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View Full Version : Another brake thread...and something funny



marauder307
09-19-2003, 06:20 PM
Got another brake thread for y'all. Earlier this past week, I was out in the parking lot at work...I hadn't been able to park in my usual spot, and had had to shoehorn the Black Hulk into a compact car spot. Felt a little nervous about leaving it there, and went out after lunch to check on things.

Bodywork was fine, although when I got ready to leave that afternoon I had do a contortionist's dance to get in the #$!@ door...some idiot with a Lumina decided he liked my car so much that he 'bout shaved the driver's side RV mirror off...but as I was walking around the car, something told me I should check the brakes. They'd been feeling a big sluggish lately...maybe I just wasn't being authoritative enough...but I started looking at the rotors.

My passenger's side rear has grooves in it. Not great huge ones, mind you, but there's a parallel pair of thin shiny streaks that go all the way around the outside face of the rotor. I called up the L/M dealership that I go to, and set up an appointment. Took the beast in today, spent about an hour there. The tech looked at it, couldn't quite figger out what was causing it, but he's got replacement pads on order and he'll skin the rotor on the brake lathe when he puts the pads on. He says they're not deep (and I verified that myself), but it'll be next week before the pads arrive. Buttoned the car back up and headed out; they'll call me, prolly about Tuesday.

Y'all may find it worthwhile, those of you with stock brakes, to have a look around. Might just be mine, but check anyway. Me personally, I like to have confidence that I can bring down this 4200-lb. 4-wheeled freight train if I gotta.

Now for the funny stuff. While I was waiting at the dealership, I kept myself from being too bored by walking around. Sinclair L/M has one '03 left, on the showroom floor, and it's been there for at least the last six months and probably longer. Since I've been going there, the car's picked up a factory wing on the back (mounted properly, btw), a silver-grey bumper insert on the rear, and a $600 Ziebart protection package. Price on the windshield is $28995 and they might take 27. I was checking it out and one of the salespeople (turned out to be someone in fleet leasing, she later said) asked me what I thought of it. The conversation took off from there. I mentioned that I thought silver looked better, and her response was "But they don't make them!"

Hey dok, did you know your car doesn't exist?:eek: I mentioned that I HAD in fact seen a silver and a blue (jrzygrl, where are you?), and her comment was "Oh, they must be overspraying them at the dealership."

:bs: :bs: :baaa:

That's when I hit her with this website, and suggested she take a look. I also explained that the '04s were out, and one of the first Dark Toreador Red ones had already been purchased by somebody (Agent M79, where you is?). But you folks with the silvers and blues might find it worthwhile to scrape off all that overspray...might drop a couple hundred pounds and improve yer 0-60 times.... LOLOLOLOLOL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
:baaa: :baaa: :baaa: :shake:

I've heard lots about dealership personnel who don't know their own products, but this is the first time I've actually encountered it in person. 60birdtom, you may wanna put in a call to this place. Your fellow dealership personnel are selling the products short.

All for now, folks. Check ya later.

dok
09-19-2003, 08:35 PM
Hey dok, did you know your car doesn't exist? I mentioned that I HAD in fact seen a silver and a blue (jrzygrl, where are you?), and her comment was "Oh, they must be overspraying them at the dealership."


Well, they did a nice job of overspraying on mine. :lol:

At the Autofair last weekend, I must have had 50 people come up to my silver MM and say "I thought they only came in black".

RCSignals
09-19-2003, 09:13 PM
Mercury, are you listening? Time to put some colour ads in magazines

marauder307
10-03-2003, 04:39 PM
Well, got the Hulk into Sinclair L/M today...finally. After waiting two weeks for something that shoulda taken one.

They went ahead and replaced the pads on both rears and skinned the rotors on the brake lathe. Didn't do very much skinning tho...and didn't have to either. Just barely touched 'em, which is all they needed. Brake response seems to be improved, although I don't guess I'll know until I get jumped by some nitwit on I-55 and have to stomp 'em.

Seemed like the tech who did the job didn't think to badly of 'em. Took the Hulk for a little test drive. Now, such things are required by the L/M shops, as a means of protecting themselves against future liability, but I'm still hyperprotective of my beast anyway.

As good as my service writer and service techs are, tho, the salespeople leave a lot to be desired. As I'm waiting for the job to be done, I wander about the showroom a little (wearing my MM jacket BTW...it's gotten BLOODY COLD here in STL...WTF? Please dear God, send me back to Daytona Beach!!!) The demo car's still sitting there, fin and all, waiting on a buyer. I strike up a conversation with the salespeople. Went something like this...

Me: Say, are you guys ordering any 2004 models? (gesturing toward the Marauder)

Greasy sales type: Aw, no. Hell, we can't even get rid of this one. We've been told by our supply manager that we're only getting one or two '04s at most.

Greasy sales type #2: Yeah. They didn't change anything on 'em anyway, 'snot like there's any real difference. Still can't get 'em in any other colors.

Me: Oh? But I've seen pictures of blue and silver and red ones on the internet. Do you guys know about MercuryMarauder.net?

They both abruptly decided that they had to have a smoke break. Oh well. HeHeHeHe... :rolleyes:

Oughta be a crime to play with small minds like that. Thank goodness it's not.

To 60birdtom and The Dealer: What is up with these sales folks? Granted, Mercury didn't front up any advertising money (hell, the way I learned about this car was through Maxim magazine...they had it included with a list of hot cars for 2003 in the Alyssa Milano edition they had last fall). But salespeople who don't know the product and don't care either definitely can't be good for sales.:shake:

I used to know a girl who sold Acuras/Hondas (yeah I know, same car). Every fall she had to go to some convention somewhere, where the dealers would be shown the new models and the improvements made on the existing ones. By the time the convention was over, she'd come back and drop all kinds of info on us about the new Acuras. Doesn't Mercury (or Ford Motor Company) have anything like that? They probably oughta, considering.

Just my two bits worth. Anyhoo,...

Next week, providing I'm feeling well enough (gotta go for outpatient surgery on Tues.---believe me, you don't want to know what for!), I'm gonna have to break down and go get my MO state license plate. I've dragged my feet for almost 7 months now, but I'm probably pushing my luck too hard. I've gotten all the paperwork together, and next Friday, unless something really bizarre happens, the FL vanity plate reading "DARKHRS" (Dark Horse) is going to disappear. Been considering either "NGRMGMT" (Anger Management) or "BLKDRGN" (Black Dragon) for the replacement. Open to email suggestions on this.

Check y'all later.

JohnnyB
10-03-2003, 05:04 PM
Imagine that... a salesman having no knowledge about the products he sells.

I predict that within the next three to five years Ford slips to Number 3 auto manufacturer.......

Marauderman
10-03-2003, 05:22 PM
Yeah --It more ways than one--Mercury advertised it more before it came out(about it coming out) than ag=fter it did---a shame--so many times mentioned here throughout the .net board...

but we love her just the same---

engine23ccvfd
10-03-2003, 11:22 PM
NGRMGMT

Bet they wont allow this one....the way I read it the first time was "N" word management

martyo
10-03-2003, 11:57 PM
Originally posted by engine23ccvfd
Bet they wont allow this one....the way I read it the first time was "N" word management

I agree with engine. Don't do it!

JohnnyB
10-04-2003, 07:15 AM
Don't do it...

marauder307
10-04-2003, 04:27 PM
:rolleyes:
Okay fellas...

Weeooo! Weeeooo! PC Police! Pull it over, Mr. Black Car!

Relax folks. Let's not get all uptight here. I didn't see it that way, but if ya really want me to change it, okay.

There's other options on the table too. Try:

THE CAR (from the late '70s horror flick of the same name---wonder if I can get a custom horn to sound like that?)

ANGRMGT ('cause that's what the car is to me...I work with a bunch of old nasty gov't civilian types who think it's perfectly okay to come into the office, sit around for 10 hours a day, gripe loud and long about how bad life is working for the gov't, and collect their paycheck...oh yah, at the taxpayer's expense too. So, I gets me stress out on the on-ramp for I-55 at the end of the work day. Prolly need new rear tires by this time next year.)

To quote the immortal Bill Murray: "Don't drive angry."---from "Groundhog Day".

BLKHULK (see above)

Kinda like BLKDRGN. I've often wondered about getting carbon-fiber flames along the front fenders and on the hood---a carbon-fiber flame job with a flying dragon coming out of it.

Oh well. Lotta money for that, lotta money that I DON'T have right now...

martyo
10-04-2003, 05:06 PM
Originally posted by marauder307
:rolleyes:
Okay fellas...

Relax folks. Let's not get all uptight here. I didn't see it that way, but if ya really want me to change it, okay.


Hey it's not me getting uptight. It was just a friendly suggestion. Come into my 'hood with a plate like that and there will be ashes where your car once was. Suit yourself. Just don';t come back to this board looking for sympathy when your car is sacrificed.

marauder307
10-04-2003, 08:07 PM
Whatever, Martyo...


This is why I don't like big cities...something happens to people when they get jammed together in a confined space. They lose their sense of humor....

I'm gonna have such a migraine now...:bs: :censor:

Close the thread, Logan...martyo's gotten on his high horse again...

martyo
10-04-2003, 09:31 PM
Originally posted by marauder307
Close the thread, Logan...martyo's gotten on his high horse again...


Ummm.....Ya come around here and ask for opinions and your gonna get 'em. If you don't want 'em, don't ask....

Oh yeah, just when was the last time I got on my high horse? I forget.....

RCSignals
10-05-2003, 12:24 AM
a bunch of old nasty gov't civilian types who think it's perfectly okay to come into the office, sit around for 10 hours a day, gripe loud and long about how bad life is working for the gov't, and collect their paycheck.

How does one get a job like that?

RCSignals
10-05-2003, 12:27 AM
Originally posted by martyo
Ummm.....Ya come around here and ask for opinions and your gonna get 'em. If you don't want 'em, don't ask....

Oh yeah, just when was the last time I got on my high horse? I forget.....

Marty. I'd like to think he's kidding.

Besides, I don't think you even own a high horse

Paul T. Casey
10-05-2003, 04:09 AM
IMHO you run 13.7, you deserve the high horse!! Marty da man.

martyo
10-05-2003, 04:16 AM
Originally posted by RCSignals
Marty. I'd like to think he's kidding.

Besides, I don't think you even own a high horse

One would hope he's kidding.

Nope, I don't own a horse. I do have two big dogs though (no, neither one is named Jim K. ;) ). Maybe that counts?

marauder307
10-10-2003, 05:21 PM
To RC Signals: Believe me man...prolly sounds good, but if you've got anything remotely resembling a work ethic, it's hell. Shoot, the coworkers get mad at me for actually working during the day!
:(

It's a mad, mad, mad, mad world....:alone:

Got new plate today. No pics, because it's nothing to write home about. The custom plate won't arrive for a few months yet. MO has a thing about their plates...can only use 6 letters. So that rules out my BLKDRGN choice.

But they do have military-specific plates...Aha! So I'm getting a USCG plate that definitely reflects my job and my wheels:

(USCG seal) GO FSTR (Go-faster)

For those of you not in the know...go-fast is the term we use for the various forms of narcotraficante boats that typically populate the Florida Straits. So we in the CG...GO-FASTER.

And the PC police should be happy now....

martyo
10-11-2003, 06:15 AM
Originally posted by marauder307
And the PC police should be happy now....

Yep, yep. Just trying to save you from having your car torched (or worse) if you came to my neck of the woods. No hard feelings, eh? I live and love to boat, so I like the plate you chose better anyway (all PN'ness aside).

Mongoose
10-11-2003, 01:31 PM
Marauder307:
You might consider a plate like mine (see pic) but you'll have to move to the other side of the river. Mine's come in handy a couple of times as a "get out of jail free" card.
:D
http://www.msnusers.com/03Marauder/shoebox.msnw?action=ShowPhoto&PhotoID=1