In this week’s episode of Drive Radio, we delve into the best time of the year to purchase a new car and reveal the inside scoop on dealership deals and quota motivations. We discuss why the end-of-year is prime time for purchasing both new and used vehicles and share actionable advice for those in the market. Join us as we also explore listener-submitted stories of driving mishaps and the surprising lessons learned. Whether you’re an avid car enthusiast or just looking to make a smart purchase, this episode is packed with valuable insights.
SPEAKER 14 :
It’s 106 miles to Chicago. We’ve got a full tank of gas. It’s dark, and we’re wearing sunglasses.
SPEAKER 13 :
Hit it. Our lady of blessed acceleration, don’t fail me now.
SPEAKER 10 :
It’s time for Drive Radio, presented by Colorado’s select auto care centers.
SPEAKER 18 :
Bop-a-da-bop!
SPEAKER 10 :
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 11 :
Hey, how exactly does a positractor in on a Plymouth work?
SPEAKER 10 :
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 09 :
And it is Drive Radio, KLZ 560. Thanks for joining us. Ken Rackley with me today, Toon Tech Automotive. Good morning. Morning. Always good to be here. Wind blow you in, or are you okay?
SPEAKER 19 :
You know, it got a little bit, but I think it was behind me, so it was blowing me here.
SPEAKER 09 :
Larry Unger answering phones, of course, and Charlie Grimes, our engineer. Lines are open, 303-477-5600. Anything you’ve got for us, car-related questions, answers, suggestions, you name it, we’re here to answer those. So we do every single Saturday. For those of you maybe tuning in for the first time, we do this from 10 to 1 every Saturday. And then don’t forget, drive radio the extra mile. You can hear that from 3 to 4 p.m. Same station. It’s not a live program. I tape that or record that. I should say there’s no tape anymore, but we record that earlier in the week. This week I mentioned or talked about in depth has to, you know, the best time of the year to buy a new car is from now until the end of the year. Literally, this is the best time to buy a new car because you’ll have the best deals out there, period. When it comes to, you know, dealers use new, you name it. They’re trying to make quotas and so on. And believe me, this will be the best time of the year to buy a car. So I get into depth of that in that full hour today from from three to four. And it’s funny. I actually had somebody text me yesterday and said, hey, you know, a really good suggestion for the extra mile would be, you know, tips and tricks on how to buy new cars, find used cars, this, that, and the other. And I’m like, yeah, you’re thinking right along the same lines as we were, so I did that earlier in the week, so we hear that from you. Three to four. Text line, by the way, 307-282-22. 307-282-22. All right, question of the day. And this was because it was on my list already, but then I saw something on my way here today where I’m like, okay, I know what my question of the day is going to be. Stupid things that you’ve seen or maybe you’ve done while driving. So today, for me, as I was going down I-25, I came down 25 to 225 and came around by the dam and that. Sometimes I go the other way. It just depends on the view that I want on any particular day. It’s about the same time on Saturday morning. So I went that way. So today, as I’m about to get on the 225, there’s a fellow in the right lane. And it was a fellow because I could see the driver. doing about 50 miles an hour going down I-25, which, by the way, in and of itself is kind of dangerous because everybody’s zipping along that time of the day about 70. I was going to say that minimum speed is, yeah, right. 20 miles an hour. Fortunately, to give him credit, he was in the right lane. But he had, I don’t know what kind of an apparatus in the back of a half-ton Silverado tailgate down, everything strapped in. And, I mean, it’s just waiting. To fall out of the back of the truck. Oh, scary. Literally. I’m like, I’m getting as far away from that guy as I can. Because literally, you could just see whatever he had in the back of the truck. And I don’t know what it was. It had a bunch of casters and stuff on. I don’t know. It was all shrink-wrapped up. I have no idea what it was. But I could just see that thing on its way out to the freeway.
SPEAKER 19 :
Yeah, right.
SPEAKER 09 :
And that’s what made me think about, okay, give me some of the stupid things that you’ve either seen and or done. And sometimes we do stupid things. None of us are perfect. Stuff happens. It is what it is, and it’s just the way life goes sometimes.
SPEAKER 19 :
It’s when you say it should be fine that it usually isn’t.
SPEAKER 09 :
That’s right. So let us know what that is. That’s our question of the day, 303-477-5600. Somebody sent me an article today. I think it was Mike sent me an article, which you guys send me articles all the time, which I appreciate. And this one was interesting because I kind of had been wondering – This same thing. So this article is about the fact that there’s a lot of engine recalls right now from a lot of manufacturers. It’s not just one in particular manufacturer. Sometimes people come down hard on what GM’s gone through or what Toyota’s gone through. But the reality is all of them. have gone through some things when it comes to engine recalls. And this article is talking about have we gotten to the point where because we’re making the engines now so efficient and we’re requiring so much of them, compression ratios are way up, in some cases 14 to 1, 12 to 1. And they do that with direct injection. They can control the flame better so they don’t have detonation. Back in the day, the reason why compression ratios started falling is because lead came out of the gasoline. Lead was a key component in helping against detonation. Octane, of course, was a little higher as well. But as time has gone by, not necessarily the fuel has degraded, but that lack of lead And just the fuel that we have, they couldn’t run a high compression. So you saw compression ratios drop below 9 to 1. In a lot of cases, they were 8.5 to 1, where back during the high-performance days, it was nothing to have a 12 to 1 engine back in those days. Well, you’re back up to that again. And the point of this article was is, you know, we’re basically the manufacturers because of less cubic inches even. They’re pushing the engine so hard, supercharging, turbocharging, whatever they can to try to get things up as much as they can. Is that part of what’s happening with some of the internal components on engines? You know, wrist pin failure, piston failure, ring failure, rod itself failure.
SPEAKER 19 :
Valve train components because variable valve timing.
SPEAKER 09 :
That’s right.
SPEAKER 19 :
There’s just a lot of intricate components there.
SPEAKER 09 :
That’s right. So this whole article was about, you know, have we reached a point where we need some upgrades when it comes to some of the internal components of the engine, and what is that? Now, on top of all of that, I also saw a short video yesterday on somebody for Top Fuel, a funny car, you know, Top Fuel, dragsters and so on, coming out with carbon fiber pistons and rods.
SPEAKER 1 :
Wow.
SPEAKER 09 :
And how they’re probably going to be the next evolution getting away from aluminum and going that direction or even titanium just because the carbon fiber ends up being stronger than the other components, which I just find fascinating.
SPEAKER 19 :
When they replace them every time anyway, it seems like so.
SPEAKER 09 :
And in this case, if they don’t end up with stretch or shrinkage, in a lot of cases, shrinkage, not stretch, they shrink actually because of the. Sheer combustion and the horsepower that’s in the top fuel dragster in the motor. But at the end of the day, will the manufacturers now have to try to go to some different components? What’s that going to do to drive up price and so on? It’s interesting because with the new CAFE ratings being lowered and the fact that they’re not going to now have to squeeze quite as much out fuel economy-wise, But they’re still wanting the power because we’ve gotten back into – I was thinking about this the other day. We’re kind of back to where we were in the late 60s, early 70s where everybody’s on this power. Well, yeah. They’re trying to get as much power as they possibly can to outdo the next manufacturer. Right.
SPEAKER 19 :
Exactly. Yeah. I mean – horsepower per cubic inch, you know, and economy. And the economy is always there, it seems like, on all the vehicles anymore.
SPEAKER 09 :
Yeah, you’re getting so much more fuel economy out of it, even a high-performance engine, than what we used to get, you know, those days that I was talking about from 12 to 1. I mean, keep in mind, those were vehicles that if you got 10 miles to the gallon, you were good. Right, exactly. I mean, really, you were doing good. That same engine today is, you know, 20 miles to the gallon.
SPEAKER 19 :
Right, exactly.
SPEAKER 09 :
Making more horsepower.
SPEAKER 19 :
Way more horsepower, probably three times as much horsepower and better fuel economy.
SPEAKER 09 :
Exactly, exactly. All right, we’ll take our first break. Any questions, by the way, 307-282-22. Call us in, 303-477-5600 if you want to go on live with us. And again, stupid things that you’ve seen or done while driving, that’s our question of the day. We’ll be right back. Drive Radio, KLZ 560.
SPEAKER 11 :
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SPEAKER 09 :
And we are back. Drive Radio, KLZ 560. Again, Ken Rackley with me, Tunetech Automotive. And you just heard Brighton Auto Body, an ad for them. Great new sponsor. I’ve talked about them for the last few weeks. And that ad there in particular talking about how don’t worry about where you are in the metro area. They have the ability to come and do a pickup and delivery of your vehicle, so just give them a call. They’ll take care of the rest, and great, great, great bunch of individuals, great bunch of guys, I should say, and really, really happy that they’re a part of what we’re doing here. So if you need a collision center, they are the place to go. Ed in Las Animas, you are next. Go ahead. Or you’re first today, Ed, I should say. Welcome.
SPEAKER 03 :
That’s good. Okay, I got a 2014 Patriot Jeep. And the shock on the right side is every time you hit a bump, you know, it squeaks. I brought some of this blast stuff and sprayed it for her, and it helped some. So what else could a person put on there? It had boots around it where you can’t really spray up in there. So what do you do on something like that?
SPEAKER 19 :
Yeah, more than likely it’s not the shock or the strut. Is it the front or the rear?
SPEAKER 03 :
The rear, right rear, yeah. Every time you hit a bump, I get on and jump up and down. The shocks are strong. I mean, they don’t need a shock, but it squeaks every time you hit a bump.
SPEAKER 19 :
More than likely, it’s a bushing on a control arm or a trailing arm or could even be the upper strut mount. Did it make any difference when you sprayed it?
SPEAKER 03 :
Oh, yeah, it cut it half. It’s doing half as much as what it was. It’s not as bad, but it still squeaks. And when I sprayed all them parts with that blast, it’s called blast spray.
SPEAKER 19 :
The PB blaster or something?
SPEAKER 03 :
Yeah, that’s it. Yeah. And I sprayed all around it, but it has a boot I can’t spray up into the cylinder where, probably where the problem is.
SPEAKER 19 :
Yeah. I mean, if it is the strut or the shock that’s making the noise, I mean, unless you can get that spray up in there, you’re probably not going to have much luck other than just replacing it would probably be the only thing. But typically the… The strut or the shock itself doesn’t make that noise. It’s more so in a bushing that’s moving at the same time.
SPEAKER 03 :
Yeah, that’s why we figured we’d spray it off. Everything. Rubber lubricant on it.
SPEAKER 19 :
Yeah. The sway bar links.
SPEAKER 03 :
We’re going to jack it up again and try to get spray up there. Other than that, I have one more question on another car. Okay.
SPEAKER 09 :
Real quick, hang on, Ed. Ken had one more thing he wanted to add on the squeak.
SPEAKER 19 :
The sway bar bushing, so every time you go up and down that sway bar bushing, the bar moves in the bushing, and it’s rubber on metal. And a lot of times we’ve seen those where they make noise, and you can’t really get any lube in there. I mean, other than taking them apart and doing it that way. At that point, you might as well put a new bushing on it. Right, exactly. And then there’s some special lubricant for those, too, to keep that from happening. That’s right.
SPEAKER 03 :
Yeah, it’s got sway bars on it. Yeah, yeah. I would check those bushings first, yeah. Okay, well, I’ll check it out. Next thing is my Windstar. It’s a 98 Windstar. Okay. Ford. Yeah. Yeah, Ford. Yeah. The light switch, you know, my headlights, they don’t come on sometimes. I mean, it may go months without… give me any problem and all of a sudden they catch you where they don’t come on. Now, would that be the switch or what?
SPEAKER 19 :
Likely the switch that probably has some burn contacts on the connector at the back of the switch. Could be the relay too, but I mean, does anything happen when they don’t work? Do any lights come on?
SPEAKER 03 :
Yeah, I get parking lights.
SPEAKER 19 :
Oh, okay.
SPEAKER 03 :
Okay. You know, the lights that shine. Yeah. But the headlights won’t come on.
SPEAKER 19 :
Yeah, I would probably pull that switch out and then just at least take a look at the contacts, the terminals, because a lot of times we used to see melting and stuff like that at those, so… Okay.
SPEAKER 03 :
Well, I don’t have, like I said, in case you’re off guard when you knock.
SPEAKER 19 :
You expect them to come on and they don’t. Yeah.
SPEAKER 03 :
And it could be the relay too. And then the next day you turn and it works.
SPEAKER 19 :
Yeah. Right. Yeah. Could be the relay too. I mean, the relay is easy to replace and it’s inexpensive too, but yeah, just one of those things. Yeah.
SPEAKER 03 :
Yeah, we replaced the relay one time, and it worked. But about six months later, it started doing it again.
SPEAKER 18 :
Put a switch in it and see what happens. Yeah, I would say. It’s easy, cheap. If you can find one. Well, true. Good point. Yeah, I’ll find one.
SPEAKER 03 :
And old. Hey, I appreciate it, my friend. Ed, thank you.
SPEAKER 18 :
All right, sir.
SPEAKER 09 :
Appreciate you. Thanks, Ed. Have a good rest of your Saturday, sir. We appreciate it very much. John in Denver, you’re next. Go ahead, John.
SPEAKER 1 :
Okay.
SPEAKER 05 :
I have a 2009 Subaru Impreza. Okay. It’s got that turbo.
SPEAKER 06 :
Yep.
SPEAKER 05 :
And I see these – I’m an older guy, but I see these other Subarus running around with a larger diameter exhaust.
SPEAKER 06 :
Mm-hmm.
SPEAKER 05 :
And I’m wondering, does that actually improve performance, or does it make more noise, or can I do that and not make a lot more noise?
SPEAKER 09 :
Depends. Great question. It depends. An engine is nothing but a big air pump. So the more air we can get into the engine and then get back out of the engine, and that’s where turbochargers and things like that come along to actually aid, especially at our elevation where we lose so much power. power because of our our elevation we just have a lack of air which we all know from you know how you breathe here versus at sea level same is happening with the engine in your car and everybody else’s car john so at the end of the day uh my answer is it depends if it’s the right setup and it’s the right system, you know, tuned to your engine and that car and so on, yes, you could see some performance gains by changing the exhaust. Now, here’s the downside. You’ll never do that quietly. There’s no such thing. It doesn’t work that way. If you go to a larger exhaust that’s more free-flowing, you are naturally going to create more noise, period. It’s just how it is.
SPEAKER 19 :
Right. Luckily, with it exiting out the back, you might not hear it as much. Everybody else will. Everybody else will, right. Yeah. And I mean, but but yeah, it’s but that’s that’s the case. Right.
SPEAKER 09 :
Exactly. And this is this is where a lot of, you know, throughout the years, throughout the decades, John, different manufacturers have come along and they’ve claimed, well, you know, ours is either the noisiest or the quietest and this, that and the other. And what I’ve learned through the years is in me, it’s not necessarily, you know, you know. Tit for tat. In other words, just because it’s noisier doesn’t mean it’s more performance. And just because more performance doesn’t necessarily mean it’s going to be a lot noisier. Again, there are really good manufacturers that do a great job of dynoing and tuning and making sure what they put out really matches well with that particular vehicle and that engine that’s in the vehicle. And others just make exhaust and they throw it out there and off you go.
SPEAKER 19 :
Makes a lot And if it makes noise, everybody thinks it’s faster. Right. Yeah, if it makes more noise, yeah, you think you’re going faster. That’s right. But whether you would notice that power gain, it’s kind of hard to say because it’s going to be fairly minimal.
SPEAKER 09 :
And typically you need to do something on the cold air side. And that’s another topic. This is a great topic. In fact, this is one of these I should probably cover on. the extra mile at some point because when it comes to exhaust and intake and a lot of the performance things that are out there there really is john a ton of difference from manufacturer to manufacturer and you know one of the greatest examples of this if you just want to see how cold air intakes work and it’s more for the truck world although it applies to everything is go watch some of the videos gail banks has put out on cold air intakes And he will literally school anybody out there on how a good cold air intake works versus a bad one. And there are a lot, and I mean a lot, of bad ones on the market. Yep, for sure.
SPEAKER 05 :
Okay, I’ve also seen about a different aftermarket intercooler.
SPEAKER 09 :
Yes, that’s another one. And again, same thing applies to that one. There’s really good ones. There’s some really not-so-good ones that probably aren’t any better than what you have from the factory, but you spend a bunch of money to put this bigger intercooler on. But the same principle applies, John. The more air we can roll through that intercooler, the more free-flowing and the cooler we can make that air charge, the more dense the air becomes… the more power we get out of the engine.
SPEAKER 19 :
That’s right. Would that make more noise?
SPEAKER 09 :
No.
SPEAKER 19 :
Not on the intercooler.
SPEAKER 09 :
No, intercooler has nothing to do with noise.
SPEAKER 19 :
Right, not on the intake side. I mean, it can if you have something open to where it will maybe hold it. Yeah, it depends on what you do with the cold air intake.
SPEAKER 09 :
Right, exactly. If you do a different cold air intake that might make things a little noisier, which, again, this goes back to my conversation about Gail Banks and looking at some of his videos. That’s another one of those. Just because it’s louder and you hear more of a sucking sound on the intake doesn’t mean you’re making more power. Right, yeah.
SPEAKER 19 :
And be real careful, too, with some of that stuff. Make sure it doesn’t affect the emissions because the new emission laws, they’re not getting easier.
SPEAKER 09 :
No, they’re getting worse. In other words, make sure no lights come on. For everybody listening, and I’ll probably do an extra mile segment on this because I could literally talk an hour on this particular subject or longer because I was in that world for, still am in a lot of ways, but I was in that world for almost 40 years with my stores that I had, and Literally, even back then, and it’s gotten even more so today, John, there is such a vast difference from one manufacturer to another. And there are some guys out there that will claim we’re doing XYZ. And the reality, John, is they have no way to even back that up.
SPEAKER 19 :
And there’s so much available for the Subarus. I mean, there’s so much stuff. So it’s like a small block Chevy almost.
SPEAKER 09 :
There’s a ton.
SPEAKER 19 :
Exactly. There’s such a good following and people that do a lot of good stuff. And a fun car to do. Yeah, right. But there’s a lot of people that claim, like John was saying, claim stuff that’s not proven in fact. They just can’t deliver. Yeah.
SPEAKER 05 :
I see. Would you have any particular recommendations for that car?
SPEAKER 09 :
On a Subaru, I would have to do some research on that. Off the top of my head, John, no. And what I would tell you to do is before you buy anything, and this is anybody listening, go watch some of what Gale Banks has on exhaust systems and cold air intakes. Not that he’s trying to sell you his stuff because he doesn’t make anything for a Subaru, but his explanation of even how to determine… Who’s got a really good product versus who doesn’t, John? For all of you listening, it is well worth watching his videos on cold air intakes and exhaust systems. If you do a YouTube, there’ll be a single video. If you do some of the other channels, Instagram or TikTok or whatever, he’ll break those up because they don’t do quite as long. But go to YouTube, look for Gale Banks talking about cold air intakes, and he will literally get down to the brass tacks of good versus bad.
SPEAKER 19 :
Right, exactly. And anything you do on the exhaust is not going to affect the emissions, so to speak, as long as you’re catalytic converter back, as long as you don’t mess with those. But yeah, I would avoid anything that requires programming anymore.
SPEAKER 09 :
I would too, because that’s where you run into trouble.
SPEAKER 19 :
Yeah, exactly.
SPEAKER 05 :
Okay, great. So G-A-L-E?
SPEAKER 09 :
Gale. Gale. Yeah, Gale Banks. Gale Banks Engineering. They’re out of California. He’s big on the diesel end of things, although they do some gas stuff and so on. But I will tell you, the guy is in his 80s.
SPEAKER 07 :
Yeah.
SPEAKER 09 :
Still works every day. Yeah. And I’m not exaggerating. John has probably forgot. More. I mean, I’m using that as a cliche, but he’s probably forgot more than some of these guys know, and I’m not exaggerating.
SPEAKER 19 :
Right, yeah. And it’s funny because he enjoys what he does.
SPEAKER 09 :
You can just see it. They built streamliners back in the day to set speed records and so on. I mean, this guy, John, knows his stuff. and i will say when it comes to just the whole premise of how everything works and he even goes through some of the examples of you know these guys claim this and here’s even a video of what somebody else put out and i can already pick that video apart and tell you everything in that video they’re doing wrong for example john this is for everybody listening if you watch a video of anybody demonstrating a cold air intake on a dyno and how much horsepower it makes and if the hood is open Don’t even watch it. Write it off because that tells you they have no idea what they’re doing.
SPEAKER 07 :
Yeah.
SPEAKER 09 :
Because if the hood’s not closed and they don’t have a huge fan in front blowing air into the radiator area of the vehicle, they’re not testing it correctly.
SPEAKER 19 :
Right. Yeah. You don’t drive with your hood open.
SPEAKER 09 :
That’s exactly right. So any of those you see along those lines, just move on to the next video and disregard that product because it’s false.
SPEAKER 05 :
All right. Very good.
SPEAKER 09 :
So much.
SPEAKER 05 :
And I will.
SPEAKER 09 :
John, that’s one of those. I’m going to put that on my list for an extra mile topic because literally I could go on for an hour about this stuff because there’s so much garbage on the market and yet some good stuff as well.
SPEAKER 19 :
Yeah. Oh, yeah. Lots of good stuff. Lots of stuff that, yeah, just got to watch out for.
SPEAKER 09 :
And your car that you’ve got, literally there’s a plethora of stuff out there. You’d have a lot of fun with that.
SPEAKER 05 :
Yeah. Cool. Thanks, guys.
SPEAKER 09 :
All right, John, appreciate it. No, great question, by the way. Then I will make that an extra mile topic. I’ll add that to my notes here during the break. So, guys, we’ll be right back. Lines are open 303-477-5600. Again, 303-477-5600. Drive Radio, KLZ 560.
SPEAKER 14 :
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SPEAKER 13 :
KLZ’s relational financial advisor, Al Smith of Golden Eagle Financial, can make a big difference in the success of your retirement. Al looks at your entire picture, your goals, your lifestyle, the time you want for volunteering, and even potential long-term care needs because it all matters. We’ll be right back. We’ll be right back. We’ll be right back.
SPEAKER 09 :
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SPEAKER 14 :
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SPEAKER 09 :
And we’re back. Drive Radio, KLZ 560. Appreciate you guys listening, by the way. Text line 307-200-8222, 307-200-8222. And I will do a Drive Radio extra mile on just all sorts of performance goods. In fact, I might have to break that up and even do… you know intake and exhaust and then do maybe some programming suspension i mean there are so many different aftermarket things out there that affect a lot of different components and and again folks knowing that industry that end of things like i do uh there is a lot of really good solid products on the market and there’s a lot of junk yeah and here’s here’s the biggest reason why None of it’s regulated. Not that I like regulation, but there’s no regulation on, okay, I’m going to build you a cat-back system for your car, given that it doesn’t affect anything emissions-wise. There’s no stipulation on how good that product actually is, how good it even fits, what the hangers are even like. What are the clamps like? I mean, guys, I can go down the list of things that really separate some of the good systems from the bad systems. and in the expense side of it how it’s bent uh on and on we go i mean what materials being used and so on sure and and the reality is there is a vast difference when it comes to some of those components and i’m with ken if you are going to put something on that then requires you to do some sort of programming here’s what happens for us at our elevation i’ll just do this really quick i’ll get into this more on the extra mile as we do this down the road but Here’s a problem for us in Colorado. At our elevation, there are only but a few, and I mean a few, companies that actually do testing at our elevation and will build you a program that fits for our elevation. That’s the problem with the reprogramming and why I, at our elevation, don’t particularly care for doing anything that requires a reprogramming because very few programs exist for our elevation. Yeah.
SPEAKER 19 :
That’s my biggest issue. Exactly. Yeah. And, yeah, and… And I’m on the total different side there also with – or what I see anyway at work is we see a lot of emission failures. And what they started as of 25 is if they plug into your vehicle, they have software to detect tampered software. If you’ve changed anything, it automatically fails. So whether the light’s on or not or whatever test you’re doing – you’d get an automatic failure.
SPEAKER 09 :
Extremely, extremely difficult to get around. Correct.
SPEAKER 19 :
And, yes, you can get more power from programming, but it’s, you know, with what it takes to make these things right for every two years, you’ve got to get an emission test to, you know.
SPEAKER 09 :
Point being, be careful of those things, and there’s a lot of – I don’t want to call it false advertisement. Let me call it mis-advertisement, because I don’t think it’s false. I just think some of it’s very misleading, and it misses the mark on what’s actually there and what it’ll actually do in regards to what Ken said. Now, keep in mind, folks, that there’s a lot of Companies out there whereby they’re selling to individuals that never have to pass an emissions test. At the end of the day, do they really care? I mean, technically, they’re doing things that are illegal because you’re changing from the factory emission settings. And there’s been some folks that under previous administrations that have actually gone to jail for doing those things. Donald Trump has pardoned some of those folks. We’ll see how that goes down there. But keep in mind, every time there’s a change of administration, some of those things change. I have a potential for change. And I am under the opinion, and this is how I think you should do it, is just keep it legal. If you do that, you’ll never have any issues. You’ll never have any issues selling the vehicle. That’s something else when you buy a used vehicle that you really need to be careful of, especially those of you that are buying diesel or high-performance vehicles. Has something been changed? And that’s one of those things. I don’t know if we’ve ever discussed this, Ken, and now that we’re here, probably should. When you’re looking to buy a used vehicle and you can tell that, okay, wait a minute, this is a diesel truck I’m buying. It’s even advertised it’s got a cold air intake and it’s got exhaust and so on. Has the programming been changed? Because that’d be something to really take a close look at because if it has been, now you’re back up against what Ken just said a moment ago and you could have problems down the road. So these are things that when you buy used, especially high-performance or diesel truck vehicles,
SPEAKER 19 :
type type vehicles be really careful of that because those are the things that could come back and bite you right exactly yeah and you know like when i was uh when i had my 08 truck on my diesel on for sale you know i got a couple couple you know inquiries it’s like what’s been modified on it it’s like other than the muffler being taken off that was it you know just straight pipe from the catalytic converter back and um and which is what you want by the way right and
SPEAKER 09 :
And I never heard back from them because they wanted something that was just completely— No, and I’m of the opinion where I’d rather have that truck be a virgin. Right, exactly. And I want to start with a clean slate and do what I want to do. Frankly, folks, I don’t want to buy what somebody else has gone and done.
SPEAKER 19 :
Right, well, and because now they’re the engineer. and you don’t know you have no idea the history no idea what has gone on well in some cases you even have to ask why are they selling this right exactly if everything was all dialed in and they loved it and so on why is it now for sale right and and you know and some of those things are like oh it i was told it just needs to tune up and it should be fine well that’s the one you just don’t even famous last words right exactly uh-huh bypass that one Yeah, move on. Yeah. It just needs a shock bracket. No, go move on. Yeah.
SPEAKER 09 :
Move on. Well, and here’s the reality too, folks. When you start looking at some of these vehicles that are modified, in some cases heavily modified, now you’ve got to look at, okay, how is that vehicle driven? Yeah, sure. Because typically when they’re heavily modified, they’re going to be driven a little harder and so on. In some cases, not a little harder, a lot harder.
SPEAKER 18 :
Right, exactly.
SPEAKER 09 :
And that’s where you really have to start looking at it and say, okay, wait a minute, am I better off buying that where – maybe I’m getting a good deal, maybe I’m not, versus buying a totally stock vehicle that I can now build on my own. Even when I was in that world and we built a lot of vehicles for customers, some of them being very high-end customers, ballplayers and so on, and so you almost had unlimited funds at times. But still, I wanted to start with a clean slate and build it to the outcome of what we wanted The worst thing for me was always having to start over what somebody had started to build and most likely went the wrong direction. It’s sort of like a remodel on a house that gets half done.
SPEAKER 07 :
Right.
SPEAKER 09 :
And you’re like, yeah, none of this should have been done this way. Right. We’re going to just tear it all out and start over. And there was a lot of vehicles through the years that literally I had to do the exact same thing with where literally you took everything off. Yeah. got back to stock, and then went back into it because what had been done was so awful that the vehicle was never going to be correct at the end of the day. And I would not have put a product out like that as a store owner. We didn’t do that. It was either right when it was done or we didn’t do it, one of the two. Now, that doesn’t mean that we never made any mistakes or tried some things that were maybe a little off the wall with certain things and so on because we had certain customers that were willing to push the envelope and we would do some of that, but… But by and large, for the average, regular, everyday customer, it was things that we knew would work at the end of the day or we didn’t do it. Now, on the same token, and before I go to break here, I got a lot of criticism for that. I would look at the forums back in the day and I would get criticism for being too conservative and, well, they won’t do this and they won’t do that and they blame it on this and they blame it on that and whatever. At the end of the day, yeah, there were certain things, even insurance-wise, where we can’t do that. We can’t put a 10-inch lift kit on your truck, nor will we. Hey, it’s stupid. B, the truck never functions properly afterwards. C, I can’t get my insurance company to cover me liability-wise if we go and do that. So no, we’re not doing that. So there were just certain things in my world we didn’t do. Axle flip-over kits and different things along those lines. Yeah, we never did any of that because my feeling is you’re now taking what was once stock and the engineers did a certain way and you’ve completely changed it and if there’s ever a lawsuit you’re on the hook right so anyways another story for another day probably but we’ll take a break we’ll come back lines are open 303-477-5600 the performance thing by the way that is a big topic if you got other questions or even any kind of advice when it comes to performance things we’re at that time of the year where people think about getting gifts for others and doing things along those lines if that’s something you’ve thought about give us a call and we’ll be right back drive radio klz 560.
SPEAKER 02 :
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SPEAKER 11 :
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SPEAKER 14 :
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SPEAKER 02 :
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SPEAKER 09 :
All right, Drive Radio, KLZ 560. Thanks for listening today. We appreciate it. Ken Rackley, Tunetech Automotive with us in Aurora over here right off of Colfax and 225, what, about a mile east or so? Is that about how far it is? Yeah, about a mile. Mile east. Exactly. On the north side of the road. Can’t miss Ken. And if you need anything done, period, whatever it is, I send lots of folks to Ken. So if you need something done, just give him a call. He’s happy to take care of you. Okay, question of the day. Again, stupid things that you’ve either seen or done. While driving, and some of you, I’m sure, have seen all sorts of things. I know over the course of time I have as well. Sometimes you just look at it and shake your head and say, what’s going on there?
SPEAKER 07 :
Yeah, right.
SPEAKER 09 :
The other day, and I don’t know what was going on in this particular situation, but the other day I’m driving down I-70 and look over, and I’m not joking. This had to be a situation where somebody was either living in the car or moving their entire house and belongings away. from A to B because I’ve never seen so much stuff packed into a car in my entire life. I don’t know how the guy saw it or drive. You couldn’t see the passenger mirror. You couldn’t see out the rearview mirror. You could see out the left mirror in the windshield straight ahead. And that’s all you could see. And I’m like, how in the world are you even? It’s like a porthole.
SPEAKER 19 :
Yeah, right.
SPEAKER 09 :
Driving out of a porthole. I have no idea how you’re making this work. Buck and Cheyenne, you are next. Go ahead, Buck.
SPEAKER 04 :
Good morning, John.
SPEAKER 09 :
Good morning, sir.
SPEAKER 04 :
I haven’t talked to you for a while.
SPEAKER 09 :
No, how are you?
SPEAKER 04 :
Well, I’m doing rehab right now. I tore up my knee. Oh, no. Yeah, and I was talking to Larry, and Larry said he was sorry, and I told him he wasn’t near as sorry as I was. Yeah. So part of the reason I haven’t talked to you for a while, my wife and I took a 15-day state tour here back in October, and I got a couple items that fit with your agenda. One of them is the craziest thing you ever did driving. We’ll do that first. This was last summer. I’ve got a 95 Powerstroke, and I had a tractor down in Nebraska that I needed to bring home, so I had a gooseneck that I just borrowed. Heavy-duty gooseneck, triple axle, as a matter of fact. Went down and loaded up the trailer. Come to find out, I didn’t have any trailer brakes. So here I am with about probably close to 16,000, 17,000 behind me on the pickup and no trailer brakes. And that was not the smartest thing I ever did.
SPEAKER 17 :
That’s not fun.
SPEAKER 04 :
Probably wasn’t. And it was an uphill pull all the way. We had to gain about 3,000 feet. And I knew I had a leaky gasket under the turbo between the exhaust and the turbo, and the gasket blew. So no turbo power hardly. And black smoke coming out. We black smoked all the way home and got home. But that was… Not one of the smartest things I ever did. And I cooked the hornets over the engine, I think, in the process because I had to put a new hornet on it. But stopping, I made sure I knew where most of the stops were. I made sure I was real slow before I ever got there. Good for you. But we got home safe.
SPEAKER 17 :
Good for you.
SPEAKER 04 :
The other thing is, The other thing that’s kind of funny is in this trip my wife and I made, one of my bucket lists was to see some of the NASCAR tracks. So we were back headed to Florida from over in Tennessee or Kentucky. And so I wanted to swing by the Talladega racetrack. There were no races going on, but I wanted to see the track. So we swung over and we stopped in Talladega, got some water, and then Googled our way onto the Talladega racetrack. So we come up kind of a backwoods way and come around, and here’s kind of a back alley entrance, and it said stop and be checked. Well, we stopped and waited about five minutes. Nobody shows up, so we take off and we go down in. And I don’t know if you’ve never been to Talladega. You go down under the track, and we were dropped quite a ways. I think they took the dirt out of the infield to build the track, near as I can ascertain. And we dropped down, and we’re in the infield here in Talladega. And so we stopped there by the… Papa John’s Pizza joint. Nobody there. Nobody inside. Get out and start doing a video all the way around. Here comes his pickup racing up here. Security. And he comes up there and he says, what are you doing? And I said, well, I’m taking a video of the racetrack. And he says, you know you’re trespassing? And I said, well, I guess, okay. And he said, I said, And he said, well, you’re trespassing. I said, okay. He told me that. So he says, I should call the sheriff. And I said, well, I guess. And you know he’s not going to call the sheriff on a deal like this. And he says, you get out of here. So we get in the car and drove on and back out. And on the way out where we were stopped, a guy comes out of there, and he was madder than hawks. He was, how’d you get in here? And I said, we stopped here. And I said, nobody showed up. He said, well, you were trespassing. And I said, yeah. And boy, he was really mad. And I think what happened was he was asleep. Oh, probably. I’ll bet he got his mirror in, chewed by someone.
SPEAKER 08 :
Oh, man. I’ll bet you’re right. That’s hilarious. Good story, Buck.
SPEAKER 04 :
I’ve had a lot of fun in my life.
SPEAKER 08 :
That’s hilarious.
SPEAKER 04 :
And that was one of them.
SPEAKER 08 :
Oh, that’s a good one. Good story.
SPEAKER 04 :
Last year we got the Barrett-Jackson. This year we got Talladega. Nice. I was hoping to get back to the Barrett-Jackson, but I think the rehab on what I did is going to take too long.
SPEAKER 09 :
Yeah, it’s coming up in a month, roughly a little over, not much.
SPEAKER 04 :
Yep, yep.
SPEAKER 09 :
Yep.
SPEAKER 04 :
But I have another question. Sure, go right ahead, Buck.
SPEAKER 09 :
You’re fine. Go ahead.
SPEAKER 04 :
You’re hooked up with a body, man. These new cars, you know, I’ve got an older Barracuda and older muscle cars and stuff, and they’re pretty much made out of steel and metal. I’m wondering if today’s cars that have so much plastic in them are going to be able, shall we say, in 60 years… What are the bodies going to be like? Because we know that plastic ultimately loses the resins and stuff. The volatility in it dries out. Has anybody ever thought, if you’re into muscle cars in 60 years, and I have no idea… whether anybody will or not.
SPEAKER 09 :
Well, if you look back at, you know, if you look back at, like, the era of Camaros and Trans Ams, I’ll just use that as an example, in the 80s, for example, which now are very old, 40 years old, roughly. Right. And you look at those cars, and actually there’s still several, you know, you can still go out and find even some IROC Z28s and so on, and quite frankly, Buck, those particular products, I mean, the whole front of that car, the whole nose was plastic.
SPEAKER 19 :
Yeah. Rear, front and rear.
SPEAKER 09 :
Yeah, front and rear. And honestly, Buck, they’re holding up fine.
SPEAKER 19 :
Yeah. You know, I think with, you know, good paint on them and stuff like that.
SPEAKER 09 :
They’re fine.
SPEAKER 19 :
You know, it keeps that from, you know, yes, it might be a little more brittle than it was back, you know.
SPEAKER 09 :
I think what you’ll find as time goes by because of the different materials and the lack of corrosion that has now happened, you’re actually going to find vehicles that probably are in better condition long term than some of the old cars are.
SPEAKER 19 :
Right, and probably a better chance of them being undercover than the cars in the 60s where there are less garages and stuff.
SPEAKER 09 :
Great point.
SPEAKER 19 :
Yeah, not out in the sun.
SPEAKER 09 :
Yep. Buck, if that’s it, I’ve got to roll to break, sir. Okay, thanks. No, Buck, I appreciate it very much. Felipe, hang tight. We’ll come back to you here right after the top of the hour. We take a little news break at the top of the hour, but we’ll be back right after that. Again, Ken Rackley, Toontech Automotive with me today. Charlie Grimes, our engineer. Larry Unger, of course, answering phones. Lines are open, 303-477-5600. You can send me a text message as well, 307-282-22. We’ll be right back. Drive Radio, KLZ 560.
SPEAKER 12 :
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.
