Are Chevrolet Car Parts Expensive - Damino Media

The Hidden Cost of Chinese eBay Parts | WheelHouse

Donut Media:

(gun shots)
- So, you want to turbo your car, huh?
But you're a little short on funds?
Relatable.
Is a cheap turbo worth your money?
(upbeat music)
(engine revs)
It's WheelHouse time baby.
Ooh wee.
Sure, we've all heard horror stories of
cheap turbos blowing up or
lasting a hundred miles.
But as of late, there have been
more and more success stories.
Stories of people having no issues at all.
Aside from figuring out what to buy
with all that extra cash they've saved.
(triumphant horn)
A big thick boy thank
you to NOS Energy Drink,
for partnering with Donut, and this show.
Not only do they help out
WheelHouse, but they specifically
asked to sponsor this week's
Hot Take segment as well.
I mean have you seen the
guys like BoostedBoiz.
They're making piles of power and
putting miles per hour on
some pretty cheap stuff.
(car engine revving)
Their running 9s.
- [Spectator] That's it, that's it.
(crowd cheering)
- Yes!
(loud engine)
Nine eight in 147, woo hoo!
(piano music)
- So let's review what
a turbo actually does.
They have a pretty tough job.
Their environment is
really, really, really hot.
Being bolted on to your exhaust and all.
When bearing tolerances are out of spec,
it can cause premature wear,
which can lead to oil pushing
past the seals and turning into
blue smoke coming out
the back of your car.
Anything from poor casting processes,
to the temperatures
molten metal is poured at,
to the specific blend of
metal being poured can cause
imperfections in important
parts of the compressor wheel.
Don't they check all that stuff?
Well, with the advent of the internet
came a wave of manufacturing
facilities all over the world.
Email and computer-aided design, CAD,
allowed companies to communicate
and share designs with ease.
That meant great things for
companies in places with
expensive labor, like America.
Boom!
Get things made in places
with cheap labor, right?
Wrong, kind of.
There are all sorts of growing pains,
with all the countless
fledgling factories.
Even factories that make good
turbos can have mistakes.
If there's no one inspecting
your turbo before it ships
to your door, then you're
at the mercy of Lady Luck.
And let me tell ya, she can
be kinda mean sometimes.
But luckily for these factories,
many of the companies
asking them to make parts,
provided them with knowledge and cash.
In a relatively short time, the ability
of these overseas manufacturing
plants skyrocketed.
But that doesn't mean that all
the factories themselves,
stepped their game up.
Is it a complete gamble?
In short, yes.
But we can try to swing
the results in our favor.
(bouncy music)
First, buying the cheapest of the
cheap is never a good idea.
The cheapest new turbo on eBay
hovers around a hundred bucks.
That's ridiculous.
Too cheap, don't buy it.
Second, read the reviews.
This goes for pretty much
everything you buy online,
but especially with car parts.
Look on the forums.
Even forums that aren't for your car.
There are gonna be a lot
of opinions and people
throwing their two cents
around like grenades.
There's one thing I
know about the internet,
it's that people like other
people knowing their opinions.
But if you can find people with
actual hands-on experience,
you'll find the useful information.
Third, look for information
about the company
you're going to be buying from.
Have they been around for very long?
Do they make any overall quality
or quality control claims?
And most importantly is there a guarantee
or a return policy if
your turbo does blow up?
Beyond checking reviews and
snooping on the company,
there isn't much you can do
to insure that the cheap turbo
you might buy will be a good one.
It's still gonna be a bit of a gamble
When you're talking a quarter of a
price of a brand name turbo.
So now it's time to look
inwards, to find out
if you really are about
that cheap turbo life.
You need to think about the what if.
What if it does fail?
Do you gamble on another or
do you shell out the money
for a name brand turbo after all?
Some folks' philosophy
is that since you can buy
four or five cheap turbos for
the price of one good one,
they'll just keep replacing
them, if and when they fail.
They probably will.
That brings up another question.
Who's doing the work?
If you're paying someone
to install your turbo,
the money you spend on
labor will quickly add up
and make your cheap turbo
a little less cheap.
Another big question is,
how hard is it gonna be?
Are we talking a top mount
super easy accessible turbo?
If so great.
But on some cars, replacing
a turbo or turbos can be a
total nightmare or at
least a really long dream
where you have a
perpetually bloody knuckles.
Check out HiLow and
you'll see what I mean.
- [Eddie] Good now?
- No, Eddie, not good.
What the (beep) you think dude?
(high energy music)
Did NOS Energy Drink partner
with Up to Speed first?
Yes.
Did they then move on to Bumper to Bumper?
Yes.
But did they save the
best Donut show for last?
Hmm, as someone who is
completely impartial,
someone who has no skin in the game,
someone who is 100% unbiased.
Yes.
Yes they did.
WheelHouse number one, baby.
(can popping)
(loud drinking)
(satisfied sigh)
NOS Energy Drink, baby, drink it.
(laughing)
(high energy music)
If you are a bit of a mad scientist,
there are a couple of other things
you can do to potentially improve
the odds of cheap turbo success.
There have been many accounts
of people dismantling
their brand new turbos
before installing them,
cleaning them out a little bit
and putting them back together.
Another thing some people have
done is rebuilding the turbo
with new higher quality
bearing, seals, and rings,
right out of the box.
This only works if you can find
rebuild parts for your cheap turbo.
But if you can definitely do that.
All of that stuff, replacing, cleaning,
and rebuilding the turbo takes time.
How much time do you have
to spend on this stuff?
And again, what will you
drive in the mean time?
If your project car isn't your daily,
then your probably in okay shape.
But if you're playing
doctor on your daily,
uh, you're kinda rolling the dice.
Another thing you can do is
to make sure you install it properly.
Give it the best possible chance.
I'm talking about making sure
your oil and coolant lines
are properly routed for the
best lubrication and cooling.
Even if it means a little extra work.
If your oil return line is all kinked up,
even the most expensive turbo
in the world is gonna fail.
(loud engine noises)
(piano music)
So here's the deal.
Whether or not a cheap ass
turbo is a viable option
for your car isn't really a simple answer.
A lot of it comes down to you.
Are you the kind of person
that loves to tinker?
Are you a bit of a risk taker?
(tires screech)
If you do your research, read
reviews, and accept all the
potential outcomes you
might even be able to make
your gamble a little less risky.
Otherwise, you should definitely save up
and get the good stuff.
Through my job, I've been
super fortunate to meet people
from the automotive aftermarket.
I'm talking people from
Vortex, Feal Suspension,
Magnussen, a ton of people,
and they're the ones that put
the blood, sweat, and tears into making
the aftermarket so great.
So what I think the right thing to do is,
instead of being impulsive
and buying the cheap part
from some nameless factory,
is to reward the people that
put the work in and support
small businesses really.
Because you might
unintentionally be taking,
literal labor away from someone
that you might know, you know.
It's just the right thing to do.
Planters NUTmobile is at the office.
- So we like to say that we
always drive the smoothest
peanut butter when we're on
the salty streets of America.
(laughs)
- Huh, you're serious?
- [Woman] Yes.
- Jeez.
- [Woman] So they got to roll up
and everybody was looking at them like,
"Oh my gosh, wow they're really--"
- This thing's nuts!
- Be nice, see you next time.

This Changes Everything

Scotty Kilmer:

rev up your engines here we go
3d printing has reached new insane
heights for a real fancy McLaren they
now have 3d printed wheels that way a
little bit less so you can accelerate
faster the less mass in the wheel the
less resistant so faster you're gonna
accelerate now it doesn't it affect the
top-end speed it's still gonna go the
same top-end it's just gonna get there
fast but they come out with is they have
these carbon-fiber barrels for the wheel
and then titanium spokes that are
printed with a 3d machine now this
isn't your normal 3d printer that's
using plastic resin you're not gonna be
printing these in your house this is
done on a very fancy machine that's
using titanium to print the spokes so you
try making one at home out of that
plastic resin and put it on something
that's got 800 horsepower they break off
as soon as it started to accelerate it's
called direct metal laser melting where
the lasers melt the stuff and then they
print them up I mean we're talking about
really complex actual space-age stuff
here so don't think any time soon you're
gonna be able to get printed titanium
wheels for your Corvette or something
it's gonna be a long time before the
public actually gets us if ever it's
probably so ineffective that no one's
gonna do it anything but you know they
made one from McLaren and one of those
super expensive race cars that's kinda
interesting that they can now print
titanium wheels who knows what they're
gonna come up with next but like I said
at what cost
orange Arthur says Scotty I found a
2006 Subaru WRX four-cylinder turbo and
an auction with 130 3,000 miles and it
means new front clip forget it one never
buy an auction car if you're gonna drive
it yourself there's an option because
there's something wrong with them that
thing's been smashed up on top of it
it's a turbo boxer engine the engine
might be on its way out too don't ever
buy a car at auction that's bashing it
the only guys that should buy auction
cars are pros I got friends that are
pros they go to an auction and they got
maybe eight grand
they might buy four or five cars for
eight grand and then they turn them
selling of them for
five grand even if they get a lemon
they're still coming out ahead and since
they're pros they almost always have a
little contract going with the auctions
that say well the mechanic says that is
this needs more repairs than what you
paid we'll give you credit you give us
the car back and that will give you
credit at the auction now they don't get
their money back but they get credit and
then they go buy another one so it's a
business and they can make money doing
it but there's too much gambling
involved in you buying one especially
one that's got rack work and it's a
Subaru turbo with that kind of mileage
stay away from options especially
Subarus that have been in
auctions, joe bob 71 says 07
Ford Edge automatic transmission put it
in reverse it doesn't do anything I put
it in partner back and reverse it works
your transmission is starting to go out
and generally when it does that it means
that the oil pump is starting to go out
automatic transmissions lose most of the
ones I've ever worked on like the engines
they got oil pumps on them the engine
oil pump pumps oil to the engine to
lubricated the automatic transmission
oil pump pumps the fluid to build up
pressure cuz it shifts by fluid
pressure dynamics so it's got to have
pressure buildup so it works and from my
experience with those things when the
pump starts to go that's exactly what
happens you put it in reverse it won't
work put it back into Park warm it up a
little and put it back into reverse it
starts to work yep you're lucky it can
be somewhat clogged you can change the
filter change the fluid pray that fixes
if it does great with somewhat clogged
up if it doesn't change it at all that
means that it's just starting to go out
13-year old Ford Edge do you really want
to put you know three to five in or
doing a transmission over but hey change
the filter fluid you never know
sometimes I've done that may go back to
normal for quite some time
cars 90s says do you think a lexus
can go up to 300,000 miles think I know
I got customers with 500,000 miles on
them here's the thing those are highly
engineered luxury vehicles and they can
go pretty fast so if you don't drive
uber fast all the time they can
basically last forever if you change the
oil regular you get something that can
go 140 miles an hour let's say you
barely drive 70 it's gone you know lots
to half speed so of course is gonna
that's a long time it's like guys with
motorcycles is it well can this
motorcycle ask me and I explained to him
okay you got a motorcycle and that can go 180 miles an hour let's say
the fastest you ever go is maybe 80
miles an hour that thing was so over
designed to go 180 miles an hour if
you're driving around 50 60 all the time
if you don't smash it up it can
basically last forever because it's
designed to go super fast and if you
don't go super fast it can really last a
long time it was like sisters yes change
they all regularly maintain them they
can last a really long time because
they're designed so well almost all of
them are made in Japan where they're
still making the best vehicles even the
Japanese the ones they're making the
United States they've had problems with
some of the stuff that they've done
there and had to have recalls on engines
and things but the ones that they make
in Japan they're better made and most of
lexuses are still made in Japan, gerome b16 says Scotty I need help
people tell me I need mental help cuz I
bought a used Infiniti wtih a blown engine I
payed around 4 grand for it you are crazy
you know we're running it's not even
worth 4 grand
with 140,000 miles on it I tell people
infinities are endless money pits as
they age with high mileage and of course
their quality has been going downhill
since infinities are just fancy Nissan's
Renaults owns them and the quality's
been going downhill for a couple of
decades now that is not a vehicle that
you buy you just don't buy those things
used I mean if somebody handed one free
and it ran but I mean that they had a
blown engine you shouldn't even have
bought it in the first place I wouldn't
even take a car like that personally if
someone handed it to me with the blown
engine says no I don't want it I just
have to have it towed to a junkyard I
don't want to mess around with it's not
worth the bother always use your head
when it comes to a vehicle don't use
your emotions don't do something like oh
look it's a beautiful Jaguar it just
needs a little few repairs no probably
needs all kinds of expensive repairs
don't buy a car like that but hey at
least it's a lesson learned but do make
it a lesson learned don't ever do it
again
I spent says my 2000 Ford Mustang 3.8
when the cars parked and I started it
smells like gas on the outside of the
rear two things you can check one soon
as you started quit go
back to the tailpipe or have somebody
I'll start it and stand by the tailpipe
and smell it there
it's the smells coming out of the
tailpipe that means your cars running
rich and you got a problem like a
leaking fuel injector for some reason
the cars flooding out now when you start
it up there's too much gas in the engine
and it's gonna burn out but the other
thing is let's say it's not the tailpipe
itself it's just the whole general back
area
cars have evap systems and instead of
the gasoline vapors like when I was a
young mechanic were just vented to the
cap to the atmosphere that's seen as
pollution these days it goes through the
system the evap system and goes through
the charcoal canister which is supposed
to filter out the gasoline and fresh air
comes out you know it smell it if that
charcoal canister is bad or the EVAP
canister vent valve is stuck open
you'll also smell the gas so you want to
check that too air 626 says scotty I got a chrysler 300m and it
won't start I don't know what's wrong
with it there's a new battery when a car
doesn't start watch my video fixing a
car the cranks but doesn't start up you
can see absolutely everything to test
the basics are you want to see first
does it have fuel and does it have spark
so the easiest thing to do is you go to
any auto parts store for like two
dollars by can of starting fluid take
the air filter cover off have someone
crank the engine while your spray
starting fluid in the law if it starts
and dies odds are you got a bad fuel
pump and you can have that tested if
you'll bump bad if don't start when
you're starting fluid in then what you
want to do is just take out one of the
spark plug wires and put a spark plug on
it ground it against the engine have
somebody crank it and see if it's sparking if
it's not sparking then you've lost your
ignition system and common things for
that or a bad crankshaft position sensor
or a bad ignition coil you gotta figure
out why it's not starting
like I said watch my video fixing the
kind of cranks what doesn't start up if
you try all those things and they're all
actually working then you probably have
the worst thing on earth which would be
like a blown head gasket something's
blown inside the engine and the engine
will never start again and unless it's
fixed but normally it's one of the tests
that's in that video so check that out
first,
crazy outlaw says is a 2008 Toyota
Solara convertible with 55,000 miles and
one owner as good as the Camrys oh yeah
there were great vehicles you know
they're pretty much the same engine the
v6 Camry engine
transmission, brakes, they were just a sedan
they failed because people were going
either four-door now SUVs and then
they stopped making them 2008 was the
last year that they made to Toyota
Solaras if you like it you know they're
great vehicles now some people think
that they're really ugly with the top
down because of their design that they
just think they're ugly now if you like
the look of it hey go ahead and buy one
you find one with 55,000 miles it's got
tons of life I just worked on one
yesterday and it had 260 thousand miles
and it still ran like a clock that can
last a long time just got him a
marketing failure with Toyota they were
great cars didn't have any particular
problems really, smart says Scotty is there a
car cam or something like I can use
without the need to hardwire to my car
so if my car's hit it'll take a picture
of it oh yeah there's zillions I'm go to
ebay go to Amazon start googling it
you'll see there are tons of them out
there how they were car you want to get
one that has the built in G sensor and
what happens is if somebody hits the car
it bumps the G sensor turns the camera
on it films the whole thing just look up
and find them I've seen them from fifty
to ninety five dollars look at the
reviews pick the ones with the best
reviews but yes they are and you can
just plug them into the cigarette
lighter you don't want Hardware
something you just plug it on cigarette
lighter lithium-ion batteries to hold
the charge for a reasonable amount of
time so as long as you drive the car a
lot it'll still have enough battery
power to take a picture if somebody hits
it while they're going out if you're
gonna do that my advice is get the dual
cameras that have front back because you
know you're gonna get in the front of
the back the cameras point in front and
it films that they're in the back it's
no good so get the dual camera set up
for that,
so if you never want to miss another one
of my new car repair videos, remember to
ring that Bell

Why General Motors Left Europe

CNBC:

In 2017, General Motors,
the largest U.S.
automaker with brands known around the
world made perhaps one of
its boldest moves in its history.
It sold its European Opel and
Vauxhall brands to the French
automaker PSA known for brands
such as Peugeot and Citroen.
It was the end of an era
for GM which had first ventured into
Europe nearly 90 years before.
It also marked the end of nearly
two decades of losses for the
brands under GM's stewardship.
GM executives said the deal
would unload a difficult and
struggling business and allow the company
to focus on its more
profitable North American market and free
up cash to make needed
investments in new technologies such
as electric cars and
autonomous driving.
But the move came with risks.
The European new car market is about
as large as that of the
United States and leaving it would
not only hit GM's volume but
also increase its exposure to the
ups and downs of the U.S.
auto market.
The sale of the unit
also racked up huge costs.
GM took a $3.9 billion
loss in 2017 owing
mostly to the $6.2
billion in costs it had to
shell out for the sale.
So why did GM leave?
Did the automaker simply
screw up or fail?
Was it wise to get out of Europe?
And what does it mean for GM's
future and the future of the auto
industry?
The decision actually says a lot about
how difficult it is to be a
global automaker today and the
sometimes subtle ways markets
around the world increasingly favor
local players who can tailor
their products to
specific markets.
In the end GM may have failed
in Europe in part because it just
isn't European.
The numbers show General Motors was
having a rough time on the
continent in the nine years or
so before the divestiture of GM's
European business.
It bled money at the EBIT line
every single year for a total of
about $14 billion in
losses on $208.4
billion dollars in sales it's nine
year weighted loss of 6.9
percent.
EBIT stands for earnings before interest
and taxation and is the
metric GM uses to report
the money its international business
divisions make.
Its worst year during that time
was during the financial crisis in
2009.
Where GM incurred a 15
percent loss of $3.6
billion dollars.
The best year in that period was
2016 where it still had a 1.4
percent loss totaling
about $257 million.
Now that sounds like an improvement
and in absolute terms it was.
But consider that over the same
nine year period GM turned a
profit in North America of
$28 billion on $823.7
point billion in sales.
That's a nine year
weighted gain of 3.4
percent an automaker generally tries to
target an 8 percent EBIT
for any given region and for
the world as a whole.
GM's rival, Ford for example has an
8 percent EBIT target for its
European business.
The automobiles never really
sold well with consumers.
And one of the reasons they
weren't able to achieve profitability
is because what they did sell
were primarily passenger cars and
not the higher margin trucks and SUVs
that they saw a lot of in
the U.S..
So that's that's a
big part of it.
There's also a lot of headwinds that
they faced on the cost side
of the equation with with the
cost of labor, unions, and
also more stringent regulation
particularly from an emissions
standpoint.
So a lot of those reasons are
why they had such mixed results and
from a market share perspective when
they pulled out they were
they only had about 6
to 7 percent market share.
So it wasn't really a
dominant market for them.
And GM was losing ground
during that time to competitors.
Consider that the automaker
had a 9.3
percent share of the European car
market in 2008 but that fell
below 7 percent in 2014 and stayed
there for two years and then
fell again to around
6 percent in 2016.
Meanwhile European competitors seem
to be faring better.
And once GM sold off its
European business its earnings shot up.
The automaker earned a
global EBIT of 9.9
percent in 2017 and 8.4
percent in 2018.
But why was GM struggling in Europe
when it does so well in the
United States and is
even leading U.S.
automakers in China a market that is
by no means easy to do
business in.
One reason is that
Europe is pretty unique.
To be fair to GM it is not
the only automaker that has had trouble
there.
American cars have never been an
easy sell in the European market.
Ford for example has dialed back
its presence in the region.
Gm is not alone
in their struggles.
You see Ford pulling out of
Europe and American cars just never
have really sold very well there.
That market is really dominated
by the big three German
manufacturers and others.
But it's also a
fairly fragmented market.
So they just really were never
able to compete and consumers just
didn't really like their cars.
There were larger economic and political
factors such as the great
recession and tightening emissions
regulations that made it
tougher for companies to
do business there.
Another factor is the
distinctiveness of European tastes.
At the time GM CEO Mary Barra
said 80 percent of the vehicles in
the Opel portfolio didn't share
parts or platforms with those
sold in any of
GM's other markets.
When we look at the portfolio
going forward from a vehicle
perspective or a portfolio perspective
only 20 percent of the
portfolio overlapped with the rest
of the General Motors
portfolio.
So we think the real opportunity
for PSA is to leverage that
Europe specific scale.
That put the company
in a tough position.
Major automakers generally want to
build flexible platforms and
parts that can be used in
a variety of models in different
markets.
This helps them keep costs low
and achieve those highly desired
economies of scale.
There are forces however that make
it difficult to share parts and
platforms.
Automobiles tend to be highly regulated
products and many of the
markets where they are sold
and the regulations can vary
sometimes widely from
region to region.
One example of this is
fuel economy and emissions regulations.
Both the U.S.
and Europe have them.
But they tend to differ and
producing cars to meet each
regulatory regime costs
more money.
It requires that the company engineer
and test every vehicle to
fit every set of rules.
But many industry observers say GM
made a number of missteps over
the years that contributed to
the brand's struggles in Europe.
Opel and Vauxhall are often thought
of as sensible cars but they
do not have the glamorous
reputations of more premium brands.
GM typically sold Opels and Vauxhalls
in high volumes usually to
keep costs low.
But simple supply and demand shows this
has a way of driving down
prices.
And while GM produced a lot of cars
it was hard for it to make
money on the cars it made.
It also introduced its Chevrolet brand
into Europe which had the
effect of undermining sales
of Opel and Vauxhall.
Both brands already had
difficulty distinguishing themselves in
Europe's competitive landscape and
selling highly similar
Chevrolets right next to
them further confused buyers.
Furthermore the company didn't
have the right products.
Opels portfolio was heavily
weighted toward traditional passenger
cars such as
subcompact and sedans.
And the brand missed the boom
in crossover and small SUV sales.
At the end of the day Europe is
a large market but it is a mature
one and does not offer the
opportunities for growth companies can
find in China and other emerging
markets or even the kinds of
opportunity in the U.S..
A lot of it is really reflection
of the economic growth in Europe
relative to China.
You have one of the fastest growing
countries in the world and the
U.S. which is growing stronger a
lot stronger than Europe now.
You know if you look at European
GDP over the last several years
just has really lagged the
North American market in Asia.
China is now the world's largest
car market with 28 million new
vehicles sold in 2018.
That number is likely to continue
to rise as the auto market
continues to grow.
In North America particularly the
United States, is becoming an
ever more profitable market as
consumers turn toward higher
priced crossovers, SUVs,
and pickup trucks.
So GM cut the cord in Europe and
said it would use the money to
focus more on its strong business
selling trucks in North America
while sinking piles of cash
into its investments in electric
vehicles and self-driving cars.
Those aren't cheap aspirations and it may
be a long time before GM
or anyone else makes
money off them.
Meanwhile GM's North American sales
have grown pretty consistently
from 56 billion dollars in 2009
to 113 billion dollars in 2018
according to FactSet.
Meanwhile it was able to sell the
business to Peugeot and a large
automaker that has been successful
focusing on Europe but who
also has plans to
return to the U.S..
They've been very open over the
last few months about their
interest in specifically
Fiat Chrysler.
Which I think they view as a
opportunity to gain a foothold in the
North American market and obviously
you know that company has
said some very well-received brands with
Jeep and a lot of the
new products that
they're introducing.
In a comment to
CNBC, General Motors
said:
Peugeot surprised the industry by saying
it had restored the Opel
and Vauxhall brands to profitability in
part by cutting costs and
introducing new more
profitable models.

How Cars Got So Expensive | WheelHouse

Donut Media:

Buying a new car sucks.
Yeeeehaw! Do the stanky leg, do-
Dealership haggling aside, the most stressful
part about buying a car is usually figuring
out for paying for it.
Cars are expensive, usually the most expensive
thing you own.
But it wasn’t always like that.
Here’s how cars got so pricey.
Henry Ford sold the Model T for $825 in 1908.
When Ford improved their assembly line, the
cost went down to $300.
When adjusted for inflation, I’m gonna be
saying that term a lot, that’s the same
as going from $23,000 to 4300.
Henry Ford’s assembly line made the car
something pretty much anyone could afford.
Early access to transportation changed the
way americans lived, and growing industrialization
meant the birth of the middle class.
Fast forward to 1950, and America is doing
great.
The Post-war economic boom doubled and even
tripled wages compared to 1938.
When adjusted for inflation to today’s money,
the median income in the US was around $52,000
a year.
In 1950, The base model F100 pickup will set
you back around 1300 dollars, or about 14
thousand today.
That’s a great deal for a brand new truck,
a Ford F series no less.
When we look at the F100’s lifespan, we
see that when adjusted for inflation the price
for a base F series truck has nearly tripled
in it’s 70 year history.
And it’s not alone.
When compared against the Honda Civic and
even a base Mercedes sedan, pretty much every
model of car has seen an increase in price
by about double.
Let’s compare the features of a Base model
2018 Ford F150 to that of a 1948 F-1.
When new, the F-1 made 95 horsepower and that
was about it.
The F-1 didn’t get armrests , radio or a
dome light until 1953.The F150 has a 6 speed
automatic transmission, 3.3 liter V6 with
variable cam timing making 290 horsepower,
Independent front suspension, power steering,
air conditioning and most importantly, an
aux jack.
(Bleed by Meshuggah)
A production vehicle that had every feature
present in the 2018 F150 would cost a fortune
in 1948, even simple technology like power
steering wouldn’t be available to the public
for another three years.
And that’s just everyday features.That base
2018 F150 get a decent combined 22 miles per
gallon thanks to that variable cam timing.
Old flathead engines like those in the F-1,
would be lucky to hit the mid teens.
Old cars were absolutely horrible on safety.
Car safety as a whole needs it’s own episode
but I just want to look at this IIHS video
comparing the 1959 Chevy Bel Air to a 2009
Chevy Malibu.
See how the old car completely collapses in
the collision?
How the roof pillars lose all integrity, and
the steering column hits the dummy in the
face?
That guy is dead for sure.
The Malibu on the other hand, is completely
totalled, but the driver survives.
When adjusted for inflation a base Malibu
cost around 25 grand, while the Bel Air would
be about 22 grand.
The Bel Air is pretty sick, I won’t lie,
but I don’t think the 3000 dollars you save
is worth being bludgeoned to death by your
steering wheel.
Even the most basic cars today for lower prices
are a way better value.
Take the Mitsubishi Mirage, one of the cheapest
cars on sale in the US.
At it’s most basic, the list price is $13,395.
Even at that low of an entry fee, it has standard
features that would have blown Henry Ford’s
mind.
Bwoooaaah
It’s got a touchscreen, rear view camera,and
attractive chrome grille accents.
The Model T can’t touch this thing.
Okay that’s great, Nolan, new cars are an
awesome value compared to what my great grandpa
was driving.
But I still can’t afford one.
Well neither can I.
But why not?
In 1950 the median income, when adjusted for
inflation, was $52,000 per household.
Today, the median income is $59,000.
Looking at the median income next to the price
of the F150 side by side from 1950 to now,
the price of a pickup increased 14,069 dollars.
That’s outpaces the median income by a factor
of two.
Going back again to 1928, buying a Model T
costs 300 bucks.
So that’s about 21% of your annual income
going towards the purchase of a new car.
Comparing that to today, using a base, base
Ford F150, it costs about 47% of your yearly
haul.
But if you get a Supercrew cab, you know,
a truck that could actually hold your family
with, that takes nearly 60 percent.
It takes twice as much money to buy a new
car as it did 60 years ago, which is fine
because new cars are better.
But the problem is wages didn’t keep up
with the rise in prices.
Okay Nolan, just don’t buy a new car then.
A used car is just as good and more affordable.
No problem.
Yeah I agree, but the problem for a lot of
people is saving up a big enough chunk to
buy a used car in the first place.
Instead of buying a used car outright, more
and more people are signing up for long term
loans.
A 74 month loan on a two year old car is not
uncommon, and loans up to 96 months are getting
more popular.
As of the fourth quarter of 2016, loans lasting
73 months or longer made up 31 percent of
auto loans given out by Credit Unions, comapared
to 12 percent in 2009.
And these loans don’t depreciate with the
value of the vehicle, meaning by the time
you’re done paying it off, you’ve payed
way more than what the already depreciated
car was worth.
In most places, especially small towns, cars
are an absolute necessity in our daily life.
People will take on these brutal loans because
they don’t have any other choice.
And with stories coming out about long term
loans with interest rates of 25%, it feels
wrong.
Hit that subscribe button so you never miss
an episode of WheelHouse.
What do you think?
Is the higher price worth it, or should manufacturers
make super-cheap cars that crumble in an accident?
Follow Donut Media on Instagram @donutmedia
and follow me on Instagram @nolanjsykes.
If you want to know more about Henry Ford
check out this episode of WheelHouse, he was
a weird guy.
And if you wanna know more about cars you
can’t afford regardless of median income
check out this episode of Up to Speed on McLaren.
Wear your seatbelt, see ya later :)

Why Ford And Other American Cars Don’t Sell In Japan

CNBC:

When it comes to cars, Americans
seem to love the Japanese.
But the Japanese don't seem
to love Americans back.
Japanese brands sell remarkably well
in the United States.
Several of the best-selling automakers in
America are from Japan, and
their products seem to dominate entire
segments in sales and critical
acclaim. Japanese automakers sell so
many cars in the U.S.
that they actually employ vast numbers
of American workers in factories
around the country.
Japanese automakers actually build a third of
all the vehicles made in the
U.S. But the Japanese don't seem
to be interested in America's SUVs,
pickup trucks, muscle cars or just
about any vehicle made by Detroit.
Ford left Japan entirely in 2017.
General Motors keeps a presence there, but
it is tiny — the largest U.S.
automaker sold only 700 cars
in Japan in 2018.
And people are divided as to why
and what, if anything, should be done
about it.
President Donald Trump has criticized the
imbalance, but so have U.S.
automotive trade associations, who
blame Japanese protectionism.
While there are no
Japanese tariffs on U.S.
imports, a number of critics say there
are all kinds of technical barriers
that make it harder for U.S.
companies to sell in Japan.
Here in the United States, when we
set regulations for fuel economy or
safety or communications standards or whatever,
all of the automakers that
sell and produce in the United
States are party to that conversation.
In Japan, it's a much more
closed process for regulatory compliance.
It's "these are the rules and
you will meet the rules."
Japanese producers have input into that
and suppliers, but it's pretty
closed to any external companies that
would be doing business there.
But some industry experts say
that really isn't the problem.
Instead, the reasons U.S.
cars are so rare in Japan, which
is the world's third-largest car market,
have more to do with Japanese
consumer tastes, the abiding if outdated
stereotypes the Japanese have about the
quality of American cars, and the
very different way customers shop
for vehicles in Japan.
It is first important to note
that Japanese brands all but completely
dominate local roads.
More than 95 percent of all cars
sold in the country are Japanese.
Imports make up the balance and
most of those are higher-end European
luxury vehicles and sports cars.
This is partly because the
Japanese have pretty specific needs.
For one thing, space
is incredibly tight.
Wildly popular in Japan are these
so-called Kei cars, which are tiny
vehicles preferred by drivers who have
to thread their way through narrow
streets and crowded cities.
Kei Cars alone make up
40 percent of the Japanese
market and U.S.
automakers don't make them.
Americans, on the other hand, tend
to excel in making big vehicles,
particularly pickup trucks and
large sport utilities.
In recent years, American automakers have
scaled back or even entirely
killed off their own lines of
compact vehicles, which are often still
bigger than their
Japanese counterparts.
In fact, many of the Japanese vehicles
sold in America — from sedans such
as the Toyota Camry all the way up
to the pickups — are not even
particularly popular in Japan.
All three Detroit automakers have less
than 1 percent market share.
One of the bestsellers, Jeep, sells about
10,000 vehicles in Japan a year.
The Japanese car buying experience would
also likely shock many Americans,
who often view a trip to the
dealership as one of life's necessary evils.
Much of Japanese business culture is
built around service and hospitality,
and auto dealerships
are no exception.
Japanese dealerships offer customers nearly
white glove service, and the
way buyers choose cars is entirely
different from the traditional buying
experience in the U.S.
Whereas American shoppers will often choose
a car from what is available
on a dealer lot, Japanese buyers can
often custom-build a car out of a
catalog and then have it made for
them in a matter of weeks.
A strong local supply chain and
local factories allow Japanese automakers
to do this.
Furthermore, quality of service
is often quite high.
Dealerships frequently have amenities such
as cafes and complimentary car
washes. They will also follow up
with customers sometimes even years after
a purchase.
Foreign automakers overall have had difficulty
adapting to this way of
selling. Moreover, the Japanese have
longstanding perceptions of American
cars as inefficient and unreliable.
This somewhat outdated view originates in
the decades from the 1960s
through the 1980s, when Japanese
brands were ascending and American
automakers were plagued with criticism and
scandal over vehicles such as
the Chevrolet Vega, the AMC Gremlin,
the Ford Pinto and the Chevrolet
Corvair.

And though American manufacturers have
made far more fuel-efficient engines
in recent years, the U.S.
has historically made some gas guzzlers
when compared with cars made
elsewhere.
Yeah, I think there is
a hangover for American vehicles.
You know, what does an American
car say about you in Japan.
That baggage is carried with that.
Meanwhile, the Japanese rose to power in
the auto industry in large part on
their reputation for building solid, efficient
cars that don't break down.
Of course, many observers note that American
autos have done a lot to
close the reliability gap over the years,
and cars overall are able to log
far more miles on the road than
they did even a decade ago.
And U.S.
automakers are adamant that they would be
better able to compete in Japan
if the country removes barriers
that make doing business difficult.
The trouble for Detroit is that Japan
is just one of the international
markets where U.S.
automakers have struggled.
All three Detroit automakers have had
challenges in South America and
Europe. While China which is the world's
largest car market could become a
tougher place to do business
with slowing economic growth, increased
competition, and trade disputes.

If something doesn't change, U.S.
automakers could become just that: American
companies that sell trucks and
SUVs to Americans.

5 Used Cars You Should Buy

Scotty Kilmer:

rev up your engines, today I'm gonna talk
about the five best used cars that you
can buy, now I know there's lots of people
out
there talking about what's good and
what's bad but really, if you want to
learn about what used cars to buy, ask a
mechanic like me, because just out of
curiosity I Googled, some of that advice
on the internet, whoa stay away from it,
I even saw some that had three of the
top five being chrysler products, which
every mechanic knows they're some of the
worst made vehicles out there, to say
they're good to buy used, you don't want
to listen to people's advice that don't know
what they're talking about, I hate
it when I buy something that doesn't
hold up over time, and over the last 51
years
I hate it when my customers buy cars
that don't hold up over time, hey I like
my customer I want them to tell their
friends about me to say hey he's a good
mechanic he knows how to fix your car
and it isn't always breaking down all
the time and he's making up stuff just
to make money, so of course
don't listen to used-car advice from
somebody say who only works on Jaguars,
he's gonna tell you to buy a Jaguar you
know, I work on all kinds of different
cars, I don't care what people drive but
if they want a good car
I'll give them advice and here's my
advice on the five used cars to buy, and
number five is a 2012 Honda Accord, and I
know some people are gonna say, hey
Scotty you warned us about Honda's with
weak automatic transmissions, and that is
true the 2005 to 2010 Honda Accords with
automatic transmissions have a recall
for their automatic transmission because
it had a design flaw, but not to 2012,
I've got customers with 2012 Honda
accords and they love the cars, from my
experience of my customers cars the four
cylinder ones seemed to the last absolute
longest, some guys want the v6 s because
they want more power and stuff, but they
do have a tendency of wearing out a
little bit faster and the 4's have
plenty of power and get quite a bit
better gas mileage, and a lot of family
guys love these Accords because they're
zippy sporty cars, you get a four-door yeah
you can fix a whole family in there
but it's not like you're driving around
in a minivan, and here you want to
realize another thing about buying a
used car, don't always go for the
cheapest price, because a lot of the reason
cars are cheap is because they aren't
very good cars, you're gonna pay a reasonable
amount
of money for a 2012 Honda Accord
that's in good shape, but hey I've seen
them with three four hundred thousand
miles on them,
so you're gonna get a lot of mileage out
of the things, as long as they don't
already have three or four hundred
thousand miles on them, now
number four on the lists of 2012 Ford
Fusion, used their often seen as an
inexpensive family saloon, one of the
reasons this those were made when Volvo
and Ford were having to get together
part way, the first time I ever had one I
rented it when I was on vacation at an
airport, and I was totally impressed by
how it rode, I was never really a fan of
the Ford Taurus myself, but when I rented
this
fusion I was impressed, they proved to
be very reliable cars too, and they
didn't have the transmission problems
that a lot of the Taurus hand, it was a
pretty good move, now I mean Ford's not
making cars anymore they said they're
only gonna be making one the Mustang and
then SUVs and trucks, but the Ford Fusion
is a really solid built car, and since
Ford isn't going to be making cars
anymore, you can generally pick up a used
car cheaper, because when a company stops
making cars the value of the old one
goes down, if they're still well made,
Ford still gonna make parts for them, hey
you might get a really good price on a
used fusion, now number three on the list
is a 2013 Honda Civic, those things were
reliable solid little cars
Honda sure went a long way from their
first Honda that they sold in
the United States to this Honda Civic,
you'd think they came from different
planets if you look at both cars, a lot
of young people like the civics because
they're zippy, a lot of guys soup them up
and put a lot of horsepower in there, Honda
engines they can take it, but at the same
time they're very dependable
transportation, I have many middle-aged
and older people, they bought civics
and they love them,
and they would say it always starts, it never
breaks
down, and it hardly uses any gas, and sure
they hold their value, which is the
reason I say don't go too cheap when
you're buying a used car
think about expense over time,
that's one reason my son who I was going
to get him I used Tacoma pickup
truck, he end up buying a new one because
he said, dad I'll probably keep this
thing for 30 years, it's gonna cost me
hardly any money per month if I keep
this thing for 30 years
so I'll just buy a brand new one, but if
you're buying a used car and you want to
save a lot of money,
hey that Civic is a great pick, yeah
you're gonna pay more for it certainly
then a used Chrysler or used GM smaller
car, but it's gonna outlast them
sometimes two, three, four times as long
with probably maybe 20% of the repair
bills that you're gonna spend on those
cars that aren't as well made, and of
course realized if you're buying used like
that, your insurance rates, because let's
face it you buy a brand new car, say
it's wrecked or stolen or flooded
whatever, the insurance company has to buy
you a new car, that's a lot of money, well
they used cars they have less value so
the insurance is less on them too, and
with the smaller four-cylinder engine
the insurance is less on that, because
it doesn't have the big power of a v6 or
a v8, you're saving all kinds of ways if
you get a you Civic, now number two on
the list of best five used cars to buy,
is a 2012 Toyota Corolla, Corollas can
run virtually forever if you take care
of them, I remember years ago a mechanic
friend of mine he was having a party, and
they said let's see if we can blow up a
Toyota Corolla engine, so he emptied out
most of the engine oil and that put a
brick on the accelerator and it was just
sitting there revving, and it ran
for quite some time and then finally one
of the cylinders blew and went bang and the
cylinder broke, but then it was still
running awhile and only three cylinders
I mean the things are really strongly
designed, Toyota used the Corolla
design on a lot of cars, that's a 07
matrix it's really a Toyota Corolla, my
Celica it's a 94 Celica,
it's really Toyota Corolla too
it has the same engine, transmission, just
a different body style and a little bit
different suspension is all, I gotta laugh
these days when I get some customers say
I just have to get an SUV for my family,
and I say my kids, two sons, me, my wife we
road around for years in an 81 Toyota
Corolla four-door, they fit in that
Corolla we went all over the country in
that thing, and did it ever leave us
stranded,
no it didn't, and one big advantage of
buying a car like a 2012 Toyota Corolla is,
they made tons of them, they sold tons of
them, so there are always going to be a
reasonable amount of them out there for
sale, if a company makes a really
good car but they don't sell all that many
of them their aren't gonna be that many used
ones for sale they're gonna be hard to
find, but there are Corollas all over the
place in all kinds of different shape, maybe
you're a fixer-upper, so you're gonna buy
one that maybe has 300 thousand miles
you get it cheap, fix it up and drive it
around, or maybe you don't really care
that much about body style, so if they
didn't take care of the paint and had a
few dents on it, you just drive it
around that way as a beater car and you don't
care to put any money into it, because
since they made so many of them, there is
an insane aftermarket for those things,
let's say you go and you need to get a
Fender, well you go to the Toyota dealer
and the fender who knows what they want
maybe five or six hundred bucks, you can get
one made in Taiwan for like $50, sheet
steel stamped on who cares you're just
gonna have it bolted on and painted, so
you can get parts that work perfectly
fine dirt cheap for those things, so take
advantage of mass production if you want
a really good car for getting you around
hey get to use Corolla, now number one
on the list is the 2011 Toyota Camry
which is no surprise to most people, and
I know some people are gonna say, Oh
Scotty what a boring pick 2011 Toyota Camry,
well yeah that's exactly why I
pick it as a good used car to buy, it's
boring, you buy it it's not gonna break
its gonna start every time, and their
still fun to drive they got more zip
than a Corolla does, but they're totally
dependable, here again though I say, I
advise people buy the four-cylinder
version, it's got plenty enough horsepower
to get you around, the 6's, hey they're gonna
get worse gas mileage
and they will wear out faster I
mean yeah okay
so it might wear out at 300,000 miles
instead of 500,000 miles, but still it's
gonna wear out fast, and as an
interesting fact generally the cheaper
models of manufacturers sell more cars
than the expensive ones, but in 2011
Toyota in the United States sold more
Camrys than they did Corollas, normally
it's cheaper models that sell more, but
the Camrys were so well made that they
actually sold more Camrys than they did
Corollas in the United States in 2011
you can easily fit a whole family in a
Camry they got tons of room inside I've
had customers that are real tall at six
six or six seven and they'd always say, I
can't
get a Toyota I'm too big I don't fit in,
I said get in a Camry and sit in it and see
what you think, and they did and they said,
whoa
hey comfy car enough room for me
you're gonna pay a reasonable price for
one of these cars, they hold their value
because they're so well made, but don't
do like one of my customers did who was
looking at a used Camry and then they
said, oh look I can get this Chrysler at
half the price and it's got a v6 engine
and leather seats and all this, and then
a couple years later they came in and
they said, we got to get rid of that
Chrysler what a pile of junk and what did
they do, then they went out and bought a
used camry, so my advice on that one
is, learn from other people's mistakes, if
you don't have to make the mistake
yourself
hey learn from somebody else's mistake,
make sure you get a decent used car
because there's the old saying, oh I
never buy a used car cuz you're buying
somebody else's problems, well if you're
gonna buy a camry, if it was taken care
of it's not gonna be anybody's problem,
but of course as I always tell people
when they're buying a used car,
have a mechanic check it out before
you buy it, because you can't trust
anybody when it comes to buying used
anything, cars can be wrecked, flooded,
stolen, started on fire there's all kinds
of things that can happen, so you want a
mechanic
to check it out and with this modern
technology on all these late model cars
hey when we mechanics plug our machines
in, we get more history make your head
spin, and within an hour any mechanic
can tell you, yeah that's a really good
car or no stay away from that one, so now
you know the five best cars that you can
buy used if you want peace of mind, and
have a nice solid reliable vehicle to
drive around in, so if you never want to
miss another one of my new car repair
videos, remember to ring that Bell!

Why Plastic Car Parts are Stupid (Metal vs Plastic Parts)

Scotty Kilmer:

one, two, three, four!
Rev up your engines!
It's time for the Scotty Kilmer Channel
today I'm going to talk about why
certain car parts should never be made
out of plastic, but many manufacturers
are doing just that,
now I understand that plastic is much
easier and cheaper to make, this is a
plastic thermostat that I had to change
out on this Ford because it broke
already, now even though this Ford is only
six years old, the thermostat inside here
cracked and broke cause it's made out of
plastic, while the thermostat of this 24
year old Toyota Celica is still strong,
it's never been changed, the housing is
made out of metal, they can last forever
so why did they make this thermostat
housing out of plastic, it's just
cheaper, plastic is made by injection
molding, the plastic can be moulded and then
they can make a whole bunch of these
things at once, when they break the mould apart, you just have to take little
tangs off, it's ready for use, while in a
metal thermostat, they have to make good
moulds, it has to be poured, and then a
lot of times when it comes out it's got
to be polished so it fits right, costs a
lot more money, even though they last a
lot longer, now plastic bumpers they're
okay, they're just out in the air, they
can bend and flex you can hit people,
they can bounce back up, that's okay but
you don't want plastic where's the
corrosive atmosphere, as I'm quoting from
a scientist here, research shows that the
exposure of plastics to liquid chemicals
tends to accelerate their breaking, but
when you have a thermostat that's hidden
inside the engine here, it's all hot, it's
got all kinds of chemicals in it from
the antifreeze, of course it's going to
break down relatively fast, and in the
case of this Ford, to add insult to
injury, there's a little rubber hose that
comes off the thermostat housing, but
what does it go to, yet another plastic
hose, and this plastic hose carries
coolant, the plastic just degraded and it
had to be replaced,
now this hose used to be made out of
metal, of course it's cheaper to make out
of plastic, but then the heat and the
chemicals in the antifreeze eventually
break down, and it'll start leaking and
you got to replace something that could
have lasted almost forever, now plastic
has some good uses, in the old Saturn's
they had plastic doors and plastic
fender panel,
they don't rust, so that's an okay use
for plastic, but what about door handles,
I spend hours every year replacing
people's door handles that are made out
of cheap plastic, and they break when you
pull on them, when I was a kid, door
handles were made out of chrome plated
metal, they basically lasted forever, now
this is a Lexus, and though it looks like
it, it's chrome-plated plastic and these
things break too, and they're a pain to
replace, in this case, be gentle and kind
with the door handles, don't rip them up,
my wife has never broken any of these
plastic door handles, because she's
cautious, but me, a lot of times I'm in a
hurry and grab it and it breaks right
off and then you got to replace the
stupid thing, when you're talking about
putting plastic under the hood of your
car on the engine, where it gets really
hot, heat soaked over time, and there's
caustic chemicals, that's just plain
stupid, for another example on this Ford,
this is the power steering reservoir,
inside here there's a little plastic
piece that goes to the top of the pump,
and they often break because it's
plastic, what does plastic not like, chemicals,
like power steering fluid, temperature, it
gets very hot with the power steering
pump, and pressure these things can put
up 1,600 pounds per square inch pressure,
it's stupid to use any plastic parts on
a power steering system, that reminds me
of a friend of mine who does Heating and
Air Conditioning working on houses, he
said, Scotty you said cars are bad, we have
heaters for houses that have plastic
parts inside the furnace, and guess what,
after a few years the plastic melts we
got to take it all apart and replace it,
sometimes it's just comical, look at
this, here's plastic valves inside here
for the anti-pollution system, and what
did they do, they put a little heat
shield to attempt to keep the heat from
bothering the plastic, like it's still
under the hood of the car, it's still going to get
all kinds of heat in there and the
plastic is going to degrade over time, I
swear sometimes it seems that they're
making these things just so they'll last
a little bit longer than the warranty
period, and then they don't care anymore,
now if there's no pressure stress like in
an air filter box, there's just air going
through it, it's perfectly fine to use
plastic, but plastic and pressure and
temperature again, not a good idea to use
plastic, this radiator I had to replace it
because the top tank started to crack,
got brittle, and was leaking coolant, I know
people are going to say, Scotty
oh the plastic radiators they use them
because they weigh less, well they
actually don't, because the plastic has
to be so thick that it won't crack right
away
it actually weighs a little bit more
than a thin metal, that can take a lot
more pressure and never wear out, you
don't even get me started talking about plastic
headlights, when I was a kid they were
glass, the glass stayed shiny forever, just
needed cleaning, this plastic stuff it
gets all hazy, looks like crap, you can polish it, but then it will get hazy again
in a few months, but at least with exterior plastic you can use this
plastic polish to polish it and protect
it, to make it last longer, but all the
mechanical parts under the hood, it
doesn't do any good for that, because
they degrade from the inside out from
heat and chemicals, believe it or not, a
man by the name of Mattie Holtzberg, made
a mainly plastic copy of a Ford Pinto
engine, let's just say it's probably a
good thing it was never put into actual
mass production, some people have taken
this plastic in manufacturing a little
bit too far, and remember if you got any
car questions just visit the Scotty
Kilmer channel,
so if you never want to miss another one
of my new car repair videos, remember to
ring that Bell!

The Truth About the New Chevy Cruze, Buyer Beware

Scotty Kilmer:

rev up your engines, Kenneth case of
Scotty
I really like my 2017 chevy cruze
premiere RS I never had a problem
throughout my ownership should I keep it
thanks, well it's a 2017 it's only a year
and a half old, you better not have any
problems, you might as well keep it cuz
I'll tell you the truth if you try
selling that thing now, you'll see how
much money you will lose, what you owe on
it versus what it's worth it would be
foolish to sell it now maybe you got a
good one that's gonna last, I never advise
anybody to buy it and I got a customer with
one he's got a picture of Mickey Mouse
in his back window cuz she's sued them
under the lemon lawn for some weird
reason they gave him back three thousand
dollars and that was it, they wouldn't
take the car back so, you know but if it lasts
drive it around cuz you would lose your
shirt if you sold it now, CK says Scotty
I'm looking into buying a 2004 GMC
Canyon with two hundred sixteen thousand
miles from a mechanic should I buy it
okay
well it depends if it was the mechanic's
vehicle and he took care of it, not a
bad idea but if he's selling it for somebody
else
you kind of think now the canyon was
kind of a bizarre truck they weren't
that bad
I mean look that thing's got a lot of
miles it's still running, I just uh
wouldn't pay too much for it, it's a 15
year old GMC pickup truck with two
hundred sixteen thousand miles if you're
looking for a Knockaround truck to haul
a little bit of stuff around why not but
just don't pay too much, it's an old GMC
truck with a lot of miles on it,
Albee says what's your opinion on police
cars mainly 2013 police patrol vehicle
Taurus with the 3.7 Mustang engine with
100,000 miles on it, well that was a fun
vehicle in its time but the thing is if
it was a police vehicle, generally they
drive them like maniacs and they get
the heck burnt out of them, I mean you generally
expect you're gonna put an engine or a
transmission in them in a short period of
time, but if you are thinking about
buying one use, do not touch it until you
get a guy like me a professional
mechanic and gonna check it out with his
computer and road test it and tell you
what kind of shape it's in. you want to
start there if you do want to buy a
vehicle like that, they can be fun to drive
around but of course don't pay much for
it, a used police vehicle the resale
value is not that much, you don't want to
pay much because
you know you're playing with dynamite
you don't know what's left with that
vehicle, why do you think the police get
rid of them every so many years,
Alvaro Tejado says Scotty I got
a 95 volvo 940 when i start it up in the
morning it makes the metallic rattling
sound when I rev it, it goes away for 3-4
minutes, the engine was rebuilt seven
years ago you know what's really typical
with those things, is the catalytic
converters rattle as they age for some
reason they made them crappy inside your
catalytic converter are these honeycomb
pieces that have platinum in them and
that burns hydrocarbons and as they age
especially on those vehicles it cracks
and they will rattle, but then when they
heat up the metal expands and they
stop rattling check that first now, if it
runs okay it doesn't hurt anything and a
new cat for that vehicle cost an awful
lot of money, you might live with it if
it is the cat rattling and it runs okay
when it doesn't run good, the
temperature gauge run hotter and you'll
only be able to go like 55 miles an hour
not any faste,r then you know it's
clogged up and you'd have to replace it
then, US storm says Scotty I have an 07
Honda Civic LX coupe with rear drum
brakes should I upgrade them to disc
brakes, okay here's the thing the rear
brakes on that car are one thing mainly
most of the power is stopped in the
front disc, the rear drums are there
so the car doesn't fishtail when you
stop hard and when you corner and stop for
normal driving those work perfectly fine
and you're not gonna have any problems
with them, it's kind of a waste of money
putting it in a little car like that it
really doesn't need it it's a light car
and disc brakes for all four wheels are
more for racing because they don't fade
when you stop go fast stop go fast stop
go fast, drums will actually stop a car
just as fast one time but in a race they
aren't that's why they were first used
in race cars because they're slamming them on
and hit the gas, slamming them on and
hitting the gas and the drum brakes will
overheat where the discs wouldn't and
that's why they started using them but
on yours are you really wouldn't want to
spend money for that, my Honcho says Scotty
should I put fuel injection on a Dodge
Dart 318 v8 well it's a good question
but depends on what do you want to do
with the thing, if you're planning on
selling it in the future, no because if
it's stock that's a classic 73 Dodge dart
you're gonna lower the value by taking
the factory stuff off,
but if you want it to drive faster
and get better gas mileage, put it on but
save all your old parts, save the
manifold, save the carburetor because
then if you sell it at some point in the
future
you can say to the guy, look I did this
because I like fuel injection you want
to go back to stock here's all the parts
in the box keep them all, don't throw
any of them away, always do that with the
classic car never throw any old parts
away and if you want to modify it to your
heart's content you're gonna keep it for
years go right ahead
just keep the old parts, so if you never
want to miss another one of my new car
repair videos, remember to ring that Bell!

5 Used Trucks You Should Buy

Scotty Kilmer:

rev up your engines, today I'm gonna talk
about the five best pickup trucks to
buy today,
the small or mid-sized ones and the
full-size ones, I'm not gonna be talking
about the giant monstrosity like the
f250s or 250s or higher, I'm
talking about regular pickup trucks that
regular people want to buy, they have to
be reliable, they have to have a
reasonable price, they have to be easily
repairable, because there's no point in
having a pickup truck that either costs
way too much money, or is extremely hard to
repair, or breaks down a lot, now number
five on my list is the Nissan Frontier
and I know people gonna say, Oh Scotty
you don't like Nissan's, well the frontier
is on the list because they've made
those things for a long time, now a lot
of people they poopoo the frontier
because they said, oh it needs a change
they haven't changed it in years and
years, come on people it's a pickup
truck, it serves a purpose,
now sure in 2017 Nissan sold 74,000
frontiers, you want to compare that to
the Toyota Tacoma, 2017 Toyota sold about
200,000 tacoma's in the United States,
but even at the base level the Nissan
Frontier is six thousand dollars cheaper
than the Toyota Tacoma, and I've had
customers with the frontiers that were
totally happy with the deal, they paid
less and the truck lasted quite some
time without any serious problems, from
my experience the Nissan pickup trucks
are better built than their cars, so they
don't have all the problems, especially
if you're getting a standard
transmission truck, hey the weakest thing
of all the nissans are their automatic
transmissions, you get a standard
transmission frontier, hey I see those
things with three or four hundred thousand
miles on them with basic maintenance
done, and it's a decent midsize pickup
truck, you get a four-cylinder engine or
you can get the v6 engines, Nissan has
always made fast engines and for a
pickup truck they got a decent ride,
Nissan's always were pretty good for
cornering and riding, it's not a bad
pickup truck to get if you want to buy
one of the cheaper ones
out there, if you're looking for a midsize
pickup truck you're probably thinking
economy, you know you're not going for a
big giant one you're going for a midsize
one, and it's not a bad truck, I pick it as
five, now number four in pickup that
you can buy, I pick the Ford Ranger been
around a long time,
the new one you can get a 270 horsepower
4-cylinder engine, hooked up to that
great 10 speed automatic transmission
and of course being a Ford, the Ranger
can be gotten in a four-wheel drive
capability, and I've had customers of
those they love them it's big enough to
haul stuff around, but with the
four-wheel drive it's got a lot more
clearance in the factory design, so you
can legitimately take the thing off road
you can get the optional Touring package you
can tow 7,500 pounds with that little
baby, so you know it can be a serious
mid-sized work truck and I've got
customers with Rangers, okay some of them
have 350,000 miles or more on them and
they're still running pretty good, and if
you like technology, hey the modern one
you can get terrain management settings
for the vehicle, it has a setting for
grass, gravel, and snow, and another
setting for mud, ruts, and sand, and let's
face it
ford has been making pickup trucks
for a long time
they keep perfecting the pickup truck, so
the Rangers not a bad pick in a midsize
pickup truck, now number three on my
list is the Toyota Tacoma, those things can
just run forever, the terrorists
in the desert drive around in those
things with the machine gun on the back,
now many of you who are experts know that
for
a few years in the past
they made a problem in the frames and
the frames would rot, now toyota has
given lots of people new frames on the
vehicles because of that, but that was a
while back they don't have that problem
anymore,
now the tacoma used to be a small
pickup my son's got one that I got for
him, their small little pickups and he
loves it, but now really there are
midsize truck they're a lot bigger than
the old ones used to be, now you can get
a whole range of Tacomas my son recently
bought a brand new one, because the used
ones are so expensive that he thought, heck
if
I'm gonna drive this thing for 30 years, I'll
just buy a new one and not have to think
about anything, the six-cylinder ones
cost a whole bunch more than a
four-cylinder one, so if you want a basic
one you can get a four-cylinder one, but
if you don't mind spending the extra
money you get the six-cylinder ones, it's
got
a bigger faster engine, can pull a little
bit more, that's the difference
between a tacoma and let's say the
Nissan Frontier, the frontiers cost a
whole bunch less, but if you don't mind
paying that extra you get a lot better
truck with the Tacoma than you do in
the frontier if you're gonna keep it
for decades, I kind of laugh at it myself
because I've seen places that rated to
the comas as really bad pickup trucks,
which is total nonsense, the things can
run forever if you take care of them, now
number two in my list is the Toyota
Tundra, now in 2016 Toyota bought back a
Toyota Tundra from a customer, it was the
2007 tundra and they had a million miles
on it with original engine and
transmission, the tundra has classic
Toyota reliability to it they can last a
really long time, but the reason I have
it number two on my list and number one
is this, when they do finally break down,
they have some design flaws that make
them super expensive to repair, for
example you got the v8 engine, you got
to take the intake manifold all apart
to get to the starter that's hidden in
the back of the engine, it's a real pain changing
a starter out on one
of those, and when their axle bearings
we're out in the back, they have this
crazy axle bearing design that requires
all kinds of special pressing tools to
get it in and out, I've seen more guys
mess those up where the wheel bearing
goes out and then three or four thousand
miles later
the wheel bearing goes on again because it
wasn't pressed incorrectly with the
correct equipment, they can be kind of a
bear to repair as they age, and of course
they're not giving them away their very
expensive, but they are well-made pickup
trucks, if you're looking for something that
you can drive a long time, they ride
decently you might think about getting
a Toyota Tundra, you can get the v6 in
the Tundra it still puts out decent
horsepower
it's got 278 horsepower with a v6, plus
it gets better gas mileage and doesn't
have the maintenance headaches that the
v8 engine
have as it ages, now number one on my list
is
the Ford f-150, they have been making
pickup trucks for so long, they keep
perfecting them as time goes on, now I
get trucks to road tests all the time,
and a few years back and I take my wife
for a ride in some of these big pickup
trucks, and she said don't do that again
I hate it
these things ride horribly, they bounce
all over the place, I feel like the
fillings and my teeth are coming out
well last year I thought, let's see if
things actually have changed, I had a
brand new f-150, I told my wife let's go
for a drive to Galveston Texas, we'll take
a look at the ocean, so we're riding down
on highway I said, what do you think of
this thing, she said I'm shocked this
thing actually rides quite well, over the
years of course they've been working on
the suspension system, they handle better,
they
ride better, you can get one of those
EcoBoost v6 that's got the
turbochargers and the GDI, you can get a
traditional v8 engine, you can get a
couple other v6 engines in them, now they
even have a turbo diesel in an f-150 they
didn't used to have that, that's a new
thing that they recently added, but a lot
of guys like the traditional 5 liter v8
engine, and if you're really into
technology, they even have a pro assist
backup, so when you have a trailer that
the vehicle can take over when you're
backing up so you don't twist everything
around backing up with a trailer, and with
the massive use of aluminum, they
shed about 700 pounds weight, so for a
big pickup truck course they're gonna
get a little bit better gas mileage,
because their 700 pounds less that
they're pulling around, and really one of
my big things about pickup trucks is, if
you want a pickup truck you want one
that is readily and easily repairable
and Ford's have been around a long time there's
parts are Ford's everywhere and a
lot of guys know how to fix Ford pickup
trucks, you're gonna be able to get that thing
fixed, you're not gonna be waiting for
parts and waiting for somebody who even
knows how to work on the things, so now
you know what I think I got the five
best pickup truck cuz there's a whole
bunch of them out there, and you really
need to narrow your focus down, you
need to understand what kind of a truck
do you want, are you gonna tow heavy
things, are you not gonna tow things, do
you want better gas mileage, or do you
want to buy a truck that cost less
initially, or do you want to pay more
and get a higher quality pickup truck, at
least now you know how to logically pick
which truck you should buy, so if you
never want to miss another one of my new
car repair videos, remember to ring that
Bell!

$450 Brakes vs $4,500 Brakes | HiLow

Donut Media:

(engine revving)
- [Man] Oh, you got it,
keep going, keep going!
- $450 break upgrade kit--
- Versus $4,400 Big Brake Kit.
- Does more expensive mean more better?
- Let's find out.
I sure hope so.
(laughing)
(exciting music)
- Hey, guys, we made a
show called Car Wars.
The Donut gang going against
some of your favorite
YouTubers, like ChrisFix.
Loser had to eat a very spicy chip.
Very spicy but very fun to watch.
The hardest challenge was
the VR third-person driving.
I almost threw up 'cause
I got motion sickness.
(gags)
(laughs)
(beep)
We bought two
almost identical Nissan 350Zs
and we've been modifying
them to be fun daily drivers
that you can take to the track.
- My Z gets a ton of
really expensive parts
and Nolan's car gets
a bunch of cheap ones.
- We're gonna test them side by side
and see which components are worth
spending your hard-earned money on.
- So far we've installed coilovers
and new wheel and tire combos
on our twin 350Zs, and today,
we're movin' onto the brakes.
We wanna see what kinda results we can get
from a really basic but
still good brake upgrade
versus a full monty, daddy I'm
going into credit card debt
for this brake kit brake kit.
Look how much bigger
my pads are than yours.
- And these are my front pads.
Size comparison.
That's pretty enormous.
The Big Brake Kit doesn't necessarily mean
more braking power, it's
just that you'll be able
to do harder braking for longer
because the heat is being distributed
over a larger area than mine.
With these tiny little guys,
I think I'm gonna have some
pretty gnarly brake fade
after stepping on 'em a lot, many times,
a lot of many times.
- Also look how much bigger the vents are
on the Wilwood kit versus Nolan's.
A lot more air's gonna pass through those
and it's gonna cool the
brakes a lot better.
We're just fightin' heat and
we are gonna come out on top.
- Honestly, I think his baller-ass setup
is gonna blow mine away.
- This is honestly the
best day of my life.
- No contest which is better.
(laughing)
- You never know!
I mean, yeah!
Looks like mine is almost
certainly 1,000% better,
but let's just wait and
see if the Wilwood kit
is really so much better
that it's worth those
thousands of dollars.
(hiphop music)
Brakes.
- Big or small?
- That is the question.
- Today we have the answer.
- We're gonna find out.
(beep)
- [Narrator] When
upgrading your brake kit,
there are a handful of different pieces
you can opt to replace.
Rotors, pads, calipers,
brake lines, and brake fluid.
On high car, we're
swappin' out all of those.
In the low car we'll do the
same, except for calipers.
Because new calipers are just
too dang expensive for Nolan
and his poor team.
- And all that together
should make our brakes firmer
and more consistent at the track.
Upgraded rotors can help dissipate heat
with more effective venting, added slots,
and/or increased surface area.
- Know what I mean?
- Power tools, baby!
- Me, I'm just a car boy.
(tool buzzing)
(laughs)
(tool buzzing)
- You got what, 12 bolts here?
- I can't keep track of that
in my head so as we torque 'em
we'll mark 'em and then well,
once they're all marked,
they're all torqued.
My brake rotor won't fit with
this dust shield on there.
To get it off we can either
take the whole hub off
or do some custom engineering.
(tools buzzing)
- The other part of being bigger
is that a larger friction ring
allows you to run a larger pad.
- [James] Upgraded pads can be made
with more heat-tolerant materials,
and bigger pads also dissipate heat easier
with their larger surface area.
But in order to have bigger
pads, you need bigger calipers.
- It needs force all across it.
This is a single-piston caliper.
If you're pushing on the back
of this pad with one piston,
you don't have any force on the sides,
so you need a big circle?
No, you can't do that!
So you do a few little circles.
So this has pistons on both sides,
inside and behind that pad, and
since this is a fixed rotor,
without the sliding piece this
thing doesn't flex at all,
so you get a really firm,
really consistent brake pedal.
- Got the new Wildwood 10.
Hold on, hello?
What's up, babe?
I'm at the shop.
Yeah, the boys are here.
Yeah, we're kickin' it,
yeah we're havin' fun!
Yeah we're building the HiLow Zs.
Oh.
(laughs)
Ooh, maybe.
Well, I think we can arrange that.
(laughs)
Yeah, I'll be home late.
(kisses)
(upbeat music)
- With all this other stuff
we also replaced the brake lines,
that's usually a part
of the Big Brake Kit.
Because stock lines are
often this soft and durable
and flexible rubber, which
is great for daily driving
and it's great for longevity,
but it's not great for performance.
Over time these can bulge,
especially with really
high, heavy braking,
and that gives you a squish in your pedal
where you shouldn't have one.
So to correct that, most Big Brake Kits,
including this Wilwood kit,
come with stainless steel lines.
- Once you got your other line in place,
you break lose the OEM hard line
with the line wrench right here,
and then as quickly as possible
you're gonna shove it back on.
So the reason I leave
the old line in there
is because it's good to
have reference points.
If this line actually goes on the front,
it could be too long and
then it could get tangled
in some of the working
suspension components,
causing some pretty bad
or catastrophic failures.
- All right, so we got
all the brakes installed,
all the lines on, we're
ready to put our new fluid in
and bleed 'em.
- [Aaron] So since we
changed the brake lines,
you're gonna have to bleed the brakes.
- Yeah, 'cause all that
brake fluid you saw
drippin' out of the lines has
to be replaced by something
and that something is usually air.
Every time I press the brake,
Aaron's gonna be releasing
air from the system.
We do that on all four
corners and then our system
will be free of air and
we can drive this thing.
- We don't have a bleeder here in the shop
so I went ahead and made one out of a can
and a clear tube that we
had here just lyin' around.
And we're tight.
That should be it.
How does it feel?
- Ah, dude, it's like...
It's so solid.
It's like, yeah,
I shouldn't be jammin'
it like that, should I?
(funky music)
- [James] After your new pads
and rotors are installed,
you're still not done.
You have to bed in the brakes.
- Oh no.
Here we go.
- [James] Start at 60 miles an hour
and lightly press on your
brakes to get them up to temp.
Then get back up to 60 and
stand on the brakes hard
down to around 10 miles per.
- Oh wow.
- That's better.
- Wow, that was really great.
- [James] Then get back up to 60
and do it again about 10 times.
- Oh hell yeah, dude.
- Wow.
- This thing
frickin' gets down.
- Your brake rotors and
pads are gonna get super hot
and smell, just like Nolan.
If you don't bed in your brakes,
you run the risk of having
uneven pad deposition,
which makes your rotors
feel like they're warped.
(funk music)
Well Nolan's out there
racing S Chassis already.
- Makin' friends.
- Makin' friends.
He's already part of the JDM community.
- This might be another con.
Your time.
- Yeah, for sure.
- If you wanna go out
and hang out with your friends,
maybe don't do big jobs.
But hey, we made it through,
we're almost to the other side,
we'll be out there
makin' friends very soon.
- Yeah, we're gonna be
out there making friends.
(hiphop music)
- [James] So for the test we
did the same 60 to zero test
from the last episode to see
if there's any improvement
in stopping distance.
- Ah, the brakes feel really good,
I'm super impressed with how they work.
I mean, who knew it only took
some more aggressive pads
and a little better rotors, man?
- [James] The main advantage
of upgrading your brakes
is not a shorter stopping distance.
The main advantage is
resisting brake fade.
Brake fade is when your brakes get so hot
that they become less effective
or even fail completely.
- These brakes are definitely
gonna fade quicker than those.
- So their brakes literally
cost 10 times more,
but I don't think they're
gonna perform 10 times better.
- [James] So we ran the 60 to zero test
over and over and over to
put as much heat and stress
on our new brakes to see how they affected
the stopping distance of each car.
(hiphop music)
- [Man] Oh, you guys--
(laughs)
Oh, you got him, you got him,
you got him, you got him.
- They definitely faded but I don't know,
these are the worst circumstances
you can throw at brakes
and they were pretty damn consistent.
So for what we paid,
yeah, you can't really be
disappointed.
- Yeah, can't be
mad about these.
- Look at Nolan's.
First.
Second.
Third.
Fourth.
Fifth is down here.
And then it got kinda
consistent I guess after awhile
and well you saw what
happened on the last one.
- So with our 60 to zero test
we were able to shave off
about five feet from the stock brakes.
Which only goes to show
that upgrading your brakes
doesn't really make you stop sooner.
- Which is why we also
did an endurance test.
- One marker, pretty consistently
after about five laps,
and then on the sixth lap
Aaron stood on the brake
and we stopped like 10
feet past, we're like, oh,
it's about to happen.
And then a couple laps
later we caught on fire.
So when they go, they go.
We had to replace the pads
after that torture test
'cause we completely dusted 'em.
- High car did not catch on fire.
- Nope.
- The brakes barely
faded at all.
- All right, so does more
expensive mean more better, James?
- Absolutely!
In this case 1,000%!
- So yeah, obviously
the Wilwoods are better.
- Way better.
- Way better, I mean--
- I wanna acknowledge the aesthetic gains
from those big brakes.
We had some really cool
wheels on the high car,
but seeing those big old
beefy boys behind it,
it's like, oh man, that
dude knows what's up.
One negative about the Big
Brake Kit is you can't do it
and keep your stock wheels.
It's just one more thing to consider.
So Nolan, which brake kit would you buy?
- The Wilwoods are too expensive.
They're so, so good, but
that's too much money.
Honestly, just the rotors, pads,
and the steel braided lines
on my car made a big difference
and I don't feel bad about saying
that I wouldn't get
the more expensive one.
- If this episode gets 10 million views,
we'll give Nolan a raise
so he can start answering
the would you buy it question
a little bit more honestly.
(laughs)
- No, this is honestly.
I don't have any money to buy this (beep).
You don't either, so.
- Nolan's like, I wouldn't buy lunch!
- So I would go with
the cheaper brake kit,
the low kit, if you will.
- Solid upgrade, solid, solid upgrade.
- The high car is now,
right in this episode,
is where the disparity really
starts to become apparent.
I mean, they're two different cars now.
- Right now we have way
more tire and way more brake
than we do power.
So you can just drive
the piss outta that thing
and stay outta trouble.
- And you're fine.
- It's so fun
to drive right now.
I can't wait 'til we
ruin it with more power.
(laughing)
More power, baby!
In the next episode, we're
gonna see what's the difference.
A nice aftermarket LSD, or--
- Or welding your differential together.
- If you haven't seen the first
two episodes of this show,
make sure you go watch 'em.
We did wheels and tires and coilovers.
Make sure to tune in every Monday
for the next however many Mondays.
If you like this, send it to your friend.
If you hate it, send it
anyway, it doesn't matter.
Follow Donut @donutmedia for
all that sweet, sweet BTS
and the dankest memes
in the automotive world!
I love you.
- Be nice.
See you next time.
We can't nail this.
- [James] You start, you said be nice.
- All right.
Be nice.
- I love you.
- See you next time.
(funky music)