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richard5933

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Everything posted by richard5933

  1. I was thinking the same thing. There are some really nice professionally done bus conversions out there right now at great prices. If you want a 40-foot coach, there are both MCI and Prevost models out there. Same applies to these as any RV - get it inspected by someone knowledgeable so you know what you're buying. You might find a really nice coach for a price that still gives you enough left in your budget to do pretty extensive upgrades. The road-worthiness of a bus chassis is hard to beat in a motor home unless you buy a top-tier brand, and some of the conversions have interior finish quality as good as you'll find anywhere. You can find some conversions with slides, but if you don't need them you'll avoid lots of possible issues. This may not be for you, but it is certainly something to consider.
  2. A big welcome from Wisconsin! Glad to have you join in.
  3. Where are you getting 6 years as the life of the tires? Unless something has changed recently, I understood that 7 years is typically used as an expected life. Using 7 years as the expected life of the tires, you will have tires that have 88% of their expected life left (since 10 months are gone). Simple math will get you the answer - if the price is less 88% of normal, you're doing okay. Best price I can find online for them is $488/ea, which makes your price of $388/ea about 79% of that. Not much of a savings once you calculate the lost 10 months (about 9% savings). If this were me, I'd see if I could push the down a bit more. After adjusting for the lost 10 months, I'd want to see another chunk of savings to make up for having to go through this 10 months sooner than you otherwise would with the next set. Check out what the best price is for those tires in your area, and then do the math to find a number you're happy with. I'd push for 25% after prorating for the 10 months, and be happy if they gave me 20%. All that said, I've read that time sitting on the warehouse rack is not the same as the tires being mounted, carrying a load, and exposed to weather and UV rays. This is one of those things where we each have to choose what our priorities are. I don't see how those tires are any less safe right now than a set with one month old date codes, so if you can make the savings work for you then why not? But, if you're a person that always grabs the milk from the back of the shelf at the store even if the front ones are still good, then you'll probably rest easier searching out newer tires.
  4. We were in Virginia last summer to attend a wedding. We stayed at Greenville Family Campground in Haymarket VA. I would recommend it highly if you enjoy quite and peaceful campgrounds. http://greenvillecampground.com/HOME_PAGE.html The campground is not a high-end luxury place, but it is suitable for larger rigs, is far from the road and quite, and close enough to the major roads to get into the DC area conveniently. Lots of Civil War sites within an easy drive. Still a working farm and family run. Quiet and dark at night. They have 30-amp sites in the woods and grass/gravel full-hookup 50-amp sites in a grass area. We've also stayed at the Harpers Ferry KOA. It is a nice campground, one of the better KOA locations we've been to. Lots of sites suitable for larger RVs, but you might have to unhook your toad. If we had kids this would be our choice of campgrounds in season since they have lots of things for them to do.
  5. Guess you and I choose different risks Carl. Neither is right, neither is wrong. I rarely carry more than a couple hundred cash at a time. Always have a credit card. Someone steals my cash, I'm out. Someone steals my credit card the bank has all the loss, not me. Even when overseas, I'll use my Cap One card before I take out cash, if possible. They charge no fee for international, and they still carry the risk if someone steals my number. They've got a top-notch security protocol. There are many times when I get a security notice immediately after the card is used and before the transaction is complete - they are confirming that it's me using the card for an authorized purchase. There are also more and more places that have gone cash-free. Not sure I like that as a concept, but if you want to shop there you've got to use something besides cash. I agree about the restaurant difference - wish the US restaurants would get in on the mobile machines as well. I'm starting to see them use the tablet based mobile devices more and more though. Back to the fuel topic... No way I'd feel safe traveling with enough cash to pay for all my fuel on a trip with cash. Also no way I'm interested in having others in the store see that I'm carrying enough cash to fuel my 165-gal tank. Seems like I'd just be inviting trouble. They want to take my credit card? I'd hand it to them without a fight - it won't get them far.
  6. Not sure all that is correct... The apps that the companies put out themselves, like the Love's app, don't directly make money. In fact, one of the apps I mentioned offers a discount on fuel. Where they make money is in how they push/entice/cajole you into entering the store to buy items there. That's where most of the money is made at stations nowadays. A good chunk of a gallon of fuel is tax, but it's nowhere near "mostly TAX". Even in PA, the state with the highest tax I could find on gas, it's only about 1/3 the cost. That's a lot, but not "mostly". If the app is using Samsung Pay, then how is it any more/less risky than using Samsung Pay anywhere else? The merchant never even gets the account information. I've used apps to make purchases probably 1000's of times on multiple continents. Both using Samsung Pay and apps with credit cars loaded into their "wallet". So far there have been zero problems. The few times over the past years that my card number was stolen it was at a restaurant, where the waiter takes your card out of sight to complete the transaction. If I understand correctly, the chip & pin cards were designed to prevent someone from simply copying your card by using a skimmer or by swiping it through a card duplicator. Anyone that shops online would be doing the same thing as I did with these apps. I have only so many things to stress over, and once I've taken what I consider to be adequate steps to ensure that the apps are legit, I let the credit card people worry about it. If someone hacks into the system, the risk is all on Capital One.
  7. Around here probably 2/3 of local stations are still using swipe machines instead of chip readers. Same for on the nearby highways. Probably has to do with stations weighing cost vs risk, as updating all the pumps is not cheap. One thing I've noticed that I like - when many of the stations update to chip readers they also update to accept payments through a smartphone or smartwatch. That's my preferred method of using a credit card at the pump - just a flick of the wrist and no need to pull out my wallet or credit card at all. I hope that more companies start doing like Love's and let you start the pump from an app, but until then the smartphone thing is a step towards it. UPDATE: I just installed the Exxon Mobil Rewards app, and apparently you can use it to start the pump and pay for fuel. Options I've seen are to load a credit card or to use Google Pay or Samsung Pay. Looks like BP offers something similar.
  8. There's always the option of using something like the Loves app. Load your payment card, use the app to start the pump, and you can avoid swiping at the pump or going inside. I'm sure other brands offer similar things.
  9. Rental or not, they should have done a factory reset before sending it out and then (if necessary) programmed it with your information. This is something good to keep in mind for anyone else that finds himself in your shoes.
  10. Assuming you bought a used hotspot. Where did you get this? Didn't they do a factory reset on it before they sent it to you? If not, can't you do it? That should remove any information regarding the previous owner, unless it is still attached to the previous owners account. Do the Sprint hotspots work with a SIM card like the Verizon units? If so, perhaps that's where the previous owners information is attached.
  11. One category is missing from the list of choices...Class A motorhomes built on a bus chassis (like Prevost conversions, etc.) Granted, many of the newer high-end class A RVs have greatly improved their on-road behavior, but to me the difference is in what the primary end-goal was in the design phase. A bus chassis' primary design feature is to be on the road all day, every day, and to do so safely so its passengers arrive safely. A motorhome's primary design features generally revolve around comfort and convenience when parked in a campground, often with road behavior taking second seat. I've driven our bus conversion in windy conditions and near high-speed semis with no problem, but have read about many in traditional RVs having to pull off the road in similar situations. I drive on the slower end of the speed spectrum, so I'm being passed by trucks all the time. Rarely do I feel anything as they zoom by, and no corrective action is necessary to remain in control.
  12. I've seen both, so what Brett said...
  13. When you say you have headlights but nothing else, what exactly do you mean? You can start the engine, do your other chassis-related things works (the things you need the key on for, like dash heat, etc.)? Trying to understand if your problem is on the chassis side or the house side.
  14. This was discussed at length in another thread (can't find it right now - possibly on FMCA Forum, possibly it was on iRV2). If I remember correctly, the price posted on the EFS app is the price the truckers pay. If you are filling a vehicle without a PUC number the discount is the same, but the price will be adjusted to account for the tax. Not sure if it was automatic at the pump when you didn't have a PUC number or if you had to activate inside at the fuel desk, but first-hand information was on the other thread if you can find it.
  15. In the end, this is not a complicated problem - if it's a problem at all. Assuming all four corners have exhibited a similar change from the old tires to the new, the change could easily be due to the change in tire size and/or the change in tire brand. If you are concerned about possible moisture content inside the tires, call the shop that installed them to ask if they have an air dryer on their compressor lines. If their answer doesn't satisfy you or if you don't trust them, find another shop with a air line dryer and pay for them to purge and reinflate all your tires. Then let us know if there is any change.
  16. I get the concept - just questioning whether or not there is enough volume of air inside a tire of that size to make anywhere near a 12-14psi difference based on a slight increase in moisture inside the tire.
  17. If you changed tire size, then it's going to be really difficult to determine the cause here. Different tire geometry is certainly going to make a difference in how the tires react going down the road. If the cold tire pressure is set properly for your weight according to the tire chart, then I wouldn't spend too much time trying to figure this out unless things suddenly change from the new baseline. Can you explain what you mean by 'profound' effect? Could there be enough moisture in an ounce or so of water to make the pressure increase 12-14psi over the other tires? Of course, the different tire size will make this comparison difficult as well.
  18. Agree that moisture being the cause is only speculation. I doubt that it would account for this large of a difference. The amount of moisture contained in the air could never be high enough to affect the overall volume of air in the tire enough to cause pressure to rise as much as being described. I've read about air tanks or air bags which were half filled with water from never being drained exhibiting problems similar to this, but have never seen a tire with enough water to affect air pressure enough to be noticeable. I have the rear tires on my tractor purposely mostly filled with liquid, and even when sitting in direct sunlight they never change enough in pressure to be a problem. Seems to me that they are more stable than the front tires filled with air only. I'd suspect that the difference between the new tires and the old tires will end up being a difference in tire construction. Are they both the same weight rating?
  19. Is this what you're looking for? https://www.rockler.com/plastic-t-molding-edging-3-4-wide-x-100-long?sid=V9146?utm_source=google&utm_medium=cpc&utm_term=&utm_content=pla&utm_campaign=PL&gclid=CjwKCAiAuK3vBRBOEiwA1IMhukbzg3ApvIQjBMFM_wP0yGj53YUiH09rVVRATQjp1PPw2moY0pKaURoC_QkQAvD_BwE Not sure if the box stores will have it. There are other varieties out there with slightly different mounting styles. Likely Rockler will have one that will be a direct replacement for what you have now, although the color may be off a little, especially if yours has faded at all from UV. Commonly used stuff in the furniture world.
  20. Can you explain how this works? How would moisture in the air inside a tire have an effect this great on tire pressure increase?
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