I've zero ego. So I'm going to ask...

I just got my rear tires changed... relatively bald pilot sport 4 s, to new bald pilot sport 4s. Same tires. Just new.

There is zero chance brand new rear tires would change the exhaust note, right? I know that sounds silly, but after picking it up from the change, I swear my exhaust note register is a lower pitch, and sounds a little bit more like the "S". It's fine, not worried, cars is totally fine. BUT... would new RWD tires cause a lower register on the exhaust? that seem insane to even ask. LOL

 

Couldn't resist the title!

Can't think it would do much. M-a-y-b-e you could theorize that the better traction of new tires allows the car to dig in more and affect the tone a bit. I'm not convinced, but you could make it your story (and stick to it). Best I got.

 

Could be just different road noise that has a lower harmonic frequency making it sound like it's coming from the exhaust. If you had said "louder" instead of "lower" I would have theorized the installers accidentally knocked off or damaged one of the vacuum lines to the exhaust valves (since they're near the rear wheels) and now it's stuck open all the time.

 

If the tyre change was done at a dealer could they have applied some unwanted software updates?

 

I would NEVER make fun of your dumb questions, @Uncle Fishbits .

Ooops.

 

Sounds like a win-win.

I don’t recall if you have active exhaust. Something happen to valves or vacuum lines?

 

Thanks all. Need some laughs anyway.
Still waiting to hear from the dealer. And no disrespect to my specific one... but boy dealerships from service departments to lack of techs... what a shitshow for everyone.

 

My Bro-in-law that manages a tire store offered me a job for that same reason. They are constantly short-handed.

It isn't just dealers.

 

There's something called the mass resignation, and a different thing called the mass reassessment, and I work in hotels and restaurants. We're actually doing pretty good because of mid-level staffing at some hotels coupled with great culture, but when you get to resorts? I literally have a resort that is closing the restaurant 2 days a week, the spa 3 days a week, and we're essentially a minimum service hotel on Monday and Tuesday.

The culture there is awesome, but it's not just us. Almost every resort has at least a hundred open positions. My wife works with a major luxury power player, and they're opening a new resort in wine country, and they're having to fly staff in from all over the world, and they still can't end up fully staffed.

I have so much data on the economics and philosophy behind all this, it's not going to end for a while. But if you're an employee, it's the best time ever to renegotiate your salary and benefits and quality of life. We are all raising wages, adding benefits, doing our best to help with quality of life, but the two major things underpinning it are immigration reform of people who really want to work here, and housing. Since our government is completely broken, good luck.

And, by the way, if every single resort looks really expensive right now, it's a staffing issue coupled with supply chain coupled with inflation. Brunch is out of control. Almost every resort has inventory caps on rooms because they can't find housekeepers to clean them, so it's a reduction of room count which increases rate.

What a time to be alive! I'm just trying to keep it together because my dog passed away last Friday, and I'm pretty sure I'm going to drink myself to death before we resolve any of this ****. No effs to give, really.

 

Very Sorry For Your Loss...

 

Sorry for the loss of such an important family link. I recently made the decision to let one go about 2 months ago. It was a hard decision to make. I'm just thankful of the 17 years of life she did enjoy. God Bless.

 

Hugs @SouthSider I had a German Shepard-Coyote mix go in her sleep, a Cairn who went at 15, and this little girl left us too early at 12 1/2. I know there's this weird pride of them getting to legendary age above 16 or so. Bravo and I hope it happens to me.

-----> SO HERE IS WHAT HAPPENED:

I'm both too tired to judge myself for being stupid and driving away, and I've zero energy to be as mad as I should be. Also, my "be concise and a good editor" button is turned off.

(I preface the below story with the fact that today, somewhat fuming, I calmly called back when I got home, and after 4 calls got to the tech that "saved me" today, and honestly full service recovery (hotel term of making things right), taking the car back in for the cat immediately. I shouldn't have driven away, I'm just mentally exhausted.)

The problem was and still is the catalytic convertor. Whatever happened a week ago with that bizarre metal pop sound under the passenger rear, I am assuming I hit a piece of metal in a weird way and it hit the cat? Obviously I'm not a mechanic, and I need to learn way more about my vehicle.

But, the dealer diagnosis was "Catalyst system efficiency below threshold bank 1". So, they checked exhaust for exhaust leaks and found none, but did find the car was 4 quarts low on oil (WTH? they found zero oil leaks or oil??). They topped it off, cleared the light, and said "watch the oil level, and if anything is still weird bring it back. If it's the Cat, then it's under warranty from the state and we need the car to be running clean so it's no problem". So I drove it away knowing it's the cat and it still is, which was on me. I'm just tired and not clear headed.

So in the 5 days they took a week to order a sticker, not communicate with me, then not look at the car til today. They didn't want to fix the cat, and handed it back off to me to kick the can down the road.

WAIT THE SAGA HAS MORE! For those who want to rage at dropped ***** in service (in lieu of me being too tired to), GET THIS:

I dropped it off on Monday. They never called (no text either), so Thursday I called and got the head of service. When I spoke to him, he was pretty shocked I'd gotten zero calls, comms, or updates from anyone all week. But isn't he my tech? So *he and they* dropped all the *****. At Monday drop off, the head service guy went on and on about him being hired to fix the ops there, and it's a nice car that demands extra service and communication. Well you've got work to do.

So no calls, I call 9am Thursday. I reach the service head and said he would talk to the tech, and call me back immediately. No call back all day. I had to call 6+ more times through Thursday, because they didn't call me back. I looked at my phone log: 14 calls in the last 24 hours. Many were to a broken and dead phone tree (infuriating, and couple that to full voicemail boxes everywhere), but the people I reached promised callbacks each time, about 4 humans total. The final 4.59p call of "sorry service is closed" got routed to the front desk... where they still tried to get me a callback before everyone left, but said "if not in the next few minutes, tomorrow morning". No call.

So after 5 days, 14 phone calls to broken phone systems and a few humans, no one called me back.

I called at Noon today, got a new tech who was serious, professional, and I legit sort of surprised him because he was guarded with "why isn't this guy irate"?

So, since Monday... they ordered a tire sticker that takes 3 weeks to get here. That's literally what they did. Today, I got the tech to finally resolve the check engine light... and he still suggested I take the car and see how it is, and if there's a problem come back. I AM SO DUMB. I am now finally angry. Which is a nice, different emotion.

But after getting home, I called four times and finally got the tech who saved the day. I guess my exhausted sadness must have come through, because he killed it with professionalism, empathy, seriousness, and just the best. I want to hire this guy at our hotels. Still haven't heard from the head of service who took my car in. And I'm still filled with enough global staffing shortage / hiring is impossible empathy coupled with understanding that supply chain and everything else is absolutely breaking. My wife does say I'm always too nice, but hell my trainwreck of a 2016 turned out the best experience because of my patience, so I still believe in the honey to catch the flies.

 

You have my condolences on the dog. Pets are special companions in a way you can't explain to someone who doesn't have one.

Also, sorry to hear that your having car issues. I'd have thought you had your quota for the decade/century/lifetime. Deep breath, think about the things that matter. These are trying times.

 

I’ve rarely met a dog I didn’t like—as opposed to many people I’ve met—and the loss of a pet is like losing a family member. Been there, done that, and it’s awful.

Very sorry to hear about your loss.

🙏

 

You’re in the hospitality (and service) business so you know better than most what good never mind great service is. Despite the labor shortages, etcetera, you’d like to think that those people who are working are dedicated to their jobs, take pride in what they do, and follow up with customers; particularly for an upscale vehicle like ours. Sadly, many know that not to be the case. Upscale or not and as the saying goes, “good help is hard to find”. All the more reason to give praise to those businesses, companies, and individuals who exemplify outstanding customer service. Particularly during these challenging times.

(I won’t bother to repeat how great my dealer—Jaguar Land Rover Scarborough Maine—is….although I just did).

And while Covid-19 has had little if no impact on our lives, I’ve found that practically everything I try to do—from a customer service perspective; and thankfully, it’s not often—is seriously lacking if not non-existent. I could get ticked off or worse but that would only affect me and that’s not an option. I applaud your inner calmness.

This is merely the way of the world right now and one would like to think that it will end at some point (the frustration, not the world).

Every Thing Ends.

🙏