New 1:1 Wheels

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Re: New 1:1 Wheels

Postby Cjent » Fri Sep 28, 2012 11:05 am

I disagree. I have had really good experience with all the German cars I have owned.
Other than my '90 Toyota Camry SE, 5 spd, V6 which went 357,000 in 8 years with hardly any maintenance, it has been the Japanese cars which caused me grief.
No problems with several Fords, either.

Nice looking Vibe, FootScoot!
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Re: New 1:1 Wheels

Postby DAVE » Fri Sep 28, 2012 4:11 pm

I probably shouldn't use my Porsche as an example since it's been a race car from day one, and some things got
re-arranged in the process of building it. But I know how querky they are. I worked on an RS motor once which
was bending rocker arms on a regular basis. And not always the same one. I knew the valves couldn't be hitting
the tops of the pistons because that would have bent all the arms. My first thought was that the springs were
too heavy, but I knew other builders who were using heavier springs, and not having the problem. I priced out
some titanium arms, and they would have been very expensive. So I did just the opposite of what I would have
normally done and put in heavier springs. We never bent another arm. It seems the original springs were soft
enough that the rocker arms were getting ahead of the valves during closing and not keeping the arms loaded.
The valve would then catch up to the arm and give it a whack before the arm was fully off the heel side of the
cam lobe. The arm would take just so much of that before bending. That is how weird it can get. I never heard
of this happening on a motor from any other carmaker.
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Re: New 1:1 Wheels

Postby TsgtRet » Fri Sep 28, 2012 4:41 pm

It's probably not fair to call the Beetle a German car....it was designed in Germany but was built in Mexico. The electrical gremlins mentioned were primarily on the 98s and some 99s and were caused by paint not being cleaned off of the body ground points on the assembly line. (We had one car the radio quit working when a taillight burned out). The big things that I have a problem with on a German cars are the maintenance charges. They have gotten away from inspections and require replacement of a part to keep the warranty in force. I guess I'm with most of the others here....my Grand Marquis may not be the leading edge of technology but it's cheap to maintain and dependable: V8, RWD rules! :dance:
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Re: New 1:1 Wheels

Postby dreinecke » Fri Sep 28, 2012 4:52 pm

I wasn't bashing German cars - I love them. My only point was what my BIL pays for routine maintenance. His cars have all been well built.

Growing up in Germany, I've driven plenty of their cars.
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Re: New 1:1 Wheels

Postby FootScoot » Sat Sep 29, 2012 6:58 am

This will learn me to buy another car and post it on here. This is NOT a bash German cars thread! I was just having a lot of major issues with my old car. I had already spent over $2500 in 4 months, and it needed another $2800-3000 worth of repairs. Not hardly worth it, as it would exceeded the trade in value of the car, it was a 2001 with 127,000 miles. Any car is a gamble, regardless of origin. They are mechanical machines, and things can and do happen. I'm very sorry if I offended anyone. :|
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Re: New 1:1 Wheels

Postby TsgtRet » Sat Sep 29, 2012 9:37 am

'Scoot I'm sure in this group you didn't offend anyone! And please post anything "new" you get 1/1 or 1/32. I'm sure any comments made on here are taken with the appropriate grain of salt. We are "car people", "gearheads", "petrolheads", etc, (I 've had around 46 1/1 cars since I was 16); so keep on posting, a stimulating conversation keeps the gray matter moving. :clap:
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Re: New 1:1 Wheels

Postby FootScoot » Sat Sep 29, 2012 4:38 pm

I thought this thread was kind of headed South. I personally love cars of all kinds. Small cars, big cars, sporty cars, luxury cars. I just don't care much for repair costly cars. I really did like my Beetle, but there comes a time to just move on. When I traded it in it needed an ABS control unit, auxilary engine cool down pump, and a new or rebuilt turbo. :cry: Too much money for me to add to what I had already spent, in other words more than it was worth. I'm very happy with my newer car, and I have much more room. :)
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Re: New 1:1 Wheels

Postby DAVE » Mon Oct 01, 2012 3:13 pm

Here's something you beetle fans can take with you. Back in the 60's when dune buggies were all the rage, what
did we choose to build them from? Old beetles. You could beat them up and they still kept running.
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Re: New 1:1 Wheels

Postby FootScoot » Mon Oct 01, 2012 8:38 pm

I have always liked the air cooleds. Not much for a heater, but the little fellas run great and are very dependable. They are also very good in winter weather. I drove one for years. I had to leave the windows down in winter, and scrape the inside of the windshield every now and then, but it would go through most anything. Just a simple little car, and easy to work on. :romance-inlove:
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