In Colorado, they use a funky system of a regressive tax, where it takes 10 years from the model being new until you hit $75. So my Subaru Outback in 2016 was $800 to register based on the price I paid then ($26 K OTD). My Volvo was 3 model years old at the time and was $700 that first year.

But my property taxes are pretty damn low, and income tax is ~3.5% flat. So there is that.

 

I despise personal property taxes for cars. VA leaves it up to the counties to decide on a tax rate. Then there's a personal property tax "assistance", where they discount the rate on just the first $20k of the value of the car. With car prices continually increasing, it gets expensive. I paid $600 this year on a 2 year old VW. The gf paid around $450 for her 2 year old CR-V.

And to make it even shittier, even if you lease a car, you're still responsible for the PPTs. Even though, you know, it's not your property...

Thankfully registration fees are low - $30/yr, as is insurance.

 

IIRC, ins on the Flex & Merc was around 225/mo, would be less if we weren't so close to Houston.
TX

 

Subaru is something like $450/yr, VW is down to $400/yr, Jeep is ~$100/yr.

Insurance for all three is ~$700 for 6 months.

 

We pay just over $1400/yr for both cars. But that's $100k/300k/100k with med benefits, $500 deductibles, $0 glass, and rental on the CR-V (she wanted it...). We're probably overinsured but I'd rather that than under.

 

Same.

Weird, I thought VA was way more expensive to insure than MN...or is that the new england area?

 

Northern VA is more expensive because DC. Down in central VA, it's very affordable. Really the only thing I have to complain about is personal property taxes. But they're really low on the house, so I guess it's offset there.

 

I was born and raised in the L.A. area. I have been in Florida twenty years now. Sure the humidity is a mothereffer, but when you factor in super low taxes, cost of living and less crowded...Florida is pretty nice.

What really sucks about Florida though is the REDNECK FACTOR.

 

Maybe I am spoiled/waisis but Asians have been the majority in the places I have lived. That aside, still a very broad spectrum of ethnicities.

The redneck factor sounds even worse than you are letting off for a minority. I think most people know how I feel about guns, but given how lax the laws are in Florida, it's another (negative) thing to consider.

I do have friends and family over there. Definitely a nice place to visit, and even live. Don't think I'm ready for it yet.

 

Unless they can triple my salary, no amount of lower tax rate and less crowded can offset the humidity and redneck factor...

I get super irritated at everything with the humidity, i dont think i would be happy living like that everyday.

If i had to move somewhere, it would be Seattle, Vancouver or Vegas... I can deal with the rain and dry heat, but i need my yellowness.

 

Okay, car question for you folks, and I'm feeling a bit stupid about this one:

I think the passenger motor mount on my car is going out. Looks a bit cracked, moves around considerably when starting and shutting off the engine, and the car drives like a motor mount is going bad. My lovely local dealers are all back ordered on an OEM replacement. The car has 3 mounts, a rear roll restrictor (Cobb), a passenger side engine mount and a driver's side transmission mount (OEM).

Option A: Replacement passenger mount off RockAuto. Not super confident about this one, you get what you pay for. (Cost: ~$20 shipped, peace of mind)
Option B: Upgraded, stiffer passenger motor mount from CP-E, Damond, or some other aftermarket supplier (~$250)
Option C: Upgrade both sides (~$500)

In my head, I know the right move is to keep the driver's and passenger side mounts similar (either both stock or both upgraded), but I can't grasp the physics around what would happen if I upgraded the passenger mount and left the driver's side alone. I can tell you what would happen if a torque mount failed, but not quite so here. Would the car pull to one direction? Would the remaining OEM mount fail quicker for some reason? Why exactly?

I am probably going to replace both sides, but need to understand it fully to justify the extra $250.

 

Think about the parallel example you're sort of in now. If one side is good and the other is bad, then you have an imbalanced support system. One side provides a stiffer/firmer mount than the other.

So offhand, I'd suspect that you could get away with upgrading one side and not the other. Would be similar-ish to replacing only 1 mount with new OEM while the other was old worn out OEM.

Would you want to do it for long? Maybe not. Would it expedite the other side failing? Maybe.

But if you're just buying a little time to spread the cost out over a few months, I'd suspect it's okay. But caveat emptor, I am not a doctor nor do I play one on tv

 

if you need justification:

Your car is already 7 years old, soon you will need to replace the driver side as well even if we assume that you wont feel any difference with 2 different kind of mounts right now

If you are planning to keep your car for a while, just do all of them and you dont have to worry about them again.

preventative measures and maint. is always worth the investment if you are planning to keep the car...

Now if you are gonna sell your car in a year or so... get the $20 one...

 

Aside from what has been said so far, I just wanna vouch for Rock Auto. Ordered lots of stuff from them before, and I have been satisfied, at least when it comes to Japanese vehicles. Just focus on the brand.

Their prices are almost unbelievable, I stopped frequenting the local parts stores unless I need something urgently.

 

Rock Auto is pretty good.

But I vote upgraded passenger side mount.

 

This would definitely be easier if I was more confident the remaining mount would wear quicker if left alone.

I don't mind paying if the car needs two mounts, but I wasn't planning on upgrading. Maybe you're right Window, I should just justify it as maintenance and pull the trigger on two stiffer mounts.

Rock Auto has been mostly good for me. Even ordering from Canada, they're cheaper than parts stores. I have had a couple of parts not fit before though.

Think I'm leaning towards just replacing both mounts. It'll be an upgrade, and I can install them before winter hits and not worry about them.

 

my dumbass was driving without a rear mount for about six months....the physics aspect, in a corner, the engine wants to pull in the opposite direction of the turn.
got pretty sketchy in the rain...had to take turns at 10mph or less.

finally got my lazy ass to install the rear mount

 

WTF... how is that even possible

 

long story short; had three broken motor mounts, the rubber disintegrated. bought replacements and managed to replace front and side. Couldnt uninstall rear mount. still connected to subframe, just no rubber and would clank and move a little.
went to indie mechanic, who fought with uninstalling the rear mount all day. Finally got it loose, but couldnt install new mount, complained new mount was too tall. the rear mount was completely gone. metal on metal and it would just clank around...so, I said " Dont worry, I'll install the new mount when I go home" asian family friend mechanic. so he was like, "whatever dude, that's why we dont install aftermarket parts, dont die on your way home"

you know how you stated that you wouldnt want to live in a place with high humidity? yeah, I live in a place that is 100 degrees with 100% humidity. just kept putting the install off, giving the excuse that it's too hot and if the mechanic couldnt do it...I wouldnt be able to do it..

finally got some great weather in September. finally got my ass under the car...
Dumbass mechanic didnt realize that there was an "engine torque damper" that was holding the engine to the subframe, thus why he couldnt install the taller mount...he kept complaining the mount was too tall, but all i did was take off the torque damper, which allowed the engine to raise high enough to get the taller mount in.

probably could have done the install a lot sooner than September, but you know excuses go. "too hot, fuck, I dont want to do this. fuck."


okay, very long story.

 

Yah i absolutely get the laziness

and i probably would not do it myself in those weather either..

But driving around without a mount? i dont think i would do that either...

But i like your Asian Family friend's honesty tho

 

to be honest, it was pretty sketchy driving without the mount. another one of my excuses was, I barely drive and if I take turns at slow speeds, it'll be okay.
just all excuses. good thing is, I got motivated and installed it. it's good to go right now.

 

That's literally been my thoughts for the past 6 months. Late September we got that nice weather Friday/Saturday and I got half a job done on the truck. Then it got hot again and I went back to "fuckit". Finally finished it up this past Sunday.

We're coming into nice weather season though; so while the rest of the country is winterizing and putting the projects away, I'm starting to line them up to begin.

 

you too?

Well i just got my tires installed.

My Summer runflat on my car should have only lasted about 17k miles.... I now have 26k. I had been having those thoughts of changing tires every 2 weeks for about 1 year... i just changed them out 2 weeks ago

My excuse was... there is no rain... slicks are stickier, i should be OK...
My only motivation 2 weeks ago was... fuck... i could really die from this

U know us , we would do anything to avoid death...

 

Front

Side

took these photos in March...so yeah, exactly six months

 

I am sure you blamed COVID for the delay at some point

I know i did..

 

Your old mounts remind me of Honda-tech, when squirting window weld inside your motor mounts was the cool thing to do

 

I got 16k out of the Conti runflats on the Merc. Too much rain here to keep running with them; super sketchy in the wet, but were fine in the dry.
Got more like 30k out of the Bridgestone Non-RFTs I put on to replace those god-awful Contis.

 

I had Bridgestone S001 Runflats summer tires. They were decent for about the first 5k miles and that was it.... Those POS are over $400 each for the front and $500 each for the rear on tirerack..

I had my leftover Hankook V12 from my last car in same staggered size sitting my garage... all i had to do is just mount them and i was too lazy to even do that

 

Yeah, the Conti runflats were something like 12-1300 before installation.

Bridgestone RE908AS were a bit over 800 installed OTD.
Smoother, quieter & much longer lasting.

 

Run flats are garbage

 

 

Somewhat amusing battery replacement tale on a modern Honda. Daughter's 2016 Civic LX needed a new battery, drove to Costco to replace it in the parking lot.

Took out the old, brought it in then swapped for a new Interstate group 51R. Installed and drove off, instantly got four warning lights, Stability Control Off, Stability Control System Warning, ABS System, and TPMS.
The TPMS reset does nothing when I pressed and held the switch. Figured it just needed a few miles for the ECU to recalibrate the wheel speed sensors. Then after a few miles the Power Steering warning light comes on, the TPMS starts flashing, then the ABS System light goes out.
Drive ~10 miles home now with four warning lights remaining, turn off the engine and start it up again, all the lights go out. Drove around the block a little, no warning lights.

Gotta love modern vehicles and all the amusing S/W that goes with them
But all the trip odometers and radio station presets were saved

 

Dont those automatically get reset when you change battery? I have not changed any battery on newer cars, is it different now?

 

Supposed to get a bunch of snow tomorrow, guess I should probably swap out the summer tires trim level on the veedub...

 

snow...... 90 degrees here today...

 

Snow....snow....nope, does not compute.

 

Mid 70s here; I may wash the car this week

 

5-8 inches today, temps in the mid 30's for the foreseeable future before going colder I'm sure.

 

Oof... is that early for your region Sam?

No snow here yet fortunately. I've been slacking on replacing a bent winter wheel. Gonna end up caught in the rush with everyone else.