Fifty150

I find that on a lot of little jobs like that, the guys at the shop have just the right tools, supplies, knowledge, experience, and know a few short cuts.......where they slap a windshield up in 10 minutes, then you just have to wait for the product to cure & set before they let you drive it off. You ever try grabbing a windshield by yourself, and setting it in straight, and hoping that the seal is good even though you had no idea what you were doing with it? Not that you can't do it. You could. But it might be better to spend the extra $35 or whatever so that a shop tech gets it right. You could make your own sushi too. It would taste fine after you dip it in soy sauce and wasabi. But you might die from handling the raw fish the wrong way.

That is awesome DIY work.

This is today. Math works out to 17.32 MPG. Your mileage may vary.

If it is rust, that is a warranty issue. Have the dealership look at it. Let their techs pull panels and peek under with a flashlight. Look on top. Do you have roof rails, or caps over the little holes. If any water is getting in, that would be a slow leak would develop. Then that moisture could trap between the roof & headliner, causing untreated metal to rust. With motion, the rusty water leaks down to where it is visible to you.

Remember how VW has a little vase for a flower? Put a sandwich in there, and tell everyone it's an OEM sandwich tray.

That's different. First time I've ever heard of drivers from San Jose & Sunnyvale being described as "better". 3rd world countries, without any vehicle codes or traffic laws are the most difficult places to drive.....except that the absolute worst place to drive, from my perspective, is India. Way more signage than anyone could learn to understand. Rules that nobody else has in any country. And chaos ensues because everything is flagrantly disregarded. I would rather drive in NYC or LA, where the chaos is controlled by bumper to bumper traffic moving at 5 miles an hour.

My dad and I saw a Mercedes van on the street not too long ago. He commented that any contractor who pulls up to your house in a Mercedes, will charge you more to pay for his Mercedes. I think that the Mercedes is simply a better product in terms of engineering and build quality. A mercedes sedan, is nicer than a Taurus. A Mercedes UniMog, is much better than an Explorer.......oops, that was not a fair comparison. But I'm not paying the extra $10,000 for a Mercedes anything. I don't date girls with expensive handbags & shoes with red bottoms. Same way I would rather eat the $5 burger, than pay $$$XXX for organic, free range, grass fed, prime grade. I know it's better. I also know it's more expensive. The only organic, free range, grass fed any animal that I will eat is one that I shot. The only Mercedes I will drive, is one that I stole. No money out of my pocket for luxury items I can't afford.

If you drain into a paint mix bucket with measurement lines, you will know exactly how much came out. Then when you go to refill, you can refill with the exact amount. You will also note those weird measurements, like 3.2 quarts, and 4.2 quarts. Your fluid will come out of a quart container. If you wan an exact measurement, 0.2 quarts is equal to 6.4 ounces. A trick for that measurement, as learned from Honda guys who are obsessed over exact amount of motor oil, is to use a specimen cup. The cup which the doctor tells you to pee into. It is marked for measurements. You don't even want to know what I had to do, to acquire a pee cup from a doctor's office. But I managed to add one to my tool collection. If you really can't find a good measurement container, "borrow" your girlfriend's bakeware. Clean it out afterwards, and she won't know that she is baking automotive fluid cakes.

On my one backup camera, which I installed aftermarket, I believe that the view is sufficient. Sorry about the poor quality photography. You can see in the photos that the entire street behind me, with oncoming traffic, is visible. On the right side, you can actually see the corner of the bumper of the car parked next to me. And the mirror part does work, despite the fact that my windows have limo tint. It could be that the camera I bought was "wide angle". It could be the installation location. But it is sufficient for backing out of parking spaces. I don't think that I will need an additional camera in my upper trim piece.

You will need an aggressive lift. Trucks are lifted from 6" - 12". So that the wheel well is above the center line of the tire. The entire suspension is re-engineered for the larger wheel and tire. Even the drive shaft is extended. The differentials are regeared. Computer is reprogrammed for proper shifting and speedometer & odometer readings. Not impossible. You could do all the R&D, then recuperate the cost by selling the system you developed. Or get even more creative. Mount a Transit Connect body onto a 4WD Ranger chassis. Replace the motor with a 302. Just day dreaming.

I haven't seen it on mine. I could be a lot of things. Post some photos. It may, or may not be rust. If it is rust, your brand new car has a warranty.

In The City, those are police bikes.

Calculate the new wheel and tire combination that you are thinking of using. Verify fitment with a tape measure. jrm223 is using 215/65R16 on OEM wheels. OEM wheels and OEM tire width, with a higher sidewall, gave a little taller tire with the same scrub radius. His gain in height is minimal, but he is using a tire with a more aggressive tread pattern.

Tires are on wheels. Wheels have different widths, offset, and backspacing. Allow those measurements factor in with tire size to effect your driveability. Same offset on a wider wheel means change in backspace. If you are installing an aftermarket wheel, check for the scrub radius. This is what will effect the contact patch of your tire on the pavement. Any good tire shop will be able to measure and do the math so that you don't buy something that doesn't fit and can't turn. Nothing worse than to spend $$$XXX, then your tires rub into the wheel well, the inside of your wheel is hitting suspension components, and you cannot turn steering to full lock. Most shops will not give you a refund. You picked out the wheels and tires. They can't take the merchandise back for restocking.

This mechanic was a dealership tech between dealerships. Sometimes the dealerships have good techs. Real advantage is that dealership techs work on one type of car, and get factory training. A good mechanic at a good shop works on a lot of different cars. While he's good in general, he is not working on Ford all the time, and doesn't get the latest training on Ford. Almost like asking a French chef for a burrito. Then you have to deal with dealership pricing, and out of touch service writers trying to upsell and raise their commissions. The upsell really leaves a bad taste. I watched as a service writer gouged $1500 in extra work from an old lady who came in to get new wiper blades. The worst is a dealership with bad techs. Some dealerships do not have good people....... wasn't there a post about a door latch recall, where the forum member found that the dealership did not even do the work?

A member just did the same thing. He found his parts in a junkyard. Maybe he has an invoice or something with the part numbers. If you can't find it in a local auto salvage yard, try a larger operation like LKQ.

This is the best car I've ever driven when it comes to loading disabled people from their wheelchairs. When the van was brand new, my dad loved riding in the 3rd row, with the second row folded down. It was like being in a limo. Now, it's my niece & nephew's favorite seat. Although it's illegal, sometimes I fold down all the seats, and let them ride in the back so that they could roll around, jump, bump their heads, fall when I hang a turn......just like I did back when I was a kid riding in the back of pickup trucks. Tinted windows. And they now have learned the game of ducking down, when they see a cop.

I like this van for everything that I can do with it. But here is a part of my daily life which this van is not suited for. Interstate 80. 5 lanes. Traffic flows at 70 - 75 MPH. This onramp has a stop sign. You literally have to go from 0-60, if you don't want to die. Oh yeah, there is about 25 feet for you to do that, and merge into the flow of traffic.

Very nice DIY install. Not easy to do when you have to improvise parts and mounting brackets. That is one of the most creative and clean installations of aftermarket equipment I've seen on this forum. Looks like it could have been factory installed.

The best of my recollection is that I used the power and ground from the reverse lamp, so that the camera activated when shifted into REVERSE. I have a lift gate, so I removed the rear panel and trim piece to install where I wanted. My wiring was similar to yours. Instead of down, I went up. From the rear of the vehicle, I tucked the wire run up into the headliner, and straight to the mirror. My install was on the driver side. One of the photos shows the passenger side, but it's the same idea. Only in reverse. Those are not photos of my van. Just images found online. But you can tell from the photos, how easy it was to push the wire into the headliner. I have trim tools, but I could have done it all with my fingers.

That is a very nice looking installation. Clean. How did you install the other camera angle? What does the wiring look like? Did you run wiring into the cabin, or on the outside, under the van?

I used the same position for my monitor. I bought the kind that clips onto the rearview mirror, and actually functions as a mirror until I shift into reverse.

Often times, driving skill is the equalizer. AWD is not 4WD. People often are not able to differentiate between the 2. Don't you guys who live in a snow climate carry things like shovels? And I am assuming that since the guy lives in a snow zone, he should know a few tricks.

That bullet style camera looks like what Doc Hoy mounted on top of his door mirrors. Not a bad idea. I would consider that installation also. Only thing that I would do different is to mount the camera on the bottom side of the mirror. I like the location of the monitors on the dashboard where the A-Pillar is. Very natural to look at the mirror, and see the monitor. Which is why my backup cam monitor is mounted onto the rearview mirror.

That is an interesting camera. Any trouble with it bouncing around then needing to be aimed again? With the wiring under the door hinge, was that your final installation? Any issues with it running under the hinge that way? I can't really see from the photo; did you use a grommet and silicone to seal the hole for the wire run? I ran my camera wiring through the rubber grommet harness for the taillights. I just made a little cut with a pocket knife, pushed the wire through, then resealed it with silicone. The LED strobe lamp wire goes under the trim panel, under the tail lamp assembly to run along the OEM taillight wires, and down through the bumper, to run over the wheel well and along the body sill trim. Did not drill through the body. But now that I see where you drilled, it looks good. I would consider it if I install anything else.