Car quality rant

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MikeB4
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#1173406 12-Nov-2014 11:07

joker97:
Handsomedan: We have a Nissan CVT at home - all I can criticise is the lack of gear change...I just find it dosconcerting that you plonk your foot down, it revs and then stays there, never changing...weird.

Compared to my Opel-based Auto in my other car, which is a traditional auto and has Sport and Economy modes & changes gears as often as the computer tells it to (it "learns" driving styles/habits), it's certainly quite an odd thing to experience.

coming to think of it my car's fine when i'm the only one in it.
but as soon as you put people in it, don't ask it to do anything on an incline. flat is great.

my wife's Swift Sport can scoot over hills eg Rimutaka's with say 4 onboard easily, that has a CVT (paddle shift) . A couple of months back I followed her over driving the SUV and well tried to follow I caught up when she stopped for a break at Ekatahuna.

Here is a crazy notion, lets give peace a chance.

Batman

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#1173414 12-Nov-2014 11:10

your wife is vicky bulter-henderson?

unless you are totto wolff ...

MikeB4

MikeB4
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#1173447 12-Nov-2014 11:35

The Swift Sport is a cool little pocket rocket, with its low profile wide tyres, excellent power to weight ratio, Sport (Munroe Wylie) suspension and excellent box it is fun to drive on the hills and country.

Here is a crazy notion, lets give peace a chance.

ilovemusic

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#1173497 12-Nov-2014 12:17

what colour is your swift ?

earlier this year i drove from wellington to napier via rimutakas, wairarapa in an old range rover sport and a little swift sat on my rear bumper all the way to greytown.

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#1173503 12-Nov-2014 12:23

ilovemusic: what colour is your swift ?

earlier this year i drove from wellington to napier via rimutakas, wairarapa in an old range rover sport and a little swift sat on my rear bumper all the way to greytown.

Red, :)

Here is a crazy notion, lets give peace a chance.

dickytim

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#1173508 12-Nov-2014 12:34

Jase2985: engine braking is not going to damage your transmission, look at race cars who are using standard treansmissions they engine brake all the time (in addition to the brakes)

throw it into second, take your foot off the accelerator and let it settle on a speed (normally about 30-40) and away you go, need to go faster throw it into 3rd need to go slower, brake. the car will normally settle on a natural speed for the motor and transmission combination.

if you overheat your brakes once generally it will do it again much more easily (warping) in the future.

TBH it shouldn't have to say it in a manual, but im pretty sure most cars ive owned suggest you change into L or 3 etc when going down a hill or when towing, why would you not apply this?

Plus i thought it was common sense?

Transmission = Auto, Engine braking cooks trans fluid and can lead to premature failure.

Reacecars usually have gearboxes.

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ilovemusic

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#1173517 12-Nov-2014 12:44

KiwiNZ:
ilovemusic: what colour is your swift ?

earlier this year i drove from wellington to napier via rimutakas, wairarapa in an old range rover sport and a little swift sat on my rear bumper all the way to greytown.

Red, :)

my tail was a blue one.

while i was cossetted in leather, climate air, good sounds, air suspension and the effortless s/c v8, the swift driver was having more fun.

:)

Sidestep

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#1173531 12-Nov-2014 12:58

dickytim:

Transmission = Auto, Engine braking cooks trans fluid and can lead to premature failure.

Reacecars usually have gearboxes.

Engine braking won't cook your trans fluid.

heylinb4nz

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#1173556 12-Nov-2014 13:21

I recently went through the brake bed in process with my 07 Mitsi Colt 80,000 kms (known to be a crappy car), fitted with Project MU brakes on stock rotors. 6 hard stops from 100 kmh.....no rotor warping there.

Our old Legacy 1999 B4 had warped rotors, but that was like at 160,000 kms and multiple runs down the Kaimai.

Hell my old MR2 had 200,000 kms on it and the original rotors, I lost count of the hard braking and downhill runs done in that over 10 years of owning...no warping.

Rotor warping is more prone as the rotors get thinner (ie higher kms and\or 2+ rounds of fresh machining).

So id say definitely a warranty claim on a 2012 car.

jpoc

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#1173568 12-Nov-2014 13:39

scuwp: Common knowledge I thought. Extended periods of heavy braking are to be avoided if possible, due to overheating and warped disks as in is case. Unless you invest in some heavy duty race pads, calipers, and disks.

You might have hoped that engine braking would be common knowledge but on routes that I used to drive in France, there were signs on many descents exhorting motorists to use engine braking. I doubt that the signs would be there unless there were regular accidents because of brake failure caused by overheating.

One thing that I would also have hoped to be common knowledge would be that you can avoid the problem by simply pulling off to the side of the road and pausing for long enough for the brakes to cool off.

dickytim

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#1173573 12-Nov-2014 13:42

Sidestep:
dickytim:

Transmission = Auto, Engine braking cooks trans fluid and can lead to premature failure.

Reacecars usually have gearboxes.

Engine braking won't cook your trans fluid.

Tell that to my old car! Oh and the trans specialist and my mechanic.

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#1173601 12-Nov-2014 14:28

heylinb4nz: I recently went through the brake bed in process with my 07 Mitsi Colt 80,000 kms (known to be a crappy car), fitted with Project MU brakes on stock rotors. 6 hard stops from 100 kmh.....no rotor warping there.

Our old Legacy 1999 B4 had warped rotors, but that was like at 160,000 kms and multiple runs down the Kaimai. Hell my old MR2 had 200,000 kms on it and the original rotors, I lost count of the hard braking and downhill runs done in that over 10 years of owning...no warping. Rotor warping is more prone as the rotors get thinner (ie higher kms and\or 2+ rounds of fresh machining).

So id say definitely a warranty claim on a 2012 car.

Batman

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#1173602 12-Nov-2014 14:29

jpoc:
scuwp: Common knowledge I thought. Extended periods of heavy braking are to be avoided if possible, due to overheating and warped disks as in is case. Unless you invest in some heavy duty race pads, calipers, and disks.

You might have hoped that engine braking would be common knowledge but on routes that I used to drive in France, there were signs on many descents exhorting motorists to use engine braking. I doubt that the signs would be there unless there were regular accidents because of brake failure caused by overheating.

One thing that I would also have hoped to be common knowledge would be that you can avoid the problem by simply pulling off to the side of the road and pausing for long enough for the brakes to cool off.

down arthur's pass definitely. down a 3km ant hill ... i was shocked

kiwirock

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#1173732 12-Nov-2014 17:57

dickytim:
Sidestep:
dickytim:

Transmission = Auto, Engine braking cooks trans fluid and can lead to premature failure.

Reacecars usually have gearboxes.

Engine braking won't cook your trans fluid.

Tell that to my old car! Oh and the trans specialist and my mechanic.

The forces pushing the engine aren't the same as the forces the engine pushes through the trans going up hill mate.

I've only seen trans fail early because of lack of full fluid changes and driving around in over-drive or top gear in an auto not labelled with an over drive. I have a 4 speed trans, and it's why I always drive in 3rd unless I'm on the open road so the trans is locked up most of the time and the torque converter clutch pack isn't locking/unlocking all the time.

I've had two mates have to rebuild their trans by 180,000K's by not adding an additional cooler with their towbar and towing in top gear on the open road. I always engine brake and keep the magnet, oil and strainer nice and clean. The trans is still in great nick at 210,000K's.

I also don't tow in OD or top gear, it can be a strain on some auto's having a lot of planetary gears engaged with an additional tonne behind them.

I've never had a trans fail on me towing following those two principals though, using the 1:1 gear of the auto and additional fluid cooling. The trans in my car though is also used in some Safari's so it doesn't even crack a sweet pulling an extra tonne.

turnin

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#1173770 12-Nov-2014 19:06

Brakes are aircooled, so are more likely to overheat on a tight twisty downhill road as opposed to a straight downhill road of the same gradient.
The other thing to consider is what you do at the bottom of the hill.
Warping is not caused by heat alone, it's how evenly the heat is spread. If you stop with (very) hot brakes (250+degs) you can trap heat specifically between the pads and now stopped rotors, this can cause irregular cooling and a slight buckling of the disk. Try to keep the wheels rolling ,even slowly, to avoid this, allowing the disk to cool evenly, we used to do this with rally cars but saying that, they would need to get pretty damn hot !, I would have thought quite a bit hotter than a standard road pad would tolerate. Were you carrying a lot of weight ?
As for engine braking, a little bit at road going forces is ok but it's not great policy, with open diffs you are often engine braking through one wheel which can cause lock ups and all sorts of issues, brake pads cost hundreds, gearbox's are thousands

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