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I usually travel around 70 mph. Only time I do 55 is when there are a lot of cars on the road and I am stuck behind them, Today I made it to 85 before backing off due to traffic.
Weird things happen on those roads at that speed. I was on I-99 last week. My van's rear window took a pebble. It shattered. Luckily, I had tint film. It held all of the shattered glass in place. I heard the noise. A very loud pop. I didn't know what it was. I later found out. At first, I thought that some mischievous youth shot out the window with a BB gun. But that's a heckuva BB gun if it can shoot a BB at a car driving away at 85 miles per hour. I might have been going 90. Upon further inspection in the light of day, I saw the little pebble still embedded at the impact point. Which is even crazier. How does a pebble bounce up, and in the direction of traffic flow, faster than the flow of traffic to hit my back window?
The first thing that I did was get an online quote from Safelite. Just under $500. My deductible is $500. No insurance claim for me. I went to some other shops. The quotes were all over the place. The lowest price that I found was $235 - glass and labor. The out the door price was a little more - which I expected. They charged me for the gasket, some miscellaneous undefined fee (probably their profit), and sales tax. It was just about half of what Safelite wanted.
The glass that they installed was tinted. The glass was colored when it was produced. I still want a film sticker. For the same reason. The next time a pebble hits it, it will be held together. Nobody wants finely shattered glass flying all over the inside of their car. What if someone was sitting in the backseat?
The 1st week that I owned this van, literally day 3, a rock hit the front windshield. I actually saw it flying into the windshield. I was crossing The Dumbarton Bridge. 2 months ago, a bird strike. A pigeon flew right into the front windshield at The Saint Francis Yacht Club. I thought that was strange also. I was only traveling about 35 or 40 mph. Just enough that the bird in the air was caught in the aerodynamic stream. Hit the windshield, then flowed over the roofline. My old Jeeps with the flat windshield would collect every specimen of bee, flies, wasps, moths, locusts, etc. The Econoline vans had just the right shape and aerodynamics that the windshields broke at least once a year - and always on the freeway. Oddly enough, I've never had a broken windshield on anything else I've driven. A guy that I know got hit in the face when he was riding a motorcycle. He said that the pebble was lodged in the face shield of his helmet. I'm glad that never happened to me on a motorcycle.
Our F150 has a 36 gallon tank. I take out a loan if I need to fill it from empty. A couple of weeks ago we had to go up to Humboldt County (and back). This truck does OK on the road; we set the cruise control at 68 most of the way, and the gas-o-meter came in at just under 22 MPG.
My F-150 is a 2007. Depending on the configuration, EPA MPG estimates for highway driving were 16 - 19 MPG. I got over 21 or under 22, once, when the truck was completely stock, and completely empty. It's current configuration gets 17 MPG on the freeway when driven conservatively. My typical driving habits are short trips, extensive idling, all stop and go traffic. I get 10 MPG.
Those EPA estimates on the window sticker never apply to me. But I know that I am also not driving on the EPA "test loop". I just accept that I will never get those numbers in real life.
As GlueGuy is bowing his head to the local bank's loan officer for a tank full of fuel...... I may have to sell my cute tushy on the street corner to lonely old women.
After I got the rear windshield replaced, it was a good idea to get some tint film. The glass shop installed "factory tint" glass. It was dark. Not as dark as the limo tint that I have on the other windows. What I really wanted was tint film. If I get another glass break, the film will hold all of the broken glass together.
Not something that I would do myself. Cut the tint film to the right size. Stick it on. It sounds and looks easy. Easy to mess up. Then spend more $$$ to have a professional remove it. Every other guy in high school tried to tint his own windows. And they all messed it up. I helped a couple of them mess up. Of course, it pained me to pay $$$ for someone to stick on a piece of plastic which is only worth a few dollars. Tint film is cheap. Skilled labor is not.
Now I'm tempted to tint the front windows and windshield. Not the black limo tint. They call that "5%" Only 5% of visible light. 95% of light is blocked. Cheap black limo tint, is not "the best". It's considered "good", below "better" and "best". It's a step above the colored and mirror style reflective film that auto parts stores sell. Those actually have fine particles of metal in the film which interfere with radio frequencies, cell phones, GPS devices, et cetera. 3M makes a film that is almost clear, blocks 99% of UV & 95% of infrared. Cheap black limo tint blocks 95% UV & 7% of infrared. 3M Crystalline CR90. It would be pure luxury, to be able to sit behind protected glass and know that you're not getting skin cancer from driving your truck. It's also very expensive. I want "best". I just don't want to pay for it.
Ford auto glass is tinted. Even the windshield. It may not offer the same levels of UV & IR protection. But it does offer better protection than clear glass.
The rear window that a local shop charged me $150, is $453.75 from Ford. OEM auto glass is triple the cost. For me, it was not worth paying. I saw no advantage to buying factory glass.
The figs in the yard are ballooning. Getting as big as hand grenades. Bursting with sugar. Luckily, there are takers when you offer free figs.
I am in the same club, the mess up my own tint club. I have tried several times in the past to tint my own windows. Only once was I successful. And the only reason I was, is because it was a 1982 Mazda RX-7 and I took the whole rear window off just to do it. I messed up so many times on my other vehicles that I flat out refuse to do it anymore. I will pay a pro to do it. Well worth it to save me from all the aggravation of doing it myself. Lucky for me the Charger already has 5% on all windows. Even a band across the top of windshield in 5%. Makes me feel like I am driving around in a cave. Also makes it hard to back up into my carport spot.
Got the Charger back Wednesday and put in $25 worth of gas. Today that $25 is already gone. Taking the grand kids to school Thursday and Friday, to three different schools, and then picking them all up at home at 4:30pm adds about 50 miles a day to the odometer. Daughter is being hassled by CPS and wanted the kids to stay here for a few days. Too bad it is not Summer of holiday break or something. Still, I love driving the car, and this lets me do it. Wish I could figure out how to save gas in this thing. Already drive like a grandpa (well, most the time that is. LOL)
I agree. That is why I took the rear window off when I tinted the RX-7. When tinting my other cars, the rear window was always the hardest because of the cramped back seat and the curves in the window.
There was a leftover dough ball from making pie crust. Nothing special about it. Just flour mix. Wrapped it around a pack of hot links, put it in the oven. Evergood hot links. A San Francisco favorite. They've been in business almost 100 years. Darn sausages are more expensive than eating steak. Sausages used to be the stuff that the slaughterhouse was throwing away. Now, it's a decadent luxury item.
My church had another family BBQ yesterday. Tri-tip, brats, hot dogs, broccoli salad, and mashed potatoes. They usually do these three or four times a year. I took my four grandchildren with me. Had a good time, except the two boys (ages 5 and 8) decided to be brats for some reason. I don't usually have a problem with them at church but yesterday was an exception.
I bought tri tip today. Lucky Stores had it on sale for $3.99 lb. Tri tip is really catching on. My cousin is planning a trip tip BBQ. He said for me to plan on bringing meat home. He estimated that he could get a cryovac bag from the wholesaler with about a half dozen pieces. 6 pieces is just the right amount to cover the the grill grate. 15 minutes at high heat. Flip once.. Then cover, and close the air holes. Let the meat slow roast to a finish as the coals extinguish. I wonder what will happen to those prices when Albertsons & Kroger merge.
I asked the butcher for hanger steak. He told me that his store doesn't get it. The meat department manager does not think it will sell. The pricing is not supported by corporate weekly ads. Just as he said that, another lady joined the conversation and said that she would buy it. The butcher said that in over 10 years at that store, less than 10 people have ever asked for it. He will ask the department manager again.
Here's my trip tip. 3 lbs. Salt, pepper, garlic powder. On the cast iron griddle pan, so that the fat melts off. 15 minutes at 500 degrees. Turn off oven. Meat will slow roast to a finish with residual heat.
I got the Mach-E-Auto tinted a couple months ago. I think I added 35% to the front side windows so they matched the back sides within 1%. The guy had a nifty little tint meter that was battery powered and passed a beam of light through the window to test it. Anyway, I also put 25% on the glass roof, but in hindsight I should have gone darker there. I spend close to zero time looking out the glass roof, but the 25% is way better than it was. I also put 5% limo tint on the back window. I spend a fair amount of time commuting in the darkness, and that 5% really cuts down on headlights from behind. All in all, I'm happy with the results. I pay a guy GOOD money to do it, and it's always worth it as it's perfect every time.
I like having my windows tinted with 5% on the back window, and rear side windows. The Charger has the front side windows tinted with 5% also. Reallt keeps down the glare at night. However, the side window tint is illegal. Hope I don't get a nitpicking cop.
