Welcome to the IHoP

[Penguin4x4 1,761]

[Penguin4x4 1,761]

Production has officially ended for the current gen M5

the King is dead, long live the King...and stuff

[sandt38 448]

2 minutes till the download of "Clash of the Titans" is complete. 4.37Gb, BlurayRip FTW.

edit: brb, going to watch it.

Hoho... nice movie. Pretty decent story line, lots of effects etc.

And words cannot express what I will do to Gemma

I was disappointed in it. I saw it at the show and wish I had waited 'till it came out on BluRay. While the special effects were sweet, I liked the original better.

[Penguin4x4 1,761]

Hi there, my name's David. Nice to meet you. That's not my real name, because I like my job, and you'll see why I'm going anonymous in a moment. First though, I'm a car salesman. That's right, I'm the

enemy. We're one of the larger BMW dealerships in England. We're a bit different — we're here to make sure you get the car you want, and if possible we want you to pay less for it here than anywhere else.

As part of this, we're fairly liberal with our test drives. A few years back Volvo started doing "weekend" test drives at some of their main dealerships, where for the cost of a small returnable-if-you-don't-crash deposit you could test-drive a new Volvo all weekend. What did I learn? You can in fact fit an inflatable mattress into the back of a V70 whilst going at about 50 mph over a road that will, in half an hour, be home to hundreds of Subaru Imprezas on the Jim Clark tarmac rally. And yes, you can drive one past the BMW dealership where you work as long as you disguise yourself in sunglasses.

Anyway, in an attempt to retaliate, we now offer 24-hour test drives to some of our customers. If you walk in pimply-faced and with a sticker saying you've just passed your test, you're not going to be driving away in an M5. Sorry. On the flipside, if you look smart, have a clean license, and give us the impression that you're genuinely interested in buying a new (or used) BMW, then you're in luck.

This is all a long-winded way of getting to the point. You may have noticed that BMW started selling the BMW X6 in 2008. Actually, you can't not have noticed. It's the second-ugliest car on sale today.

Regardless, we had two set aside for test drives. Two of our favourite customers were in last weekend. One of them, Fred (not his real name), has been buying from us for over 30 years. Except for the last few, we'd seen no sign of him except occasional hilarious phone calls asking if that "nasty Bangle bloke had left yet". Since Bangle quit BMW in 2009, Fred had started returning, despite the fact all our cars were flame-surfaced. He got a 24-hour X6 test drive with no problems. I was just glad to get it off our forecourt.

The other customer interested in an X6 that weekend was Gid (again, pseudonym). I think he's a banker, judging by his cheap-looking suits. After checking his driving license (clean), he too got a 24 hour test drive. I'd dealt personally with both Fred and Gid, which meant they had my mobile number as a contact number in case of a breakdown (unlikely with a 3 week old car, but not unheard of). When a call came in from an unknown number, I expected something bad. I really wasn't expecting what happened.

It was Fred on the phone, sounding incredibly apologetic. He was only a mile or so from the dealership, and on a roundabout had lost traction on a large pothole that had turned into a puddle in the rain, and he ended up hitting another car. One of those "horrible new Mercedes tractors", he said. As I spoke to him, my mobile phone bleeped, telling me I had another incoming call. I promised to drive out to Fred in just a moment, put him on hold, and spoke to the second caller.

It was Gid. He'd had an accident and sounded fairly shook up. He was pulling out in second gear, had stalled (In an automatic? How?!), and something plowed into him. One of those "Audi whale-sized tanks", apparently.

Well, one crash, as they say, is unfortunate. Two starts to look like carelessness. I headed to Fred first. When I got there –- you might have guessed where this is going – I found what at first looked like a bomb had hit. There were trails of plastic and metal across half the roundabout, with shards of glass everywhere too. Fred himself was fine, although shaken. And what had he hit? Yep, Gid, in the other X6. Who was also fine, but whose demonstration vehicle now had an impressive X6-shaped dent in the side.

I couldn't help it. It was unprofessional, but I took cameraphone photos. Trying desperately hard not to laugh, I took the pics (for "insurance purposes", honestly), and introduced the two of them to each other. We took shelter in the 5-series I'd driven from the dealership and waited for the police. Both started to see the funny side eventually. Me? I was just glad that two more monstrosities had been wiped from the UK.

Oh, and as a postscript –- they both bought X6s in the end. It was something to do with their safety in an accident, apparently.

[Penguin4x4 1,761]

sexy

[cheese20323 13]

One of my Favorite scenes from James Bond Quantum of Solace including a perfectly good Aston Martin F up but still looks good.

[Penguin4x4 1,761]

LR: 950 JDJ Bullet., 950 empty case and loaded round, 50 BMG round, 577 Nitro, 700 JDJ, empty case and 1100 grain bullet

[Adrian_D 520]

Come on LUCK ! Adrian wants a broken Audison VRX cheap.

[Tirefryr 1,742]

LR: 950 JDJ Bullet., 950 empty case and loaded round, 50 BMG round, 577 Nitro, 700 JDJ, empty case and 1100 grain bullet

Thanks to my damn truck, I missed out on shooting some AKs and an M16 yesterday.

[j-roadtatts 1,129]

LR: 950 JDJ Bullet., 950 empty case and loaded round, 50 BMG round, 577 Nitro, 700 JDJ, empty case and 1100 grain bullet

Thanks to my damn truck, I missed out on shooting some AKs and an M16 yesterday.

Stupid truck.

[Penguin4x4 1,761]

their showing people in Laredo on the news who are a part of the mandatory evac...they're not just evacuating, their moving; washers, dryers, matresses, tables, chairs, bookshelves, entertainment centers...I'm trying not to laugh at their misfortunes but its hard

[Penguin4x4 1,761]

Rio Grande is almost to 50 feet now; flood stage is only 18...holy fuck balls...

[KU40 173]

I'll tell you the Wrangler MT/R is not good in the snow at all. It's a rock crawl/dirt road/mudding tire. Do they still make the old regular MT anymore? I haven't seen any in a long time. For that matter, most off road, block/knobby-tread style tires are not good in the snow. You really need continuous/closely spaced tread patterns to be good in snow.

This is what I understand too. What's funny is the kuhmo MT tires get great snow reviews. These duratec's will do really good I think. I get 30 days to test them out. The ride is MUCH more plush and the hum is much lower than from my old tires. The silent armors you recomended and the Nittos(I actually had 3 other local guys recomend them) would have been a week or more time to order. As it was they had to get the duratec from the local distributer. Ther fvkked up though and put the white lettering inside not out. I wanted to be flashy with one thing on my truck... oh well.

They look mean as all hell and grip well. I did however notice that they were boiling hot when I got home after they were put on. My ford has them so low on air for factory tollerance I'm thinking about maybe pumping up the PSI a bit.

What pressure do they recommend? I know Ford was stupid about low recommended pressure in the late 90s/early 2000s, but wasn't sure if it was on the Expys or not. My Explorer calls for 26 psi. Yeah right. I run mine at 40. Helps a little on gas mileage perhaps. For your Expedition I'd recommend at least 35 psi. Not sure what ply tire you got. 6 ply like mine (load range C) is rated up to 50 I believe, 8 ply (D) to 65, and 10 ply (E) to 80 psi. At least I hope/am sure you got at least 6 ply. The only thing to watch for when increasing pressure is to watch the center of the tread. If it starts wearing faster than the shoulders, your tire is overpressurized for the weight it's carrying. Mine are wearing perfectly at 40 psi, though, and I only have an Explorer.

[KU40 173]

I think when I'm a bit older travel will be my #1. Right now I want to build a fortune and buisness so I can earn without working.

Fuck that. What happens when you die the day you retire?

What happens if you travel too much and get to be 65 with no retirement fund?

[sandt38 448]

For any vehicle bearing an average load I always fill to 32 PSI, with the understanding that friction from the road will cause the air in the tires to expand and actual moving pressures should maintain roughly 35 PSI due to expansion. We don't have a nitrogen pump at my shop. If we did, we would set the tires to 35. On vehicles that bear heavy loads, like the local news vans with the microwave masts, I fill them to 65. On the big satellite trucks for them I go 85.

Keep in mind that the recommended pressure is pretty much universally 35 PSI. By increasing the tire pressure to 40 you effectively increase it's stability with an added load, but when you run a standard load with higher pressure you reduce tire/road contact surface and therefore also reduce braking and acceleration efficiency. Also, the tires make the ride more rough. Another thing, by increasing the pressure that significantly you will see more wear in the center of the tires to the outer edge (assuming a common toe-in setting). TBH, the nominal gains in fuel economy will not outweigh the wear on the tires when it all comes down to dollars and cents.

[sandt38 448]

I think when I'm a bit older travel will be my #1. Right now I want to build a fortune and buisness so I can earn without working.

Fuck that. What happens when you die the day you retire?

What happens if you travel too much and get to be 65 with no retirement fund?

Entitlement programs FTMFW!

[Tirefryr 1,742]

Going to look at 2 car tomorrow. Another damn cheap Taurus and an 86 Cutlass. Cutlass is supposed to be spotless. It's been sitting in a garage for 6 years and hasn't moved as the owner broke the ignition and never fixed it. Debating whether to flip it or use it for my big plans. . . . . Shit.

[Tirefryr 1,742]

I do enjoy driving this van though.

[nem 2,019]

[j-roadtatts 1,129]

I think when I'm a bit older travel will be my #1. Right now I want to build a fortune and buisness so I can earn without working.

Fuck that. What happens when you die the day you retire?

What happens if you travel too much and get to be 65 with no retirement fund?

Hope the Democrats are still in office, duh.

On a more serious note, I believe in investing in my future. I work for myself and have a savings account. Got any suggestions for investment? Cause buying a house is starting to seem like a joke.

[KU40 173]

I think when I'm a bit older travel will be my #1. Right now I want to build a fortune and buisness so I can earn without working.

Fuck that. What happens when you die the day you retire?

What happens if you travel too much and get to be 65 with no retirement fund?

Hope the Democrats are still in office, duh.

On a more serious note, I believe in investing in my future. I work for myself and have a savings account. Got any suggestions for investment? Cause buying a house is starting to seem like a joke.

If you're one of those contrarian-types though, now would be the best time to buy a house. Mortgage rates are the lowest in 50 years, plus home prices are better for the buyer now. On a $200,000 house 1 percentage point on the loan interest translates into a difference of about $120 per month, which translates into $86,400 over the life of a 30 year loan. I don't know about you, but that's a really good chunk of change and can make up for quite a bit of stagnant home price years in which the value of the home does not go up. Plus you have to ask yourself, if you're going to live in this house forever, who cares about resale value? All you're doing with a lower valued home is saving property tax each year. That sounds good to me. And how long do you expect this housing crisis to last? 30 years? I doubt it. Even 5 or 10 years?

As for where to invest, it depends on your timeline IMO. But you can always just go back to the old mix of stocks and bonds. China is expected to have explosive growth for the next couple of decades, they've already started. They had something like 8% growth last year while the US was still marred in recession. If you think the US will be stagnant for the next 5 years, don't be afraid to look at emerging markets and countries. But IMO, if you're an active investor, there will be plenty of opportunities to make money in the US market yet.

Just stay away from penny stocks. Don't get caught looking for the quick 10-bagger as it will ruin you. I just figured up last night that if I wasn't stuck with the three penny stocks that I have that are losing money for me, I would have earned 19% since I began investing last January, which rapes the market return of about 7% when adjusted for market value when I added money to my account a few times over the last 1.5 years. Instead, I'm stuck at an 8% loss and just hoping these pennies will go back up just so I can break even. My boss has recently advised me on the value of doing covered calls with dividend-paying stocks. You not only get dividend, but get money from writing call options. It may limit your upside to 10-20% if the stock gets called away, but don't be greedy. It also protects you for about 5% to the downside just because of the income you get from the dividend and writing the calls. Plus if the stock stays put, you can continually write calls every month if you want and just keep garnering the money from it. Just gotta have a long term approach and not worry about day-to-day or even month-to-month fluctuations.

[dem beats 1,223]

LR: 950 JDJ Bullet., 950 empty case and loaded round, 50 BMG round, 577 Nitro, 700 JDJ, empty case and 1100 grain bullet

Thanks to my damn truck, I missed out on shooting some AKs and an M16 yesterday.

that sucks. I almost took my AR-10 and 1911. I got a migrane though and just layed in my bedroom with the blinds closed in the evening.

[dem beats 1,223]

I think when I'm a bit older travel will be my #1. Right now I want to build a fortune and buisness so I can earn without working.

Fuck that. What happens when you die the day you retire?

What happens if you travel too much and get to be 65 with no retirement fund?

Hope the Democrats are still in office, duh.

On a more serious note, I believe in investing in my future. I work for myself and have a savings account. Got any suggestions for investment? Cause buying a house is starting to seem like a joke.

Buy the house. Seriously. Just do it.

The tax write off alone is worth it. Lets even say that you LOOSE money on the house in the next 30 years. You buy for 100K and sell for 50 with a MTG of 1000(tax and ins rolled in) a month.

Over 30 years that's 360k. If you rent a home for 900(including insurance) it's 324k. Even if the house losses 50% of it's value it's still a better deal than renting. None of this factors in the insurance breaks you get when you own your own home etc. Also the HUGE tax savings on the interest you pay. We pay an extra 5%-15% on our MTG right now for the OMG what if situation and we needed to get money out of it. Heck if you own your own home and have equity in it, then any loan you get from there forward has the potential of being a home loan and thus a tax write off again.

Own your own home. For 98% of americans it's the right choice money wise. Even if someone doesn't live in a home they own, owning a home is still just another leg on the stool of financial stability.

[dem beats 1,223]

On that dividend topic, I have some stock that were tanking. Big time, but since they paid a dividend I ended up big big big up.

I was lucky enough to get into some apple before the ipad etc came out 2 years ago or so. That worked out well.

[Aaron Clinton 2,372]

The SSA Dark skin, looks and functions much better now after the update!