Sunday Morning Meander

[Teegate]

All,

Jessica and I visited various places this morning including Quarter Mile. We were checking on the yellow orchids which we did not see there last year. We were concerned that the intense growth where they are located has kept them down. However, Jessica was able to find two of them hidden away in the vegetation.

From there to the Apple Pie Hill area where we checked out a little stream that is semi dry. I suspect at one time in the distance past it was flowing quite well but sometime in the distant past it was blocked off.

And finally, at Hampton we noticed the signs now have a new sticker. Now maybe this is not new but we had not noticed it until today.

 

[Teegate]

Sorry about not posting as much but with car problems, vacation and a few outings with others that I don't really have much to say about, I have been quiet.

 

[Boyd]

Been pretty quiet around here recently. That's fine, it will pick up later. I have also been busy with family things.

 

[manumuskin]

ticks and heat keep a lot of folks out of the woods unless it';s on the water.

 

[Teegate]

Sorry about not posting as much but with car problems, vacation and a few outings with others that I don't really have much to say about, I have been quiet.

As for car problems, about three months ago I noticed a severe thumping noise and vibration that picked up in speed as I accelerated. Since I needed tires I started there and purchased new. Leaving the tire store I still had the issue. Unsure what it was I took it back and they checked the rims and said they were fine. After me replacing multiple items and also having other things worked on, it still was there 6 weeks ago. With a backlog of two weeks I had to wait until a month ago to have my car looked at.

I took it to Honda and they diagnosed it as two bent rims. They had one but had to order the second one. It is interesting to note that Honda orders everything from California so you are looking at 5 to 10 business days to get it. Well, vacation time came and I was not driving 1000 miles with my car bouncing away, so we had to take my daughters car. I kept calling Honda and found out it was on backorder and coming from Japan. I think a fish dragged it across the ocean. I was told by the tire store they wished me luck getting a new rim and they were correct. Older Honda vehicles with steel rims are extremely hard to acquire.

On Monday, a month later, I called and the rim was in, but it was hard trying to have the individuals at Honda even remember me and my issue. I was told to come in on Tuesday around 3 and upon arrival the man I talked with had called in sick. However, they did agree to work on it right away, but not before they had to talk with the mechanic who worked on it and he had to try and remember what rim was actually bent. There was no record in my paperwork saying which one it was. I felt it was the right rear and eventually the mechanic said that was the correct damaged rim. A basic steel rim costs almost $300 each.

 

[1Jerseydevil]

Any idea of how the rims get bent? Potholes? Strange the tire store said the rims were fine. I imagine they put the tire and rims on a spin balance machine? I would think that would show any bend?

 

[Jon Holcombe]

A basic steel rim costs almost $300 each.

Bad dealerships are a nightmare. I guess if you have car issues, now is the best time, when heat and bugs are the worst.

 

[RednekF350]

Buy American you Communist !

Seriously, I needed to replace my spare tire rim last year which had rusted badly from laying in a horizontal position under my truck for 19 years. I checked eBay and found an outfit that sells refurbished OEM, USA-made, Ford 8-lug heavy duty 16" x 7" rims. It is a work of art and was only $62.00. I noticed the price went up to $78.89 but that beats the sh%t out of $300.

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[RednekF350]

Here's the beautiful rim. I didn't even want to use it, it was too pretty. Got it in 3 days too.

 

[Teegate]

Any idea of how the rims get bent? Potholes? Strange the tire store said the rims were fine. I imagine they put the tire and rims on a spin balance machine? I would think that would show any bend?

Most likely I hit something hard in the woods. I think it is more likely they were dented severely.

A few years ago I hit a pothole near Howardsville that popped my hood and bent the mounting bracket to hold it down. While banging it back in shape with a board out there I think I bit down on my teeth so hard I damaged the roots and had to have the one in the front pulled out after it became infected. I had to have Invisalign and bone graphs to straighten and pull my teeth together and still wear a retainer at night. That cost me almost $10,000 and this bent rim fiasco was more than I wanted to spend. I still need to buy a spare tire as I noticed the one on there, which I was trying to use to figure out which one may have been bent, is dry-rotted. It is the original 2006 tire and I suspect the black tire cover didn't help much in stopping it from rotting.

 

[1Jerseydevil]

The teeth biting incident is unusual and the outcome extreme to say the least. Did you consider trying a salvage yard for the rims? Yes, most vehicles are there as a result of accidents, but most yards have guarantees if the part is defective. Yes, tires do go bad from age, mostly from ozone and ultraviolet light.