Topic: What did you do to your car today?

[Dante]

Both rear punch weld jack supports on the golf are totally trashed. Not sure if it was the dealer or Costco.

Oddly it seems to be a pretty common issue with the Mk.7.

I think it has more to do with the way the hoist arms are placed when lifted than the car itself. I don't think the mechanics at the shops (any shop) are taking their time to place it properly and double check placement before they lift the car up. Plus, unless the rubber pads on the hoist arm (if any) are in good condition - most likely not, the coating will get damaged use after use and the pinch weld bent. I think this is what will eventually happen with all the cars which are lifted using painted surfaces and relatively short reinforced lifting points.

The jacking pads I installed on the GTI are hard plastic and they are placed few inches under the car so no pinch weld contact at all. All cars should be done like that but obviously they are not. I wish I knew about this retrofit earlier before any damage occurred. Under $200 CAD would've prevented that.

Here's a video on the kit and install.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YcE8zA5iBLY

[rrocket]

Brought this stupid thing home in the interim until my new '21 Yukon Denali gets here. Diesel, manual transmission, crank windows. It's a turd but it's a perfectly acceptable means of transportation.

Brand new brakes, new wheel bearings, new control arms, CV boots, a windshield, etc. All it needed was a battery, and conveniently, our friend Firm had a brand new battery in this exact size hanging around in his garage. Generally haggard but not rusty!

Enjoy the 1,000 km per tank.

I wonder if kids today or in the future will know what to do with manual windows? I spec'd them on the Exige as it was one less thing to go wrong on a hand-built car with English electrics!

Any weight savings I wonder?

Ever see those videos of kids trying to use a rotary phone? LOL

[HeliDriver]

Both rear punch weld jack supports on the golf are totally trashed. Not sure if it was the dealer or Costco.

Oddly it seems to be a pretty common issue with the Mk.7.

I think it has more to do with the way the hoist arms are placed when lifted than the car itself. I don't think the mechanics at the shops (any shop) are taking their time to place it properly and double check placement before they lift the car up. Plus, unless the rubber pads on the hoist arm (if any) are in good condition - most likely not, the coating will get damaged use after use and the pinch weld bent. I think this is what will eventually happen with all the cars which are lifted using painted surfaces and relatively short reinforced lifting points.

The jacking pads I installed on the GTI are hard plastic and they are placed few inches under the car so no pinch weld contact at all. All cars should be done like that but obviously they are not. I wish I knew about this retrofit earlier before any damage occurred. Under $200 CAD would've prevented that.

Here's a video on the kit and install.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YcE8zA5iBLY

Those are great for DIY when you want to get the car up on jack stands, but I don’t see how it’s going to make any difference if your concern is damage from the dealer or shops not being careful when putting it on the hoist. Do you think they’re going to look for and actually use the new pads, or just do it the way they always do? 

The pinch welds on my MK6 are a bit messed up as well. It used to bug me, but whatever. Yeah, they’re a bit rusty now, but so is the rest of the underside of my 11-year-old car.

[rrocket]

I use a set similar to these:  https://www.amazon.ca/Medium-Adapter-Universal-Protector-Slotted/dp/B07SJN2NDW/ref=sr_1_6?dchild=1&keywords=Jack+Puck&qid=1606675304&sr=8-6

The only car I bought anything special for jacking was my Porsche. Bought these little aluminum pucks like these:
https://www.amazon.ca/dp/B07QHH3CK2/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_fabt1_gW-WFbYXKYWMF

[HeliDriver]

^^ Yeah, I've got the pucks as well. Great for working at home.

Problem is at the shop, where they just slap the hoist arms sort of in place and give 'er.

[rrocket]

^^ Yeah, I've got the pucks as well. Great for working at home.

Problem is at the shop, where they just slap the hoist arms sort of in place and give 'er.

I guess it depends on your shop.

I kept the Porsche ones in the car and insisted they be used for the couple times the car needed to be hoisted.

The place I used would jack the car on bagels if I asked them to! LOL

But yea...if it was just any old place you'd be out of luck.

[tortoise]

I have an aluminum jack guide but can only use it on the front pinch welds. So annoying. I use plywood for the back two.

Since the jack points on the Highlander are perfect and 13 years old, I'm gonna pin this on VW.

It seems our dog gets car sick. So far he's managed to puke in the back of both cars.  So today I borrowed our neighbours professional carpet cleaning machine (they own a carpet cleaning business) and brought the seats to nearly new condition. So gratifying.

[Dante]

Both rear punch weld jack supports on the golf are totally trashed. Not sure if it was the dealer or Costco.

Oddly it seems to be a pretty common issue with the Mk.7.

I think it has more to do with the way the hoist arms are placed when lifted than the car itself. I don't think the mechanics at the shops (any shop) are taking their time to place it properly and double check placement before they lift the car up. Plus, unless the rubber pads on the hoist arm (if any) are in good condition - most likely not, the coating will get damaged use after use and the pinch weld bent. I think this is what will eventually happen with all the cars which are lifted using painted surfaces and relatively short reinforced lifting points.

The jacking pads I installed on the GTI are hard plastic and they are placed few inches under the car so no pinch weld contact at all. All cars should be done like that but obviously they are not. I wish I knew about this retrofit earlier before any damage occurred. Under $200 CAD would've prevented that.

Here's a video on the kit and install.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YcE8zA5iBLY

Those are great for DIY when you want to get the car up on jack stands, but I don’t see how it’s going to make any difference if your concern is damage from the dealer or shops not being careful when putting it on the hoist. Do you think they’re going to look for and actually use the new pads, or just do it the way they always do? 

The pinch welds on my MK6 are a bit messed up as well. It used to bug me, but whatever. Yeah, they’re a bit rusty now, but so is the rest of the underside of my 11-year-old car.

I take the car to the same dealer and the service manager is sort of an acquittance so I can request to use the new pads so there is some hope there. I will touch-up the pinch welds next summer and hopefully will stay that way going forward now that I have the alternative lifting points.

I don't have first hand experience with luxury brands but I haven't had or seen a mainstream car with anything special when it comes to lifting points - all painted metal which is bound to scratch and rust eventually. At least with the GTI I can use the parts from Audi and solve the issue.

[PJungnitsch]

I have an aluminum jack guide but can only use it on the front pinch welds. So annoying. I use plywood for the back two.

Since the jack points on the Highlander are perfect and 13 years old, I'm gonna pin this on VW.

It seems our dog gets car sick. So far he's managed to puke in the back of both cars.  So today I borrowed our neighbours professional carpet cleaning machine (they own a carpet cleaning business) and brought the seats to nearly new condition. So gratifying.

Same with my on the Vibe, my nice aluminum jack guide only fits on the back pinch welds due to plastic cladding making the fronts too wide. Used a circular saw to make a wooden block with a larger slot for the front

The CRV and the RX have nice central jack points, so no problem (at least for at home work):

[Gurgie]

I did a full detail on the interior of the Passport & installed the winter mats while the pitcrew did the winters on Bella's 323i.



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[Triple Bob]

Brought this stupid thing home in the interim until my new '21 Yukon Denali gets here. Diesel, manual transmission, crank windows. It's a turd but it's a perfectly acceptable means of transportation.

Brand new brakes, new wheel bearings, new control arms, CV boots, a windshield, etc. All it needed was a battery, and conveniently, our friend Firm had a brand new battery in this exact size hanging around in his garage. Generally haggard but not rusty!

Enjoy the 1,000 km per tank.

I wonder if kids today or in the future will know what to do with manual windows? I spec'd them on the Exige as it was one less thing to go wrong on a hand-built car with English electrics!

Any weight savings I wonder?

No, I believe the electric were lighter, much to my chagrin.

[UnknownJinX]

Updated the infotainment system on my friend's Mazda6.

I complained about it rebooting when I am driving sometimes in another thread. Supposedly the update addresses it. We will see.

Mazda sure didn't make it easy for your normal people to do this update. Pretty sure this is something you normally take your car to dealer to do, but screw paying $100+ for this. Have to give GM a thumbs up this time; infotainment updates are very easy and user-accessible on my Camaro.

[rrocket]

Yea, supposedly the Toyota system in my Prius is easy. Upload update to memory card, put in car, update.

[UnknownJinX]

Yea, supposedly the Toyota system in my Prius is easy. Upload update to memory card, put in car, update.

Sounds like GM is a little easier with their OTA update system. On my Camaro, it just uses the built-in 4G functionality to search for an update. You don't have to have a 4G plan to update. You can also connect it to a Wi-Fi network for the update.

Mazda needs a USB stick and some hidden commands to get to a special menu to run the update, but otherwise it's not all that difficult. It's just not probable to figure the procedures out on your own without the update manual.

[rrocket]

Yea, supposedly the Toyota system in my Prius is easy. Upload update to memory card, put in car, update.

Sounds like GM is a little easier with their OTA update system. On my Camaro, it just uses the built-in 4G functionality to search for an update. You don't have to have a 4G plan to update. You can also connect it to a Wi-Fi network for the update.

Mazda needs a USB stick and some hidden commands to get to a special menu to run the update, but otherwise it's not all that difficult. It's just not probable to figure the procedures out on your own without the update manual.

Yea, that was new for this year, wasn't it?

[UnknownJinX]

Yea, supposedly the Toyota system in my Prius is easy. Upload update to memory card, put in car, update.

Sounds like GM is a little easier with their OTA update system. On my Camaro, it just uses the built-in 4G functionality to search for an update. You don't have to have a 4G plan to update. You can also connect it to a Wi-Fi network for the update.

Mazda needs a USB stick and some hidden commands to get to a special menu to run the update, but otherwise it's not all that difficult. It's just not probable to figure the procedures out on your own without the update manual.

Yea, that was new for this year, wasn't it?

I believe so, yes.

[me_2]

For the time I owned my 2019 Volt, I experimented (2) OTA update thru car's 4G

First one I posted pics https://www.autos.ca/forum/index.php?topic=105266.msg1471670#msg1471670

[UnknownJinX]

I only had one in my Camaro so far, went pretty smoothly.

I do wonder if GM will fix some issues with the OTA updates, like the fact that my Camaro would occasionally turn on but the user profile will not load because it thinks the engine isn't running.

[me_2]

I just noticed on a Volt FB group, there was a newer OTA this end of November. They are not very specifics on the update, hard to tell what are the fixes...

https://my.gm.ca/gmc/en/how-to-support/maintenance/over-air-software-updates

[draghon]

How long did the update take? Wonder why they make you sit in the car and push the brake/clutch or open/shut the door every 20 minutes?