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Thread: Phil_SS Unified Fleet Thread

  1. #21
    Bad Taste novicius's Avatar
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    The only "loss" is the option of a manual transmission -- which Buick is not known for.

    Ergo if one is a fan of Buicks, a tossable shift-your-own hot trolley is arguably not what one is holding out for.

    EDIT: After further reading, the Regal GS AWD is a Haldex-based system, not a rally-spec Torsen system. There is however a Quaife LSD available for the six-speed FWD car...
    Last edited by novicius; August 3rd, 2016 at 05:28 AM.

  2. #22
    Corvette Enthusiast Kchrpm's Avatar
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    That's...oh, you meant Phil specifically, not the market at large. My bad.
    Get that weak shit off my track

  3. #23
    Bad Taste novicius's Avatar
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    No I mean Buick fans, fans of the badge in general and the Regal specifically. Phil knows way more about Buick than I do!

    The Regal (and boosted Regals!) have been around for a long time at this point. They've also been FWD for longer than they were RWD. So the current Regal GS shouldn't scare off anyone that wasn't buying GS's for the past 20 years. Hell, it's an absolute high water mark!
    Last edited by novicius; August 3rd, 2016 at 07:15 AM.

  4. #24
    Corvette Enthusiast Kchrpm's Avatar
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    I agree. I thought you were talking about Buick actually trying to attract new buyers, though. The Regal GS would be the Buick to choose if you're only looking at Buicks, but they had a chance to draw in people that would never before consider that brand; a younger, more enthusiastic segment. They chose not to. It might have been the right choice financially, I have no clue, but it's not the exciting choice. That's where I was coming from.
    Last edited by Kchrpm; August 3rd, 2016 at 06:34 AM.
    Get that weak shit off my track

  5. #25
    Bad Taste novicius's Avatar
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    Eh, the addition of the six-speed (thank you Europe) is Buick's attempt to go younger/affluent regardless of any sales success, don't you think?

    I mean they might not sway Chinese BMW/Audi buyers but maybe they're trying to poach those professionals that are tired of a 5-door hot hatch... and have fond memories of Dad's horrible FWD luxobarge?

    Or again this IS for new buyers -- the Chinese, who don't know or do have good memories of older FWD Buicks? Just guessing, of course.

    The reality is that a boosted Buick has always been a slushbox Buick. Now you have the option of AWD. #improvement

    (Also the seats and interiors aren't bad. )
    Last edited by novicius; August 3rd, 2016 at 07:36 AM.

  6. #26
    Corvette Enthusiast Kchrpm's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by novicius View Post
    Eh, the addition of the six-speed (thank you Europe) is Buick's attempt to go younger/affluent regardless of any sales success, don't you think?
    Yes, but they could have tried harder. It very well may not have worked, but it would have been far more interesting had they made a rally-special type car, an STI/S4 competitor. They have no reason to other than all the attention it would get, it would be tough for that to translate to sales. But man, it could have been SWEET
    Get that weak shit off my track

  7. #27
    Bad Taste novicius's Avatar
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    Yeeeah... no.

  8. #28
    I'm gooder. Phil_SS's Avatar
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    My wife takes the bus to work when she works in the office. So the Jetta has only got about 5000 miles in the past year. That is including a 1800 mile trip to Raleigh and Myrtle Beach last summer. So it really is only getting about 3000 miles a year in regular driving.

    Thus I finally got around to changing the brakes on the Jetta. I arranged with my Dad to use his garage. Years ago my parents bought a house with some land strictly for him to build a garage that could fit a lift. So that’s what he did. It’s a double length garage with the back section being double height for the lift and a single car garage stuck onto the left side. Thus he can fit four cars when one car is on the lift.

    So after a little bit of car shuffling I put the Jetta on the lift. The lift is a four post lift. And my Dad has a Hydraulic Center Jack which allows for both the front or back wheels to be lifted at the same time. Pretty damn cool.

    I take off the wheels and began the tear down. I couldn’t remove the rotors without taking off the caliper mounting bracket so since I was changing the brakes and the rotors I decided to just unbolt the caliper mounting bracket with the caliper still attached.

    Passenger side goes well, just a couple big hex (21mm) bolts. Easy peasy lemon breaker bar. But then I get to the Driver side and I notice a tube running from a connector attached to the hub into the brake caliper. Hmmm, come to find out it is attached to the brake pad and is a sensor to tell you when to change the brakes. So yeah, the brakes probably had a good 5-10k miles to go. But I bought the stuff and the rotors are warped so I decided to just make the change anyways. Aka, when dealing with the wife’s car, discretion is the better part of valor.

    But because of this, I have to take the caliper off the mounting bracket to run the wires and connector for the new brake pads on the Driver side. So I take the caliper off and continue on. The only hang up was the driver side rotor that needed a little persuasion to come loose via a rotor puller and a rubber mallet. The passenger side rotor came right off.

    I did have remove the engine cover to get to the brake reservoir cap. No big deal as the car was due to get a new air filter and that is attached to the engine cover. The new front brake parts go on without any hitches. Put the front back together and move to the back.

    Move the Hydraulic center jack and jack up the rear. Take off the wheels. Same as the front, right? Wrong! For some ridiculous moronic reason, VAG have the caliper mounting bracket held on with a 14mm Triple Square (Spline) head bolt. WHAAAAAA?!?!?!?! Why not just use a normal fucking bolt. Ze Germans!

    So we look around and even though my Dad has an [Spiccoli]“Awesome set of tools”[/Spiccoli] he doesn’t have a 14mm Triple Square bit socket. So I call my childhood best friend Jim who was an ASE Mechanic and he still has all his tools. And he has two, one is a shank socket and the other is a bit socket. But both are pretty long. They each are about 3” long. Just looking at the space, I don’t believe they will work but I go pick them up and give them a shot. No dice. Too long.

    And now I have to try and find a 14mm Triple Square bit socket. Go to my local Advance, needed the air filter anyways…nope. Lowes is right down the street….nope. Go back home, it’s late, I’ll call some places tomorrow.

    Get back to it the next day. Call Sears…nobody answers in the tools department…and they wonder why they are going out of business. Call an All Foreign Auto Parts place and they don’t answer. Call AutoZone……nope. Call Pepboys and the guy says yes. Really?..... Pepboys has it? OK, drive out and lo and behold they do have it. Yahtzee!!!

    Get back to it and open the box for the brake pads and they are obviously not the right ones. Totally different car. Take them back to Advance and get the right ones. Let’s get back to it. For the back I have to take off the calipers and then the caliper brackets because the rear calipers need to be turned as they are pressed in because of the parking brake design. I had already got the tool from Jim.

    Start putting the rear back together and the caliper bracket is hitting the rotor. Hmmm. So my Dad & I start comparing the old rotors and the new rotors and we see that the depth of the hat is different between the two. The new ones are about 1/16 of an inch taller. They definitely fit a VW but may not be the right ones.

    I pack them up and one of the old rotors and run back to Advance. We bring it up on the screen and he shows me there is two different rotors for the car. A 256mm and 272mm, I have the 256mm. unfortunately, they don’t have a choice for Sportswagen in the database, It’s just by Jetta, thus S, SE, SES etc. But it makes sense for me, a wagen that can have more crap in it probably has bigger rotors.

    I trade for the 272mm rotors and they are actually cheaper than the ones I bought originally. Bonus! And I take them home and voila!, fits perfectly. And makes total sense. VAG changed the depth of the hat to make sure someone doesn’t put a smaller diameter rotor on a Sportwagen.

    Back to work and it goes as planned. Everything bolts back up and I’m finally done. Take my Dad out for a beer and a Prime Rib dinner. And then never call him again. Chuck Mantooth is a saint!

    I take the car to work on Monday and it feels great. When I brake form high speed there is no more shutter from the warped rotors and it brakes really well as it should. Leave work. Start driving home, it’s warm out and I put the windows down and I start to hear this tuck tuck tuck noise when I brake hard. The car brakes fine, stops as it should but it makes the noise only when I brake hard. When I just gradually brake it doesn’t seem to do it. Hmmm.

    The noise appears to be coming from the Driver’s front and I start to think hmmm. Maybe that stupid connector came loose or something. I’m close to home and since the car is driving and stopping fine I will just take it easy on the way home.

    I live maybe a ¼ mile from my parents so I stop at my house, put on my work clothes and then go to my parents. While doing this I think of one other thing it could be. Guess I’ll see when I jack the car up. Get to my parents, jack up the car with the floor jack and before I start loosening the lugnuts I decide to just peer under to see if it is the second thing. And damn if it isn’t.

    Anybody who performs their own brake work will know what it is. Any guesses? Car drove fine afterwards, obviously, and the tuck tuck tuck was gone.

    So yeah, how was your weekend?
    Last edited by Phil_SS; May 23rd, 2017 at 09:56 AM.

  9. #29
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    Did you leave a shop towel in the throttle body?

  10. #30
    Administrator dodint's Avatar
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    Bent the dust shield just enough when working in there?

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