Car Talk

[IdRatherBeSkiing]

They assume you get serviced every N months. So they quote the time in years but it is usually a fixed set of services. The ones on their schedule.

 

[IdRatherBeSkiing]

Oh also, my front, driver's side tire has bee wearing down more on the outside than the other 3. It's not bad by any means and there is still a lot of tread but once you see it you can't un see it. The alignment seemed fine to me. It wasn't leaning in any direction at all.

I told the tech this and he note it on the work order.

When I got the car back they said what I already knew, when they checked the alignment using the machine, nothing was wrong at all. They said I didn't need to take any action regarding my concern.

They rotated the tires so the one that has more wear is on the back driver's side now. If the new driver's side tire winds up the same way a few months from now I'll know there actually is some issue I need to address and be forceful about it no matter what they say at the shop.

Have any of you ever had 1 tire wear faster than the other 3 without it being an alignment issue?

Uneven wear is almost always an alignment issue.

 

[JHDK]

Uneven wear is almost always an alignment issue.

That's exactly what I thought!!! Yet unless they are flat out, bold face lying to me they said they tested the alignment and there were no issues. And I tend to believe that because in everyday use I feel no alignment problems whatsoever.

Maybe I'm crazy, I'll post pics of my tires and not say which one I think is more worn than the others to see if you guys agree.

They assume you get serviced every N months. So they quote the time in years but it is usually a fixed set of services. The ones on their schedule.

This is great to know, thanks.

 

[IdRatherBeSkiing]

Perhaps there is something that is loose and depending on how many potholes you hit alternates between alignment and not. Just a wild guess.

 

[scotchandcigar]

Have any of you ever had 1 tire wear faster than the other 3 without it being an alignment issue?

Maybe because you mostly drive alone, there's more weight on the driver's side of the car. Try driving around with a mannequin full of potatoes.

 

[IdRatherBeSkiing]

You can use the car pool lanes then as well!

 

[scotchandcigar]

In all seriousness, my car's rear tires wear faster. It always happens on my type of BMW. But the left and right are even. And when they rotate, it evens out.

Didn't you get your car used? If so, there's a bunch of explanations for the 1 tire being more worn. Maybe they had a blowout and replaced with a used tire. Maybe they damaged the other front and replaced it, but not the worn tire. And being front-wheel drive, the rears don't wear as fast. Maybe they had an alignment problem (hit a curb or pothole), and it got fixed when it was resold.

Or maybe they threw a set of mixed tires on the car to sell it to you, because the original set was shot. This happened to me with my first (used) BMW. I test drove it, then made the deal. But after they prepped it for sale, they put different tires on it, probably off another used car that came in.

 

[IdRatherBeSkiing]

From my understanding, doing any of that is bad. I have been told you need to keep the L-R pairs with same tires. If you need to replace one, you replace 2. Front-back not same issue.

 

[JHDK]

Didn't you get your car used? If so, there's a bunch of explanations for the 1 tire being more worn.

No I bought it brand new. It had like 6 mi on it. It is a 2024 Hyundai venue that I got from The Coastal Melbourne dealership cuz my aunt and uncle helped me navigate buying a car at a dealership because every car I had prior to that was purchased through a private party, used.

Was originally going to get a year old version of whatever Hyundai subcompact SUV is one model above the venue, but then I realized I could get a brand new car for the first time in my life and I couldn't resist.

My uncle told me what everybody including me already knew that the minute you drive a new car off the lot you lose like a shit ton of the value. However, that doesn't apply really to a person who is going to drive that one car for hopefully 15 years until they limp its near carcass back into another Hyundai dealership to get the next one.

The loss of value is for people who exchange cars far more regularly.

Maybe because you mostly drive alone, there's more weight on the driver's side of the car. Try driving around with a mannequin full of potatoes.

If I alone am causing structural wear on a car that is rated to carry a little over half a ton....... That's probably a wake-up sign to do a couple fucking push-ups and put down the McDouble.

Before I read the second sentence, I thought you were serious here and I was super bummed out for a second like I didn't think you were being mean, I thought you were just stating a possible fact that my fat fucking ass is somehow making my tire wear down more than the ones. But if that were the case then the back rear tire should also be slightly wearing down more and that's not happening so it's not due to me being the size of a horse.

 

[scotchandcigar]

From my understanding, doing any of that is bad. I have been told you need to keep the L-R pairs with same tires. If you need to replace one, you replace 2. Front-back not same issue.

True. But that's what people do, and dealers who are prepping used cars. But I guess this doesn't apply, as Koop's car was bought new. So it must be from taking too many left turns.

 

[IdRatherBeSkiing]

The doughnuts done on the storage facility parking lot!

 

[HecticArt]

So my new car has fancy technology from 2009 that is pretty new to me.
It has the proximity detection / keyless entry thing going on. (You know.....2009)
If you have the fob on you, when you get within 5' it will unlock if you grab the door handle, and it's supposed to lock when you get 5' away from it. (or whatever it is.)

So my question to those of you that have had this feature for the last 17 years or so......
Do you trust that it's really locking the doors when you walk away?
Have you ever tested it by leaving your fob somewhere and walking back to check?
How long did it take to lock yourself out of your house because you got used to not needing your keys to physically unlock the door? (Key or button.)

I'm convinced that I'm going to lock myself out of the house a couple of times in the next few months.

 

[IdRatherBeSkiing]

Mine will open if you reach for the handle of the front doors if you have the fob (and there is not a second fob inside the vehicle). It won't lock although that would seem like a good feature. I use the button.

 

[scotchandcigar]

^Same. On both my car (2008) and the Mrs.' car, you touch a spot on the door handle to unlock, and then to lock (or use the button). It may have some auto-lock after some period of time, but I'm not even sure, because we just lock it before we walk away. Over the years, she's had 1 or 2 that did the auto-lock she relied on. To test it, you have to leave the key somewhere before you approach the car.

We don't lock ourselves out of the house because A) we usually don't lock the house, and B) we have a cipher code lock on the front door. But anyway, you put the car fob on a keyring with your house key, and then you're all set. There's an art to maximizing the function of the keyring with minimal items. Here's mine

It's got a Gerber multi-tool and a USB. I used to have the house key, until we got the code thing. The fob has the valet key inside it.

The biggest PITA is when you're doing stuff around the car (like mounting a paddleboard on the roof), and you have the fob in your pocket. It keeps locking the car. And also, if 2 people are driving together, and you want to drop 1 off and run an errand, if the person you drop-off has the fob, you're screwed. That only happens with her car. My car still has a place to insert the fob on the dash. It's optional, but it charges the battery, so I usually do that.

 

[HecticArt]

I've got a car fob with the buttons and valet key, a small flat leather fob that I put guitar picks in, a couple of office and house keys, and nothing else.

I always used to grab my keys and unlock the car on my way out the door, so I'd never forget to have them in hand. Now, with no buttons to push, I keep thinking that I'll forget to check my pocket before locking the house door on my way out.

 

[JHDK]

Do you trust that it's really locking the doors when you walk away?

I've never tested it and I absolutely don't trust it. Every time I get out of the car I put my finger on the little black rectangle on the door handle to lock the doors and then I actually pull the handle to make sure it's locked.

Also, around 1 out of every 20 times or so I will have left the keys in the little storage area underneath the dash and when I push the black button the car yells at me that I've left the keys in there. So it's a good reminder that they're not in my pocket.

So it must be from taking too many left turns.

The doughnuts done on the storage facility parking lot!

I figured out a possible reason. Not nearly as plausible or serious as what the two of you thought up, so, sorry if I sound stupid.

Working where I work there are nails everywhere and screws and shit. So much so that I just stopped parking inside the property and I park park in the customer lot. Before I started doing that I had to patch my tires at least three times. I do not remember which tires I patched. Perhaps if I had to patch that specific tire more than once, that could be a reason why it is wearing faster than the others.

Me being fat, doing donuts or too many left turns are all way more fun explanations.

 

[IdRatherBeSkiing]

I've never tested it and I absolutely don't trust it. Every time I get out of the car I put my finger on the little black rectangle on the door handle to lock the doors and then I actually pull the handle to make sure it's locked.

If you have a fob, that test would unlock the door.

 

[JHDK]

If you have a fob, that test would unlock the door.

???

If I have the fob in my pocket when I exit the car and close the door I put my finger on the black rectangle and it locks the doors and it like beeps twice to indicate that it's locked but I don't trust that so I also test the door handle by pulling it once to make sure I can't open the door. It's what I do every single time I leave the car.

On the occasion that I leave the fob inside of the car when I put my finger on the black rectangle It gives me one loud, long beep indicating that fob is inside the car.

I'm not sure what you mean by it unlocking the door if I have a fob. I guess I'm missing something here.

 

[scotchandcigar]

I should also mention that on Mrs. Scotch's car, locking it makes the side mirrors fold in. So you can see that from a distance.

 

[scotchandcigar]

???

If I have the fob in my pocket when I exit the car and close the door I put my finger on the black rectangle and it locks the doors and it like beeps twice to indicate that it's locked but I don't trust that so I also test the door handle by pulling it once to make sure I can't open the door. It's what I do every single time I leave the car.

On the occasion that I leave the fob inside of the car when I put my finger on the black rectangle It gives me one loud, long beep indicating that fob is inside the car.

I'm not sure what you mean by it unlocking the door if I have a fob. I guess I'm missing something here.

He just wanted to make you type "fob" a few more times.