How do you cope?

[supton]

It seems like I spend a good hour a day online, looking at a couple of auto forums, trying to learn what I can about the vehicles I already own, and general info. Then, when I need to learn something specific, it winds up being hours of research. Worse, I have to duplicate that work if it's something I'll do again later. For example, a good tire to buy today might not be so good 2-3 years down the road. What oil to buy today might not be the oil to buy next year. Routine maintance at least doesn't change over the years--except when it does, like when my timing belt went from 100kmiles to 80kmiles.

Times this by three vehicles, throw in a house, and it's no wonder why I don't feel like I have time to pay attention to the family!

How do you guys sort through all the information? I'm just realizing that I've spent the last few years not paying a whit of attention to gassers (as my driver had been a diesel), only now I have two gassers that I need to learn about O2 sensors and catalytic convertors and ATF changes and what summer tires to run and what winter tires to run and what headlight bulbs to buy and ... My head hurts.

Just how do you stay on top of all this?

 

[JHZR2]

day by day. I enjoy doing research on stuff, and forums like this help with a lot of the learning. I dont watch TV, so dont have a ton of wasted time there. I also do a lot of this when doing light exercise... Another benefit to smartphones.

 

[IndyIan]

Even though its possible to research and buy the optimal tire/lights/part/etc at the best possible price, I find I don't always bother.
Go with decent brands and a headlight is a headlight, a brake disk is a brake disk, a winter tire is a winter tire... Atleast for legally driven daily drivers.

Also recently becoming a family man, I realized that searching around online to save a few bucks is only an option when its an option. The boys are only going to be young once, and they don't care about which car wax is the best, so while they are up, neither do I. Once everyone is bed then I can do my research if I like.
Also I find its better just to research problems as they come up, find the good forum for your car, 10 minutes later you are done.
No need to know every possible issue in advance.

 

[Hokiefyd]

I find I spend much less time on the internet once becoming a father. I used to hang around on forum sites dedicated to each vehicle I owned at the time, even helping moderate some. Now, BITOG is the only forum I ever visit. I've limited myself to one, and even on here, I only see probably 5% of the new posts each day.

 

[Donald]

You cannot get crazy over it. No one expect you to know eveything your vehicles. its not your day job. But knowing somethings is better than knowing zip.

When you need to buy tires, maybe look on Consumer Reports or TireRack for reviews. But you can do that in 30 minutes and then buy some tires and move on.

But like most people, you have a job, family, house, eating, sleeping and other sport/hobbies that take your time.

 

[Donald]

Originally Posted By: Hokiefyd
I find I spend much less time on the internet once becoming a father. I used to hang around on forum sites dedicated to each vehicle I owned at the time, even helping moderate some. Now, BITOG is the only forum I ever visit. I've limited myself to one, and even on here, I only see probably 5% of the new posts each day.


You have made a wise decision on where its important to spend your time. Being a father!

 

[itguy08]

Originally Posted By: supton
only now I have two gassers that I need to learn about O2 sensors and catalytic convertors and ATF changes and what summer tires to run and what winter tires to run and what headlight bulbs to buy and ... My head hurts.

Just how do you stay on top of all this?


Simple: Don't sweat it. Had many cars till over 100k and never changed an O2 sensor or cat. ATF changes - drop it at the dealer every 30k. All Seasons on all 4 corners - headlights -Silverstars or OEM are good enough....

I stopped sweating the majority of this stuff when I realized none of it really mattered in the end. Follow the book and don't worry about it.

 

[cutter]

I've been trying to decide between Kumho 4x and Conti DWS for a month now. And I'm still looking at reviews, forums, etc for more info.

 

[suspiciousmind]

In this day and age, it's a skill worth honing to be able to quickly and effectively solve problems using the internet. There's virtually no day-to-day problem that can't be solved in a few minutes with the right keystrokes.

Being an engineer, problem solving is my game and I actually thrive on a good challenging problem.

As far as car repairs go, virtually every car model has a dedicated forum or several. Find the best one and do a quick search. Oftentimes the problem is common to the particular vehicle and alternative cheap or free fixes are possible.

The more problems you solve, the quicker and easier it gets. You can actually save youself a lot of time, and money doing it yourself. At least you can find out what's wrong and decide whether or not to spend the time and money on having someone else do it.

 

[The_Jeff]

Paralysis of analysis. Be glad you have a choice of 30 different brake pads, but if it gets too overbearing break it down to too cheap, too expensive, and "hey, sort of like OE."

Around here everyone sells store brand tires so it's refreshing to go online and buy something like yoko avids for the same price. I scan the cars in the parking lot while walking in and am up on what brands of tires are out there, how they're wearing, and who puts what on total junker cars. I don't waste any time doing this as I'm already walking into the store on errands.

I manage to get most of my BITOG in goofing off at work. 5 minutes here, ten there. So it doesn't get addicting or dragging me down.

 

[Stanley Rockafeller]

Originally Posted By: cutter
I've been trying to decide between Kumho 4x and Conti DWS for a month now. And I'm still looking at reviews, forums, etc for more info.


Conti DWS

I haven't read a bad review yet, and love them personally

 

[supton]

I'm an engineer, but I'm used to collecting all the requirements, and then designing something to take all that info into account, and meeting all those specifications. Someone else usually debugs it.

Then I figure out how to fix those mistakes that were found, and on it goes.

Problem is, I'm usually handed all the requirements, and I design the PCB to accomodate all that. It either fits or it doesn't. And of course I designed it, so I know most all details. Unlike a car, where it seems like there's 32 different parts that could be used, or 64 ways to do something--and most of them are wrong. And I don't know how it all interacts. 4 ways could work great, at least for a while. And, even if I were to solder up a PCB, it's at least done indoors. Unlike working on the car.

Plus, when I design a PCB, someone else foots the bill. And mistakes are ok, they are anticipated. My cars, and my house, though--I foot the bill. Do it poorly, and I just wind up having to do it again.

It's driving me nuts. Sure, I could ignore the details--if I was only driving to 100k. But I half the running costs by going to 200k, or third it by going to 300k, or ... You get the idea. All those details start to matter after 100k.

 

[tommygunn]

If it is round, black, and rolls, it's a good tire for me. LOL....that's my rule of thumb. Don't let the little things bother ya really

Now the routine maintenance, that's the kicker, keep at it, and pay attention to the small details

 

[itguy08]

Originally Posted By: supton

It's driving me nuts. Sure, I could ignore the details--if I was only driving to 100k. But I half the running costs by going to 200k, or third it by going to 300k, or ... You get the idea. All those details start to matter after 100k.


Not really. I used to be OCD and used Synthetics, changed them at 5k, etc. Learned I was spending lots of money for 0 benefit.

Never sweated the small stuff and my longest car was 175k. Still ran fine but had no emissions stuff and they started testing for that.

And my wife's car just hit 130k (will hit 10 years this summer) and is running fine so I have no doubt it will make 200k. And we just follow the book.

Not sure I'd want to trust a car with more than 200k on it. Too many things are well past their 150k design life that would most likely nickel and dime you.

 

[andrewg]

Prioritize and be realistic. Don't obsess. And above all, try to focus on REAL life....not the stupid internet.
Perhaps when you find yourself going over tons of info about a particular item (such as tires), just make yourself accept the fact that most choices you make will be just fine and not cause your entire life to unravel if you don't pick the PERFECT tire (as being on the internet CAN do to your real life).

 

[supton]

We rack up about 50k/year, at the moment. 25k each, although with the addition of the truck I'm not sure how that will alter what each vehicle gets: I'm guessing 10k/year on the truck, 18k on the Jetta and 22k on the Camry. Maybe with three vehicles I won't be wearing any particular vehicle quite as fast as before. Still means I have three vehicles to sweat the details over, and I still don't have a good mechanic at the moment. Just the corner shop, who I like but I strongly suspect they reused the stretch bolts on my Jetta's struts... *shudders and doesn't want to think about the repercussions*

I'm not sure how to not sweat the details. It's still a 2ish ton vehicle moving at highway speeds, with either me or the family in it. I've lost brakes due to a $20(?) pad falling off (thankfully not on the highway). The little details matter.

Doesn't help that I decided to change course, and plan on my Jetta lasting several more years. It was this, or replace it with something new that I wouldn't like.

Speaking of going by the book, Toyota would have me believe the ATF in my truck is "lifetime"...

 

[FL_Rob]

Originally Posted By: andrewg
Prioritize and be realistic. Don't obsess. And above all, try to focus on REAL life....not the stupid internet.
Perhaps when you find yourself going over tons of info about a particular item (such as tires), just make yourself accept the fact that most choices you make will be just fine and not cause your entire life to unravel if you don't pick the PERFECT tire (as being on the internet CAN do to your real life).


That's a great statement...and probably the best sentiment that can be said.

 

[johnachak]

Originally Posted By: cutter
I've been trying to decide between Kumho 4x and Conti DWS for a month now. And I'm still looking at reviews, forums, etc for more info.


I personally hate Continentals. I pulled them off of 2 cars I bought new that came with them. One set was a Contitouring contact. Problem was no contact with the road in wet or snow.

 

[Pop_Rivit]

How much research do you really need to do for this stuff? If you're spending hours agonizing over a set of tires, or actually spending time researching O2 sensors or headlight bulbs, then you need to find something better to do.

It's a car-it's there to serve your needs. You're obsessing over trivial things, and you've turned yourself into a slave for your vehicle.

 

[Merkava_4]

Originally Posted By: supton

How do you guys sort through all the information?


I just get an alldata subscription for the car.