So your the guy that has been banned from Daytona Auto.
Yes it is true that I am neither welcome at Daytona Auto or Rock's Auto Restoration but then again you already knew that To say that I am banned however is a funny term to use because you can't really 'ban' someone from going to a business that they had already made the conscious decision to never do business with again. It's a shame because in both instances the owners these businesses were given multiple opportunities to make right on the cheap and chose to be hard-headed and belligerent only to end up wasting tons of time & racking up unnecessary legal bills. Eventually both had to cut me significant cheques (despite being told in no uncertain terms that that would NEVER happen) and left me retaining the legal right to factually share my experiences with others which would only ever tarnish their reputation and cost them further future business. Some people never learn. All that said my experiences with Tom at European Automotive in Oakville have been pleasant and fair.
I have had positive experiences with the following places: www.mobilewheelrepair.ca unionrim.com Best of luck with your repair
Premier Ford is scrapping drive clean in April. This should help people trying to replace headers with aftermarket and having issues with CEL lights
I'm sure the repair shops who in the past spent $50,000 for the equipment will be thrilled. What it does mean is you can now take any car to your Florida home and leave it and not need to bring it back to Ontario for a etest to renew the plates every two years. You are right about the CEL light issues not stopping a plate renewal but if the CEL is on then the fuel mixture is wrong and the car will try to compensate either by running too rich or too lean. Best to use a programmer to eliminate the 2nd O2 sensor in exhaust the flow.
Agreed that the shops very much got shafted especially those that spent over $100K in the early days to get the rolling test bed that became little more than a boat anchor way before the initial investment could ever be recovered. Drive clean is presently outdated and the few polluters out there are just too small in number to try and police. In places like California these programs are more effective because the good weather means that cars last decades longer . In Ontario our winters naturally kill most cars off at a rate where they are replaced for newer cars so a drive clean program for cars that are 7-30 years old affects too few failing cars to matter. Bravo FORD government! Funny story, the day before the announcement I decided to get my drive clean. I went to a small local shop I've gone to for years walked in and told them that I would like to do a drive clean test. The conversation went like this: Me: I'd like to do a drive clean test please Shop: Sure do you have your keys Me: Yes but if you do not mind I'd like to bring the car in myself. It is a little tricky to drive so it would be easier for you this way. Shop: No its ok we'll take care of it So I hand them the keys, the tech walks out the front door and sees my car (Lamborghini Murcielago) for half a second, turns to me, hands me the keys with a look of terror in his face and says 'Yeah..I'm not touching that!' Needless to say I drove it in for them
Interesting news...my car is due for a driveclean on my birthday In April . I hope the transition date is April 1 or sooner
You are in luck ! It’s for April 1st 2019. Assuming your birthday is sometime in April your current sticker will be good for April 2019 until you can update it after the due date. https://www.ontario.ca/page/drive-clean
Here's something to think about ... the elimination of the Drive Clean program won't stop the Ministry of the Environment and Climate Change from doing roadside inspections, looking for missing or in-operational emission control components. If anything, it may push the MOE&CC to hire more mobile inspection officers. Presently the MOE&CC are mostly interested in 1986 and older vehicles as vehicles this age are not required to have a Drive Clean inspection before the issuance of a plate sticker so these vehicles are more likely to have modified, non-functioning or missing equipment (although I did read in the paper a year of two ago about a 2015 on the internet about a Porsche having the plates pulled for "exhaust issues", caught during a 'blitz' of sorts on one of the roads leading to Mosport/CTMP). With the elimination of Drive Clean, MOE roadside inspectors have no reason to assume ANY year of vehicle is legal, as far as required emission equipment is concerned. A well publicized exotic car rally or the roads around any of the GTA area race tracks (Mosport/Shannonville/TMP) might soon be viewed as 'favorite fishing holes' with a high expectation of return as opposed to the MOE setting up outside a church or bingo hall hoping that granny modified her 2012 Buick. Here's another tidbit ... it does NOT matter to the MOE roadside inspectors (presently) whether or not a car is capable of passing a "sniff" test, their present focus is on required emission control components. All cars, in order to legally drive on Ontario roads, are required to have every single emission control component that came on the car when new ... installed and functioning. The elimination of Drive Clean doesn't change that but the elimination of Drive Clean may change how they enforce this issue in the near future. A $320 (ish) ticket probably isn't too hard to swallow if you're caught driving a straight-piped F50 (just using an F50 as an example as there is a local one on Instagram right now, in a shop for the removal of factory mufflers and cats and the installation of straight pipes) but keep in mind, that same car could be sent straight to impound too. Now THAT may be cause for some stress. Thinking of swapping on some headers etc? Might be VERY wise to keep the stock stuff handy ... Just sayin'
I can remember a few years back coming home late Sunday morning from fishing Lake Erie and the ministry and OPP pulling over all the Hondas with fart can exhausts heading to Cayuga. It was like fishing in a barrel. Seems now police are letting everything slide at least in Hamilton area. My neighbours lease 3 or 4 BMWs every other year and the youngest son has no front plate and his car sounds like **** literally like a 1980 Dodge Omni worth no exhaust. A few years back he would have been ticketed daily then eventually have car impounded. Same with these cars with stupid camber on their suspension making it look like the wheels are ready to fall off. In the past we would get pulled over if we put wider tires on the back of our cars that extended beyond the wheel wells or if you had a Jeep with fender flares removed. I don't see many getting harassed with the messes I see today let alone if you are low key
Here's the link to the Porsche story I mentioned. https://www.durhamregion.com/news-story/6692427-markham-man-charged-for-driving-modified-porsche-with-no-muffler-on-winchester-road-in-oshawa/
The ironic part of the Porsche story ... these guys were actually ON THEIR WAY to Mosport, literally "taking their racing to the track" just like the police want. The MOE doesn't see it that way though.
Had my first ride in a Tesla last week. Aside from the power on launch, not sure how I feel about the rest of it. I’m indifferent about it all. Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login
The interior makes me shake my head. Whenever you read car reviews they always mention the instrument gauge layout in the dash for the driver being front and centre not obstructed by the steering wheel etc. There are a few where I work. I would not consider any of the owners car enthusiasts, but those who commute trying to save a few pennies. Personally I have never paid attention to fuel economy as a reason for choosing any vehicle I have ever owned. My daily is an F150 Supercrew 4x4. People think I'm nuts but when I point out my truck costs me about $8 more per week than my friends v6 Acura and it can tow my boat, I can load the bed and get through our worst Canadian storm's. They still don't get it.