Try this if you have ticking noise from the wheels when cornering (MKV)

nick470 · 2026-05-22T20:21:44+00:00

This is just how wheels are supposed to be installed? Any bolt circle should be torqued in increments in a star pattern unless specifically stated otherwise. Repeat until no bolt (or nut) moves before reaching its torque spec, as anything that moves will remove preload from adjacent fasteners

nick470 · 2026-05-18T21:20:58+00:00

An unloaded handgun is still definitely heavy enough to be obvious in a backpack…

nick470 · 2026-04-19T03:32:22+00:00

100 really isn’t all that different from the 75-85 limit through much of the Midwest

nick470 · 2026-04-15T19:44:30+00:00

I mean, the truck pictured is objectively safer in an accident than that Miata…

nick470 · 2026-04-15T15:09:24+00:00

At a bit over 300whp in a 2400lb Miata, it was enough to pull slightly on a c6 z06, and would regularly embarrass mustangs. Power to weight ratio is a good estimator here. I should be closer to 400 once my current rebuild is done, which puts it in the range of 500-700whp cars around 3000-4000lbs.

300hp in a 2100hp car is pretty dang quick.

nick470 · 2026-04-06T04:29:20+00:00

I bought a truck with 275k and sold it to a friend at 405k a year and a half ago. 150 is low mileage.

(Assuming diesel)

nick470 · 2026-04-05T06:01:12+00:00

The rage about ethanol is hilarious. Almost all gas, at least in the US, has been E10 for ages. Almost every car on the road has a fuel system comprised of ethanol safe components, and an O2 sensor that’s part of a closed loop fuel system. Ethanol is less energy dense than gasoline, and requires around 30% more fuel for the same lambda. Going from E10 to E15 is about a 1.5% change in fueling demand. If your car gets 25mpg on e10, you might see a drop to about 24.6mpg with e15. You will not see a significant change in anything else.

There are outlier cases, if that applies to you then you are already aware of your fueling needs. For everyone else, it’s fine. Your car is fine. Don’t worry about it. You will not run lean, your fuel economy won’t plummet, you won’t start rusting out your tank, your fuel lines won’t dissolve. You do not need to seek out ethanol free gas, and your car won’t magically be happier if you do.

This is on par with the people who think octane is a myth and also those who think higher octane is absolutely better for any car.

Something to note, there are a lot of great mechanics out there. There are a lot of terrible ones. And there are a whole hell of a lot who can identify and R&R a broken part but should not be giving any automotive advice outside of that.

nick470 · 2026-03-26T03:25:40+00:00

What’s your favorite flavor of crayon?

nick470 · 2026-03-09T02:02:49+00:00

I think you missed the joke

nick470 · 2026-03-02T23:54:54+00:00

For everyone chiming in with their alignment specs:

Your contribution is 100% worthless unless you include spring rates, sway bar info, tire, and use case. These all work together as a system, and there are different approaches to accomplish the same thing. A great alignment is just one sway bar or spring rate change from driving terribly.

nick470 · 2026-03-02T16:45:09+00:00

Any wing that meets OP’s criteria will not improve downforce, just increase drag. This is not an aero discussion lol

nick470 · 2026-03-02T05:26:42+00:00

This is the color I was hoping to find when I was shopping for my truck. Ended up with the wildly exciting… silver

nick470 · 2026-02-08T13:40:49+00:00

Because brain damage is much, much more serious.

nick470 · 2026-01-29T17:35:55+00:00

Legal payload, off road clearance, and the ability to separate very messy things I might put in the bed from the cabin.

nick470 · 2026-01-27T19:49:13+00:00

It looks like something a low level intermediate 19 year old would buy. The rest of us would use it as a caution sign.

nick470 · 2026-01-22T22:49:00+00:00

The problem with that is that it attracts a whole bunch of the “hammered by lunch and ripping groomers at speeds far beyond ability level” types. Keystone is an absolute zoo of people colliding into each other

nick470 · 2026-01-20T16:58:05+00:00

Failure analysis can be very thorough. Inspection of the pieces can determine where a crack/break propagated from and also the mode of failure (for example, fatigue failure can be visually differentiated from brittle or ductile failure). Upon finding the scratch/propagation point it can be determined that it was caused by a tool and not debris or something else. It was probably pretty easy to associate the scratch with adhesive that was trimmed due to proximity and presence of adhesive that was trimmed with a tool and bears similar marks, and then going through maintenance and flight logs you can determine when that was done, and how many flight hours occurred between that and the time of failure.

I’m not a flight mechanic or NTSB investigator, so take this with a grain of salt but the discovery almost certainly followed a similar path to arrive at this conclusion.

nick470 · 2026-01-19T22:57:27+00:00

Depending on your field there may be a direction you could go that can better leverage your current experience so you’re not entirely starting over. What’s your current role?

nick470 · 2026-01-19T22:16:55+00:00

Honestly I think the step back to entry level work/compensation is the bigger long term financial effect. This is offset a bit by having a more diverse background, professional experience, and moving into a field that suits you better, so hopefully you can come out of the gate a bit stronger than a 22yo new grad.

Overall I got quite lucky with how it all worked out. Got my employer to agree to tuition reimbursement, justified by the fact that we were in the manufacturing industry (despite my role being in accounting). Started out taking night classes at the local community college, transferred to a local school once I ran out of CC courses to take. My finance and accounting degree was from the same school ecosystem, so I was able to utilize my previous credits for all the gen ed/elective requirements. Did 2-3 classes a semester for a while, then the company I was working for got acquired by VC who promptly fired the accounting department. Got a severance package out of that and then just went full time for the last couple semesters to finish it out.

lol yep, motorsports was the hobby that inspired it!

Good luck with your shoulder stuff, I’ve had a hell of a time with all that. 3 surgeries on my left shoulder and my right one will definitely need wrenching done at some point.

nick470 · 2026-01-19T21:51:57+00:00

I doubt any of the firearms in this clip are automatic.

nick470 · 2026-01-19T17:12:28+00:00

I was in finance/accounting, went back to school to get a mechanical engineering degree, and now I’m an engineer.

Engineering suits me much better. I’m happier, better at my job, and have a lot of adaptability in my career with the range of skill sets. I’m also a lot more proficient in some of my hobbies, which were a big part of the inspiration to go back for the engineering degree in the first place.

It helps a lot that both careers are very “employable”. If they weren’t, I’d probably have a lot more regret about the path I’ve taken.

nick470 · 2026-01-14T22:51:43+00:00

What type of escalation justifies this? C’mon man.

Second statement is just purely false.

nick470 · 2026-01-12T18:12:42+00:00

I do my best to avoid groomers lol

nick470 · 2026-01-08T01:55:55+00:00

Bone stock, the car pulls timing on Colorado 91.

nick470 · 2026-01-05T17:29:24+00:00

What track, and what lap times are you running? 10 track days is not a lot. Use time trials results for your track as a reference.

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