Buckle up for another edition of Drive Radio! We kick things off with some classic car movie quotes, dive into your favorite car memories, and discuss everything from brake pad choices to the dangers of street racing. Plus, find out why some wrecked cars seem to be ‘wreck magnets.’ Call in and share your best car stories!
SPEAKER 05 :
It’s 106 miles to Chicago. We’ve got a full tank of gas. It’s dark, and we’re wearing sunglasses.
SPEAKER 09 :
Hit it. Our lady of blessed acceleration, don’t fail me now.
SPEAKER 03 :
It’s time for Drive Radio, presented by Colorado’s select auto care centers.
SPEAKER 10 :
Ba-ba-da-ba!
SPEAKER 03 :
Whether you need help diagnosing a problem. I want to ask you a bunch of questions, and I want to have them answered immediately. Or just want to learn about all things automotive.
SPEAKER 04 :
Hey, how exactly does a positrack rear end on a Plymouth work?
SPEAKER 03 :
It just does. Then you’ve come to the right place. So start your engines, buckle up, and get ready to ride. Drive Radio starts now on KLZ 560 The Source.
SPEAKER 11 :
All right, Drive Radio, KLZ 560. Appreciate you all listening. By the way, I had a great first hour there with Fix It Radio. If you didn’t tune into that, you can sure listen again on Tuesday or go listen to the podcast, Ease My Pain, which is a great new sponsor of ours. Brian was with us talking about all things computer-related and passwords and different things. We’ll have him back. We didn’t even… scratch the surface on the things that we can talk about when it comes to that whole end of things. And as I make sure I reiterate this, if you’re a business, small to medium size, and you’re looking for a new IT person, somebody that is not going to treat you like you’re some sort of a scumbag because you called them on the phone and they’re now telling you, do this, do that, and they’re just not nice, which a lot of IT people, unfortunately, are not nice. They’re kind of egotistical and condescending. That is not Brian. He and his company, his folk, completely the opposite. We’ve designed it that way. And I say we because I’ve been consulting with Brian ever since he started his business and where he is today, and he has done phenomenal. He is a great owner, has a great team, great people, does things the right way, just a great individual, he and his wife both. So if you need something on that end of things, please make sure you give him advice. Okay, so Steve was writing down some questions of the day. Steve Horvath from Geno’s is with us today, by the way. So let me say this. Lines are open. If you want to get in and get a call in quickly, 303-477-5600, 303-477-5600. 307-477-5600. Text line as well, 307-200-8222. 307-200-8222. Before we do question of the day also, a lot of you are asking for previous shows, podcasts, and so on. And I’ve mentioned this during the week, but I don’t think I’ve done it enough here. We had some kind of a perfect storm. We had a big software change that we did here at the station early February where we literally had a complete changeover of how things are done on Charlie’s side of the fence, meaning that everything was completely different and there was a learning curve there on everything from even how we save a show, condense it down to where it can then be uploaded for podcasts and things like that. So we had a lot to do as far as all of that goes on the learning curve. And then on top of that, and I don’t want to get into a lot of details with Charlie, Producer Ann, but she had some health issues as well and had some things that she had to take care of at that same time. So we kind of had this perfect storm of not having everything here as a station the way we needed to and then Ann also having some health difficulties at the same time. We’re getting those caught up. So some of you that even email me at times asking, where is such and such? Did you know that such and such isn’t up yet? Yes, we do, and we’re working on that as quickly as we can. And I would say that give us another week or two, and we should have most everything handled, uploaded, and done. And one thing that you’ll also notice is You may notice that the file name itself might not match the actual heading that Ann puts in because of the date stamps and so on as to how some of this works when it’s uploaded. Just go off of what she puts in as the heading and utilize that and nothing else, and you will be fine as far as all of that goes. I just want to make sure I threw that out there. All right, question of the day. We have some choices. Oh. Rattle them off, and I’ll tell you which one we’re going to use.
SPEAKER 10 :
Okay. What car would you drive if you could drive any car? Okay. And what’s your favorite car memory? I like that one. Okay. And what place would you drive? Where would you be your favorite place to drive to? I mean, if you want to take a road trip, I suppose.
SPEAKER 11 :
Okay. Let’s do favorite car memory.
SPEAKER 10 :
Favorite car memory.
SPEAKER 11 :
I like that one.
SPEAKER 10 :
Yeah.
SPEAKER 11 :
Because some of you will go back in time on all sorts of things, and I have several. So, yeah, because some of you might have even more than one. And you could have multiples of what your favorites are, even depending upon the season in your life. In other words, you might have one from a kid to having one as a teenager when you first started driving to one later in life when maybe you had your own. kids and family so if you’ve got several we don’t care give us what those favorite memories are 303-477-5600 303-477-5600 and one of mine i’ll just be straight up we had uh and i wish i had this car now because they’re really getting rare and hard to find we had the buick version of the vista cruiser wagon because we always had station wagons growing up because suvs didn’t exist yet so we had station wagon And I remember the Vista Cruiser having the ability with the curved glass that was up towards the top of the roof. It wasn’t a sunroof, but that curved glass. You could always kind of look out those sides of that curved glass. In other words, this is before seatbelt laws and all that nonsense. We could lay down in the back. and look out at what was going on. And I just remember that particular car, that car in particular, I should say, being able to do that. And that’s a car that today I wish, you know, like I said, I wish I had. I look for those occasionally. If I could find a really nice one of those again. I really want the Buick version, not the Chevy or old version, but I really like to have a Buick version because that’s what we had growing up. I’d actually buy one of those.
SPEAKER 10 :
And that was the one with the seat that faced backwards in the very, very back? Correct. And you flipped it, even if you sat in it.
SPEAKER 11 :
Correct. That was interesting, too. And it wasn’t as big of a wagon as their full size. It was more of their sort of, I guess you would call it a mid-sized wagon. Back then, you’d get two different sizes of station wagons, and that was the little bit smaller version of a station wagon than what the big Electras and some of those versions were at that time. And now at that particular time, the Vista Cruiser might have been the biggest, but they’re a smaller wagon than what most people would think a station wagon is. I’d have to go back and look and see what other wagons were made at that time. I just remember growing up, this would have been in the late 60s. So I’d have been, I don’t know, five, six years of age, something like that. And I just remember that wagon. Yeah.
SPEAKER 10 :
Sure. Our next-door neighbors had a child that had muscular dystrophy.
SPEAKER 11 :
Oh.
SPEAKER 10 :
And they always had to have station wagons. That’s before they had any kind of ambulatory vans or anything like that. Right, right, right. And, you know, so they always had to have something so they could put him in a wheelchair and all that. It’s interesting what they were used for. You know, they were really a multi-purpose vehicle.
SPEAKER 11 :
And if you think about it, everybody today are – Our modern SUVs, if you think about it, they’re just sort of a station wagon on steroids. They’ve made them a little higher, all-wheel drive, shortened them up, but the principle of what’s there, having that interior all the way to the back glass, and then being able to do whatever you needed to do internally with folding seats down or whatever, that concept was there years and years and years ago. It just has been more perfected, I guess you could say today, Steve.
SPEAKER 10 :
And we’re utilizing every inch. Remember, the old cars had the big trunks that, you know, you could hide a couple bodies in. Literally, or more.
SPEAKER 11 :
Sometimes you’d put two or three people back there just for fun. Oh, yeah, to get in the movie theater or whatever.
SPEAKER 10 :
Or the driving, yeah.
SPEAKER 11 :
Exactly. So, yeah, so those of you listening, give us what some of those favorite memories are. 303-477-5600. 303-477-5600. Somebody said, John and his guests… grow up with air conditioning in their vehicles. Not all. Not all. I will tell you that. Some of our vehicles had air conditioning. Some did not. And I can explain. So when I was really young, my dad had an old Willys wagon with a Buick aluminum V8 engine that he had done and everything. And it was an old Jeep with just a straight T90, three-speed and overdrive. Back then it had the Warren winch and everything on it. But that vehicle had no air conditioning. So a lot of times we’d hop in that, go someplace, and oh, man. I can still remember the smell of the inside of that vehicle, by the way. And it would get hot and sticky, and you know what the old Jeeps were like. There wasn’t a ton of airflow that would roll through. And eventually he went away from that in, I want to say, about 1975. five or so, 74 maybe, he ended up with a 1972 GMC Jimmy, which I wish we still had because it’s worth pretty good money today, especially in the condition that we had when we sold it. But at any rate. That didn’t have air conditioning either to start with. So for several years, again, we drove that without air conditioning. Finally, my dad found an aftermarket air conditioner that went under the dash, one of the old Mark IV air conditioners. Bolted up. Steve knows what I’m talking about. He’d bolt them up underneath the dash. And it did okay. You know, it took the edge off. It by no means would make the interior of the car as cold as what we’re used to. I mean, some of the cars today will literally almost freeze you out of the inside of it. That one would take the edge off. but never really blew super cold like cars that came with air conditioning.
SPEAKER 10 :
Factory installed or dealer installed air conditioning was a thing. Now dealer would never install it. They wouldn’t even know what you’re talking about.
SPEAKER 11 :
In today’s world, do they even make a car without it? True.
SPEAKER 10 :
We were talking about that with the power windows. There’s not very many cars that are crank windows.
SPEAKER 11 :
The last truck even, Steve, that I bought that had manual windows as a fleet has been several years ago now. I mean, even the fleet trucks we buy have power windows, power locks, air conditioning, the whole nine yards. It’s just standard equipment anymore. I don’t know that you can – I mean, maybe a large, large fleet can special order some things that you can’t get on – the normal lot and some of you listening might know the answer to that but when it comes to just buying things through the normal supply channels even a fleet buying you know i don’t know five to ten vehicles you’re not going to get those options would actually probably be more expensive for them to put a manual in than the automatic because it’s already done you know it’s it’s there it’s so fast it’s Yeah, they’ve got all of their just-in-time delivery, if you would, to the assembly line, whereas that thing’s rolling down. Those parts are showing up typically the day before or same day. And in other words, they’re going to build a car that afternoon with XYZ parts. Those parts are typically showing up either the night before or the morning of. It’s literally that quick as to how fast those things go on to the assembly line and into the car. No stockpile of anything. Not anymore. They used to back in the day, but no, they don’t stockpile. But that’s why for a lot of you listening, some of the tariffs and things like that, yes, they could have some effects upon some of the things in the automotive end of things. You know, should you stockpile anything on your own? No, because you have no idea what stockpile. i mean what are they going to run out of we learned that with covet we didn’t know you have no idea no i mean you can try to do some things on your own vehicle uh and for a lot of you that do some stuff at home oil changes things like that sure you know have an oil oil filter or two for your vehicle and some oil and things like that that’s always a good idea if you’re doing your own stuff but as far as things to actually stockpile uh guys i’ll just tell you straight up i don’t know what those items would be so we’ll We’ll take a break. We’ll come back. That’s our question of the day, your favorite car memory. Larry Unger answering phones for us today. Charlie Grimes, our engineer, of course. Steve from Geno’s with us. Any questions, call us. We’ll be right back. Drive Radio, KLZ 560.
SPEAKER 12 :
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SPEAKER 11 :
All right, we are back. Drive Radio, KLZ 560. Lines open 303-477-5600, 303-477-5600. Give us a call or a text as well. And that was a funny question a moment ago. It goes, you know, do I remember or did I always have air conditioning in the cars that we drove? And the answer is no. In fact, some of the cars I own personally as, you know, growing up, there were some that didn’t have air conditioning and you just dealt with it.
SPEAKER 10 :
Sure. They had those little things you used to bolt on the side of the window. I never had any of those. I saw those on a show once or something.
SPEAKER 11 :
Yeah, I never had the little mini swamp coolers. Yeah. Basically is what those were. Yeah, no, I never had any of those either. I mean, back in the day, you rolled the windows down, and hopefully, and these are things you don’t see today either. But back in the day, like my old Grand Sport, my 68 Grand Sport, which is a Skylark Buick, it has vent windows.
SPEAKER 10 :
Mm-hmm.
SPEAKER 11 :
where not only does it have, you know, let’s see, how many roll-up-and-down windows? So there’s the two rear, the two on the side, plus the vents. So it’s got six, you know, knobs, if you would, because even the vent windows would swing in and out mechanically. And a lot of them, you would just open the thing like a truck. You’d just open it and flip it in and out. Mine, actually, you can roll it. You know, it’s got a mechanism where it rolls it in and out. But back in the day, you used the vent windows as much as you could to try to roll some – air through the car kept the noise down and gave you a little bit of air trucks had sliders in the back where you know that’s kind of where those were invented from as well you could roll the two front windows down and open the slider in the back and get some decent airflow through the the truck and and things like that so yeah
SPEAKER 10 :
Not get that buffeting noise bouncing back.
SPEAKER 11 :
So do I remember driving without air conditioning? Yes. In fact, we did some trips cross-country where, yeah, in the middle of summer, no air conditioning. You did everything you possibly could to try to stay cool. And, man, it was just utter misery. Air conditioning is a fabulous thing. Well, I talk during the week even. For a lot of you listening, you would know this. Growing up, house-wise, when I grew up, we didn’t have air conditioning in the house. In fact, I’ve said it many, many times on the weekly program. Only the rich people that we knew had air conditioning. We had no family, no anybody that we knew, neighbors or anybody that had air conditioning. If you went to a house that had air conditioning, you were like, oh, wow, we’re living now because nobody at that time in Colorado – had air conditioning. Now, Steve, I would say it’s almost the opposite of that. It’s like what houses don’t have air conditioning. It’s got to be pretty old. Most everything new that’s been built of recent has it already included. And even older homes have been retrofitted to have air conditioning. And yeah, at the end of the day, I think most everything today is.
SPEAKER 10 :
And then we did a lot of swamp coolers back in the day.
SPEAKER 11 :
That’s what was our beginning of it all. We weren’t even that fortunate. We had an attic fan, and then we’d use the little box coolers. Remember those?
SPEAKER 10 :
Yeah, the box coolers that we used.
SPEAKER 11 :
The poor man’s swamp cooler or whatever they were.
SPEAKER 10 :
Put the ice tray in there or put the ice in there.
SPEAKER 11 :
Yep, and you’d let that thing blow. And they didn’t do too bad for cooling an individual room. Made it awfully humid at times. Yeah, and the basements were nice. Everybody had to go to the basement. Yeah, see, I grew up in the house we lived in with my dad. Yeah, we had no basement. A crawl space was all, and we had no basement. So in our case, there wasn’t really any place you could go to to quote-unquote cool off. We had some relatives with basements, but immediate relatives, again, we didn’t have anybody that had. And now that I think about that, I have no idea why. I don’t know whether it was just extra cost back then to put the basement in or what the deal was, but no, we didn’t.
SPEAKER 10 :
Didn’t have a basement.
SPEAKER 11 :
No. Neither one of my grandparents, my aunts and uncles, my – I had one cousin, a set of cousins that had a basement, but nobody else did. Really?
SPEAKER 1 :
Yeah.
SPEAKER 10 :
My dad actually, the first house I bought in Commerce City, he dug the basement, came out, and he actually went underneath and dug.
SPEAKER 11 :
I mean, that’s a lot of work. You’re kidding me. He dug the crawl space out and made a basement. He made a basement. I’ve always wondered how that, yeah, that’s a lot of tenacity. That’d be a lot more work than I’d want. That’s more, yeah, that’s backbreaking, you know, doing that, starting off with probably five-gallon buckets or something. You’re just, you know, one at a time, right? Yeah.
SPEAKER 10 :
Yeah, could be. You know, it had an outside entrance, so maybe he could have built a little ramp.
SPEAKER 11 :
Oh, you start there. Maybe you start digging down, and then that becomes your even still. Oh, man. No thanks. Those are not the good old days when it comes to that for a lot of you listening. Okay. Something that, let me do this, a couple of things I want to make announcements of. And I was reading this earlier in the week, and I didn’t know there was even a website for this, but there is. And you guys all know my feeling on street racing. And it’s going to be, and I predicted this, with Bandimere now not having a track, and I don’t know whether there’s another track opening. There’s all sorts of speculation around that. There’s a lot of rumors around that. I’ve heard people say, yep, yep, it’s a fact. They’re going to be back in 2025. Well, I can already tell you that it’s 2025 and they’re not back. So, yeah, no, it ain’t happening this year. And as far as I know, I haven’t even seen anything attempting to be built at this point in time. So for a lot of, especially some of you old-timers that are running around talking about how it’s going to be back in the not-too-distant future, don’t hold your breath. Because I can tell you right now, just the entitlements and going through cities and counties and so on and getting things approved and then actually building it out and so on, if there’s no dirt turning, and to my knowledge there isn’t, because I’m sure you’d see all sorts of announcements all over the place if there were, you’re a couple of years away at minimum from even that happening. And I’ve said all along, if it happens. And I’m not trying to, you know, ditz anybody. I’d be surprised if it actually does. Meaning street racing is going to increase. A lot of these, especially younger kids, they want to race. They want to go out and test the waters, if you would, and see how fast their car is and so on and so forth. And in turn, there was some arrests that were even made here, I want to say Wednesday night, in the eastern I-70-ish area. You’re still in town. I mean, not all the way out towards like Deer Creek, but in town, sort of the east I-70 corridor area. And a bunch of younger kids were arrested. And I didn’t realize this, but there’s actually a website. If you’re somebody where you’re witnessing street racing, and it might even be in your own neck of the woods, your own neighborhood or whatever, it’s a website here locally called reportstreetracing.com. ReportStreetRacing.com. And it’s actually a Colorado website that will alert some of the authorities that are out there. You can submit anonymous tips, by the way, as to where some of this stuff is happening. And, yeah, that’s a no-no. I am not for that in any way, shape, or form. I guess I was taught and raised this way. If you wanted to go race, you went to the racetrack because doing it any other way is endangering not only you but the lives of others. And then on top of that, since it’s not controlled, who wins? Sorry, folks. You can say you’ve got the fastest car out there, street racing. That’s the problem I have with the particular program that’s out there. And even that program, they’ve switched to going to racetracks instead of doing it out on old country roads and stuff. But that whole Discovery Channel thing, I have been against from day one because I think it encouraged street racing. And I don’t know why. I mean, they did it because it’s views. I get it. It’s TV. They get views and so on. But I never was a fan of that because, to me, it encouraged racing. a bad behavior and uh and i think it can be proven that it actually did and the other complaint i always had on that is if it’s not in a controlled environment some guy standing in the middle of the road with a flashlight and you go when the light turns on is not controlled sorry there needs to be a tree you need to have staging lights know exactly when the car leaves Somebody leaving too early, that’s why they do it all that way. Whereas the finish line, who crosses first? You can’t just do that with eyeballs at times. I mean, again, that is not controlled. I don’t care what you see on TV. And by the way, just remember this, whatever you see on TV is not real life. Even in a reality show, it ain’t real life. Trust me, I can tell you that firsthand. It’s all staged. uh it’s all done uh quote unquote in kind of an acting way to where they want certain things to be a certain way so it brings more views in and trust me folks it is it is not it is not as it seems when you look at any of these reality shows at all i can tell you that firsthand so it is not that way so my my issue with street racing is number one you really don’t even know who won i mean i guess if it’s a A huge difference from one car to another. Okay, yeah, in that case, maybe. But it’s not controlled. It’s not accurate. You really don’t know who a winner and loser is. In fact, I would just tell you that only losers street race. I’ll just say it straight up. Only losers street race because you’re not gaining anything at the end of the day. And I will say that publicly. And if you’re a street racer and you listen to this program, stop. Stop. You’re better off to go out to Julesburg where there’s at least a track out there. You can roll over to Topeka, Kansas. There’s an NHRA track there. I mean, there’s places around where you can go and race and have a good time and do it correctly and really learn about your car and what it does and how does it hook up when it’s trying to leave. the starting line and all those different things when it comes to street racing or when it comes to racing. But street racing is not where it’s at, nor should it be done. And this is a website that’s now out there that you can report street racing to. Reportstreetracing.com, again, is the website. I’ll put that up, by the way. I’ll have Producer Ann put that up on our website so folks can go there and find it and report some of these things. Not that I believe in a nanny state. That’s not my point. But I also don’t want to see innocent bystanders killed because guys are out street racing when they shouldn’t be street racing in the first place. All right, time for a break. We’ve got lines open. One of them is getting filled up as we speak, so we’ve got more lines open. 303-477-5600. Steve and I will be right back. Drive Radio, KOZ 560.
SPEAKER 05 :
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SPEAKER 02 :
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SPEAKER 06 :
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SPEAKER 11 :
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SPEAKER 05 :
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SPEAKER 11 :
All right, we are back. Drive Radio KLZ 560. Fran in Denver, you are next. Go ahead, Fran.
SPEAKER 09 :
You know, when you get your brake rotors, they’ll kind of like cross-cut or something, and then I guess, you know, that’s like at Midas I’ve had this experience, and you go out and you put on the brakes, and man, it’s like they don’t want to stop you. I guess it’s called something like a burn-in or something for the brake pads, but man, you’ve got to start stopping way back almost a block away. Is there any brake pads out there, or what do you do on that that will not do that if you get… When was the last time you had brakes done?
SPEAKER 11 :
That’s pretty rare. Yeah, not anymore. This is not the case anymore. Yeah.
SPEAKER 09 :
Oh, okay. Well, I bought some rotors, you know, from a different place, and I noticed that they have that little cross cut. I know they’re stinking brand new, but I don’t want to say much, but I don’t know. I had an experience one time. I forgot what the tire shop was. They were selling fiberglass brake pads. Now, that was done by Midas way back quite a few years. And when I put these fiberglass brake pads, they stopped right away, I guess, because I guess what they call burned in right away, or they just conformed to it instead of, like, ice skating across. They’re really on that. And what it is, you know, it leaves little fine little lines in between the and that you didn’t get the full metal, and it’s like, I guess, being like almost ice, but I’ve heard people from Montgomery Wards come back down there, and they actually ran into somebody at a stoplight in their rear end and saying, oh, you guys did the brakes, you know, they were at fault, and I thought, oh, no, it’s that thing again, but You don’t know any brake pads that are the best, are they? Like I know there’s adaptive ones from NAPA. Have you ever heard of those ones? Oh, yes.
SPEAKER 10 :
We use all the time. I wouldn’t say that’s the best, but it’s very, very good.
SPEAKER 11 :
Well, let’s back up for a moment. What we would say is in certain applications, yes, it’s the best. There are other applications where I think there’s other choices. And an example of that is like our fleet trucks, for example. We don’t use the adaptive one on our fleet trucks because we have found better sources for those particular vehicles. But in all cases, and Steve is correct on this, Fran, we – A, we don’t cross-cut and turn rotors anymore. We do new. And in turn, with the new rotors and the new type of pad compounds that we have, there literally is, you know, let me just say this. If there’s any break and that’s getting done by whoever’s doing the install, by the time you get the car, there’s nothing to do. Drive it.
SPEAKER 09 :
Oh, okay, then. That’s all. I got what you’re saying. And from experience, you just have to, I guess, get whatever they got. I’ll talk to the Napa guy. He’s got some better ones than that even. And I go for that heavy-duty truck ones. They even got them for cars now. So I’ve listened to you about how good that makes it.
SPEAKER 11 :
And on most passenger cars, I would say that the adaptive ones, the ADO pads, are pretty tough to beat.
SPEAKER 09 :
Yeah. I’d say it works for probably 80% of the cars out there. Correct.
SPEAKER 11 :
It does a good job.
SPEAKER 09 :
Save your rotors in there.
SPEAKER 11 :
And replace rotors. We’re at a day and age now, Fran, where we don’t turn rotors anymore. All right, man. Appreciate you very much. Yeah, we’re at a point, I don’t know if Fran heard that, but we’re at a point where, Steve, as you know, even us as a fleet, we don’t turn rotors. No, it isn’t.
SPEAKER 10 :
And they don’t make them as thick as they used to. Back in the day, you could get a… You know, you remember you used to get two or three cuts out of them, and then you had to replace or something. They’re so thin now that it’s not worth it. And also, you do a better brake job, honestly, with replacing rotors. Yeah. It’s about quality, too, over…
SPEAKER 11 :
And the other thing, too, that’s changed, and you could attest to this, is the pricing of them has also gotten more economical to where the labor is higher now than it used to be. So to have a guy sit there and work on actually turning two rotors and you look at the labor aspect of that versus buying new rotors that you slip on, make sure that, yes, everything’s clean and you’ve got a true surface when you put those on. Steve but you know I remember back in the day even you could buy new rotors because the quality wasn’t what it is now and you actually on car lathe brand new rotors that you just put on the car to make sure anything was trued up to the hub to the car to the car and those days are even gone you’re not doing that anymore either sure
SPEAKER 10 :
I agree. And the different kinds of composites they’re making in the rotors, the different types of materials and things are making it so much better.
SPEAKER 11 :
Okay, so that leads to another question. We’ve got a couple of minutes here before break. Is there, even in the Napa line, is there certain rotors, and this is not a knock against Napa because there’s good, better, best, all of that in every line apart from every company out there, Napa on down the line from all these different companies. Is there a rotor you won’t use?
SPEAKER 10 :
Oh, yeah. There’s quite a few that we won’t use. There’s a CR brand, I think, that we pretty much go with. But it also depends on if it’s a front or a rear. And then you also, for us, because we’re a little bit on the west side of town, we also have to make sure that, you know, like they live in Bailey or Conifer or something. You have to kind of think about it.
SPEAKER 11 :
When I was in Boulder and Fort Collins, too, our shop is the same as you. We had to know the customer. Where did they live? I mean, if they were living in Nederland, for example, or up on Gold Hill or someplace like that, Sugarloaf, whatever, and they were driving to Boulder almost daily to go to work, well, that was a different customer than somebody driving back and forth to Denver. Sure. To work.
SPEAKER 10 :
And in that case, I think it was just this last week or the week before, we had a customer who lived in Bailey, and sure enough, we had to warranty her rotors. We put on the better CRs, and we learned. And sometimes you need to question the customer a little bit. Right. And also different cars, too, different weights of different cars and different things. There’s a lot to it, depending on which one you’re going to pick. You’re not just going to pick the cheapest.
SPEAKER 11 :
Well, and you’re bringing up a great point because there’s a lot of – let me just say it that way, I’m not trying to dog anybody, that’s the way I can make it universal, but there’s a lot of chains, companies, that will advertise certain things with breaks. And my problem with the majority of those advertisements is they’re not 100% honest and they can be somewhat misleading and or there’s a finite amount of drivers and cars that even fit what they’re wanting to do or what they’re advertising they can do for that particular price for that particular brake job. In other words, they may advertise X price for X job, and the reality is there’s a very minor amount of vehicles that even fit into what would work for that price. The majority of vehicles, because of what Steve is saying, when you find out how does the person actually drive, where do they actually go, is this a pickup truck where they’re actually using it to haul with, or is it just a daily driver and it’s usually empty, and on and on and on we go. Even, by the way, on some of you guys that have trucks, tire size. The larger the tire, you’ve put a lift kit, larger tires and wheels. You’re going to require something that’s different than what it came with standard because you’ve changed, quote unquote, that rotating mass. Sure. That you’re now having to slow down not only on top of the car itself, but now that has changed. And all of these things can affect the type of brakes you go to put on the vehicle. And I guess my point is, unlike a lot of the advertisements that you see, this is not a one-size-fits-all.
SPEAKER 05 :
Sure.
SPEAKER 11 :
And it is communication.
SPEAKER 10 :
And Steve, I think if… That’s why we don’t quote over the phone. You can’t. People will call and say, oh, it’s just a brake job.
SPEAKER 11 :
No, it’s not. It is not just a brake job. It’s not just a brake job. In fact, it’s one of the most important things on your vehicle. And probably, I was going to say a moment ago, Steve, probably one of the… Use my words carefully here. One of the highest… decisions on the car itself when it comes to what are we going to put back on it. For example, oil, you put what the car came and it has to be full synthetic and off we go. Weight, synthetic, high-end oil filter, there’s not much choice there. Air filters, high-end only. A timing belt, high-end only. I mean, most Most of the time, there’s no questions as to we’re going to use this particular part for this particular job because it’s the way you’re driving. No, a timing belt’s a timing belt’s a timing belt. A water pump’s a water pump’s a water pump. A starter’s a starter’s. You get what I’m saying. You go through all of those things, and there’s not much decisions that need to be made. Brakes are completely different because it does come down to the car, the driver, how it’s set up, what are they doing with it. On and on and on we go. For example, some of you listening, do you drive for Uber? No. Is that one of your side jobs? You know, if that’s the case, then we’re going to go look at more of the fleet end of things than we are probably even that adaptive one. I mean, there’s all sorts of things that you need to be extremely honest with your shop on what you do with the vehicle to get the right stuff in the first place.
SPEAKER 10 :
Less information to us doesn’t save you money. Actually makes it worse. Yeah. Just people don’t want to tell you everything. It’s just human nature.
SPEAKER 11 :
There’s a misconception that if I give out less info, I’ll save money. Actually, folks, in the automotive world, that’s the opposite. The more of a story you tell your shop, your technician… as to what you do where you drive who’s driving how are they driving all these different things come into play uh and again i’ll just tell you straight up not every driver is the same i’ve had family members in the past when i’m not exaggerating i could get double double the life of tires out of the vehicle than what the other person could get. And why that is, I have no idea. It’s just the way certain people drive, and not that they’re any more aggressive. I don’t want to say I drive aggressively, but I’m going to get where I’m going to go. I’m not dinking around. And yet, tire-wise… I can go twice as long as some other folk I know, and that just shows you the difference in the driving, the driving habits, the style, and so on. So my point, Steve, is not only with brakes, tires, or another one, it’s not a one-size-fits-all. Tires especially, too. It’s a little bit like brakes. Even though some of the providers out there, some of the chains, some of the national chains even, will make it seem like it’s a one-size-fits-all, folks, let me tell you, believe me, that is one area on your car. It is not one-size-fits-all. And the expensive tires have gone up, I mean, astronomically. So buy the right ones.
SPEAKER 10 :
Yeah.
SPEAKER 11 :
I had a listener this last week, by the way, that sent me an email that said, listen, I know I’ve got a problem. I had no issues with the car prior to doing these tires, and he gave me the tire. And since then, I’ve got this ridiculous hum I just cannot get rid of. And I looked at the tire, looked it up online. It wasn’t a tire I’d heard of, by the way. This is an import tire. And it wasn’t a tire I’d heard of. So I looked it up online, looked at the tread pattern. I’m like, man, there’s no reason with the tread pattern and such that these things are making noise. But I said, you know, this is, again, one of those where you kind of get what you pay for. And I could look at the price and tell you that these were most likely a Chinese import tire. I know they were because I looked them up. And no, they were not the same quality. And it’s evident because I guarantee I’m going to get an email back once these things get changed out where the new set that they put on that probably will cost more. We’ll not be making this noise when it’s all said and done. Now, Steve, for some, maybe that noise would not be an issue. They turn the radio up, keep driving, don’t care. But I think most of our listeners out there that listen to us on a routine basis, that would be a problem. It would drive them nuts. And it would drive me crazy, by the way. So, yeah, folks, again, there are certain jobs. We just talked about brakes being one of those where it is not a one-size-fits-all. So give us a call. We’ve got lines open, 303-477-5600. Text line as well, 307-282-22. Steve and I will be right back. This is Drive Radio, KLZ 560.
SPEAKER 04 :
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SPEAKER 11 :
All right, we are back. Drive Radio KLZ 560. Myself, Steve Horvath, Geno’s Auto Service with us. And lines are open, by the way, 303-477-5600. And you can call about anything. Never a dumb question. I always should remind people of that. If you don’t know the answer, chances are, high chances are, there’s a lot of other people listening that don’t either. And you’re just bold enough to call in and they’re not. So I got a text message, though, that two things here. They want to know my opinion. I said, we’ll just talk about it on air. This is easy. There was a story out earlier this week, and one of you sent me the story. There was a Ford dealership here in town. I’m not going to name names. You can go look up the story yourself if you want to. I’m not going to be that mean and throw out names, but it’s public knowledge. You can go look it up. It was a Ford dealership here in town where somebody took the vehicle in for some very simple service, very basic service. And they had to order a part, evidently, so the vehicle had to stay there for a quote-unquote length of time. And I didn’t get into the details of the article to know how long the vehicle was going to be there, but it at least stayed overnight. Well… In the process of repairing the vehicle, and this is where the story is a little bit vague. I don’t know whether the technician or a – I didn’t even say it was a technician. The person from the dealership was driving the vehicle, and I don’t know whether this was for a test drive or if they were driving it prior to the part. This is the unknowns I don’t know about. Regardless, the vehicle was wrecked pretty badly. while somebody was driving the vehicle. And the way the owner found out that it had been wrecked is because the telematics that are now on a lot of these vehicles informed this particular lady, in this case, that the vehicle had been involved in an accident, the airbags had gone off, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. So she knew the vehicle had been wrecked. So she calls the dealership to ask, hey, what’s up with my vehicle? I’ve gotten all these warnings and so on and so forth, and they were not up front with her in the beginning. It was sort of a, well, we’ll have to get back to you sort of a conversation. Again, I’m paraphrasing, but go read the article for yourself. But essentially it was a, we’ll get back to you. And the story from the dealership now is they wanted to make sure they had all of their details and everything before calling her and telling her what all was going on and so on. They have since, in their defense, given her a full brand-new loaner car as they go through the process of getting her car fixed and so on. Now, my point of view from all of this, or I would be on this, is I won’t drive wrecked cars. So this would be a problem if I was their customer because I don’t drive wrecked cars. You guys all know me. If a car gets wrecked, it’s gone. So in this case, this dealer would have to be figuring out how they’re going to make me whole with giving me a different vehicle or at least, even if there’s a price difference or something, giving me the best deal out there as to how are they going to put me into another vehicle because I’m not driving that one.
SPEAKER 10 :
Hmm.
SPEAKER 11 :
Because that’s just me. Now, I know not everybody’s me. I’m very particular, as you guys all know, and I’m not superstitious. Anybody that knows me knows I’m not superstitious. Charlie knows I’m not superstitious. I don’t go down that path at all. I don’t even believe in that stuff, with one exception. And it’s not even superstition. I just can’t explain why it happens. But Steve knows what I’m going to say. When a vehicle gets wrecked, It becomes a wreck magnet, doesn’t it? Yep, absolutely. And I don’t know why. That one, guys, I cannot tell you. Literally, I cannot tell you the reason why. I don’t know why. But I can tell you growing up in the industry, my entire life, literally. I mean, I was around the industry from the time I could walk until today. And I will tell you that when they get wrecked, they will be wrecked again. And I do not know why. So in my world, once one is wrecked, it’s gone. I don’t keep it. The vehicle is shipped down the road. It’s sold. It’s traded. It’s whatever the case may be. So in this particular case, this dealer with me personally would have a real problem because I wouldn’t accept that vehicle back under any circumstances. Period. It’s yours now. Give me my stuff. I want the stuff out of the interior because we’re doing something different because I’m not driving this vehicle even after it’s fixed. And by the way, I didn’t break it, so this is now on you. And how are you going to make me whole again because I’m not driving that vehicle ever again? I don’t care how many certifications it passes. I don’t care what’s been done. I don’t care how great it looks. I don’t care what you do. I don’t care how you sweeten the pot. I’m not driving it.
SPEAKER 1 :
Sure.
SPEAKER 10 :
And then, you know, it does have a record of being an accident.
SPEAKER 11 :
And it’s now got that, so it’s got diminished value as well on top of that. So this is one of those to where this particular individual, and if she’s listening, if you are listening, I’d love to help you as to where you need to go to get made whole again because this vehicle, in my opinion, I would not own moving forward. Mike, go ahead.
SPEAKER 13 :
John, I’m, you know, a questioner. I’m under the impression that if the airbags go off, most insurance companies total the vehicle.
SPEAKER 11 :
Depending how new it is. In a lot of cases, you’re correct. Because there’s so much damage done at that point, and even the cost of the airbags, Mike, themselves, repairing all of that, getting it all back to new, it would have to be a high-end, almost new vehicle to not total it.
SPEAKER 13 :
I got you. And in my book, Mike, really quick, in my book, Mike, it’s totaled. I mean, I’m not making a judgment any way or the other, but I went, oh, my goodness gracious. And this is a sad story. So continue on.
SPEAKER 11 :
Well, and you know me, Mike. In my opinion, it’s totaled no matter what if I own it.
SPEAKER 13 :
I agree. I agree. I don’t want to have to deal with that, particularly with the way they’re made these days. And this isn’t a comment on how they’re made, because they’re made to absorb energy.
SPEAKER 11 :
Right.
SPEAKER 13 :
And so it’s not about how sturdy the vehicle is. The design of these vehicles these days is designed to save your life. So there’s a, as you well know, there’s a roll cage around you, if you will, and the rest of the car will fold up in order to absorb all that energy, which is incredibly safe for the driver and the passengers. And so it’s not a comment on, oh, they’re not built as well as they used to be. They’re engineered differently.
SPEAKER 11 :
That’s right. That’s right. And really quick.
SPEAKER 13 :
Great show.
SPEAKER 11 :
Really quick, Mike, and I’ll explain when I let you go here. Really quick for all of you listening, this was actually a customized Ford Bronco. I’m reading, and I can’t tell you, by the way, from looking if the airbags went off or not, but she got a lot of alerts on coolant leaks and things along those lines, therefore knowing that it had been damaged. It went in for a thermostat repair, by the way, is what it was. And I’m looking at pictures of the vehicle, and, again, it may have – I can’t tell by looking at these pictures online, by the way, if the airbags actually went off or not. Regardless, regardless, I’m with Mike, and Mike is like me. This vehicle, I don’t care how customized to me it is, I’m getting another one. That would be a pretty high sentimental value for you. I don’t have any. You don’t have any, yeah. With me and cars, and most of you by now should know this, I am not sentimental when it comes to cars or houses or, frankly, any material position that I own. If there’s a right price on it, it’s gone. I do not have anything I own. Everything’s for sale. Everything is for sale. I have adopted that philosophy years and years and years ago. There is not a single item I own that I cannot part with. Now, some might need a little bit more dollar figure to it to part with, but in my world, Steve, every single thing I own, somebody else can have if they want it bad enough.
SPEAKER 10 :
There’s not much I can think of that I can’t live without it if someone wanted it and they gave me the right price.
SPEAKER 11 :
Well, the way I’ve always looked at things is… minus maybe a couple of, and I don’t even own any heirlooms, minus a couple of things somebody might have sentimental value to because maybe it belonged to somebody else or something along those lines. I don’t have a single thing, Steve, that can’t be replaced. I mean, literally, they’re making a new one today of whatever that item happens to be. So why would I need to keep on to this? It’s probably better than nothing. Even this Bronco that’s all customized. All right, guys, we’ll be back. Another full two hours coming your way. I’ll see if I can’t read up and see if the airbag actually went off on this or not. But we’ll be back. Hour number two is next. Drive Radio, KLZ 560.
SPEAKER 07 :
Still haven’t had enough? Go to drive-radio.com. Email your questions and comments. Download previous programs and find lots of useful information, including your nearest Colorado Select Auto Care Center. That’s drive-radio.com. Thanks for listening to Drive Radio, sponsored by the member shops of Colorado Select Auto Care Centers. On KLZ 560.
