)
   • $148 each, $724.67 total, $100 extra for alignment
   • 60,000 mile limited treadwear warranty

2. BRIDGESTONE - 235/60R18 XL ALENZA AS ULTRA

   • Better
   • $259 each, $1256.14 total, $100 extra for alignment
   • 80,000 mile limited treadwear warranty

3. YOKOHAMA - 235/60R18 AVID ASCEND LX

   • Best
   • $224 each, $1088.56 total, $100 extra for alignment
   • 85,000 mile limited treadwear warranty

Please recommend which one of these is a better set of tires, or if you have a better recommendation elsewhere.

Thanks!

Not sure this belongs here, but I'm excited for it! I probably won't play until it's been in EA for a while or after its full release. ACC and the original AC keep me plenty busy.

Plus my 180+ hour jaunt into Satisfactory, don't look, you'll get addicted.

The name of the brand and car was stamped onto the side, in front of the driver's door, in that stamped metal lettering. It was some cursive font. I don't exactly remember what it said, and I already tried searching on my own, but I think it said corvette c2 or something like that. I may be misremembering entirely, but it was definitely

It had 6 rear red taillights, rectangular in shape, oriented vertically, in 2 groups of 3 on each side of the car. Like -> ||| |||

The car was red (I realize this likely doesn't help, but it's here anyway), with a spoiler. It was either a convertible, or had no roof at all.

The brand logo at the front of the car was not standing up on an ornament.

When I tried searching, I just couldn't find the taillight orientation at all, let alone the right car :D

It was fairly boxy and angular, which makes me think it's a bit older.

If there's any other details that might be helpful, ask and I might remember.

Spoiler, not a track car! This is why I don't want an EV. At least not yet. I'm excited to hear the steering is good because typically it sucks, so good there maybe?

Note the chipped ceramic.. I think only one wasn't cracked

I didn't know half of these existed. I've already deducted 7 nerd points from my total...

Tires are awesome. Without them I'd have to walk everywhere! Few things improve the feel, handling, and performance of a car more than a proper set of tires designed for the given application. This video like almost all his videos goes into a lot of fun details, but about tires.

I realize tire nerds are rare, but maybe you'll be one too after this?

There is a Pontiac Fiero a few blocks away and I keep trying to catch the owner to chat him up. After reading this I need to try harder, wish me luck!

James Pumphrey former Donut media employee and Up To Speed host has a new YouTube channel called "Speeed". New video goes over the Porsche RS badge and cars.

I love everything about this!

Sorry if this is not the right community for this. In the US. I currently have a 2018 Jeep Grand Cherokee. The air suspension was awesome, but now that it's failing it's driving me crazy so I'm looking for something new. I haul wheelchairs and similarly- sized stuff for work so i need some cargo space. I'd love an SUV with second row captains seats and no third row. Does anyone make that? I'm leaning away from American cars, but can be swayed (my last two cars were Camaro and Jeep). I like things that look a little sporty with little/no chrome, a good amount of hp, and AWD is a plus. I usually drive 10-30 miles per day and get a $60/mo stipend- so about one tank of gas right now. I've browsed the websites for the new 4runner, Outback, Forester, Santa Fe, and a few others. Appreciate any ideas or opinions.

ETA- 6 months ago the dealer wanted $9k to replace the air suspension, so i went to a small Goodyear shop for $6k instead. That shop was bought by brakes plus and they won't honor any warranty. Dropped it at the dealer for diag this morning. Just got a call - $4800. I was expecting $9k. Now I'm on the fix it/trade it fence.

Howdy folks,

Thought I'd share a tool I use when buying or selling a used car. It's not the only tool to use but I think it's a useful data point.

Plus I like looking at the charts and seeing how much our cars have depreciated. But I'm a data nerd, don't judge me too harshly!

Cool story about how Koenigsegg wanted to go racing but ran out of time before GT1 ended.

I also like how it looks like Koenigsegg is explaining all this to his little brother lol.

Who would you say makes the most well rounded cars right now? By well rounded, i mean a consistent combination of style, reliability, features, and bang for your buck.

@cars