Red Journey 2013

59,600 miles on vehicle. Had some clicking on the driver's side front wheel. Put it up on a hoist and as the wheel turned by hand, there was a clicking that seemed to come from the differential. Instead, it was the CV axle so had it replaced. Garage charged me $150 for the axle and $80 labor, $250 total with taxes. I mentioned I found axles online for under $100 and was told this was a new one and not "Chinese junk". The replacement solved the problem, no more clicking. Two weeks later, heard the same noise now coming from the right side. I figured it was the passenger side CV axle. This time, I called called a different mechanic, asked him if he could replace the axle for me. I called the parts store and they got an axle delivered the next morning. Again, put it up on a hoist and as the wheel turned by hand, the clicking seemed to located in the differential. One of the mechanics- the older one- thought it was in the transmission but I assured him it was the cv axle since the symptoms were identical as before. When the younger mechanic returned from lunch, he agreed it was the cv axle. Took him 60 minutes to swap out the axle. Axle cost me $85, labor $75, total $160 with taxes $90 difference between the first and second jobs. I didn't see where the first axle came from so I don't know where it was made. I have a problem with the term "Chinese junk" . Back in the 50's and 60's, imports from Japan were considered Japanese junk but Japan showed the USA how to build cars a few years later. China is a highly industrialized nation building very complex machines for their military and civilian users. There may be some junk made - like in the USA - but to write off the entire country as sub-par manufacturers is ignorant. I was tempted to go to the local dealer to see what they would have come up with as a diagnosis and an estimate but I figure it would have been higher.

Not sure who told you that tires different in tread wear will cause problems with awd or abs but that doesn't make sense. I had to get an emergency tire at walmart one sunday morning and they said I would have to buy a matched pair. I was in a hurry and I could see the guy I was dealing with wasn't too bright and the other tire had enough wear on it to justify replacing it too. But I did get scammed. So if someone selling tires tells you they need to be matched pairs, I can understand their motivation - thy like to use fear tactics to sell more - especially when it comes to cars. The trouble with this theory has to do with roads. Ever drive on a perfectly level road? Me either. Makes sense that tires are on different levels most of the time which in turn makes tread depth between tires irrelevant. The difference between a new tire and one that is due to be replaced is only 1/4 inch - not enough to cause any problems with the drive train.

Wheel size is 19x7 and the oem tire was a Kumho 225/55 19. My local dealer quoted me $150 - $170 per tire for this size and about the same for a 235/55 19. Did some research and found Kumho Crugen in the 235/55 19 size for $317 for 4 tires delivered. These are new tires. This is supposed to be a bigger tire showing a speedometer speed 1.5 mph slower than actual, however I checked the speed using a gps speedometer app and both my car speedo and the phone were identical at all speeds Tires were mounted yesterday and the ride is better than those that were replaced. http://bestusedtires.com sells both used and new tires and if you enter save15 in the promo code box at checkout, you will save another $30 (the $317 price was with the promo code applied). They also have used tires for less money in various stages of tread life and different brands. Tires were delivered in 3 business days.

Finding a reasonably priced radio touchscreen can be a challenge with lots of opportunity for getting fleeced. Check out our journey to finding a screen and who to avoid.We documented our results in this video.

Our 3.5 year old touchscreen stopped working and since the dealer wanted $2,000 to fix it, we embarked on a journey to replace the screen at a reasonable cost. This video provides step by step replacement as done by someone who had no experience in doing this job. Watch the video here