REAR Car repainted 5 years ago
89 stang rear shot
@irlandes, “I live in the heart of Mexico, over 800 driving miles from Reynosa.” Anywhere near Aguascalientes? I have a friend who lived there for several years, teaching English was a pretty good line of work for him. I visited a few times. What a different world.
No, ase master, I have never been to Aguascalientes. My wife has several times. More SE of Mexico City a few hours. Yes, Mexico is a very different world. As is the case with many expats, I no longer enjoy returns to the US. It is like going to an alien place after nearly ten years here most of the time. Not everyone can live in a Third World mountain village, I am well aware. But, I call it my paradise. Quite a few of High School class of '60 have died, and many are in wheel chairs, but yesterday I went for a 6 mile walk in the mountains. And, when we get a load of cement, I carry in a few 110 pound bags.
One really strange phenomenon here related to cars, everyone believes if you do not use 20W-50 oil you are going to wreck the motor. Some places won’t even stock 5 or 10W-30 oil. Last year, i went looking for 10W-30 and some smart aleck punk snarled at me I would wreck my motor.
A week or two ago, the man who oens the x-ray machine my best friend uses, told me it’s because the motors in Mexico are lower quality than those they ship to the US. I really doubt they have two separate lines to make two levels of motors; that would not make sense.
What I suspect is after a year or two of putting 20W-50 in the motors, their quality is somewhat lower.
My brother is buying a 2010 Mazda 3. I looked at the maintenance schedules. There is a separate maintenance schedule if the car is driven in Mexico. What it boils down to is that Mazda wants you to do the various services MUCH sooner.
It is the same for my Mazda CX-9, Mexico maintenance is more. I am guessing short-term cost of ownership is not a big deal there and people keep their cars longer, so maybe more interested in longevity. I am kinda following the Mexico schedule, after-all I live in Southern CA.
My own guess is different, since I live here. When I drive 52 miles to Sam’s Club in Tehuacan, there are approximately 52 speed bumps. Coming to a nearly complete stop every mile on average, IMO has to be extremely harsh conditions. Note this is country driving.
I could be wrong, but that is my guess based on personal knowledge.
Driving on roads except for high speed tollways, you are lucky to average 28 mph, unless you drive well over the posted speed limits.
But a question. What oil does it specify for Mexico driving?
Both Galant and db have good information, though I had to disagree because of the maybe 50,000 miles I have driven in Mexico.
But, they do expect cars to last much longer, mostly because they can’t always afford a new one. They can keep the most horrid old things running. A cousin has a trusty 1976 Chevrolet pickup he uses for work and driving in hard places. You can get virtually any part for that thing. And, there are people who can weld it back together if it physically comes apart.
My 2002 Sienna is considered a new-ish car.
Labor here is very cheap if you can use a local mechanic.
I am going to keep clicking on Agree; disagree; like; as I feel it. And, I do not feel obliged to explain if I disagree. I usually will, but I feel no obligation. Those who feel I am obliged are perhaps taking things too personally.
All explaining does is increase bickering. Like we don’t have enough.
One case I guarantee you where I will click on Disagree without explaining is when we get another of those people who insist there is no reason for synthetic oil in ordinary use. And insists he has driven millions of miles, or whatever, with never a failed engine.
But, of course, he does change the oil every 3000 miles and thinks if you don’t, its because you really don’t care much for your car, etc.
And, if someone abuses PM’s to cuss me out,I plan to quote the nasty gram on the board.
In my opinion, if you believe what you wrote, and it is your honest opinion, why worry about someone disagreeing with you? Why DEMAND they explain to you? Forums are intended to be places where people state different opinions on topics, and to demand someone always explain why they dared disagree tends to eliminate honest differences in opinion.
I try to pay no attention to those things. If I didn’t believe what I wrote, I wouldn’t write it, I guarantee you. So, I don’t especially care what I am rated at.
To be honest, I think those things to click shouldn’t be there at all if it is going to cause more conflict.
Those who feel I am obliged are perhaps taking things too personally.
No. This is a car repair help website. If you disagree with the answer someone gives, you should give your own answer to explain why. Otherwise, it doesn’t help the OP or anyone else learn.
(and it should be noted, that the big irritation with disagrees were the trolls disagreeing with everything their target said just to be obnoxious)
That is your opinion. Clearly, I do not agree with your view of my “obligations.”
As I said, in most cases I will explain why I disagree, because i am well aware that it is useful to give a differing opinion for the benefit of new readers.
But, I feel no obligation to involve myself with those who jump on any disagreement with both feet. Some people get all bent out of shape at any disagreement at all.
In fact, I gave a very clear and simple example of a case, very common case, where I am not going to explain anything.
If it becomes mandatory to give an explanation the DISAGREE will pop a form and we can’t disagree without completing it.
There have been too many angry postings, “What kind of person disagreed with me?” If you can’t handle the heat stay out of the kitchen.
I sort of suspect the things to click are actually a mistake. If you want a posting for every click, then just eliminate the click and make them post their disagreement.
I was a member of a forum where rep actually MEANT something…sub-fora devoted exclusively to members on good standing, etc.
Here, rep means nothing at all, other than bragging rights, and isn’t even prominently displayed. I cannot fathom why people get bent about this!
(At any event, I figure 5:1 favorable/unfavorable is about right: much higher and I have to worry if I’m being a “yes man.”)
But there are some people who are consistently “disagreeable” . . . meaning they click on disagree FAR more often than others
While I quite often don’t agree with other people, I rarely click on disagree
Sometimes I wonder if people click on disagree because they are disagreeing with your advice
. . . or is it that they simply don’t like you?
The site should just eliminate the entire thing and improve the search function instead. Those tabs can be similar to a sidewalk political poll in which someone may voice a negative or positive against a candidate for office no matter how good or how bad a job they’ve done.
Someone hit me with a troll ding at one time but for some reason it disappeared a few weeks later.
It’s not likely that a poster looking for advice is going to sort through everything to figure out what’s what anyway.
Amen @ok4450. We don’t really need this kind of ratings system because it’s very subjective. In other words…the ratings are either true or untrue and it’s really hard to determine which one is right most of the time.
@irlandes As we have discussed in various PMs, I enjoy going to Mexico. As long as I’m married to Mrs Mc, I won’t be living there. Of course I intend to stay married to her…
The things I noticed about cars when I was in Mexico City in April was that there were very few really old cars, say over 30 years old. The ones I saw the most of were AMC products, Hornets, Eagles, and Concords. It made me wonder if AMC didn’t ship the tooling down there and continue building them after the company was merged with Renault for a sort of “worst of both worlds” automotive marriage.
I also saw practically no Tauruses or Buicks, cars that are everywhere up here. I was specifically LOOKING for Tauri.
Ibizas, Chevy Tornado pickups, and some kind of unknown tiny four door Hyundai were everywhere. A variant of the Tornado, made in Brazil, may eventually be sold in the USA.
I was surprised that well used cars are expensive there, in many cases even higher than the same car will bring here.
I’m with @irlandes on this. If I like what you wrote, I don’t have to say why, and if I want to click on “disagree,” without explaining why, there is a reason, usually because it’s obvious and because I’m into the whole brevity thing. Seriously, some of our discussions get so long and drawn out that I wish someone would get right to the point. Clicking “like” or “agree” lets me do that.
It is nice to be able to agree without adding a post to do it. Perhaps we should narrow down the selections to “troll,” “spam,” and “agree.” I miss the old forum, and I’m not talking about the one with the stars. I’m talking about the one I first joined in 2004 under a different user name.
Some guys click on “disagree” prolifically, and it’s often completely unclear what the reason was
MG, I think part of the reason used cars cost more in Mexico is because like most things the new ones cost a bit more.
And, also they keep cars a lot longer. My 2002 Sienna with 198,000 miles on it is considered a newish car here. I would be lucky to get more than, what? $2,000, maybe $3000, for it in the US based on mileage and KBB prices. I can’t legally sell it here, but if I could, I bet it would bring a lot more than in the USA.
A cousin wants it badly, and is always teasing me about giving it to him. I just remind him I can’t legally do it.