Lilred's Rant of the Week-The new thing-a-ma-jig

[Lilred]

I say thing-a-ma-jig cause I dont rightly know what ya call em.
Anyways..hubby is a mechanic at a Dodge dealership...and he was tellin me today bout rotatin tires on these new vehicles.
He says that there is a radio-transmitter thing-a-ma-jig in the valve stem on the rims that sends a signal to computer as to what the tire pressure is. If the tire pressure is low (15 lbs er below)a light comes on.
Well...when you rotate the tires..it messes up the signal on it, and they gotta put the drb on it to tell the computer where they rotated the tires to.

OK..stop right there. Cause on counta...here goes the Lilred Butane Lighter offa the woodstove.

Can SOMEBODY..ANYBODY explain to this poor ole gal why in the tarnation does some other poor fool need a light to tell their tire is goin flat???? And if they caint..then why on God's green earth are they even on the road???
Oh you dont have the common sense God give a rock..but I trust you wont kill me on the road. :rolleyes:
And how does this here ruffle yer tail feathers...iffin they aint got the sense to know that their dern tire is flat...then how in tarnation would they have the common sense to change the dam thing?

I can imagine (and I am sure that some poor fool has actually done this) someone sittin on the side of the road and lookin under the fenderwell fer a light to tell em which direction and when to turn the lugnuts.

To top it all off...a 10$ rotation has now turned into a 70$ rotation..all because they'd rather throw money out the winder insteada keepin common sense in it.
Freinds & neighbors..that there is what you call excessive gooberism in it's rarest form..sho nuff. :rolleyes:

[Evan03]

the little light makes sence but not at 15lbs.

if the light came on when tires dropped more than 5lbs of eachother then it would increase tire life by letting us know that ones getting low.

fuel mileage would be better, handleing better.

that is if when the light came on the tires were then brought back to the recomended pressure.

go 1000 miles on a tire thats 12lbs low and you know the difrence when you finaly get it aired back up again.

i bet i could check tire pressures on 99% of cars and each tires varies by no less than 5lbs.

[myEspringr]

ALL IT DOES IS MAKE MORE MONEY FOR DEALERS AND OTHER MECHANIC SHOPS. CARS ARE LASTING LONGER NOW SO THEY HAVE TO COME UP WITH OTHER WAYS TO RAPE A PERSON OF THEIR WALLET. NEXT THING YOU THEY WILL HAVE A LIGHT WHEN YOU NEED TO OIL THE HINGES ON YOUR DOORS.

[fabsroman]

Lordy, don't get me started on this one.

Except for front wheel and 4 wheel alignments and the replacement of tires, my cars have never been to a mechanic. I even bought the $150 computer to tell me what the engine code is when the check engine light comes on.

I check my tire pressure religiously because I know that low tire pressure causes increased tire wear and poor gas mileage. My first set of tires on my Taurus got 80,000 miles and I am on 55,000 miles with the second set so far and they still have plenty of tread. I got 29.3 mpg on the last tank of gas which is the best I have gotten to date.

There are 2 reasons for this tire pressure monitoring thing.The first is to help the poor Joe out that cannot check his own tire pressure. He would probably have to go to the dealer to get the tires inflated. This might also help the nation as a whole use less fossil fuel.

The second reason is to cause a do-it-yourselfer like me a headache in trying to figure out how to correct the computer issue. Recently, I heard that one car being made now has 73 different computers on board. Now, I heard this from somebody and would guess that it was actually 73 computer sensors instead, but even so, that is a lot.

[sdkid]

It boils down to the fact that people are spoiled and just plain lazy. Add the fact that full service gas stations are far and few between. Vehicles do last longer and warranty pays less to the tech. Vehicles are built cheaper and cost more. The auto manufacturers are the winners. The dealers have to come up with gimmicks to get better sales. I don't have the answers but I am caught just as everyone else is.
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LovelyWendie99 (http://www.lovelywendie99.com/)

[8X56MS]

just learn to live with 'progress'. It ain't going away