It's been a while...

First off, I'd like to apologize for my lack of posts for the past couple days. MY dad came in from out of town and Sam and I have been furiously cleaning the house and yard. I had let the grass grow so long that it took three days to cut the backyard. :P

So, I was tooling around in the Edsel the other day. It left under it's own power, but came back on a tow truck. I'm not sure what's wrong with it. It will idle perfectly, but when you put it in drive or reverse, then it bogs down and dies. I eventually coaxed it into motion and wound it up to about 55 mph down Delany Rd. IT ran rather well when at cruising speeds. When I came to each stoplight, it would idle ok (since I put it in neutral). The light would turn green and I would drop her into drive and the car would bog down again. I feathered the gas until it got moving. I guess a hesitation would be the proper description. It would accelerate with the pedal slightly depressed, but bog when I pushed further.

I'm guessing that plug wires are causing the hesitation. I will put in some new ones and try again. Luckily, I had roadside assistance.

I sold my other Edsel, so I can no longer say that I'm the only one in a 25 mile radius of 60083 who owns a 58 Edsel. :(

My cousin Rob sent me a picture of a wheel on his '03 Cavalier. Apparently, he had bent one of the front wheels on a curb. The dealer bent the wheel back, but it still vibrates. It looks like a steel 14" wheel.

Take it back and have that wheel balanced. If it shows 0.00 ounces on each side of the machine and the wheel still vibrates on the car, rotate it to the rear right. In the rear of a front-wheel drive car, you are least likely to feel any bent wheel/tire problems. If the vibration is STILL too bad, keep that bent wheel as a full-size spare and buy a new/used 14" steel wheel and a new/used 195/70R14 tire.

I recommend using 2" valve stems on ANY steel wheel  (unless it has to clear a thick hubcap like a wire hubcap or an 80's front wheel drive Chrysler K-car product, then you should use 2 1/2" stems).  Getting a junkyard steel wheel should be fine. If it has a tire already on it, check for any nails or screws in the tread, check to see if it has SOME air, and check to see if it has wheel weights already on it. Also, check the tread for ANY uneven tire wear. If it has patches of wear, then it's probably bent, too. IF you can get a wheel separate from the tire, have any rust cleaned off the bead (where the tire meets the wheel) before mounting. This will seal the tire better than if the rust was still there. A wheel usually costs about $10 from the junkyard and a tire will cost $10-$15. A new tire will run at least $50 a piece.

If you plan on buying new tires, I suggest an economy All-Season Radial. I'm particularly fond of the Mastercraft A/S IV. Most economy All-seasons with a 195/70R14 size will have whitewalls, and while I am REALLY fond of whitewalls, it's always YOUR decision whether they face in (hidden) or out (showing). If there is no whitewalls, decorative ribs, or other markings like "This side facing outwards" or "Direction of Rotation", then you can face the DOT date codes outwards. The date codes tell you when the tire was stamped. For instance, the front tires on my wife's Corolla have "YOUJ YP5M 3808" stamped on the sidewall. The first and second set of characters designate stuff like manufacturer, brand, size, etc. The "3808" means that the tire was stamped on the 38th week of 2008. On MOST tires, the date only shows up on one side of the tire. I like to mount them facing out as so that a person can look at the tire and know when it was produced. This decreases the chances of the tire company selling you older tires that were sitting on a shelf for a couple years. Also, you can debunk a person's story when you are buying a used car and they say something like "I just put new tires on it." Just because they tire is shiny and looks like it has deep tread, doesn't mean it that the steel belts are in good shape.

On a side note, you can replace a 195/70R14 with a 185/75R14. The tread is a little thinner but there is virtually no height difference between the two. 185/75R14 tires are usually cheaper by $5 or so.

To sum it all up for my cousin, have the tire balanced is first step. Rotate it to the back is the second step. If all else fails, save that wheel, but buy a new/used tire and wheel of the same size.

Also, On an unrelated note, I was able to "test drive" the new Dodge Charger. It was only on the Hertz lot, but I whomped on it a little. The first thing I noticed about the car was that the fit and finish was exceptional on this car. It seemed to be put together very well. I sat down in the cloth driver's seat and started my usual adjustment ritual. First, I scoot the passenger seat all the way back and put the headrest down to it's lowest setting. Next, I scoot the driver's seat back and down to the floor and put the headrest down. Then, I adjust the steering column so it's all the way up and all the way out. I like sitting far back in the seat, but having the seatback upright, so that I'm not laying down in the car. Having the wheel adjusted closest to me allows for more leverage when turning the wheel. The straighter you arms are, the less leverage you have to quickly turn the wheel.

One thing that still bothers me is that the passenger seat doesn't scoot as far back as the driver's seat. I tested this on three separate cars. When they are all the way back, the seat bottoms should line up. Strange.

I pushed the start button and the engine fired with a healthy roar. The dash was setup nicely, but I REALLY hated the radio and climate controls. Most of them are on this little touch screen in the center of the dash. I searched for five minutes trying to find the on/off for the radio. I finally found it, but not on the touch screen, where one would THINK it should be. It was down towards the bottom of the center stack. There was just an on/off button for radio controls. I believe there was one for the climate control, but I can't really remember. The gauges were kind of small, but they were backlit really well. The center screen could be switched to whatever you want to look at (vehicle speed, fuel economy, etc). Somebody turned the brightness of the gauges all the way down and I originally thought that the lights were burnt out.

The car definitely had a "big car" feel to it, but for my low-speed maneuvers, it was fairly tight. The V6 engine responded well. It had a lot of guts, but there was some hesitation. I experienced this before in a '07 Chrysler 300. I was told that it was from the "Drive-By-Wire" system that they have. Basically, there is no throttle linkage. There's a sensor in the gas pedal and an electric motor at the throttle body. The more the pedal is pushed down, the more the throttle opens up.

The backseat was comfortable for a 6'3" guy like myself. I like that the rear headrests don't get in the way of the rear window view. Also, I think they are non-adjustable, which is great for me, since I don't like using headrests anyways. The trunk seemed spacious enough, but I had nothing to put in there for any kind of "test."

Overall, the car is a flashy, big car. Lots of pep, nice body lines, lots of LED lights, and some strange engineering. I'm still looking forward to renting one for the weekend.