Q: Just lately, I was informed by two repair retailers that I wanted to replace the authentic catalytic converter on my 2005 Honda Accord coupe. The Honda dealer wherever I obtained the car encouraged a selected shop since a particular mechanic doing work there may well be able to help you save the previous a person with welding or working with an expander. The supplier said a new OEM cat from him would charge far more than the benefit of the car or truck. Neither fix shop would permit me consider the previous cat. The regional scrap garden explained it belonged to me and I should really insist, but that did not aid. So, you could say there is far more than one particular sort of catalytic converter theft. Why is it Okay for the shop to preserve the outdated section that I experienced compensated for?
C.O., Syracuse, New York
A: Your elements are yours — just about anything eliminated from your vehicle, even the battery. But listed here is the fantastic print: a core charge. You have the option to shell out the main charge and maintain the outdated part or let the store hold the component and get its main demand money again. The main cost is like a deposit held for the return of the applied element and encourages returning it. Main charges are established by suppliers based on the value of the supplies in the aspect or its reusability. Your store compensated a main demand and then received its funds back again from its provider. If you obtain and set up a battery, the retail store will demand you $10-20 but you will get it again when you return your outdated battery.
Q: I appreciate your delicate and not so refined humor in a lot of of your replies. Keep up the superior get the job done.
I own a Subaru Forester. My spouse may well quickly be the operator of a Subaru Outback. I stopped obtaining snow tires in 1983 (I imagine). She confirmed me an posting that produced me ponder: My pondering is that most of the suburban roadways listed here (we are living in the Chicago suburbs) are salted and that “winter season tires” are not essential. However, my wife does take outings farther west of us, which get her on farm streets where there is occasionally blowing and drifting snow during the winter months. What are your feelings on winter season tires? Should I go back to my 1983 practices? (Possibly I could even buy some parachute trousers.)
M.S., St. Charles, Illinois
A: I have listened to that individuals baggy bottoms are coming back. Ugh. But wintertime tires (never call them snow tires) never ever went out of model — especially in the snow belt. You may possibly get by high-quality with all-period tires in the Plains states like Illinois, but wintertime tires are valuable there, far too. An extra profit is that winter season tires help cease the car in a shorter length than all-year or summertime tires.
Q: We’re instructed there is a right way to demand cell telephones to protect battery wellness and longevity (cost when you’re at 20{09e594db938380acbda72fd0ffbcd1ef1c99380160786adb3aba3c50c4545157}, no right away charging, etcetera.) Is the very same genuine of EVs?
B.D., Woodstock, Illinois
A: Yes and no. The batteries life in electric powered vehicles would experience the exact same fate as cell cell phone batteries. However, the vehicle’s computer systems protect against charging to 100 {09e594db938380acbda72fd0ffbcd1ef1c99380160786adb3aba3c50c4545157} in spite of what your gauge may say. Ditto for jogging the demand down to zero. In other words and phrases, there is a crafted-in cushion or buffer to protect battery lifestyle.
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