GON
$100 Site Donor 2024
Funny picture- but in all reality the Germans do outstanding engineering/ design.
German Engineering
- Thread starter GON
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4WD
$50 site donor 2024
I remember looking under my 5 series and thinking how complicated it looked. However, I've never driven anything that matched it's ability to be a big comfy motorway wafter and then when required, pull it's socks up and annoy hot hatches in the twisties.
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Believe it or not, Germans think about practical things, and take it to the next level.
My flagship Toyota has rain sensing wipers. There is no intermittent feature. So when it’s a scenario starting out and glass not fully warmed, cannot leave it on rain sense, or the wipers would never turn off. Have to wipe manually.
My German entry level car has rain sense and intermittent. Same scenario, it can act like every other car. Turn off rain sense, use intermittent, and the wipers are effective.
My flagship Toyota car has the same power window controls as a Corolla that cost $40k less at the time.
My entry level German has its own, not something from a lower level car in the same family.
We could go on forever with the differing philosophies. Such as flagship with vinyl door panels, German leather (there is more than one part to illustrate).
My flagship Toyota has rain sensing wipers. There is no intermittent feature. So when it’s a scenario starting out and glass not fully warmed, cannot leave it on rain sense, or the wipers would never turn off. Have to wipe manually.
My German entry level car has rain sense and intermittent. Same scenario, it can act like every other car. Turn off rain sense, use intermittent, and the wipers are effective.
My flagship Toyota car has the same power window controls as a Corolla that cost $40k less at the time.
My entry level German has its own, not something from a lower level car in the same family.
We could go on forever with the differing philosophies. Such as flagship with vinyl door panels, German leather (there is more than one part to illustrate).
The above image looks like the rear suspension set-up in my MB W210.
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I've heard it said..."If you need 4 screws to hold something together, the German's will use 10 screws".
Or to have that compliant ride, great handling, big tires, and somehow still get a tight turning radius for parking.
AND the German engineers also designed some more basic, affordable vehicles too.
My neighbor had a '95 Jetta with a small thump (going over at grade railroad tracks). I couldn't believe how simple the rear suspension was in that car.
Then I looked at ordering coolant hoses and was shocked by the complexity.
My neighbor had a '95 Jetta with a small thump (going over at grade railroad tracks). I couldn't believe how simple the rear suspension was in that car.
Then I looked at ordering coolant hoses and was shocked by the complexity.
I read once that in an effort to save costs on an MB assembly line, the engineers were asked why the brake pedal arm required 5 coats of paint. 
Yep, if you want to try to do it all, its not going to be simple!
I have a pretty strict no german stuff policy if possible, but last year I tried a Miele vacuum has been nice so far, and is a nice simple functional design.
My wife picked a Bosch dishwasher though, with wifi connectivity of course, and it requires you to use the app for some functionality and to figure out what settings its currently on... All with more physical buttons and lights than the old dishwasher, which easily displayed what it was going to do and you could change settings without even reading the manual. Great work Bosch...
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I'd love to post those diagrams at my son's 4th grade class. It wouldn't surprise me if 1 or 2 boys can explain what's going on
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How about my flagship toyota saying per factory to replace all caliper bolts when doing brakes? They're like $10-$15 each. Last I checked the car has 4 calipers and each takes 2 bolts. That's pretty dumb, isn't it? I think picking on Germans is simply stereotypical. Some parts are multiples cheaper for a 7 series BMW than they are for an entry level Lexus.
Could you even imagine, a person having brakes done at a Lexus dealer? They'd have to be wealthy. It would be comical to know what is charged for front brakes. $60 alone in bolts, and another $120 in wear sensors. Almost $200 and haven't even gotten to anything of substance yet lol
A lot of manufacturers require replacement of the caliper mounting bolts when servicing brakes. There is a long list of “one time use” fasteners for every car model.
It's one of the single most important parts. Could you imagine a rusted brake arm.I read once that in an effort to save costs on an MB assembly line, the engineers were asked why the brake pedal arm required 5 coats of paint.
Perhaps their was a cheaper way to the same direction afterwords.
GON
$100 Site Donor 2024
One of many examples is Ford's published requirement to replace the bed bolts securing a bed to a pickup truck. I think very few people to replace the bed bolts when installing a Ford truck bed. I actually cover bath the bed bolts in never seize. Those OEM bed bolts cost well over $100 retail. Dorman sells a bed bolt kit for $60 on Rock Auto for Ford Trucks.
Yeah, I'd like to see the engineering behind why something like a caliper bolt should be single use? Its clamping two flat surfaces together... Shouldn't need to be TTY as there's no penalty to being slightly overtight? Headgaskets, pinch bolts, sure you can get a more consistent tension on TTY bolt, and overtight can be bad.
Are these TTY on the caliper? just to save a few grams going down a bolt size and shaving a few grams off the caliper and hub?
It may not be TTY - it may be threadlock. Volvo stipulates that caliper mounting bolts are one time use - and the new ones have thread lock on them.
Makes sense, so you could get some highish temperature thread locker and apply it to re-use your bolts.
Porsche also requires replacing caliper bolts, but interestingly theirs do not have thread locker on them, at least the OE's don't. I just did brakes on one of ours and replaced the bolts; figure Porsche has their reasons and do design a nice car and $40 added to the parts costs for a safety critical item is cheap insurance.
