I bought my wife an 07 Fusion for Christmas, and since I have so much fun here with MY car, I joined a Fusion owners forum.
[rant] Let me tell you, they haven't got guys over there that know ANYTHING. Everyday I'm trying to explain to these dimwits things like why their HID kits all keep blowing ballasts and burning relays (just a simple example).
We're WAY more technically savvy here. I can't even believe the contrast. If I told anybody here that they're killing ballasts because the headlights get a PWM signal, and that you needed to take a ground switch signal off the headlight switch before the module so you could feed your relays a clean signal that doesn't make them flutter and pass the PWM destruction on to the ballasts, you'd believe me. You'd understand, and you'd tell each other or explain to each other the same because 12 other guys would know what that meant. You would almost all find and read it from the original thread and NOT keep posting the same new thread for the same old problems and getting the same answer until your whole electrical board was nothing but bitch threads about junk HIDs.
Seriously, the whole forum has like 6 actual topics at any given time, even though there are thousands and thousands of threads. [/rant]
I like it here. You guys are smart.
The shop I work at sells aftermarket stuff like those HID kits, and I have finally, FINALLY convinced the parts person to consult me before selling the kits to people. If I had a buck for every time they had to give a refund to someone because they sold an HID kit or some other electrical component to somebody only to find out it doesn't work in their car I'd be rich. Well, maybe not rich, but I'd have several dollars, anyway...
It's a big problem here in Canada where vehicles have had daytime running lights since 1990. Older vehicles used to simply operate the high beams at reduced voltage, either by running them in series (GM) or through a resistor (Ford). This doesn't affect HID's, which operate on the low beams. Newer vehicles, however, especially Fords, use PWM to reduce the voltage to the headlights, and they do it on the low beam side.
Chryslers can offer some expensive lessons in aftermarket lighting as well. They power the lights through the Totally Integrated Power Module (TIPM). They are solid state driven (transistors, not relays) and the high load circuits are not fused. Too much current is supposed to cause a fault code and the TIPM is supposed to shut that circuit down to protect itself. Supposed to. I've replaced several TIPM's that didn't shut down fast enough because our parts people sold people high wattage blue bulbs over-the-counter. Of course with a Chrysler you eventually will replace the TIPM anyway, as it's usually under the hood and features zero weather protection...
I have a theory that some of this has to do with the age of the cars. Since we have two Taurii (2000 and 2009) I am on the Taurus Club forum. Obviously, there is a big range in Taurus ages over there. The threads about the older cars are full of useful technical information from guys who are fixing real issues. The threads for the 2008-and-newer cars are almost all about wheel/tire choices or sound systems. And most of the few threads that are actually technical are about climate control blend door actuators, since those things seems to go out with regularity on the newer Fords. I wonder if in a few years more of the "casual" owners will be phased out and the threads will have more substance.
I think the same things happened on our cars to at least some extent. I used to be on the old "Cougar Nuts" forum a decade or so ago, and that place had plenty of amateurs to go along with the professionals. But now on this board, it seems to me that the people left tend to know what they are talking about, and there aren't too many shmucks like me still hangin' around.
I think some of it has to do with the fact that 99% of the time, we can't 'just buy a kit to bolt on' so to speak for our cars. We have to do things the hard way i.e. making your own parts to have our cars the way we want.
Owning a newer car doesn't require much mechanical aptitude.
I think the fact that we generally don't suffer fools gladly helps. I'm not saying we're over-moderated or anything like that, it's more like we ignore the trolls and they go away. Our relatively small forum size helps, too...
I feel the same way on the Dodge forum(s) I go to.....
I think another part of it is that members of this forum are, ~95% of the time, owning/driving/working on these cars because it's a passion. On other forums, especially with newer vehicles, it usually is just a car and so not as many members really have/need/want the technical experience/knowledge that we do here.
im about out of your fancy cards Steve!!!,, i gave my son a few but they are very high quality and perfect in every way!!!!
hmm,, that was random.,, sorry to hijack
i agree wth you Foe, another site thats top shelf if you can tolerate the vast magnitued of tech data stored by some buttstuff retentive virgo who has no tolerance for disorganization is http://www.therangerstation.com
there are many documents and data over there that interchange to our cars.
did i mention i was born in september>?
Exactly how I feel on my Genesis Coupe forum...
Most every forum I've seen has it's share of idiots, know-nothings, know-it-all's, and trolls, it's to be expected if you ask me. Though there and some good, knowledgeable, and helpful people out there on some forums, the spirit of todays crop of people tends to shine through in these sites, and I tend to find myself liking people less and less overall, the more that I read at some of these places. Most of the newer model mustang forums are fairly negative/uppity type places, which is very much reflective of most of the owners of the cars, from what I have seen in person at shows.
Ranger-forums isnt bad...good info too.
im not smart, but i like to be around smarter people than i......that is how i always learn something new. This forum is a great refuge from the drama, mis-information and ignorance of the interwebs.....
some noteworthy exceptions are the 4 eyed pride forums, and TorinoCobra.com forums.
x2. I learned a lot from that site.