Howling Honda

Since I was working on cars this week, I decided to tackle the Honda CRV....  We pulled that one on vacation....  And the back end did a howling noise when we drove it in hotter weather....  ie, over 95 degrees.... And then the farther we pulled it , the more it seemed to make this noise...  Like it had course tread snow tires on it...

We finally couldn't stand it and just towed it back home, never unhooking it from the coach...  But Loyce and I went over to the storage lot on Sunday night in it and it still was making a bunch of noise from the back end...

The car is two years old, and replaced the 05 Ford Explorer we had previously...  The Honda crv is the top recommended vehicle to be towed behind the motorhome....  But the price for them is over the top new now, up another 3K since we bought ours....

After thinking about what to do, I drove over to the dealership..  Knowing I was about to get the biggest price possible...  But the service writer was more than helpful.....

We had to go for a drive and he wanted to drive.....  He told me he thought the noise was our tires....  Back at the service bay he mic ed the tires and told me we only had between 3 and 4 thousandths left on the tread, and that the back one was wearing cupped....  making the noise...

Then he dropped the bomb, stating that the original equipment tires on the civic and the crv were cheaper and only got about 30K tops..  But we only have 22 K on the speedo....  But in the back of my mind, I knew we had pulled the rig at least another 10K...

And the back tires wouldn't know if the car was being pulled or driven.... well maybe in the bad weather when the 4x4 kicks in, but we never drive it in bad weather because we go to Az...

We had Continental tires, but he said the Bridgestones weren't any better....  Must be that Honda is calling the quality here, opting for the cheapest possible...  He had to be really careful what he said.... you know not getting into trouble with the mothership, but still informing me that our tires really were shot...   all four....

While up in Upper Michigan, I talked to a fellow that had a CRV like ours and a tow bar set up on the front.....  Turned out he had a motor home and was pulling the car to Az as well....  And he got about 25 K out of his on the speedo with two trips to Az being pulled as well...  Well that would be about 5 K more and we are right back to 30........

I remember Randy and Pam of the Road Runner Chronicles complaining about this too...  Okay, okay, I give.......

The guy in Mich paid for the expensive Michelin brand, but checking with the dealership....  They were over $200....  times 4.... Bridgestone wasn't much better at $170...

But the dealer guy said they were having the best luck with Uniroyal at $137..  Yuck, I never liked them...  But he convinced me that the company was now owned by Michelin and is their lesser priced line...  Tires are now all made in China, so what we knew about them years ago is no longer the facts....  (They are probably worse..)

So given that we use this car mostly around KC as a grocery getter, and pull it other places behind the MH, we opted for the Uniroyals....    Oh and they advised me to change the oil in the rear differential...  Every 20 K, so we were over on that...  Another $69..  The oil is about $6 when you go get it at Autozone...   But its stinky and yucky to deal with..

Oh, they checked the alignment and decided that the back tires were out by .08 of a degree....    Really.... how small is that.... ?  Another $99....  Well maybe next time....  It was still almost $700 the way it was.....  But the back end is quieter...

I should add here that we should have had the tires rotated every 7 to 10 K as the back ends of the Honda's are negatively cambered and tend to wear on the inside...  Putting them on the front for the next 10 K tends to round out this wear as the front is more positively cambered....  Wearing the outside....  So I pay the price here somewhat early for neglecting the issue....

Oh, the brake fluid also needs flushed out too, at 25K...  I'm not sure I have ever replaced the brake fluid in a car unless the cylinders shot craps....     Have you ?

Anyway I sat there all afternoon waiting patiently while they did the work..  Went in during the morning, and went back home while they had the tires delivered...  Then went back at 2 for the installation returning around 5 PM...

Another day shot...!

Retired Rod