ANY part at ANY time.....
Thread Starter
Team Owner
Joined: Jul 1999
Posts: 65,492
Likes: 230
From: Orange Park Florida
ANY part at ANY time.....
Driving to job site yesterday morning, and on the neighborhood street here was a mid-late 90-s CAMARO, driver's front wheel on ground, as I passed by, I thought WTF?? turned around and sure enough......
stopped and looked real good.....
the SPINDLE had snapped back where it was 2" thick at the rear bearing, the bearing race was still on what was left of the spindle, the rotor disc was about 40% missing on the lower section, resting on the ball joints, fender tore off, lower section, NO evidence of what happened to wheel/tire, nothing around......
for all the world it looked like a sudden failure, as there were no drag marks on the pavement, car was facing correctly in it's lane, and NO POTHOLES nearby enough for the car to have suffered that.....
SO, for all appearances 2" of solid steel bar/casting just snapped, the break looked like all rough and sandy looking, like somone shattered it....
40+ years of driving, NEVER ONCE seen one break....unless cut by bad bearings....that did not look that way, the bearing race looked clean....
WTF?? me just lucky?? never seen one before?? anyone??
GENE
stopped and looked real good.....
the SPINDLE had snapped back where it was 2" thick at the rear bearing, the bearing race was still on what was left of the spindle, the rotor disc was about 40% missing on the lower section, resting on the ball joints, fender tore off, lower section, NO evidence of what happened to wheel/tire, nothing around......
for all the world it looked like a sudden failure, as there were no drag marks on the pavement, car was facing correctly in it's lane, and NO POTHOLES nearby enough for the car to have suffered that.....
SO, for all appearances 2" of solid steel bar/casting just snapped, the break looked like all rough and sandy looking, like somone shattered it....
40+ years of driving, NEVER ONCE seen one break....unless cut by bad bearings....that did not look that way, the bearing race looked clean....
WTF?? me just lucky?? never seen one before?? anyone??
GENE
Race Director
Joined: Feb 2005
Posts: 16,100
Likes: 17
Had a 1957 Chev 3/4 ton (1970's), and found out 6 months after a wheel bearing repair the joker filed the spindle down to fit an undersized bearing. Caught it just by accident.Still had receipt,and you should have seen this guy's face when I confronted him on it.
Burning Brakes
Joined: Jun 2004
Posts: 1,012
Likes: 5
From: Granbury, TX
My wife had ~'75 VW bug that had the speedo cable running through the left front spindle and attaching to the bearing cap, stupid design . She hit a pothole on the highway and the wheel hub and all came off and rolled across the highway and hit a truck > $1K damage. Meanwhile her VW did a belly landing. Her friend riding shotgun panicked and crouched on the floor board. It is kind of funny now, but not at the time.
. She hit a pothole on the highway and the wheel hub and all came off and rolled across the highway and hit a truck > $1K damage. Meanwhile her VW did a belly landing. Her friend riding shotgun panicked and crouched on the floor board. It is kind of funny now, but not at the time.
Race Director
Joined: Sep 2004
Posts: 11,874
Likes: 263
From: Arlington Va Current ride 04 vert, previous vettes: 69 vert, 77 resto mod
going on vacation once driving through south east DC ( the bad section) on 295 there was a couple of old dudes driving a car with no front wheels just rotors grinding away!!!!!!!! sparks were flying!!! never seen that before or since.
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Racer
Joined: Jun 2001
Posts: 460
Likes: 0
A couple of years ago, on the way to Myrtle Beach Bike Week --- we passed a dodge on the right side of the road. I noticed the left front wheel was missing and the rotor was sitting on the ground........ Not 5 seconds later, we saw the tire in the left lane in front of us !!! It rolled along with traffic for close to half a mile, slowing down and slowly edging to the left and finally into the median ---------- never seen anything like that before !!!!!!!!!! ----------- I guess someone forgot the lug nuts ( or to tighten them anyway !! ) go figure.......
Racer
Joined: Jul 2004
Posts: 400
Likes: 1
From: California
Originally Posted by bryan27
What can I say? American cars are pieces of $h!t. ...and no I am not kidding. I drive the vette because I love it - I drive the toyotas because they are reliable.
:o
:o
Safety Car
Joined: Jul 2002
Posts: 3,770
Likes: 3
From: St Louis MO
Originally Posted by EVIL_GRIM
hmmm....i drive american cars cuz i dont like toyotas....and i drive toyotas to wreck them lol. yes toyotas might be reliable but i would rather replace a alternator for 25 bucks every other week then replace a $160 alternator once every 4 years. i dont have to tell you how much a pain toyotas are to work on....you probably already know...
My daily driver jones is American trucks...got 2 of em...one of em has 225K (83 K10 diesel) and the other 196k (94 C1500 Burb)....both with original engines...now what was that about American vehicles being POSs???Brett
Racer
Joined: Jan 2005
Posts: 400
Likes: 0
From: Location: at the right hand of Satan in Hell
Originally Posted by EVIL_GRIM
hmmm....i drive american cars cuz i dont like toyotas....and i drive toyotas to wreck them lol. yes toyotas might be reliable but i would rather replace a alternator for 25 bucks every other week then replace a $160 alternator once every 4 years. i dont have to tell you how much a pain toyotas are to work on....you probably already know...
Lets do this math:
$25 x 25 (every 2 weeks for a year) x 4 (years) = $2500 plus all of the wasted time to do it. (...and yes I do realize that this is an overstatement)
I'll gladly pay someone $160 to do it with little time inconvenience to me.
My real point of view is that it is a shame that we live in such a great country that is so capable of making great things, be we refuse to make a highly reliable vehicle. Sure they wil last to 300,000 miles, with repairs and inconveniences.
I always feel better spending my money on vehicles that are HIGHLY reliable and have the highest possible resale = TOYOTA and HONDA.
I drive the Vette knowing that it is going to constantly break, but I friggin love the thing!
Burning Brakes
Joined: Jun 2004
Posts: 1,012
Likes: 5
From: Granbury, TX
I don't agree all American cars are a POS. The C3 technology is decades old so I'll give you another example. A year ago I paid 6k for a 1995 Pontiac T/A, 350- LT1, T-56 - 6 speed. I spent< $500 adding headers and a cold air intake. I recently drove it to Houston and got 31 MPG! Not only that, it turns high 13s in the 1/4 mile. I priced these cars and they are still worth > $6 K. Btw it has 150 K miles on the clock, runs great uses no oil between oil changes and has never let me down. And it sounds (roars) like a real car. No whiney, tinny 4 banger sewing machine on steroids for me. So anyone arguing this is not a quality car worth the money in all respects can bite me. 
Melting Slicks
Joined: Aug 2004
Posts: 2,063
Likes: 1
From: Beverly Massachusetts
Originally Posted by bryan27
Lets do this math:
$25 x 25 (every 2 weeks for a year) x 4 (years) = $2500 plus all of the wasted time to do it. (...and yes I do realize that this is an overstatement)
I'll gladly pay someone $160 to do it with little time inconvenience to me.
My real point of view is that it is a shame that we live in such a great country that is so capable of making great things, be we refuse to make a highly reliable vehicle. Sure they wil last to 300,000 miles, with repairs and inconveniences.
I always feel better spending my money on vehicles that are HIGHLY reliable and have the highest possible resale = TOYOTA and HONDA.
I drive the Vette knowing that it is going to constantly break, but I friggin love the thing!
$25 x 25 (every 2 weeks for a year) x 4 (years) = $2500 plus all of the wasted time to do it. (...and yes I do realize that this is an overstatement)
I'll gladly pay someone $160 to do it with little time inconvenience to me.
My real point of view is that it is a shame that we live in such a great country that is so capable of making great things, be we refuse to make a highly reliable vehicle. Sure they wil last to 300,000 miles, with repairs and inconveniences.
I always feel better spending my money on vehicles that are HIGHLY reliable and have the highest possible resale = TOYOTA and HONDA.
I drive the Vette knowing that it is going to constantly break, but I friggin love the thing!
oh ywa and my truck is my daily driver and also my tow vehicle when i need to tow something. its towed 3 vehicles from Norfolk, Va to Dayton, Oh and never with any problems. also just bought my wife a new ford freestyle which is a totally new vehicle for ford taht is built on the volvo xc90 platform and uses the same cvt transmission that Audi uses in their cars so its all new and im keeping my fingers crossed.