Brake rotors and State Inspection

wachuko said:
Accord… not for me either. I no longer like cars that I have to drop into… Sister-in-law just changed one for a new Toyota Highlander Hybrid in Platinum trim.

Miata is an all time favorite! Yes, please, a thread on that one!! :encourage:

I have not been to a Mazda dealer in awhile, they do have some new, nice looking cars. Have you been to one to see what they have?
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Like most of the automotive world, they're (Mazda) dominated by SUVs. The 6 is gone, only sedan like thing is the 3. I may have to reconsider, but right now I'm not looking for an SUV. 90% of the time, SUV's are just bigger than I need. They're not that easy to maneuver in tight spots either. But who knows, I may end up being assimilated by the Borg. I've driven a RAV4 and it's not horrible. It wasn't that bad even.

Really need to spend some time walking the lots. Darn websites don't give the same impressions as walking around a vehicle in person. The new webpages seem to suppress tabular data for quick review in favor of vapid fluff. But that's just me grumbling about the trends in web design. The search continues.
 
Neighbor had a BMW 530i new. Loved the car hated the service. He moved it on in the last year of the warranty as the prices he saw on the what had been worked on was impressive. The resale price with some warranty was much higher than out of warranty.

I drove a Miata years ago. Loved the car, fun to drive. It was my buddy’s wife car, yellow.

He also has a 2004 WRX STI, the 270 hp version. Now that car was GREAT! Roller skate with a V8! Point and shoot steering and push the fun pedal! He since rebuilt the engine and changed to turbo to a larger unit. The turbo lag is not pleasant. I would put it back to a smaller unit but it is not my car. Sad for me.

The North American makers have abandoned cars today. Over weight over priced suv and pickups. Only the imports continue to sell cars. I sold my 2007 Cobalt SS and moved into a 2019 Camry Hybrid. Had both cars since new. The Camry is a good car and does what I want. Comfortable, economical, low maintenance. Put tires this years and twice wiper blades.

I moved over the years from 1969 Chevelle to 77 Malibu, which were decidedly heavy poor handling cars to 88 Beretta GT and the Cobalt, which were a blast to drive with the lower weigh, better handling, even though lower hp.

The last thought I have is that the cars I had before the Camry, is I could work on them totally. Today’s cars are not as easily worked on, other then regular service and brakes. Once the hood goes up and the scanner gets plugged in, the can of service worms gets bigger.
Pierre
 
While I was out this morning, I got a call from an inspector from the State Police. Called them back this afternoon, (after checking on the number, after all, it's hard to trust a random call these days, no matter what they say) and left a message. Might be close to a shift change, so don't know how soon that call might be. Edit: Must have been the end of their shift, (2:30PM) never got a call back. Guess I will call again tomorrow.

I don't mind if it is a fail really, I just want to know the rules, and how they are interpreted. If they say it's a fail and this is why, I'd be good. If they agree with me, well, I don't know exactly what I'd do at this point. We'll see how this turns out.
 
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My call to the State Police didn't result in anything definitive. Can't say I was surprised, but, I was expecting some acknowledgement that the rules are vague. (Because they are! There's no quantitative criteria for this failure mode.) This guy didn't seem that prepared (for my call, although he had called me yesterday) or super knowledgeable on the rules. He did tell me there are some changes for next year that describe the necessary brake rotor area. This strongly indicates to me that there's been complaints about this topic. (People being burned on bogus fails.) But it does nothing for me now, with respect to this particular inspector or dealership. Hardly satisfying. So my best course of action is to not go back to this dealership ever again. That won't break my heart.

While I was on a roll, I wrote my state legislator about this incident, and requesting her to push for quantifiable vehicular inspection requirements, rather than to rely on touchy feely impressions of inspectors, with dual allegiances. Don't know if it will do any good, but maybe it will reduce the incidence level of bogus fails.
 
Doyou have a good talk radio station near you?

We have a great one, they have the better politicians on and stuff like this get discussed, the CA DMV became the target of the local assemblyman due to much bad stuff, changes made.

Things like this need lots of sunlight.

Sent from my SM-G781V using Tapatalk
 
Most Subaru's that I have been in sit higher than a regular sedan or 2 door (although I can drag my knuckles on the pavement if I put an arm out the window of a WRX). I would guess most cars are going to feel low to the ground to you.

Honda's /Acura's and Toyota's/Lexus's are what I consider the tops for reliability. Most models should be quarter million mile cars. Hondas don't work for me, I have never been in one that had enough leg room for me. I can't even bend my left leg in a Miata enough to let the clutch out. Most Toyota's don't have enough leg room for me either.

My 19yo daughter drives the Nissan Maxima that I brought her home from the hospital in. It is one of the few cars with enough leg room for me. We replaced the Plugs, coils, fuel injectors, radiator, water pump hoses, belt, shocks and tires when she started driving it. I personally don't think Nissan's are in the same class as Honda/Toyota reliability wise... but I can fit in some of them at least.

I think if you want a car that sits higher like a Subaru you will need to start looking at the crossover SUV's. Personally I MUCH prefer the taller vehicles with a higher sitting height. But they do have higher centers of gravity which usually means more roll in the corners. I guess this is the fascination youngsters have with dropping their suspension so they can't take a speed bump without sparks.

Have you tried a CRX or RAV4? If you get your Miata running do you need a second sporty car? Personally I would rather have a sports car for fun and a smooth riding car for long trips for a second car.
 
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My son in law has a RAV4 and I've driven it. It's ok. It handles well for it's size. I think it's slightly large for my use but it's reasonable. Not sure it's turning radius is small enough to park in my driveway, but that's easy enough to test. I don't need two sporty cars, but each one shouldn't be annoying or worse, utterly boring.

Surprisingly the Legacy gets pushed around in the wind, a lot more than the Miata ever did. It's been scary at times. I've never had a car do that before. Might be due to the rather flat sides of the vehicle. Might only be a feature of that model year, but it's not endearing failing at all.
 
tq60 said:
Doyou have a good talk radio station near you?

We have a great one, they have the better politicians on and stuff like this get discussed, the CA DMV became the target of the local assemblyman due to much bad stuff, changes made.

Things like this need lots of sunlight.

Sent from my SM-G781V using Tapatalk
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Think that there's one in my town, although I haven't listened in a long time. I check it out and see if that makes sense.

I agree with the need for sunlight, it's often the only thing that gets some action - a form of public, non flattering exposure.

These rules and regulations need to be enforced in an objective fashion, without concern for the inspectors finances. Otherwise it becomes a spot of festering corruption or word of mouth who the easy ones are. For all I know the easy ones are bribed, and that's not right either. Measurable data is best, as it can be quantifiably confirmed by others.
 
WobblyHand said:
My son in law has a RAV4 and I've driven it. It's ok. It handles well for it's size. I think it's slightly large for my use but it's reasonable. Not sure it's turning radius is small enough to park in my driveway, but that's easy enough to test. I don't need two sporty cars, but each one shouldn't be annoying or worse, utterly boring.

Surprisingly the Legacy gets pushed around in the wind, a lot more than the Miata ever did. It's been scary at times. I've never had a car do that before. Might be due to the rather flat sides of the vehicle. Might only be a feature of that model year, but it's not endearing failing at all.
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I found that the Outback also got pushed around. But for me, I had changed to cooper tires, and it got wayyyy worse. I will never do Coopers again, very soft sidewalls. I keep my tires inflated higher than the car recommends for stiffer sidewalls and better handling.

So it may be your tires. But the outback was not great in wind to begin with...
 
woodchucker said:
I found that the Outback also got pushed around. But for me, I had changed to cooper tires, and it got wayyyy worse. I will never do Coopers again, very soft sidewalls. I keep my tires inflated higher than the car recommends for stiffer sidewalls and better handling.

So it may be your tires. But the outback was not great in wind to begin with...
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Maybe its tires, maybe it is something else. But at this point I'm done "investing" in this vehicle. Don't recall that Coopers were ever considered top tier tires, but hey, my memory could be foggy on that. Even so, I remember crossing bridges like over the Susquehanna, known for cross winds, and it was close to a white knuckle event. I've done that bridge loads of times in other vehicles under all sorts of conditions and never experienced that. So the vehicle has managed enough demerits in my eyes to be looking for a replacement.

In the meantime, once you test drive a car, they hound you. Think I have received more than 5 emails on the topic. I told them what I thought after the drive. My opinion hasn't changed since that time. Kind of annoying.
 
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