Review: Pat Rimmer Les Schwab Burlington, WA

I’m sad to report a terrible experience with a local small-business. Pat Rimmer Tires, a Les Schwab in Burlington, WA. They operate several Les Schwab tire franchises in the area, including Sedro-Wooley, etc. I had a tire problem on way way from Bellingham, WA to the Keystone ferry. I called ahead and asked Pat Rimmer Les Schwab in Burlington, WA if they could help. They said they could and I arrived, purchasing four new tires from them. Two if not three of the tires I had on the car when I arrived were still in excellent shape, and being that they were expensive performance tires I asked to have them (the three old tires) bagged and put into the back of my car. I was told by the attendant working on my car that he would do that for me. In my haste to make...

Posted by on Apr 8, 2011 in Auto, Reviews | 1 comment

Color me disgusted…

…with Cash For Clunkers. I really thought I liked the idea until I watched this video. That car doesn’t look old enough to participate in the program to me, and it seems like instead of taking old beat up buckets of bolts off the road, they’re taking decent used cars that people could either use or scavenge parts off of. I realize that this whole program is designed to ‘stimulate’ the business of selling new cars. However, I can’t help but feel that they are ruining the business of affordable cars for young or disadvantaged people who can’t afford a new vehicle, even with CFC rebates and other discounts. On top of making affordable cars harder to access, they are ruining plenty of parts that could be used to maintain...

Posted by on Jul 31, 2009 in Auto | 0 comments

Update on Scrap

Scrap went in to Motorsport last Thursday. Luckily, it doesn’t appear that he has a busted ringland, or any other sort of imminent threat. Worn rings, was the diagnosis. I’ve always noticed a little a blow-by when opening the oil-fill cap while the motor was running, which, since the WRX requires an even more compact compression tester than most flat fours, was how the issue was diagnosed. Prognosis; unless you want to throw money at it, don’t worry about that. In that vein I loosened the wastegate actuator arm, and remapped the car to bring the boost back up to normal stage II levels. Parts have been ordered for maintenance and updates: Spark Plugs. One step colder NGK Iridiums. NGK BKR7EIX Iridium IX Spark Plug (Amazon Link) JazzyEngineering...

Posted by on Jun 23, 2009 in Auto | 0 comments

Stay Out of The Water…

… the autos are bathing!

Posted by on Jun 15, 2009 in Auto | 0 comments