When you click on links to various merchants on this site and make a purchase, this can result in this site earning a commission. Affiliate programs and affiliations include, but are not limited to, the eBay Partner Network.
I just wanted to take a moment to thank 00TL-P3.2 for picking up the updates of Automotive News for all of us. I really appreciate the effort you’ve put in on that.
Thanks, I've been in/around the car business most of my life (my dad did 30 years on the svc side of a few different dealerships).
Love cars, and the innovation. Sadly, never found a way to make it into a profitable career.
Originally Posted by imj0257
Now if he would only throw the massive party at his house and buy everyone plane tickets to Houston like he promised...
Thanks, I've been in/around the car business most of my life (my dad did 30 years on the svc side of a few different dealerships).
Love cars, and the innovation. Sadly, never found a way to make it into a profitable career.
Cool. I mean maybe you could turn this into a side youtube/blog hustle? You could do a weekly auto news summary show and who knows...could blow up big. Though tough to get into this space with so many players on YT and car auto news sites already....but if you develop your own spin/personality, it may work. Look at doug now...dude's probably making good 6 figures a year reviewing all kinds of cars.
I had thought you were actually involved in the auto business as part of your job/career with how much info you post!
I was in/around dealerships my whole childhood, and worked for a couple during college.
Have thought about the YT angle, but time is the biggest constraint, and financing proper equipment. I've probably got a decent supply of connections for material (new cars). Maybe one of these days.
Cool. I mean maybe you could turn this into a side youtube/blog hustle? You could do a weekly auto news summary show and who knows...could blow up big. Though tough to get into this space with so many players on YT and car auto news sites already....but if you develop your own spin/personality, it may work. Look at doug now...dude's probably making good 6 figures a year reviewing all kinds of cars.
I had thought you were actually involved in the auto business as part of your job/career with how much info you post!
Doug's an interesting case if you know his history. Dude changed his name and wiped his entire posting history clean from another forum I'm on years and years ago. Dude used to fib about a family & got mocked once because he said after driving his old S4 hard, he poured cold water on the brakes to cool them off. Really only made it this far because he put so much time into car spotting and that eventually got him noticed by other businesses. BUT, he definitely has his own spin and doesn't pretend to be anything he isn't these days. He's very up front about his cars and how he affords them.
As far as YouTube careers go, I'd support 00TL. Very hard thing with so many car YouTubers though who fake their way. He'd break through easier if he used some connections and reviewed cars like a proper journalist, using mechanical knowledge to describe how each car feels. The current crop can't describe what acceleration feels like beyond looking like a 10-year old in their dad's Viper when he takes off from a stop sign.
If you have dealer insight, use it. People always wonder about those places especially with all the controversy of sales and service practices. It doesn't have to be a "How to beat the dealer" page, but like others said, we don't need another car reviewer.
Doug's an interesting case if you know his history. Dude changed his name and wiped his entire posting history clean from another forum I'm on years and years ago. Dude used to fib about a family & got mocked once because he said after driving his old S4 hard, he poured cold water on the brakes to cool them off. Really only made it this far because he put so much time into car spotting and that eventually got him noticed by other businesses. BUT, he definitely has his own spin and doesn't pretend to be anything he isn't these days. He's very up front about his cars and how he affords them.
As far as YouTube careers go, I'd support 00TL. Very hard thing with so many car YouTubers though who fake their way. He'd break through easier if he used some connections and reviewed cars like a proper journalist, using mechanical knowledge to describe how each car feels. The current crop can't describe what acceleration feels like beyond looking like a 10-year old in their dad's Viper when he takes off from a stop sign.
Huh, interesting. I only know basics from that one video he did talking about how he rose up to YT fame.
I mean dude does seem a bit entitled/spoiled in his early years. I saw that one vid of him explaining his own rise to fame and at least he was upfront about how his parents was supporting him to afford a Ferrari 360 while he was making some early YT vids and he could not afford the car and only drove it just to make videos. Or about how he was in Porsche corporate as a paper/excel pusher and he felt stagnant and didn't want to drive his umpteenth Porsche company car 20 years down the road (oh poor soul who has to drive a Porsche company car...lol)
But interesting to note he was scrubbing some old skeletons in his closet, it seems.
Reddit's r/cars absolutely love Doug (calls him "daddy doug" ....lol) and anytime I post ANYTHING critical of him I get downvoted like crazy. I dared to suggest that he do more older/interesting cars and not just the newest ones, even if it meant he may not make as much money...and redditors brought out their pitchforks in full force.
I mean at least the dude also made a video about that....in that he was clear that his #1 priority is to maximize views.
This is why I love Mark of Savagegeese fame...dude's a true enthusiast and makes ultra HQ content. Doug is alright in my eyes, dude lucked out for sure and living a dream. Lot of the other click bait/vloggy YTers I cannot stand
California state senator John Moorlach (R-Orange County) has introduced a bill to that state’s legislature that would add lanes to both north- and southbound Interstate 5 and State Route 99 that would have no posted speed limit.
SB319 does not itself state the specific stretches of road where the lanes would be added, but local reports indicate the lanes would run from Stockton to Bakersfield, a distance of approximately 240 miles via I-5 or 230 miles via CA-99.
While some reports tout the lanes as unlimited, the bill would implement a functional limit of 100 mph, with a first violation for exceeding that speed resulting in a fine of $500, a second within three years a fine of $750, and a third within five years a fine of $1000 and the suspension of that driver’s license.
According to the bill, money for construction of the lanes would be drawn from California’s Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund. Moorlach doesn’t give an estimated cost for the project, but says the state already owns the right of way necessary for the lanes. The bill is being pitched as a way to cut idling in traffic and therefore reduce greenhouse gases, as well as a quicker and more easily implemented solution to easing gridlock than a long-distance high-speed rail line that was recently canceled.
Moorlach also defends his proposal as safer. “If you look at what’s happening in Germany, the freeway accidents on the autobahn are a lot less than what’s happening on our roads.” Neither the bill nor Moorlach have so far addressed driver training that may be necessary for drivers unaccustomed to traveling at such speeds; Germany’s more rigorous driver-education system makes acquiring a license more difficult and costly than is typical in the United States. Additionally, there is no detail as to whether there would be a minimum speed limit for the lanes or if they would be kept separate from other lanes where the speed limit would remain 65 mph. SB319 also contains a “stay right except to pass” lane-discipline clause, however.
The highest posted speed limit in the United States is currently 85 mph, on a 41-mile section of State Highway 130 in Texas. Montana had no daytime speed limit until 1974, when the federal 55-mph limit was passed, and again from that law’s repeal in December 1995 until the enactment of a 75-mph limit in May 1999.
The other problem is American drivers suck. In Germany everybody used the left lane for passing, then would move to the right immediately after.
If we taught drivers better and enforced passing lanes, the 2-lane I-5 wouldn't be a problem.
This is the only issue I see with a higher speed limit. You'll always have some old asian lady in her Camry doing 45 in the left lane when the speed limit is 100mph causing people crash trying to avoid her all the time.
I'm trying to get rear pads and rotors for the Passat, and these are the blank rotors that are sold with EBC pads as a kit. Can't find a ton of info on them.
Any of you have experience removing small scratches from display surfaces? Just noticed in the S5 that for the digital display between the temperature/climate control knobs, there are some scuffs on it that are only visible if direct sunlight hits it. I never noticed it until today and likely not since sunlight never hits that mini-display directly given where it is situated. Anyways, it's not a glass screen like most phones and probably something like what an LCD is...some softer plastic surface? Is there anything you know of I can use to try to buff out the scratch...?
Any of you have experience removing small scratches from display surfaces? Just noticed in the S5 that for the digital display between the temperature/climate control knobs, there are some scuffs on it that are only visible if direct sunlight hits it. I never noticed it until today and likely not since sunlight never hits that mini-display directly given where it is situated. Anyways, it's not a glass screen like most phones and probably something like what an LCD is...some softer plastic surface? Is there anything you know of I can use to try to buff out the scratch...?
You might try some of the headlight lens polish stuff...just the mildest kind. I'd be VERY careful, though.
Look around the interwebz to see if there are any screen protectors available for your screens. I'm running one in the Golf and CR-V, it it hid a few of the small scratches and should protect moving forward.
Unless I'm searching incorrectly, all the protective films I am finding on Amazon are for phones and tablets...is there a generic brand/product that allows me to cut out my own size?
It looks like you can get protectors for the giant SatNav screen, but that little HVAC guy seems overlooked.
I'd guess it's a custom job. Lamin-x will sell "cut-to-fit" overlays, but the texture is a bit soft/gummy. Not sure you'd want that. Next option might be to just buy a screen protector for a tablet and then cut to size, but I've had limited success in the past doing that. It seems like the cut edges always lift, probably because the cut causes micro-deformations in the surface.
Toothpaste and petro jelly is a shitty solution
You're essentially using the toothpaste as an abrasive to grind the surface and petro jelly to fill in.. total shit idea.
Fundamentally sound, but shit execution
I'd use a magic eraser with water and gently remove the smudge, light strokes until it's gone
If it's a real scratch, you're fucked, you need a filler that hardens and buff it out
That's why I buy used
Otherwise you'll be so anal about minutia
Oh the wheels have some rash and the seats smell like farts
But it's only half sticker, no problemo!
