Looks like an awesome time! Good MPG as well, 85mph or so?

I just did a bug removal wash yesterday on the LSs and A8 as well, 460 hit a cloud of bugs two days ago heading up to my parents place and took forever to clean.

 

You are a real American hero!!! Holy crap that is a lot of fireworks

 

I guess I'm the last of the big spenders.

Spent $3 for a 6 pack of sparklers cuz wife likes them.
Where I live the communities all around blast fireworks for days before and after the 4th so we see a lot of action.

 

Oh we had a good time!

80 MPH cruise but the first 150 miles is in the mountains going up grades and using engine braking going down grades, and I sat in traffic for about 15 minutes.

Look into gTechniq W8 bug remover. Works great. I just put it in my trunk for the carwash tomorrow.

Haha! Yeah we entertain the whole neighborhood! 45 minutes of solid fireworks!

 

You should get a personalized licence plate "FIREWORKS" lol

 

Oil change today on both LSs, used a very minor amount of oil over 5500 miles. The 460 needs to be jacked up, can't do it on the ground like the rest of my cars. Not so bad since I rotate tires every 5k as well but somewhat annoying. It's an easy car to work on so far

 

Well it turned into a brake job. Rotors are out of spec when I checked them, thank you Mazda dealer for "replacing brakes" by just resurfacing....




Hubs seem in spec as well, overall nothing of concern to note


Went with fully coated rotors and metal shimmed higher temp pads, I actually already had them set aside. I keep a set of brakes for most of my cars at the ready

 

Yeah I never resurface rotors, I always replace them.

We talked about the bug spray, I stopped and sprayed the bugs off the front of the car and then got it washed this afternoon. This is a picture of the W8 eating through the bugs.




Its hard to capture in a picture, but it will dissolve the bugs right in front of you. You can kinda see the trails as they dissolve. Spray it on, let it dwell for 5 minutes and power wash or hose off, and every last bug comes right off with no wiping at all.

Here's an internet picture that shows it better:

 

100% agree, they also omitted the upper "M" tension clip, the sensor was damaged, and the sensor hold down clip was not installed. Very low grade work IMO, below is what they did vs how it's supposed to be done....




Note how all the hardware is actually installed now....and lubed. I can't believe they screwed this up

 

Ordered.....that looks like exactly what I need. Thanks!

 

You will love it!

 

…”I keep a set of brakes for most of my cars at the ready ”

No kidding? What other maintenance items that are needed every 50-100,000 miles do you keep ‘at the ready’?

 

Bear in mind he's a mechanic by trade.

And...LS need brakes way more than 50-100k miles lol. Try 30k.

 

All fluids, all filters, brakes, spark plugs, and if the car has known issues with something a spare for that issue(s). 5 sets of oil and filters, a full set of bulbs if the car has replaceable bulbs. Three cabin filters.

Good example would be the 460 is known for the valley plate leaking and the rad snapping the overflow fitting off, I have intake seals and FIPG for the valley plate and a spare rad. I also had a spare oil filter housing but I used it today, someone who serviced it before me shattered parts off the original.....and I figured it would be damaged. I guessed right

My 430 has a set of wheel bearings on standby due to its age and I've had to use one of them already. It had a rad on standby for a while but I got nervous at 225k and just installed it anyway since the OE one was 20+ years old. I used its spare set of front lights last week when my wife reported the right headlight was flashing, no need to go out and get parts since I had them already.

My A8 has a spare set of sway bar links since the D4s eat them every 20k miles or less in some cases. I also have replacement turbos and the install kit on hand in case mine go since it's a known issue with those. It's been good to me so far though but it's a just matter of time.....I also have 3 sets of plugs for this car since it really goes through them badly with a tune and the 4cyl mode puts a lot of stress on cyl 5

The Jeep has Jeep issues and eats bulbs and the contacts so I keep a few spares in the car since I don't want to get pulled over for something stupid. It also eats U-joints when off-roaded hard so I keep one for each section on hand. Same with a set of shocks since it blows them easily/I'm cheap and use cheap Monroe shocks. I don't keep brakes for this one, I am testing the limits of the "lifetime warranty" AutoZone offers and I'm on set 7 now. It's amazing how easy it is to get heat checking on its brakes....

I also burn up brakes faster than most people, 25k miles is a good lifespan since I regularly do 100+ on backroads and need to bring it down to 35 a lot and that type of use eats parts. I also change them at no less than 30%, same with tires. The Jeep is the exception, it just gets what's actually needed and no more.

I buy all my parts when I find them on a good discount since I know I will use them eventually, better than having something break and needing to buy a part at high local prices.

 

Exactly. Same with the A8, it's fronts have a LOT of weight to stop and it shows with the rate of wear if you drive the car even somewhat hard.

The 430s actually get nearly 60k if I had to make an estimate based on how much mine wore in 40k, really impressed me!

Rear brakes also don't wear that fast so they get replaced every other front set. Part of it is also the fact you should relube the system here and there if you expose it to a lot of heat/stress. One reason I switched to steel shins is because rubber ones WILL catch on fire.

Reason I do this is as I posted, I only had the wheels off to do a rotation with the oil change and I noticed the rotors didn't have the edge bevel anymore. I measured them and they were 1.1 mm under min thickness, they also have a very slight flutter when hit that I didn't like and the measurement confirmed they are indeed too thin. The fact I had a spare set on hand meant I could just replace them right then and there while the car was already up in the air.