OT(?) Sheared lug nut stud

I took the wheel to a tire dealer who sanded the rim and rebalanced it for $25. He said your urethane paint suggestion was the right way, but no shop would go to that much trouble. (so don't ask) jsw

I used to do it for customers who were willing to pay the price. No guarantee on any other "fix".

I'm glad I wasn't drinking my tea when I read that.

All vehicles eventually reach the age and mileage where the costs are equal between the used car repairs + insurance and the new car + insurance. When it gets even close to even, I opt for a new car. I've only owned two new vehicles in my life, both trucks, and those have been my last two vehicles. I sure prefer driving new to used. Over the 17 years I drove the F-150, I put on 2 new sets of tires, one new set of brakes, 3 sets of spark plugs, a set of spark plug wires, a set of tie rods, a drag link (I set the toe myself, so total cost in parts was about $350 in the first 14 years), and, near the end, a rebuilt tranny ($1825.) It was considerably cheaper to own than any of my previous vehicles and amortized maintenance was

Your primary vehicle will always be new for one day - then it is a USED vehicle.

I buy 5 year old new vehicles (usually) - low mileage 5 year old vehicles for $6000-ish. I keep them (generally) about 10 years. The last few have cost me less than $6000 in lifetime repairs. My daughter and wife each cost me a front fender/bumper/header panel on the '88 Chrysler - would have cost at least as much to repair if the vehicle was new - and I sold it when it was 18 years old in good running condition and looking almost like new. Currently driving a 18 year old pickup with about 320,000km on it - over the last year I hnave spent NOTHING on repairs. I added AC and new tires/wheels - but not a single repair. Oil changes only for maintenance.

The last (and only) brand new vehicle I ever owned had more spent on it in the first 18 months than I've spent on any 2 of my used cars.. It was all warranty - but I was without the vehicle and had to put up with all the BS from the Chrysler dealer convincing them to fix it - and then having to redo half the work myself to make it right. They basically threw the parts into the truck, and I (re)did the repairs.

I've fixed a lot of cars on the road too - back when I drove REALLY used vehicles. 1969?VW 412 in Zambia, 1949 VW beetle in Zambia, 1967 Peugeot 204 in Zambia, - and the not-so-old 1990 Aerostar here in Canada (always broke down in Michigan) - and all of those together didn't cost me $1000 in parts/breakdown repairs.

I think they can be TIGged , but you will want to preheat them (take the bearings out first ...). See Ernies responses to my post in SEJW about when I fubarred the motorcycle part - I think the post was titled "Part Came Back" . Vee the crack , etc .

My mindset is a bit different from that. I see a vehicle as new until things start going wrong with it, usually a minimum of 5 years or 50k miles.

In my new car, most of that would have been under warranty and cost me nothing. I spent half my life repairing vehicles and the new car thing (no repair downtime/trouble) is a new and joyous thing for me, OK? ;) Besides, in the USA, where people commute, low-mileage 5y/o cars are very, very hard to find. Ask a car rental company why they rent 0-3 year old cars. Most cars here get 20k miles annually, so at

5 years, they're worn out and into the StartShovelingMoneyAtMe stage.

Yes, some used cars are unlike kept women and DON'T cost you an arm and a leg at every turn, but I haven't found that to be the norm. I'm happy to be able to do many of my own repairs, but I'm happier not having to do my own repairs. I like having clean fingernails today.

Well, if you buy Chrysler or GM vehicles, you'll have that experience. So solly. My old truck was built right there in your Canada.

That's a whole new world, isn't it? I remember those days, buying $100 vehicles, rebuilding the engines, and then being able to drive them. Fond memories.

But, today, gimme a new car/truck! I drive 6k miles a year, so they last a very long time with me.

As a said, I buy 5 year old "new" cars. 2003 Ford Taurus with 58000kn

- thats less than 40,000 miles - for $6000.

Spent half my working life as a mechanic too.

Not easy to find here either, but they are around. I try to start looking for a new one before the old one gets too bad - that way I can still sell the old one for a half decent price and I'm never (well, almost never) in a position where I HAVE to buy a car.

Checked my records - the 88 New Yorker - not counting the body repairs, cost me $2800 in repairs over 140,000km and 12 years of ownership. That included rebuilding cyl heads and replacing transmission.. Add the body repairs -about $900 in parts total between the 2 incidents, and it was still a cheap car - considering I still got $1700 for it when I sold it. The '96 Mystique cost me $3000 over 12 years - only about 80,000km - including lower control arms, A./C reciever, Transmission repair , engine mount,and brakes.

For guys like you and I it's not hard to get ones that don't cost an arm and a leg to maintain because we (or at least I) know what to look for.

I've had2 cars over the last 30+ years I should never have bought. The 1985 LeBaron 2600 wagon - I bought it at night from a mechanic and took his word for what happened to it. It was a non-runner I bought for $1000 - and that was about $900 too much. I put an engine in it (rebuilt the old one - using only the original cyl head - it was that bad) and drove it 'till it wasn't solid enough to put on a hoist any more. Other than it being a $4000 pile of rust by the time I got it on the road, and it only lasting me 6 years before I sold it for parts, it didn't give me any trouble or expense.

The other one was the 1995 Pontiac Trans Sport I bought for scrap price with a blown engine and 275000km?. I put in an AC-Delco crate engine, and within 6 months a rebuilt trans as well, for a total investment of about $5000 - and that piece of crap nickelled and dimed me to death over the next 7 years or so. Never anything serious enough to make me mad enough to get rid of it - but it was just a piece of junk. When the engine let go on my daughter on the 401, it went straight to the scrap yard.

That's out of 25+ cars over the years.

The only "new" vehicle I owned was 1 1976 Dodge Ramcharger SE. It was a nice truck, but the dealer didn't PDI it properly and there was a never-ending list of things that needed fixing - some of which they finally fixed under warranty, some that I fixed - and a water leak that didn't get fixed untill I got rid of it 18 months later. I took a bigger loss on that vehicle than I've ever PAID for a vehicle since.

Now I let someone else pay the depreciation.

Larry, I think you are way off saying a car at 100,000 miles is worn out and will need to have money sholveled at it. I gave away recently my Dodge Colt (really a Mitsubishi car) with 273,000 miles on it. It still runs great, gets great mileage, has good oil pressure and compression. The only repairs it needed before I gave it away were the timing belt, water pump, and camshaft seal. The only repairs I had to do to the car since I bought it new were brakes, ball joints, some rubber suspension bushings, and a distributer, and the three items noted above. My Toyota truck with the V6 I bought used with 120,000 miles on it and I have put another 50,000 on it. It has needed a new radiator and water pump and ball joints. My wife's Camry which we just gave away still runs great with about 140,000 miles on it. It only needed a timing belt and a radiator in all those miles. My brother drove his last Toyota 2WD truck with the 4 cylinder (22RE?) engine for

330,000 miles before donating it to some charity in Guatemala. He and his wife drove the truck from Northern California to Guatemala to deliver it. His only repairs since he bought it new were a timing belt or chain (I forgot which), ball joints and shocks. I was told by my mechanic that the reason the truck and Camry needed radiators was because I didn't use the red Toyota anti freeze. I used the regular green stuff, which was apparently a bad idea. I will only be using the proper red stuff in my Scion xB. As you can see all the vehicles listed above are not money pits. And I'm sure my experience is not unusual these days. Cars are built much better these days, and have been for the last 20 years at least, with much better materials. I'm hard on vehicles but changing the oil when I was supposed to, changing brake fluid and coolant in a timely fashion, plugs, wires, distributer cap and rotor are pretty much all I did to maintain my vehicles and over time the cost of the above regular maintenance was more than I spent on repairs. As they say, YMMV, but not much. Eric

You know, I may well be. I haven't been nearly as involved in the industry since buying my first new vehicle, and I know from the Tundra that things have become a metric shitload better since that time. It's time for me to reevaluate. Thanks for the nudge.

Obviously Mitsubishi engineering. Poor Dodge owners! Look at the Consumer Reports for all cars and you'll see GM and Dodge with the lowest 10% approval ratings. That's a lotta miles, Eric.

Yeah, Toyotas have a much longer life. Hondas, too, but if your Honda ever eats ANYTHING, sell it right away. They fall apart all at once from every vehicle I've seen. Great until they fall, then they just self-destruct.

This Tundra may well be my last vehicle. Well, until they get air cars and helicopters without licensing.

In that case get some repop rims and lace them to your hubs . Use new spokes .

How'd we get onto the subject of military attire, anyway? And wouldn't those be too shiny for BDU work?

You didn't watch "The Wizard of Oz"? The Tin Man?

And damned uncomfortable. Sit on the icy ground with those and you'd instantly have chillyballs.

Gunner Asch on Sun, 15 Dec 2013 00:42:56 -0800 typed in rec.crafts.metalworking the following:

For the Air Farce Caadets at "Aluminum U.

-- pyotr filipivich "With Age comes Wisdom. Although more often, Age travels alone."