Where do you get inexpensive parts?

I posted a question on Facebook for suggestions and Blake posed a good one, "Where do you get seats and carpet for my S-10 truck?

This got me thinking about sourcing parts for vehicles and pricing difficulties I've exprienced in both personal and professional endeavors. Let me share a couple of stories...

A couple years ago I was noticing a slight coolant leak on the radiator for my WRX. I knew that I should take care of this sooner rather than later, otherwise I'd be in for a very bad day coming up. When I called the Subaru dealer, I found out the part was going to be $467 and another $200 for installation. Not wanting to shell out this much I found on nasioc.com (a Subaru enthusiast forum) that many people went with 2 particular brands which were larger, more efficient and better material (all aluminum rather than plastic/metal combination) and they went for around $300. Granted I had to add a transmission cooler as my automatic seems to complicate things but all in all I got an upgrade in parts for $350 which are far more effective at doing their job than the original manufacturer's product. I also found write ups which told how to remove and install the parts which saved me the $200 in labor costs, further cutting my repair costs. I'm grateful for enthusiasts' efforts!

A second story is about a girl I sold a Hyundai XG350 to. She loved everything about the vehicle except the veneer was flaked off of parts of the radio console. One of the things she wanted as part of the deal was that panel replaced, which I didn't think was going to be too bad of a request. My manager and I were creative and looked on ebay and Craigslist and found a complete set of Hyundai panels for that car totalling $38.00 including shipping. Another enthusiast saves the day on his ebay store!

I offer a suggestion, check with enthusiast websites to see if anyone is getting rid of car parts at a discount price. Sometimes you can be lucky and find exactly what you are looking for because someone needs to clean out his or her garage. Many times people that are passionate about their vehicles are also good at sourcing things and can offer valuable help. I even had good luck with buying off brand auto parts from ebay based on good reviews from other owners.

I will caution though, not all aftermarket is worth the money. Sometimes parts don't fit or line up like they should. This is where manufacturer's original parts are a good thing because they are DESIGNED to fit right and have far more R&D money thrown at them to ensure QUALITY. I've seen body kits, exhausts, interior panels and many other things that are less expensive but don't really work well. This is where enthusiast input is useful because sometimes spending the extra money for the dealer part is worth the headaches of doing a project twice. All about research.

So Blake, in your case check out s10forum.com to see if anyone has any suggestions or parts for your truck. That's a decent place to start and find out what possibilities there are. Hope this helps!

-Jason

Safety first

Vehicle safety has been a prominent topic in the news media this year, mostly from the Toyota recalls related to unintended acceleration. There are many things to consider with safety so let me highlight a couple areas to look at:

Crash Protection
One of the most important components to vehicle safety is how it can withstand an impact. There are many designs engineered to help protect vehicle occupants like air bags, crumple zones, and reinforced frames. Air bags are just that, bags that inflate to help cushion the body against impact. Many new models have two front airbags, side airbags in the seats and now curtain airbags that to across the interior roof of the car. These dramatically improve the injury prevention rates, according to consumer reports. Crumple zones are areas of metal, designed to absorb the energy of an impact and give away first, locating the destructive forces to certain areas of the vehicles. This helps by keeping the damage located to specific areas of the car and away from the vehicle occupants. Reinforced frames are nothing new in vehicles, but are very important. Basically there would be extra frames in the doors and/or body of the car. This is an added shield to help take the damage of the force in an impact. All of these things combined can help keep the damage away from occupants and keep drivers and passengers from taking more injuries than necessary. IIHS has some easy to read crash ratings, I recommend looking at their testing and reading about how vehicles performed in testing if you are considering a new vehicle.

IIHS


Emergency Handling
This is sometimes an overlooked area of safety. A martial arts concept is the best way to avoid an injury is to not be there. Well, in the case of cars if you don't have to rely on the crash protection then that is better than taking the hit! Newer technology like Stability control is available on most vehicles and will be required in the 2012 model year. Stability control is a wonderful option which helps keep a car on its intended path. In slippery conditions for example, if the rear of a car kicks out the brakes can be applied to individual wheels to redirect the car on its path. Sometimes cutting speed to individual wheels is the best way to course correct. Another key feature found in many vehicles now is traction control. This will cut power to the wheels if slippage is detected by the main computer and will only allow enough power to move the wheels slightly. This is great in the snow and can help you from being stuck in adverse conditions. It also works in motion and can possibly prevent slippage in snow or ice.

There are many things to look for in a vehicle but by creating your checklist in advance you can narrow your options in the research phase, even before you leave your home. Be safe, and happy (controlled) driving!

-Jason

The Search

I was in discussion with a peer today and we got to talking about how research for cars is far different now than it used to be 20 years ago. I can remember my parents going to the library to check out a copy of NADA for trade in values, buying copies of the Sunday paper to look for deals and going lot to lot on a Sunday to find out what was available. Now with the internet things got a lot easier. You can read reviews, find trade in values and search inventories in minutes without leaving the home office. I personally am a huge fan of this because it saves so much time and gas from having to go to all of these places. I wanted to share some resources for doing some of this research as I think it makes the whole buying process easier:

Trade in Values

This is a big one, you can search databases to find out average trade in values of a car. One note though, these sources don't do well with outliers like very old cars, very high mileage or very low mileage. These sources should only be a ball park figure or range to expect, do not take them as gospel. The only real value for something is what someone is willing to pay. Here are a couple guides worth looking at:

NADA

Kelly Blue Book

Edmunds.com


Another good place is to read reviews of vehicles to find information and how vehicles performed. I'm a huge fan of Consumer Reports as they test the reliability of past vehicles and I also like Edmunds.com because they test vehicles in real world conditions. Here are a few sources for some well written reviews:

Consumer Reports

Edmunds.com Inside Line


These will be great sources of information on reliability, pricing and overall performance. The buying process is certainly far different than it was 15 or 20 years ago so take advantage of the new technology and available resources! It will save you quite a bit of time.

-Jason

The importance of good tires

It's just about winter here in Wisconsin and last night I was reminded of an important lesson as the first real snow fall hit us. Good tires on the car!!! I was moving a 2010 Genesis Coupe (2.0T with 6 speed manual and Track package) from one end of the lot to the other. I knew this one would be a challenge to do as the Track package gives it 19 inch summer tires. I got stuck twice in the lot despite traction control and I kind of knew it would happen. It reminded me of a great write up that Edmunds.com did last year when they tested a Honda Civic Si with Summer tires, All season tires and then Winter tires. Story can be found here

The results are pretty staggering if you read them, I was most stunned by the summer tire results for 0-60 in the snow and the 60-0 stopping distances.

When I bought my 2001 Celica GT, the front tires were good but the rear ones were pretty bad. The following day we got some bad snow and as I drove in to work that day, the car spun out once I hit 34mph on the snow covered roads. Yes a Celica is FWD but without any grip on the rear the whole car became unstable.

I even let a set of tires get pretty low one winter on my WRX. Despite the AWD drivetrain on the vehicle, I still had troubles with starting at stoplights in the snow. That also put me at risk for decent stopping ability in an emergency situation. ABS can only do so much for a vehicle where 1.5 tons of mass is in momentum.

So I encourage everyone from a safety standpoint to check the tread on your tires, make sure you don't have summer tires on a car during the white stuff and seriously consider winter tires in the northern climates. It could save your car or your life. Or someone else's life. Think about it from that perspective.

Automatic Transmissions

I want to post a piece on automatic transmissions. To start, I have to admit I'm a staunch advocate of manual gearboxes, I always felt that you have better control over your car when you can put the car in the gear you want it to be, without having to let a computer select it for you. I learned to drive on a 5spd Chevy cavalier and a 5 speed Ford Explorer and my first car was a Chevy Cavalier with a 5spd manual (you can see my earlier post about that).

It seems every other car I get has an automatic transmission and to be honest I really only liked the one in my Sunfire. My Contour had terrible gearing, my Camry had terrible gearing and my WRX has awful gearing. The common thread in these is that they were all 4 speed electronic transmissions and in my opinion killed the performance and fuel economy of the car.

When I was researching Toyota Celicas and deciding if I would go for the auto or manual gearbox I did learn that the automatic actually got better mileage due to its gearing. The final gear was pretty long and held the engine at lower RPM on the freeway. It did however blunt the performance of the 140hp engine, adding a second or more to the quarter mile capability. But it taught me about how important gearing is. Sometimes I wonder if the mods I did on my '01 Celica GT could have pushed me over the 40mpg mark that I achieved on my 5 spd...

Anyway, I have to say that as much as I don't like the slush boxes I have driven some vehicles with a 6spd auto which is starting to change my mind (or at least lessen the ill feelings towards them). Last summer we rented a 2010 Camaro with an automatic and I have to say that it wasn't all that bad. The 6 forward gears kept the engine doing its thing and I never felt like it was dogging. I was proud of the 26+ mpg I got (combined that is) so from an efficiency standpoint I didn't feel like I missed out on anything there. Recently I've driven a 2010 Hyundai Santa Fe and a 2011 Hyundai Sonata, both with 6 spd auto boxes and I'm impressed. Hyundai has such a short 1st gear in those things (4.2 ratio) that off the line you never feel like the engine is sluggish. On the freeway the final gear is very long and keeps the engine below 3000 rpm which is nice.

I think the improved gearing in 6spd automatics is both helping fuel economy as well as acceleration (Sonata gets 35+ freeway and 0-60 in 8 sec) so I will say this is a step in the right direction. When I compare this to my 4EAT in my WRX I am left feeling disappointed by the inefficient gearing that Subaru offers in such a balanced car. I took some guys on a test drive of a 2007 WRX with a manual transmission and the acceleration on that felt just perfect. Gearing was nice, but then I wondered what a 6 spd would feel like on my car...

So thank you auto industry for making improvements in efficiency and performance, I can say I've moved from being a 'hater' to accepting and enjoying auto boxes in some cases (Lexus IS300) so continue to make improvements in gearing and tuning because I appreciate the good products I see today!

-Jason

2000 Toyota Camry LE

Rewinding to 2002, I was having plenty of issues with my 1998 Ford Contour SE. By March of that year I had my car in the shop 7 times over the 8 months I owned the car. Reliability was not a strong suit for the Ford sedan and since it was making me miss class (I was a commuter student at the time) I needed to put a stop to this. After test driving several cars it came down to a couple options. One was a 1998 Honda Accord LX V6 coupe or a 2000 Camry LE 4cyl. The Honda was 400 dollars more and only had 19k on it. The Toyota had 33k on the clock. I was already pushing my budget with these two and opted for the Camry.

There were a lot of things I liked about the Camry. First it felt like you were driving a Lincoln. The ride quality was amazingly comfortable! The suspension was so soft and isolating that you barely felt the road at all. The cabin insulation was very substantial and you really didn't hear the outside. If you like a posh ride, then consider this car because it does it very well. I had friends that commented on the ride when I was the driver for the evening too, fairly popular.

Another thing I liked was the acoustics of the sound system. My Camry had the 6 speaker JBL system in it and it did sound pretty good for a factory stereo. I liked it.

Storage space was adequate. The rear seats would fold forward but there was a narrow pass through that few things would benefit from. I did use this car in my Starbucks years and loaded countless boxes of Frappuccino, Espresso, Vanilla Syrup and even the traditional Sunday Milk run to the grocery store. That was a lot of weight for the rear suspension I admit and I think that came back to bite me later.

Now for some things I wasn't too fond of. According to Edmunds.com the Camry LE came standard with a 2.2L 4cyl rated at 136hp and 150ft/lb tq. Mated to a 4 speed automatic the powertrain was very smooth, but very sluggish. Edmunds testing pegs it as an 11.1 second car. 0-60 that is...At a 3100lb curb weight, that is a lot of car to move for that engine. Power to weight was not favorable on this vehicle. Now the torque on the 2.2L wasn't bad for a 4 banger and it did help the tank get off the line but there was no high end power to help it out. The 5SFE (Toyota's code for the engine) was a DOHC engine which helped the powerband in the mid range. But in the upper end of the engine, there was nothing there.

This got me to asking people questions like the difference between the Camry 2.2L and say the Honda Prelude 2.2L. Both were the same size but the Prelude put out 200hp. Why was that? That's when I learned about engine timing. As the old saying goes, timing is everything and that's how Honda was able to squeeze out such high output from the displacement that they did. The engine design in the Camry was essentially from the late 80's when a lot of engines were still using either pushrod or SOHC set ups. The DOHC allowed for an increase in power and efficiency. Here is a link to an article on camshafts by Howstuffworks.com as well as one for Honda's VTEC system. This should explain the mechanics of it all.

Camshafts
VTEC

After learning these concepts I was floored to find out that was how the Toyota Celica GT-S could have a 1.8L 4cyl (small for a 4cyl) and yet eek out 180hp. And the 2000 Honda Civic Si came with yet a smaller 1.6L but could crank out 160hp. This is where I learned more about engine efficiency. A more intelligent design would allow for more efficient engine operation yielding more power and fuel economy.

Speaking of fuel economy that was another sore spot for me. The Camry engine I had was rated at 20mpg city and 26 highway. I was averaging between 20.5 and 22.5 and was very disappointed. I figured that the 4cyl would be the more economical option but in the end it was just as efficient as the V6 option with less power. I felt taken actually. So I tried things like a K&N high flow filter which didn't do much for power but was nice because I never had to replace the thing so I saved money there. I tried to install a Jet Chip computer module which was supposed to alter some of the engine timing but really did nothing more than make the engine run rich. I was so out of ideas that I even took my dremmel tool and drilled tiny holes in the bottom of the air box to try and improve the air flow into the air box. But I think all that did was let hot air seep in which probably further killed my engine power. I also tried different spark plugs/plug wires, as well as PCV valve, and fuel filter thinking that was possibly the issue but nope, that did nothing for power or fuel economy.

I gave up trying to fix the fuel economy problem and accepted it. I could have tried Intake, Header and Exhaust upgrades but I didn't have the money or mechanical knowledge at that point to implement that. I also came across a turbo kit for the 5SFE engine but didn't want to pour over $3000 into a modification of that magnitude.

The car was fairly reliable until 100k. The suspension started going out, probably due to my over using the Camry as a cargo vehicle for the BUX. The transmission had started slipping for some reason and the brake fluid was doing a slow disappearing act. Most concerning though is that the engine seemed to not be filtering oil. I change my oil between every 2500 and 3500 miles and I noticed that the filter was bone dry. I thought it was a fluke until the next change when it again was bone dry. I changed the oil in the next cycle at 2000 miles and just like the prior two times it was pitch black. I called 5 different mechanics (3 Toyota dealers and 2 independent shops) and they all agreed that it was a problem but unfortunately would only be able to diagnose it by digging into the engine to find the obstruction.

My posh, reliable ride started falling apart at 100k...That was not the Toyota feeling I signed up for! For the last 25000 miles my wife was the primary driver of this car. She had a '97 Mercury Tracer that we traded in for a '01 Celica GT which became my primary car. By this time my wife was working in a community that was a good 44 miles away and I started having concerns with her depending on a car with these issues. So we did some test drives and narrowed down a possible trade in opportunity. It came down to a '05 Subaru Impreza 2.5RS wagon or a '05 Mazda 3s wagon. I was able to orchestrate (this is almost another post in itself) a trade for the Subaru wagon for the Camry LE. The AWD made my wife more at ease in the winter time while driving in rural Wisconsin. The Camry had about 110k at the time of trade and since I kept the thing in amazing shape it was only on the lot for 7 days before it sold :) The Impreza wagon had the 2.5 4cyl rated at 165 hp and 160lb/ft tq and got at least 23mpg with AWD. That was a bonus in my book.

In hindsight I would have either sprung for a Prelude or Celica at that time, or had I not been able to find one of those I would have just gone with the Accord. Any of those would have potential for upgrades (something I learned later) and a fun, engaging ride. More on those in future posts but the lessons I learned from the Camry are that I value efficiency in a car and actually appreciate engaging handling over posh compliance. Posh is nice, it's just not my cup of joe.

1998 Ford Contour SE

Here is an example of a car that looks great on paper but in real life was not what it should have been. I traded my failing 1995 Saturn SL2 sedan for this '98 Contour in the summer of 2001. It came equipped with the 2.5L V6 rated at 170hp. The automatic transmission had 4 gears and the brakes were disc in front and drum in the rear. A Contour weighed in at around 2769lbs according to Consumerguide.com which is pretty good when you have 165ft/lb torque pulling it. Again, power to weight ratio was looking good on paper and the V6 was rated at around 22mpg combined which was competitive.

Here's what I liked about the car. The V6 was good for it's relatively small displacement. The torque factor is something I had never had before, it's hard to build torque on a small displacement engine. The handling was fairly good on this model, the SE stuck to the road well. On ramps were fun to rev the six and dig into the curve. The interior was roomy enough for me, plenty of head room (I'm not that tall so it usually isn't a problem). A nice attribute of this car was the heater core pumped out a tremendous amount of BTU's to keep you nice and warm in the cold Wisconsin winter. I can't say that about all the cars I've had.

Alright, here's where the rest of the story gets ugly. I only owned this car for 8 months before I traded it in. I had it in the shop 7 times. I kid you not. Two recalls racked up 4 trips to the dealer (they couldn't properly perform the procedures), one other trip was an alternator replacement, another was a wheel bearing, and another was to change the transmission fluid because it was burnt (at only 40k). I spent 2k in repairs and there was no sign telling me it would slow down. Bottom line, I learned that reliability in a car is very important to me.

Now let me clarify. I understand that maintenance is a cost of a car. In fact I will spend a bit more up front to keep my car running well and in good shape than most people will. I like to be proactive and prevent things from wearing out if I can. But repairs are totally different. I bought the car with around 33k on the odometer and to have burnt transmission fluid, an alternator and wheel bearing go out is unacceptable. I was barely over 40k at this point. With the money I spent in repairs I could have put a down payment on a much nicer car (I should have looked at the Prelude...) but that's another story. I was a college student at the time and I was taking a class in Milwaukee while working in Brookfield and living in Sussex. Driving was part of the way I lived life and the constant interruption in my transportation was interfering with my life.

With all of this I did get reinforced from my Contour that I like a sporty nature in my vehicles. Good handling and power to weight ratio is a great formula in my book. When I was looking to trade this car in I did look for a 2000 Celica or '98 Prelude but couldn't find one that was under 17k (I only had a max budget of around 11k at the time). I did take a test drive of a nice '98 Accord LX V6 and '00 Camry LE 4cyl.

I was very impressed with the Camry and how posh it felt. The ride was very easy and the insulation kept you nice and isolated from road noise. It actually felt like driving a Lincoln at a far lower price point. The 6 speaker stereo had good acoustics in the cabin and the reliability reputation of Toyota (at the time) spoke very loudly to me. I traded the Contour for the Camry sedan. Looking back I probably should have gone for the Accord for a number of reasons but that's a different blog.

So in March of '02 I was the owner of a 2000 Camry LE. I don't think my Contour was on the lot very long. I think the dealer was able to sell it in just over 40 days. I feel bad for the person that bought it, maybe it was bad karma?