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If an AWD car has different tire sizes from the factory, they will have the same rolling diameter. The AWD system doesn’t care what the width and aspect ratio are, just the effective diameter. Ultra high-performance AWD cars will tend to have wider tires on the axle that has more weight and gets most of the power.
You can’t really get away with removing the emissions systems in states with inspection laws and with vehicles with OBD-2 that will light the Check Engine light. I am not a big fan of the aftermarket tuning companies because they typically allow lots of smoke in their calibrations. You can get better performance with some of these aftermarket cals. The SCR systems went into production around 2010. In general, I would not buy a modified used Diesel truck.
The problem with buying spare tires and storing them for eventual use is that tires have a limited shelf life. You should not drive on tires that are more than 8 years old (some people say 6 years). This is because the rubber in the tires degrades from exposure to atmospheric Ozone, sunlight; even from atmospheric Oxygen. If you want to preserve your spare tires as much as possible, store them in a sealed plastic bag in a cool area, in the dark. In the future, I would not buy extra matching tires to store for eventual replacement use, unless you tend to get a lot of flat tires (I don’t).
My experience with cheap new tires is that if they are not defective from the start (out of round or other geometry problems) they will generally be safe. One thing to keep an eye on is the sidewalls; look for signs of bulges. I also recommend reading reviews of any cheap brand of tire you might consider.
There are big differences in the performance of different tire brands and models. Big differences in grip (handling and braking power) dry and wet, big differences in noise, and differences in longevity and fuel economy (rolling resistance). The best (and generally most expensive) tires do well in all of these areas, though grip and longevity are usually a compromise (one for the other).
Small differences in tire wear on an axle are not important unless your transaxle has a limited-slip differential. A normal open-differential handles small differences in rolling diameter with no consequences.
I would say that you are correct about suspension alignment stability. Remember that potholes can also bend suspension components and alter your alignment. Also getting the alignment checked is a good way to check for suspension component wear if you have a good and trustworthy mechanic.
The DPF traps soot and the worst-case operating regime for a Diesel engine creating soot is rapid acceleration. This is because when the “gas pedal” is depressed rapidly, the engine controller lets the engine run richer than normal for a short while to let the turbo spool-up as quickly as possible. In the old days, you would actually see black smoke at the tailpipe; today the engine doesn’t go that rich (and the DPF traps any soot), but these increasing load transients create the most soot of any operating regime for a modern Diesel engine. So to minimize the frequency of regenerating the DPF, try to do your acceleration as smoothly and gently as possible. Avoid stabbing the throttle pedal. The other way to avoid actual regeneration is to drive at very high power levels for an extended period of time to get the exhaust hot enough to passively regenerate the trap. Driving up a long grade at high speed should do it. Low load cruising should be pretty easy on the DPF because the soot output of the engine should be quite low. The downside of light loads is that the catalysts cool off and none of the soot is burned-off.
When a DPF regenerates it burns the soot off, but the soot leaves a little bit of ash behind and eventually the DPF will have to be cleaned or the engine back-pressure (from the ash clogging the DPF) will hurt performance and fuel economy.
The SCR catalyst should never clog up, but the SCR system uses an injector (like a fuel injector) to spray the Diesel Emissions Fluid (DEF) on the SCR catalyst substrate. This consumes the stored NOx emissions. The most unreliable part of the SCR system is going to be the injector and pump because it has to exist in a relatively harsh environment. NOx accumulation tends to be roughly proportional to engine power level.
1. I mean to say a minimum of 250k miles. Worst-case of all the automotive engines in production. 300 to 400K is quite attainable. 250 K is just an estimate of the the cases of well-maintained cars that I know of. Of course these examples are all more than a dozen years old now. Engine technology is and has been continually improving, so the average life of well-maintained engines has improved over the last dozen years. An example; about a dozen years ago GM and Subaru were still making engines with head gasket problems that would emerge about the time the warranty expired, but they seem to be well-past those problems. The other thing to remember is that it isn’t just miles that take the toll on an engine, it is also time. If you drive 40K miles per year, you can still expect more than a decade of life from your engine.
2. I didn’t mean that Toyota has been making engines longer than the American companies. I meant that Toyota has been making extremely durable trouble-free engines longer than most companies. There are a number of sources of reliability data on cars including JD Powers and Consumer Reports. Based on their data Land Rover has been near the bottom of the list for a very long time. I should point out that being at the bottom of reliability rankings today is pretty close to being at the top 15 years ago.
3. Crash standards and the public’s appetite for luxury and lots of options make it difficult to keep the weight down. By the way, weight generally helps in vehicle-to-vehicle crashes, but is actually a hindrance in vehicle to barrier crashes.
4. I am recently retired from a Tier-1 automotive supplier. I am now doing consulting as Roth Automotive Science, LLC. You may be interested in this POV: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S1E8SQde5rk1) If you do all of the required maintenance by the book (the owner’s manual!) you should expect a modern engine to last at least 250,000 miles.
2) Today, pretty much all of the major manufacturers build (roughly) equally durable cars and engines; but Toyota, Honda, and the German manufacturers have been doing it longer. The least reliable car company today is probably Land Rover and I would not buy one, even if I wanted and expensive overweight SUV.
3) I don’t like that cars are still getting heavier. Weight is the enemy of everything you want a car to do and lightweight cars generally are more fun to drive. I also don’t like that manual transmissions are getting harder to find in decent cars. My POV is that driving should be fun.
4) EV’s are coming and are infinitely more sensible than Hydrogen fuel cells for the environment. Fortunately, Hydrogen seems to be dying away in most parts of the world. EV’s are not currently as environmentally beneficial as most folks think. The reason is that we have to look at the Well-to-wheels CO2 impact and not just the “tank-to-wheels” POV. See this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S1E8SQde5rkYes! Driving habit #1: Use the bar graph on the left side of the instrument panel to try to optimize the amount of regenerative braking and minimize the friction braking. The harder you press on the brake pedal, the more blue bars you light up, but any braking beyond max # of bars (in the down direction) is friction and represents energy you don’t get to put into the batteries. This will mean look ahead and plan you braking when you can.
tip#2: You will notice that in normal driving, the car goes into EV mode whenever you lift off the gas pedal or get into very light loads. When you have to accelerate, the lighter you press on the gas pedal the longer you will stay in pure EV mode. The point that the car transitions between engine on and off is very dependent on the state of charge of the battery pack (gauge on the right). While you are getting used to the car, use display screen that shows the hybrid system diagram so you can understand what mode you are in in different driving situations.
tip #3: Minimize use of AC. Even though the Ioniq has electric AC compressor, it is still a major energy draw and can cut your fuel economy by more than 10%. In all but warm weather (when you really need AC), stay out of automatic climate control and choose to turn the AC off, because in automatic mode, the AC compressor runs more than it really needs to. Also in cold weather try disabling the automatic defrosting mode, because that also turns on the AC compressor. I do find the automatic defrost useful in warm rainy weather.
tip #4: Do not warm up the car before driving (like with remote start). Just get in and drive. Modern engines do not need more than about 10 seconds of warm-up before you start driving. Idling is the slowest and least efficient way to warm up the engine.Enjoy your Ioniq!
I do not understand the question: warranty cost is incurred by the OEM by definition. Most pre-cat failures occur after the warranty period on old vehicles
For the Toyota MR2 -spyder; Spyderchat
For the Honda K20; k20a.org
mazda 3: mazda 3 Revolution
Hyundai Ioniq forumThey have determined that ATF change is not required to assure a 100,000 mile reliable life (the North America warranty period), so it is not recommended. Also you have to be careful in doing the fluid change. You have to be very sure not to introduce even small particles of dirt into the system and all fasteners and plugs have to be installed per the torque specs. Use only the proper sealants if the transmission pan has to be dropped. Before attempting an ATF fluid change make sure you completely understand the procedure and have the proper tools. If you are not careful, you can do more damage than good. In my opinion, if you are a very good and careful mechanic, there will be an overall (long-term) benefit to doing an ATF change at 50-60K miles
I have seen the 30 K interval in other owner’s manuals. There is really no good reason to change an OAT antifreeze more often than once per decade. They might be assuming you won’t dilute the pure antifreeze with distilled water or might assume you will not use the OEM spec antifreeze. Break-in has no effect on antifreeze.
regarding ATF; If I wanted an automatic transmission to last for 200,000+ miles, I would change the fluid at 50 – 60K miles intervals. I would do it myself or a very well-trusted garage.
The Owner’s manual is correct about the coolant. Modern coolant uses completely different anti-corrosion chemistry than the green stuff we used through the ’80’s. It is called Organic Acid Technology and truly last 10+ years. No advantage changing it early.
Regarding transmission fluid. I assume you are referring to automatic transmission? I would read the owner’s manual carefully and if there is no trans fluid replacement interval specified under severe-service, you should be fine leaving it unchanged for 100,000 miles, which in the US is the warranty period. If you keep it longer, I would change the fluid. The reason you can follow the manufacturer’s recommendation not to change in a modern car is that the transmission design and the transmission fluid are all much better engineered than in the past.
Dave
It is difficult to say that all first year major components are to be avoided. product development processes are improving all the time. droth6189@gmail.com
