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Speaking of wheel bearings, I'm having my passenger rear wheel bearing replaced this morning. My dumb@ss has never had a wheel bearing go so I didn't know this buuuuut, I've been driving on a bad wheel bearing for probably 12-15,000 miles and over a year. I'll explain myself but I should have looked further into it. So I went about 10,000 miles on my second tire rotation and I thought I had wore the tires into a bad state because they were humming pretty loud. Like, really loud actually. I figured I'd just rotate them more often to regulate the wear on them. All of this while the tires always looked in really good condition. There was no feathering, cupping, uneven wear, nothing. Right then I should have known to look further but the noise I heard literally just sounded like tire noise. I even made a claim through Nitto because they advertise the tires to be quite, I've had them rotated(even though one interval was pretty long) and they were wearing evenly. I had to take it to a NTB and have them inspected and they said everything was good and they won't warranty them out due to noise. I understood that and didn't throw a fit but was still a little disappointed in the tires being so fckn loud. Welllll, last weekend I drove one of my best friends home and he asked what the noise was. I said the tires and explained to him the BS. He said he was pretty sure that sounded like a bad wheel bearing. Right then I was like, holy sh!t, I didn't even consider this anything mechanical. Sooooo Monday I took the MKC to my local Ford dealership and explained to them the noise and what was going on. They took it in yesterday and sure as hell, it was a bad passenger rear wheel bearing. I dealt with that for over a year, probably about 15,000 miles worth. First, that's extremely dangerous but, in my defense, nothing ever felt off or weird driving. That's why I never thought it was anything mechanical. Second, I feel bad for throwing Nitto under the bus for my own negligence. Third, if you could understand the noise this created, you'd be like "why wouldn't you have done ANYTHING about this sooner?!?" From the inside it literally sounded like I had mud terrain tires on it. Wellll, $700 later and I should have the comfort back in my MKC that I ought to have. Wow, that turned into a story/rant... Hahaha

@oldshurst442 @trinacriabob I will stick with my 3 main meat groups. My Cast Iron butter basted Ribeye. Baby Back Ribs Beef Briskett Beef Kalbi Ribs Chicken Tenders Home Made Pizza Home Made Beef Ramen Chicken Yup went past my 3 meat groups as it is dinner time and I am hungry.

I always LOVE this time of year. Even though I may not like the weather sometimes. Or the dirty slush from thje melting snow. 1. We start with the Cabane a Sucre. My Quebec roots is celebrated with friends and family and co-workers. 2. Greek Easter. My Greek heritage and religion is celebrated with friends and family. 3. Baseball has started which celebrates my almost American citizenship and love for Americana. And to end the love fest 4. NHL playoffs start to celebrate my Canadian heritage. And what better way to start THIS year's playoffs by the Habs MISSING the playoffs, the Bruins starting the play-offs by SHATTERING the NHL records of ost wins AND points leaving the HABS recors pf most points in the freakin' dust. The Maple Leafs getting embarrassed in Game 1 and possibly maybe losing again not winning a freakin play-off series since the Clinton and Chretien Governments... Proud Canadian I am, eh?! But...had the Habs made the play-offs, I might have rooted for them. maybe... prolly NOT! depending... I do want #25.... But Id rather #7...

Changing over to EV the last few years will sag sales for a traditional ICE automaker and then there were the supply issue affecting ALL sales for everyone for 2020 and 2021. Again, this has ALL been discussed with you before. Stop ignoring it just because you can't admit when your "facts" are wrong. BTW, your favorite brand from Germany had deicing sales in 2019, 2020, and 2021 with a small bounce back in 2022. You're not exactly standing on stable ground here with your VW "assessment". (cue endless bar moving response)

So, Tucker... being totally honest now, would you ever lie? I bet 787.5 million dollars that you would lie. Actually...Im willing to bet 2.6 BILLION that you definetely lie! Unto the NEXT lawsuit, Tucker. This time tho, I think it will go all. the. way. You might have to sit yo ass on the chair to do some really really hard 'splainin'. And Ill be lovin' every minute of it! Cant phoquin' wait. Mother Tucker Phoquer!

I woudnt eat alligator or rattlesnake either. But are ye equating Greeks to rednex? Dems are fightin' words, ya hear???!!! Son. I reckon that ...a pair of alligator or rattlesnake cowboy boots on my feets would be gnarly I would think tho. Who needs cow when lizards exist, right? I mean...a Greek fits in with the rednex quite well. We were the originals to say Come and get 'em. And...our original main God was the original dude sleeping around with his sister and daughter catch my drift???!!! Boy. Point very well taken then! Sorry I even brought it up.

1. Audi and Porsche Not on the list...but to me, are the sexiest EV sedans to date. Side profile or any profile for that matter. 2. pains me to admit this...but the Bimmer i4. It looks like a regualr BMW sedan 4 series sedan. None of that nonsense of stylizing a funky EV JUST because its an EV. 3. (TIED) (3 WAY) Celestiq Admittedetly, the rounded rear looks a bit off. But Im guessing pictures dont do it justice. When I see it in the real world, Ill adjust my opinion of it. 3. Model S After all these years, it still looks good. Not as sexy as it was when it came out. Time has aged it. But its still very very nice. But to me, its a classic EV that is still sold. Kinda like the Challenger. Its an old car, but its a classic RIGHT NOW!!! 3. Lucid Air The side view flows nicely. Would be SEXY AF if we were still in the 1990s. So it g be tied with 2 othjer cars in 3rd place. 4. Ioniq 6 Its a quirky design on any profile. Side view actually flows nicely. I like. Wouldnt want to own one though. Too droopy of you will for my tastes. But I like nonetheless. 5. TIED (2 WAY) BMW i7 Looks like the the regualr 7 Series. See i4 reasoning and apply it to this one. Some might call it ugly. I wont argue it. Side profile looks stately. And THAT is what counts for me. A fullsized luxury car NEEDS to look stately. And this one does. I like a lot! 5. Model 3 Frumpy. Dated really really quickly. But in all honesty, it aint bad. I dont like the rest of the cars so I wont even bother rating them. Mercedes' attempts at slippery EV sedans look too much like used bar of soaps. That kind of styling would even be too much roundedness for the 1990s. Its not a bad look per se. I just dont like. The Polestar is too square and too tall. Dont like. Not stately enough. Too tête carré to enjoy. Its NOT hip to be square.

I like the Celesiq and everything from the Ioniq 6 down. The front face of the i7 is its downfall, but the side profile is handsome. The ID.7 I'm not sold on yet from the side. It looks like they were trying to design a wagon and then a manager came in and said, "Actung! This is going to be sold in Amerika! Du kannst nicht!"

ill rank em 1. Model S 2. Air 3. Celestiq - The profile doesn't translate well in photos because its gigantic 4. I4 5. Model 3 6. ID7 7. Polestar 2 8. Ioniq6 9. i7 10. EQS 11. EQE

Before @smk4565 you say VW is going down, they had a stellar Q1 and are on track to do 9.5 million autos globally for 2023. A 14% increase over 2022. Volkswagen Group bolsters expansion in global growth markets after strong Q1 results (volkswagenag.com) Many news media outlets agree with this: Volkswagen's 2023 sales outlook blows past forecast, shares soar - Autoblog BYD has another bigger problem, their growth has been in China and while they are working to expand to Europe, they stopped looking to enter the U.S. market due to negative attitudes towards Chinese made products and the fact that to compete, the IRA bill would require them to buy land and build plants here which they do not want to do as all production is in China and product is being shipped from China throughout Asia and Europe. Once the unions of Europe hear that BYD is not interested in building products in Europe but just ship from China, it will hit them in sales there too. 3 million global auto sales will be hard for BYD I think this year. Closer to 2.25 million for BYD, 2.5 million on the high end maybe.

Yeah, when all of that needs to be done regardless of one or two, just do both. I would have done the same.

Ouch $1500 makes me feel much better, Hahahaha. I didn't realize how much more labor intensive a solid axel wheel bearing job was compared to IRS. So did you do both at the same time just because it would save you money if your other one went out soon thereafter? Ya know, in hindsight, I should have had an indicator it was a wheel bearing issue or at least something mechanical, when they did my tire inspection for Nitto. They said the passenger rear had a little more wear on the inside than the rest of the tires. Right then it should have hit me that something is off. On a little side note, I got so used to how loud my car had gotten and my wife's G isn't exactly quiet itself, being a box on wheels, we rode with my wife's parents to dinner a couple weeks ago and their GL550 was damn near whisper quiet. I literally looked at my wife and said something along the lines of, "how is this so damn quiet?!?" Hahaha It really isn't quieter than most anything else, I was just so used to how loud our vehicles were.

Maybe the worst part about it is the name, Label Red. Not Red Label. Label Red. ? Actually, I don't think it's toooo awful looking. I much prefer the light gold tone they use around the grille instead.

The Escalade rear wheel bearings job was $1,500. I would not attempt it due to the pressing in of the bearings. Your MKC has the ability to drop the small drive line to each hub making it easier to replace whereas the Escalade is like a truck in this regard, they had to pull the differential cover, disconnect the gears and pull the whole center unit and shaft out, pull the bearing unit out and then press in the new ones. I agree with you that 65 to 75K is premature for bearing failure, but Bear Howl is a true thing and once you have heard it, you will catch future issues on any ICE auto again. I am very interested to see how the EVs are done in comparison to ICE in regard to the wheels.

WOW, BMW is doing a Red Line like Chevrolet and wow is it UGLY. The BMW XM Label Red. (bmwgroup.com)

Very good demonstration. They really are nearly identical. I guess I'm wrong with the proportions of the 3. I still like it more and I think it has to do with the much lower front facia and hood. The S still has the long hood though. While it's old, I still think it's a very attractive looking car.

It is interesting to see this next to the Tesla 3 and I now realize maybe it is more being a new EV or the color. Clearly differences in the greenhouse but overall shape is near identical between the two. To me Tesla style is so Blah now that they are forgettable and do not stand out on the road when driving unlike Kia/Hyundai or VW where you see one and it stands out from the other autos. Especially the Ford Mach-e stands out and is readily noticeable. I will grant you seeing it this way that the Tesla S is far better than I realized in this side profile comparison. I will revise my earlier statement and say that the current Tesla S is a better looking auto than the VW or Tesla 3. Sadly, having tried to put my frame into one, it fails on interior space for me.

I don't think I've ever replaced a wheel bearing...my old Jeep probably needed them as it got older..it was making various noises from the rear wheels and a rear axle whine when I retired it at 170K and 16 1/2 years back in '17.

This is very "okay" looking. It's almost exactly how I saw the Passat. It's extremely inoffensive and quite boring but also not bad in any way. It's just... "okay". I'd drive one. Personally, I strongly disagree about Tesla. The 3 and S are still very attractive cars, even thought they're pretty old now. They have the traditional RWD proportions that this just does not have.

Listening to the Wheel Bearings podcast this morning, one of the hosts was talking about a current Subaru and described the 'boxer' engine layout using the an analogy of the piston motions being like a boxer throwing punches. Hmm....I'd always thought the use of 'boxer' to describe a flat/horizontally opposed engine was a reference to it being shaped like a rectangular box. The human boxer motion analogy makes sense, though.

Not the point. You said it was a failure and I showed you that it wasn’t. Your raw number comparison to Tesla did. It change that fact either, hence my previous post. Put the damn bar down or here’s a thought. Stop making up $h! about companies that are not Mercedes just because you are too lazy or too much of a fanboy to actually bother with the facts before you post. He has been told this time and time again yet comes back to the same sales BS. Done holding his fanboy hand over it.

Too much Toyota Prius vibes from the side Not enough American muscle...

Here is a car story. My cousin bought a 1995 Integra brand new back in the day. Black. Special Edition it said on the back. Manual. I HATED it. He traded it in for a 1999 Integra GS-R. Silver. Manual. I HATED it! It got stolen. Several years later... I have learned to appreciate the GS-R and Type R Integra of that vintage. But Ill tell you one thing...even though I appreciate and kinda like that vintage of Integra nowadays, I STILL prefer the '99 Oldsmobile Alero GLS coupe V6 that I bought brand new then over the Integra. And I dont care what ANYbody will say about that. And no, I dont like this Integra at all. I kinda respect it, that and the Civic its based on. But yeah...Not for me.

And as I have proven to you, Tesla was a very slow ramp up in EV sales. Tesla - statistics & facts | Statista VW EV Sales by Year. Volkswagen Group global electric vehicle sales | Statista By the 3rd year, VW had surpassed Tesla from 2015 to 2017 and they had been selling EVs since 2008 when they only sold 2,500 units. Yes year 2016 to 2019 was slow ramp with more compliance EVs than real EVs. Yet 2020 sales took off and 2021. Forecasts have VW surpassing Tesla by the end of 2024 in EV sales. They are ramping up faster than Tesla in 2021 was only 173,100 ahead of VW. At the rate VW is ramping up, there is a good chance they could surpass Tesla this year, but for sure I expect VW to surpass them and GM will be coming on strong as they ramp up EV production. This is an Apples to Apples comparison as both results are from the leading statistics supplier Statista. FYI - GM broke 500,000 EV sales globally in 2021 per General Motors global electric vehicle sales | Statista which we know that China is the biggest market for GM right now. Chart: General Motors' EV Sales Are Charging Up | Statista

Im hungry too... Thanx for the pics. PS: Its GREAT to be GREEK. At least when it comes to food... Seafood. Meats. All KINDS of meats. But veggies too. We are very very into legumes. Dont forget fruits. Ahhhhh yes!!! Its GREAT to be GREEK!!! PSS: I reckon you make what it seems to be AWESOME food @David!!! Thanx for posting all the food you make. It makes my day when you post!!!!!!!!!!

Not a fan of the super short trunk lid and I wish every car wasn’t just big screens inside but that is the trend. It is kind of boring looking but most VW’s are. Hard to have an opinion until we know what the price is.

VW is on steady decline, I can easily see them at 6 million units per year in 2030. And Tesla will be around 8-10 million, BYD could get to 6.5 million and pass VW. Now if BYD can’t expand much out of Asia then VW could stay ahead of them, but I can still see Tesla, Hyundai and Toyota all in front of VW come 2030. Stallantis will probably drop from their current number so I think VW could still edge them out.

Switching to ICE shouldn't be hurting their sales, they still make the Golf, Jetta, Tiguan, Atlas and they introduced the Taos. Killed the Passat but that was a sales dud anyway. Their sales dropped because their ICE cars aren't selling and their supply chain is no doubt jacked up because they rely on Eastern Europe and Ukraine for a lot of parts. But Tesla increased sales in the same time frame, they solved supply chain. Here are 2019 US sales on the left and 2022 sales on the right. Most of these brands are done, some like Honda and Ford have lost 500,000 units, Nissan has lost about half its volume, Buick and Dodge lost half their volume, VW is down about 1/3. BMW, Hyundai and Kia are up slightly, Tesla more than doubled. Mercedes down 10,000 units, but they are up in 2023, they should pass 2019 levels this year, which is pretty good considering Tesla hit the luxury market first and they survived. Once Tesla rolls out the lower priced cars and hits the mainstream these brands that are struggling now are going to be headed for bankruptcy. And VW is getting outsold by BMW, Mercedes and Lexus right now and that is with VW's cheap cars. The id4 is priced and sized like a GLB or Lexus NX, the iD7 will be priced higher than a Lexus ES. Who is going to buy these VW's with Lexus-level pricing when people aren't buying VW's at Toyota level pricing? JLR, Nissan, Mitsubishi (and Renault) are done, (Subaru and Mazda will be bought by Toyota). Honda, Stellantis and VW in 10 years will be half what they are now. None of them stand a chance against Tesla. Toyota has so much size and cash, I think they will put up a fight, and GM and Ford will put up a good fight in the USA, but won't have the global scale Tesla will have. Hyundai/Kia are a strong contender, although they don't make much profit per car, so if ICE sales drop and they aren't making profit on EV's they have no margin for error.