Slightly OT Tire Pressure

And the dealer got paid to do a pre-delivery service - which included resetting the tire pressures - and didn't do it.

Not a very good dealer. I PDS'd hundreds of new cars during my career as a mechanic.

Reply to
clare
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No. they are more expensive. They install them because people think they are "sporty" Big honking "DUB" style rims with low profile tires give you a more "direct" steering feel because the sidewalls don't flex as much (is the theory). The reduced sidewall comliance makes them ride like a plank wagon (is the reality), and any time you hit a pothole at any speed they get to sell you a new tire AND rim because the tire cannot protect the rim.

Reply to
clare

There are no Cosco stores near me and Sams Club is far enough away that we seldom get there. We were a member, but moved about 20 miles away so let it go.

Reply to
Ralph Mowery

The auto company recommendations are written by lawyers to protect the auto company from litigation.

I know a guy that runs 46 psi in his car tires. He claims the increased fuel mileage more than offsets the decreased tire life. OTOH, I would think 46 psi would yield poor braking performance...not a trade-off I'd be willing to make.

Reply to
Wild Bill

I guess in the USA, we can worry about politics. Who will be the next leader of the free world?

Reply to
Stormin Mormon

Who? What?

- . Christopher A. Young learn more about Jesus .

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. .

Reply to
Stormin Mormon

We go to BJ's, similar setup. They have converted a lot of products to their Berkley & Jensen brand. They are identical to the name brand and a little cheaper. I don't hesitate to buy their brand. I've always heard good things about Kirkland too. Have you tried them?

Reply to
Ed Pawlowski

How consistent do you expect it to be? Both front tires are the same, both rear tires are the same, but are 2 psi higher than the front. Close enough for me.

Remind her that 33 and 34 are really very close with rounding. 33.4 will read low and 33.5 will read high. Could drive you nuts trying to get perfect reading with different temperatures.

Before you had a readout the pressures were probably much worse that what you see. Put some black tape where the actual readout is.

Came with one of the packages on my car. Once in a while it is annoying, but other times it is handy. Could be a lifesaver if you were to doze off. It will steer for me but alarms if you have your hands off the wheel very long. This is my car

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Reply to
Ed Pawlowski

As foes every grocery chain. Some do it better than others, most are good quality, identical to the name brand.

True. They make more money but they usually sell it at a lower price and save me money too. I'm in favor of that.

I don't understand your thinking. Kirkland is a brand, just as all the others. I judge by the quality of the product and value, not the name on the label. Costco has a reputation to uphold so the sell quality products. Over the years my job has taken me to many manufacturing and processing factories. I've seen identical products coming down the line but getting different labels and selling at different prices.

If they do change the quality, by all means change, but just because it says Kirkland instead of Heinz or Del Monte does not mean it is not good.

If the alternative is not as good, you are right. If the alternative is the same product with a different label I'll reward myself by saving money.

Reply to
Ed Pawlowski

Not a question of watching to see that they "are the same". Rather, noting that "the back left is lower than it was yesterday... and more than the day before that... while the other ones are roughly the same as they were".

I.e., if they will change, then they should change in similar fashion. If they are to stay the same, then they should similarly stay the same.

The fact that the dealer was able to find a defect suggests the measurements were accurate ("precise") enough for that sort of use.

Pay for something and then not use it? :>

The technologies that relied on the forward facing camera (lane deviation, smart cruise control, and ) we deemed to be not worth the $1K adder. We drive almost exclusively "in town". The car claims we have spent 99 hours and 59 minutes (!) in the car, since purchase. It claims an average speed of 17MPH for that usage.

At this rate, we'll hit 100K miles in about 20 years...

Reply to
Don Y

Never saw Copper River but I was buying Bear & Wolf and they went to a Kirkland labeled can. it's still from Trident which owns Bear & Wolf and from visual inspection is the same.

It's a little different than the Walmart house brands that usually say something like 'The manufacturers of Gold Bond Medicated Powder deny all responsibility and knowledge of this crap'.

Reply to
rbowman

We don't buy "store brands" for the same reason.

There are several issues involved in a purchase decision:

- price

- quality

- availability Store brands hide their suppliers. You'll never see a notice on a store brand claiming "better supplier" -- or even DIFFERENT supplier. So, each purchase is a crap shoot. They can tweek the price by offering you a different (quality) product this week and the "regular" product NEXT week, etc.

And, as it's a store brand, you have no way of comparing price/quality to other suppliers/vendors.

I can't see if Kirkland peanuts are selling at a BETTER price at Sam's club! And, if Costco is out of stock, there's nothing I can do about it -- there are no "other vendors" for that product!

When it comes to foodstuffs, there's no PRACTICAL amount of money that I can save that will compensate for the time preparing the meal/item only to be disappointed in the outcome.

If I make a cheesecake, I may put a few dollars worth of cream cheese, a few dollars of canned fruit, and a couple of dollars of dry ingredients into the bowl. Call it a $6 investment?

And 5 hours of my time. Imagine if I opted for a house-brand of any/all of those ingredients and managed to save ALL SIX DOLLARS! And, five hours later, realize I've got a piece of crap on my hands! It may be a cheesecake but nowhere near the quality folks would expect from that effort on my part!

Likewise, I could buy Kirkland almonds to make SWMBO's chocolate covered almonds. And, Kirkland's chocolate chips! And, painstakingly coat them one at a time, roll them in cocoa powder and set them aside to dry. After a few hours, have enough to justify the effort.

Then, the next day, discover that the almonds are hard and have little/no flavor. Or, the chocolate is overly sweet. etc.

OTOH, I can use the ghiardelli dark chocolate, the imported almonds and the dutch cocoa powder and be *sure* they're taste will reflect my effort.

I'll buy plastic trash can liners from Kirkland... and toilet paper!

You've never seen a firm producing two different grades of "the same" product? One with their brand and another with a third-party brand? Often, product is sorted "at test" into "good enough for our standards" and "not good enough for us -- but good enough for the firm that has hired us".

How do you *know* its the same product with a different label? Do you have a friend "on the inside"? Will it be the same product next week? Or, will they have swapped to a different supplier as no one *appeared* to notice the difference in quality?

The veggie chili I mentioned at TJ's has been out of stock for several months, now. When you inquire, it's a "problem with our supplier". Yet, the supplier (Amy's) has had no problem supplying other stores with the *Amy's* branded product. So, the "problem" is most probably one of cost/profit in TJ's eyes.

The sherry that we used to buy from them has been out of stock since October. Two or three MONTHS to "acquire" something as simple as sherry? I suspect yet another "problem" with THAT supplier.

Should we wait around for them to resolve these "problems"? Will the new product actually be the same as the old product? Or, will they have found yet another supplier to put THEIR name on?

Or, we could find another product that is available from a variety of sources and shop for price between those. And, know that we won't have to scramble to find the product at ONLY the one supplier (TJ's)

Reply to
Don Y

We don't buy any Kirkland-branded food products (SWMBO will buy their frozen blueberries when fresh are hard to come by; and she turns her nose up when forced to eat them). We used to buy a lot of chicken, there, but went to regular supermarkets after one batch of Kirkland's "solution" to that problem.

Over the years, our Costco purchases have steadily decreased in volume and dollar amount. Typically, toilet paper, Kleenex (SWMBO doesn't like Kirkland's tissues), Philly cream cheese, GM Cheerios (when I am feeling nostalgic), Famous Dave's pickles, name-brand condiments, Fage yogurt, Swift Premium (?) pork tenderloins, S&W crushed tomatoes (we no longer buy tomato paste there because Kirkland has decided they can do it better than the legacy suppliers), Hickman's eggs, etc.

Most baking supplies can be purchased for much less from regular grocers by watching for sales. We pay much less for chicken than we ever did at Costco by tracking sales. We buy Amaretto (for biscotti) in bulk at the holidays for much less than Costco ever sold it (*when* they opted to carry it!). We get bread products for less than Costco sells them by visiting the "factory outlet store" down the road from us.

My attempt at Kirkland-brand bluejeans was very disappointing. I'm now back to Levi's and Wrangler's at virtually the same price (by watching for sales) but better quality.

If Costco went away, our food budget for some items would increase (I'd make far fewer cheesecakes as buying that in 8 oz packages is far too costly) but we wouldn't be stuck trying to find an alternate supplier!

Reply to
Don Y

From my observation of the past couple of days, it is going to drive you nuts. When I parked my car yesterday afternoon, after adding some air, the two fronts were the same, the two rears were the same. This morning at 19 degrees, all four had different readings. Driving 1/4 mile had them all lower, Driving a couple of more miles had them out of sync again. I know I have adequate pressure so I switched to a different screen.

Given your average of 17 mph, tire pressure is even less worrisome. Crusing for 5 hours on a hot highways it makes a difference.

I put on about 22 to 23,000 a year. This year may be more as we plan to take a 5000+ mild trip in the spring. The smart cruise control is something I use every day and it works well. My favorite option the past couple of days though, is the heated steering wheel.

Reply to
Ed Pawlowski

So far we agree.

I've not found that to be true. I have found them to be as consistent as the name brands.

Then I'd take an alternative, most like a name brand.

While I agree in principle, I've not found it to be an issue. I often buy a store brand cream cheese and it is just as good as the Kraft product. Simple taste test would tell you to either stop or go ahead.

I'd not try a major thing like that unless I actually tried the chocolate. There are many variations, some better, some not so. It is also possible that the Kirkland chips are far better. Only one way to find out.

I don't shop at Aldi for that reason. Costco tends to sell top qujality products, where Aldi is selling price. They would be more likely to have the "good enough" stuff. I don't know that for certain, but they advertise price more than anything. I know their meats are second rate water injected stuff, Costco is not.

I don't know, but the usual price of admission is pretty cheap. Again, Costco can be trusted to have good quality o I'll give it a try. Some people prefer Hunt's ketchup over Heinz. That does not make one good, the other bad. Just different.

Could be that Amy does not have the capacity to do both. Could be a lot of things. Often, when there is a problem with the supplier it means "we didn't pay the bill", but could be a lot of reasons.

Reply to
Ed Pawlowski

It's only going to be a problem in the winter months. Last night we went out to pick up a few items. 46F and pressures were 39/37. I have to just not let the tire monkeys decide what's "best" (based on some naive "rule" they have adopted -- without regard to current conditions at the time they go to fill the tires!)

Heat is something we *seldom* need! Aside from "formal functions", I don't think I've ever worn a long sleeve shirt in the 20+ years I've lived here. If I'm going to be outside, at night, in the cold (e.g., covering the citrus trees for a cold spell), I'll put on a long-sleeve sweatshirt for the hour or so I'll be exposed to 30-40F. The overnights when it dropped to 15F I actually wore a winter jacket for that time in the yard -- 5 nights over

20+ years!

The other day, the placement of SWMBO's purse ended up turning on my seat heater (stupid place for controls!). "WTF??! Why is my *ss getting warm??"

When shopping for cars, we saw many black-on-black models. I asked the saleswoman at one place (we were test-driving a black-on-black unit) "Who the hell buys a black car with a black interior in this part of the country??" Her answer, "primarily Asians" (no idea *why*...)

We were annoyed that we couldn't get cloth seats in the cars we looked at. So, we put *towels* on the leather seats (tacky).

Reply to
Don Y

Having worked in industries that engaged in these practices (as a QC tech in one!), I know that to be the case. "Against which specifications am I checking *this* lot? Ours? Or, someone else's??"

I don't eat cream cheese. Nor the cheese cake that I make. And, there's no guarantee that what it tastes like today (with the vendor du jour) will be the same as what it will taste like next time.

Do you really think they buy their milk from the same dairies each time they bring in a batch to sell?

I make marinara/bolognese sauce in 16 qt batches. It takes ~12-14 hours for me to get an *idea* as to what it will taste like after it WILL HAVE a chance to "sit" for a few days. I sure don't want to drop "random-tomato-product" into the sauce and HOPE that 12 hours later I *think* it will be worth the time and effort expended.

When I moved here, it took me many months to come up with a new Rx for my sauce because the tomato product vendor of choice wasn't available here. That's a lot of wasted effort, cost and "substandard meals"!

Let's assume Kirkland's tomato products are BETTER than the competition! Then, Kirkland decides to stop selling them. Where do I go to purchase them? Do I now have to try all the other brands -- even the OBSCURE ones -- in the hope of rediscovering Kirkland's supplier?

As I said, the "pennies" saved by buying a Kirkland-branded product don't compensate for the risk in time expended using that product!

If Kirkland's TP disappoints me, I can throw it all out and I've only "lost" that "one, disappointing WIPE". If Kirkland's trash bags disappoint me (tear too easily), I've, at most, got one 10G bag of trash to pick up off the floor -- and one box of trash bags to discard. If Kirkland's "plastic cling wrap" disappoints, I walk across the street and borrow some "Saran" wrap until I can buy some at a non-Costco store.

Note that it's not that we're biased against Costco/Kirkland but, rather, against house brands -- that, for the most part, originate to meet a price point, not a "quality point". (You don't really think Costco decided "No one makes toilet paper that is good enough for our high standards! We'll have to offer our own brand in order to meet the needs of our customers!").

So, we don't buy Kroger, Kirkland, TJ's, etc.

So, each time I make something like that, I have to do a "test run" BEFORE the "real event"? And how is that saving me anything??

The Ghiardelli chips have worked fine for years. And, now that Costco no longer carries them, we buy them from Sam's or the local grocers (when on sale, they are cheaper than Costco's were). Buying "brand name" lets us cut the ties to Costco when they can't/won't meet the price point -- without our having to change quality in the products we buy.

I don't recall hearing the "Aldi" name, here. I think the major chains are Whole Foods/Reay's, Fry's, Safeway, Albertson's. There used to be "Abco" but they disappeared.

And, of course, all the various specialty stores that carry products that the chains won't (e.g., we are sorely limited in the brands of asian products that we can purchase at the supermarkets -- even the largest ones).

I long ago decided Hunts tomato products were too "heavy" tasting. I won't use them in any of my Rx's -- even if it means paying a much higher price at a store farther away.

E.g., I needed tomato paste for the batch of sauce I made a few nights ago. Costco carried the S&W ground tomatoes -- but only "kirkland" paste. So, I stopped in at the Albertson's along the route home and made my Contadina purchase, there.

Costco *used* to offer these products. But doesn't. Do I really think their reason was because Contadina's products WEREN'T OF HIGH ENOUGH QUALITY??

It could be Amy is leaving that market. We've been watching availability of "Amy" products (the chili, in particular) at OTHER (operative word!) outlets in the months since TJ's started "having problems with their supplier". We've had no problem obtaining it. Don't see the price point moving (up or down) to suggest problems with profitability, sales volume, etc.

The more likely reason is that TJ's wants a better price point based on THEIR sales and its perceived value to THEM. Just like the coffee flavored candies, canned bean salad, sherry, chocolate covered almonds, nonorganic cauliflower, etc.

Maybe they just can't meet the payment terms. Maybe... ??? Regardless, by NOT being tied to an off-brand product, we can just drive across the street and buy the products that we want THERE!

Reply to
Don Y

snipped-for-privacy@snyder.on.ca posted for all of us...

+1 *as usual*
Reply to
Tekkie®

snipped-for-privacy@snyder.on.ca posted for all of us...

Another +1 geez...

Reply to
Tekkie®

snipped-for-privacy@snyder.on.ca posted for all of us...

+1000 you lead them to water...
Reply to
Tekkie®

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