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Pretty much every sort of brake lube will eventually wash out within the year if you live in an area with alot of snow or rain. Attracting dust and having that area gunk up is worse. IMO it is not necessary to lube the brake pad ears for this reason unless you plan on servicing and cleaning the...

Awesome, would be curious on the differences between the the different manufacturers. My next vehicle would likely be a compact truck since I'm not entirely convinced I need a full size. To my disappointment, there's only limited models that offer the Auto mode. Eg. Colorado/Canyon or the Tacoma...

Sil Glyde is overated IMO. It's good from a chemical compatibility standpoint for not making rubber parts swell (eg. caliper pins). But for high temp stability and washout resistance, there's lubes (eg. Ceramics) that would perform better.

Interesting read, even if it was from a decade ago. Any system is a compromise between performance, cost, and fuel economy. I'd be interested to know more, or see discussions on: 1. Land Rover has not been mentioned. What I find interesting is although their systems are tailored more for heavy...

Unless it's heavy as in rear engine mounted RWD, then IMO no. I have driven multiple RWD vehicles and you need every bit of traction you can get for the icy days, or any moderate bit of incline. Even with the best winter tires, I'd still rank RWD as being less controllable (other than braking)...

I prefer gaskets for parts that need to be serviced. eg. diff cover, transmission pan. There's usually no need to use anything extra, but if the surfaces are less than perfect then there's special gasket sealers. No RTV ontop as in theory it is slippery and affects torque, meaning thin portions...

It's not just Toyota, but many modern transmissions now have a fancy fill chart with a max/min table to keep the fluid level in range of. Really don't know why they had to overcomplicate things when old school transmissions had a simple dip stick and as long as you were in the full mark, then...

An engine is not just one part, but a system of all the various parts. What counts as end of life? An engine can run (poorly) a very long time as long as it has coolant and oil. But it could be leaking, misfiring, rattling, etc...

This vehicle doesn't have start stop, so it's not like the battery is having to deal with heavy duty cycles. It's the chronic undercharging which is my main concern. IMO no lead acid should be resting at 12.0V like this, but somehow the OE EFB battery seems to be holding up after 2+ years like...

I had troubles believing it too, but upon researching it seems this is the direction modern automakers are taking to squeeze extra MPGs out of existing equipment. It is an intelligent system that varies the voltage. Resting voltage after the vehicle has been sitting could be as low as...

My 2024 Outlander takes an EFB battery, and it seems so do many modern vehicles. The reason that the manufacturer spec'd this battery type is because the alternator never fully charges the battery (saves fuel) and it uses the alternator-battery system to do some pseudo regen during braking...

If they are potted with an epoxy, then I would say don't touch it and wait until they actually become a problem since you risk damaging the traces when trying to replace. In this case it might even be worthwhile to get a spare ECU and attempt to recap that. IMO if you get a spare ECU, the caps...

I'm doing the same thing and I use about 14.0V, but only because that was the lowest I could do with the adjustable switch mode power supply I have permanently installed in my trunk. 14.5V is better for fully charging the battery as that more closely resembles the alternator voltage, however...

This is it. The only purpose is for consistency and standardization during the assembly process at the factory. But IMO it's over engineering something simple. For the average rebuilder there's nothing wrong with the standard style clamp that you can use pliers to install without special tools.

I've done Toyota CV boots before and I always thought that style needed a special tool. IMO it's easier to just buy standard CV clamps and squeeze them the normal way instead.

I would suspect the best CV boot material is known as Hytrel which is a Dupont patented product. So only OEMs with deep pockets are willing to pay the premium to use that.

Country of origin is largely irrelevant now as a determination of parts quality since the science behind this stuff is well known. The problem is all mainstream CV axle manufacturers still insist on the cheaper 1980s neoprene technology, since they don't want to upgrade their tooling and they...

These repairs are totally easily DIYable, I've been doing this myself for the last decade. It's not worth paying the ~$30-50/chip that the pros charge IMO and is pretty hard to mess up with basic comment sense. One trick that has seemed to improve outcomes was to use a tool that pulls a vacuum...

I would imagine a molded TPU boot that is also properly cured with heat is an entirely different bonding process than trying to 3D print it. But yea the reason why 99% of aftermarket CV joints are junk is because they use neoprene boots.

Would be interesting to measure how much CCA rating is left on that. I'm guessing you live somewhere that doesn't get too hot or cold. In freezing climates, you probably need >60% of the CCA rating whereas if it's warm you can probably get away with 30-40% and not feel a difference.