Blog

Short blog posts, journal entries, and random thoughts. Topics include a mix of personal and the world at large.

Fixing a puncture

As a car enthusiast, it’s always satisfying to work on your own car. You know for sure that the job will be done correctly, and any mistake made you have nobody to blame but yourself. It sure beats making an appointment at a car shop, only to wait the entire day (if not more) to get your car back. (How long does it take to perform an oil change, honestly?) Never mind the fact shop labor rates have inflated just like everything else.

DIY whenever you can to save some money.

I drew an unlucky straw recently and got a puncture on the passenger front tire. No big deal, I’ve all the tools to plug a tire, provided it’s right on the tread surface (it was). On the BMW M2 it was my first time removing a wheel fastened on by lug bolts (instead of the lug nuts). The bolts came out easy enough, but the wheel was sort of seized onto the hub. Apparently this is a thing with BMW wheels. I’m fortunate to live in a mild climate, so a few hard wiggle of the wheel did the trick to loosen it.

The problem with lug bolts is when it comes time to put the wheel back on. On a car with wheel studs it’s super easy to align the bolt pattern. With no protruding studs of any kind on the M2, I have to masterfully cradle wheel whilst in a squat position, then carefully turn it to align the bolt holes. I should have done some Googling before this job, because apparently they sell an alignment pin to make this as effortless as wheel studs. Hopefully it goes on sale for Black Friday…

Those of us who lift weights consistently do so for the aesthetic appeal. Anybody that tells you otherwise is probably lying. Another aim for my resistance training is to be functionally strong. I insist on doing overhead pressing because holding a heavy weight above your head is a primary movement in everyday life. I squat so that I can be in a squat position comfortably for over an hour while fixing a tire puncture. I deadlift, so that I can hand-hold an over 40 pound wheel and tire for multiple minutes.

There’s really no downsides to weight lifting, other than the time commitment. And the soreness afterwards.

Stock up, stock down

San Francisco is seeing the first big rain storm of the season. I am somewhat regretting not replacing the tires on my BMW M2 before this. The stock Michelin Pilot Super Sport tires are on the final few thousand miles of usable life. (Current mileage of the M2 is 20,214.) These high performance summer tires are not the best in the rain when new, so it’s downright sketchy when the grooves are worn down. I’m definitely not turning on the performance modes in these wet conditions.

The reason I haven’t yet replace the tires is because I am cheap. I want to delay the inevitable $1,500 charge to replace all four for as long as possible. That doesn’t mean I’m avoiding driving; like a good Chinese immigrant I simply wish to maximize the usage out of a product. I paid for the tires, did I not, in the original purchase price of the BMW? This is the equivalent of adding water to a near empty shampoo bottle in order to use every last bit of it.

The reason I’m being so unreasonably stingy (I don’t make bad money) is because our workplace is facing a fiscal crisis. While I am confident in my abilities and what I contribute to the job, I simply do not have the seniority years to feel completely secure. In the event layoffs do happen, and I am affected, I want to be fully financially prepared. That means stashing away money and squeezing out the utility of things I already have. Black Friday shopping for the dopamine hit will not be in my vocabulary.

Just because a university is a non-profit doesn’t mean no profits. Students pay tuition, staff and faculty have to earn a living. You can’t idealize your way out of hard numbers, especially when cuts have to be made. Under-utilized classes should be the first to go.

In turn, Universities should lean on majors that are popular. For as long as I’ve been at San Francisco State (since 2007), nursing is an impacted program. Meaning: demand outstrips supply. Why does this remain so? The nursing major should have expanded to accommodate the demand long ago. Leverage the popularity and competence to make SF State a known destination for nursing (and whichever other in-demand programs). Give the students what they want!

Capitalism is not without faults. So long as that’s the system we are in, that’s the system we have to work around.

This might be it

I think if something unfortunate were to happen to my BMW M2, I would probably replace it with something tame and economical. (The refreshed Tesla Model 3, rear-wheel drive with the long range battery is looking good.) The new enthusiast car market has gotten so expensive that the logical brain side of me doesn’t want to pay for something that largely sits (I don’t have a commute). The new Porsche 911 GT3 starts at $200,000 now - $40,000 more than the previous model - which is absolutely insane. Makes me feel slightly better about paying $126,000 for a 2015 model back in 2019.

Even the cheap end of the continuum is in the mid $30,000s (Toyota GR86, or the venerable Mazda Miata). While that is somewhat affordable for me, what isn’t affordable is the insurance costs for enthusiasts cars. I would know: it’s quite expensive to insure the BMW fully. Again, logical brain is working overtime to convince me that maybe this whole love of cars is getting defeated by monetary mathematics.

But we’re suppose to spend a high proportion of our money on hobbies, right? I can’t be looking at my vehicle situation from the lens of a regular person. In their case, yes, they should limit the spend on what is the second biggest money purchase (first would be the house, if anybody can afford one around here). It makes zero sense to drop extravagantly on a depreciating asset. To do it financially responsibly, people should buy a brand new Toyota Corolla and drive it as long as possible.

Because I like cars, and have liked them since I was a kid, I get to spend more of my adult money on them. But these days the adult brain is cautioning loudly against the inflated costs of vehicle ownership. I actually paid off the M2 earlier this year. I certainly feel more carefree with that monthly car payment now extra cushion in my savings account. It’s a very good feeling. The 10 years ago me would have already used that freed up money to buy another car.

Either I have tremendous self discipline, or it is indeed true that there are seasons to life. Perhaps I’ve outgrown my car enthusiasm…

Waning enthusiasm

I guess gas prices (in the San Francisco Bay Area) is just going to stay in the five dollars per gallon threshold? We’re never going to see the number 3 again in front of the decimal point are we? Unless of course we move to other parts of the country where not only do they have cheaper gas than California, but they also have higher octane! (93 versus 91.) If I’m getting reamed in the butt on petrol price, at least give me the best gasoline possible.

It’s a good thing then that I’ve only driven 4,000 miles since the previous September. Paying over $70 to fill up the BMW M2 is so not the business. As much as I like driving, the cost of gas adds up very quickly. At least that is something I can control. The higher insurance premiums that we all received in our last renewals? Nothing I can do about that.

Perhaps my car enthusiasm is waning? I don’t know. I took the M2 in to the dealership for service last week, and I keep thinking what a hassle it is. Even though I’m not removing a single bolt myself, it’s still time out of my day to drive it to the dealership (on the other side of the city). Imagine if I didn’t own a car at all - how much simpler it would be. No gas price shocks, no insurance premiums, no maintenance costs, no worries about parking it somewhere and risking some asshole damaging the car.

Of course, it’s not tenable to not have a car. I rely too much on Costco trips to fight the ongoing inflation. But I’m thinking maybe I don’t need to own a high-strung sports car. It would be cheaper and less stressful to instead own a car an old man would drive. Something boring, something dead nuts reliable. That can only mean one thing: a Toyota.

Change is the only constant, right? I’ve like cars since I was a kid. Who knows, maybe that enthusiasm does come to an end.

First time?

BMW drivers have the infamous reputation of being assholes on the road. We completely disregard proper road manners. Turn signals? What are those? Add to that the magnificently instant power of electric motors, and the asshole intensifies even more…

I recently took my BMW M2 to the dealer for its annual service. For loaner vehicle I was given a BMW i5 - an all-electric BMW 5 Series. It’s the first time I’ve ever driven an electric car, never mind that it’s my first service loaner to not be powered by dinosaur juice. I was instantly a fan: unlike a gas loaner where I have to refill the amount I use, for an EV loaner there’s no expectation of charging back to the initial level! As a fan of decreasing the amount of hassles in my life, this development is lovely.

Back to the BMW i5. The instant torque of electric motors is indeed very intoxicating. No naturally-aspirated gas engine can match the response of an electric motor. With such accessible power, electric cars invite drivers to be aggressive. It’s too easy! Anybody that’s in front of you can be passed in an eye blink. Any gap in traffic can be filled before other drivers can react. Even for me, someone who prefers to do the speed limit in the slow lane, the i5 loaner egged me to test out its capabilities. The fastest car in the world is a rental EV.

Not that I wasn’t of this opinion before, but having driven an EV finally, I am more convinced that you should absolutely buy electric if you are able to charge it at home. The power is nice, yes, but so is the negligible maintenance cost (brakes and tires, mostly). And if you believe in the whole better-for-the-environment mission (let’s skip over the mining materials for the batteries part), even better.

If I actually had a commute, I wouldn’t look at anything but an all-electric car.

In case of emergency

The problem with modern cars is that they don’t come with spare tires. My BMW M2 certainly does not have one. In its trunk space where a spare is suppose to be, there’s the 12-volt battery (because race car), and a can of tire goo. There’s no emergency jack, or a lug wrench to take off the wheels. In the event of a puncture, I would hook that can to the faulty tire’s valve stem, and the goo is suppose to fill up the tire’s innards. Doing so is suppose to buy me just enough time and mileage to get the car to a tire repair shop.

Oh by the way, the punctured tire that I just filled with goo? It’s irreplaceable. Even if the offending hole is otherwise small enough to be patched. I guess BMW really expect its owners to have the income to replace a $300 tire (if you don’t cheap out, that is) without it hurting. Don’t forget: for balance, you typically should replace the other tire on the same axle as well. That’s $600 in potential repair simply because of a tiny piece of sharp object on the road surface. It’s either that, or call a tow truck. (Presumably, being left stranded on the side of the road is not a choosable option.)

I went with a third option: making and packing my own emergency tire kit. The consensus on the best scissor jack for BMW cars is this $25 unit from Harbor Freight. The head fits into BMW jacking points perfectly. Also from Harbor Freight is this heavy duty tire repair kit. It has everything: plier to extract the foreign object, reamer to prepare the hole, insertion tool for the rubber plugs, and a blade to cut off the excess. The $22 it costs is vastly cheaper than replacing an entire tire. You hate on Made in China until you have to pay for Made in the USA prices.

Lastly, I bought this lug wrench from Amazon. It’s got the necessary 17mm socket for BMW lug bolts. With these three tools packed in the M2’s trunk, I can tackle any puncture during road trips, short of something catastrophic. (That can of goo isn’t going to do much for a hole that size, either.) Best of all, I can take these tools with me to whatever my next car would be. Because it’s very likely that will also not have a spare tire or emergency tools.

I want to DIY

Speaking of routine maintenance on my BMW M2. For now, I still take the car to the dealership for servicing. The first three years of that was free - every new BMW sold in America has that perk. Then I prepaid for the following two years of maintenance for about $800.

That may read super expensive to you, the person who takes your car to the local Jiffy Lube for $35 oil changes (perhaps it is much higher these days, what with the rampant inflation going on). But that $800 is for more than just two oil changes. Plus, I get a free rental car from the dealership. It would be nice if they give me one of those sharp-looking BMW X1 SUVs for a test drive…

But I will be in a conundrum after year five of owning the M2. Do I continue to pay dealership prices? Once you start changing out spark plugs and the rear differential fluid (every three years), the invoice gets mighty high. If I remember correctly, it’s about $3,000 to change out a full set of four brake pads and rotors! Good thing I don’t put that many miles on the car…

The dream is to have a small warehouse space when I can do all the servicing myself. A space completely dedicated to the car. Obviously, that doesn’t solve the cost problem that I was just rambling about the paragraph before. In fact, paying rent for a warehouse would surely be more expensive than paying for servicing at the dealership. But at least I can be sure the job is done correctly. The old adage goes: “If you want something done right, you do it yourself.” I would like nothing more than to have the space and tools to maintain my cars properly, with my own hands.