The Best of Car Talk - #2542: Sailing from Milwaukee to Dallas

Episode Date: May 27, 2025

Steph is about to pilot her sailboat, loaded with ten cases of wine, from Milwaukee to the friendly port of... Dallas, Texas. Since she's unlikely to find navigable waters all the way there, Steph wants to get her old Subaru in shape for the trip. Will Click and Clack tell her she's crazy or will they ask to join ship's crew in exchange for some of that wine? Find out on this episode of the Best of Car Talk.Get access to hundreds of episodes in the Car Talk archive when you sign up for Car Talk+ at plus.npr.org/cartalkLearn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy

When Malcolm Gladwell presented NPR's Through Line podcast with a Peabody Award, he praised it for its historical and moral clarity. On Through Line, we take you back in time to the origins of what's in the news, like presidential power, aging, and evangelicalism. Time travel with us every week on the Through Line podcast from NPR. Hello and welcome to car talk from National Public Radio with us click and clack the tappet brothers And we're broadcasting this week from the Center for animal research here at car talk Plaza animal research This is right up your alley. So go ahead. All right, I'll tell the story Chrysler I mean it's Christ our pals at Chrysler, right? There's a guy named Thomas Papert. I think you pronounce it I'm gonna stay away from the story so to speak. I'll just let oh

I think you pronounce it. I'm gonna stay away from the story so to speak. I'll just let oh I'm just quoting. I mean, I'm innocent here. Okay. I'm just quoting Tom Papert was a retard is a retired vice president of sales and marketing at Chrysler and he was known He has always been known for his candor. Mm-hmm. Yeah, if he was if he wasn't retired He's speaking to some university students. He's addressing the issue of quality in the automotive industry. And he told the following story. He said, Lexus had a quality test.

They used to put a cat in the car. And the next morning... Close the doors and windows. Close everything. Roll up the windows, close the doors. And the next morning, if the cat cat was dead they knew that the car was airtight so Chrysler did the same test and in the morning the cat was gone now this is a Chrysler person relaying this little anecdote to us so I'm

innocent I don't want to hear from innocent. I don't want to hear from your lawyers I don't want to hear from anybody. I'm just relaying the story Tell your lawyers to lay off tell them to take a day off and relax right get over We can keep them busy looking for the cat Hey go ahead. Well, anyway, if you want to talk to us, the number is 1-888-CAR-TALK, that's 888-227-82. Oh, hold it a minute. Here's a note you might be interested in. Five.

The British don't stop at double three. You say like eight double eight mm-hmm when they have three things they say treble eight oh this is a whole new it is a whole new thank you I knew well it's not you know don't thank me you can thank Dan Milia from wherever he may be it's one trouble eight double two seven eighty two double five. Headed the other, he says ta ta. Hello, you're on Card Talk.

Hi, this is Nick in Jupiter. Jupiter? Florida? Yep. How you doing? I'm doing pretty good, how are you guys? What happens in Jupiter, Florida? I mean, I thought it was just retired people. Well, no, actually the average age in this part of the county is 44

So we're not retired yet. We're all working hard 44. Yeah, that's the average age. Yeah, no kidding. Yeah, but they are got a gray hair. It's a lot of gray hair around here Yeah, what are you doing Jupiter? We have a practice management company. We manage the doctors practices Yeah, the God knows they need it. Oh, yeah, well there's a lot of them too. So what's shaking, Nick? Well, we have a 91 Montero LS. It's a four-wheel drive. And we use it, our courier uses it, and we go all the way from

like Miami to Melbourne and as far west as the lake. So we put about 950 miles a week on it. But we've had this problem is that it drinks oil. But now it doesn't smoke and he'll come and he'll tell me that, you know, well I had to put three quarts in it today and okay and then the next week will go by and we'll put another quart in. Three? On average how many courts a week

uh... three and that's over a thousand miles about a mile here really there were a guy took it to the gas station and uh... you know we take it there and they looked underneath there's no leak from either type park at the old when you drive away there's no leak there one guy though put his hand in the tailpipe and came up with oil and he said i was put his hand in the tailpipe and came up with oil and

he said I was blowing oil out of the tailpipe. I'll bet you are. How do you do that? I mean without it smoking or nothing. Well it is smoking but it's smoking so little that you can't see it unless you get to a point where you're consuming a quarter every 50 or 100 miles it's almost unnoticeable. Oh. One test to find it if you're burning oil, which undoubtedly you are, because you're what? Not leaking it and no one's stealing it, but if you want to satisfy your curiosity, park the thing in a garage, an enclosed garage, and don't open the door when you start it in the morning.

Just for a few seconds and you will notice that in that time, the garage is filled up with blue tinted smoke. Yeah. start it in the morning. Just for a few seconds and you will notice that in that time the garage is filled up with blue tinted smoke and that's the oil that you're burning. I mean how many miles on this thing? 120,000? Actually about 100,000 miles on it. Yeah that's about right. That's good. I don't think there's much you can do about this because it's probably worn rings. Oh no.

Yeah. That sounds expensive. It is expensive. Yeah it's not because you're not going to do anything. Oh no. Yeah. That sounds expensive. It is expensive. Yeah, it's not because you're not going to do anything. No, well good. Do you have one of those Dymo, what do they call those, label makers? Yeah. You have one?

Yeah. Make a label that says, check oil every day and affix it to the dashboard, right with the gear shift lever. Yeah, make five or six of them actually. Put them everywhere. Shift, leave a windshield. See what happens is, if the thing holds five quarts of oil,

once you burn the first, let's say it takes you 600 miles to burn the first quart. The next, you have now four remaining quarts trying to do the work of five, you'll burn the next quart in 400 miles. You'll burn the next quart in 100 miles. And then you'll burn the next quart on your way to the junkyard because you'll have ruined the engine. So oil burns at an accelerated rate once it gets low.

The less of it there is. So if you keep an eye on it and add a quart whenever it needs it, you might be able to get away with burning a quart every 500 or 600 miles instead of three quarts every 1800 miles or six hundred miles instead of three courts every you know eighteen hundred miles or whatever uh... okay so you gotta be when it needs a court you've got to add it by it by the case put in the back you got plenty of room and yeah i may be one of these doctors you consult for king set you up with

some kind of intravenous fear uh... something they've discarded i could just see it going down the road now Actually, it would be a great advertisement wouldn't it? Yeah practice management on the side and an intravenous bottle hanging there from the antenna on the antenna exactly This is a great idea. What a marketing idea Nick We hit upon it! We could have made our day here. Good luck. Thanks a lot. Bye bye.

I love it. Can I get one of those for the field? Oh, you'll need it. 1-888-CAR-TALK That's 1-888-227-8255 Hello, you're on Car Talk. This is Steph from Irving, Texas. Steph! Hi, hi! Irving!

Yes, home of those bastard cowboys. Irving is, uh... I've been in Irving. It's outside of Dallas. Yeah, it's about 14 miles northwest of Dallas. Oh, yeah. Right between Fort Worth and Dallas. Yes. Yeah. I've been to Irving. He's never been there. I've been to Irving, sure I have.

Oh, that was Irving, Massachusetts. Well, you've probably flown over it. You've been to Irving's house. What's up, Steph? Well, I'm embarking on an adventure. And I need your pearls of wisdom to make sure I'm preparing for everything appropriately. Oh, of course. We are the world's foremost planners. Wonderful. I am driving my 93 Subaru loyal station wagon

from Dallas to Milwaukee and It has a hundred fifty eight thousand miles on it And I've taken care of it to the best of the ability of my mechanic anyway But I'm driving up empty and coming back with a sailboat attached to the back end Ten cases of wine and assorted books. Wine? I'm picking up my wine collection. I need to bring it down here to drink it.

Wow. And how far a trip is that, like 1,800 miles? In about 1,300 miles. How big is the sailboat? The sailboat is only about 14 feet long. It's like a sailfish, just a little bit bigger. What's your sailboat doing up there in Milwaukee? Well it's parked. There's no water in Milwaukee and there's no water in Irving. What are you gonna do with a sailboat?

Actually there are a lot of lakes around here you'd be very surprised. How did you get the sailboat? I'm confused. She moved from Milwaukee to Dallas some time ago. She was unable to bring her boat and her wine collection. That's right. See, there you go. What was the question again? I guess I just want to make sure I'm preparing appropriately. So how are you preparing?

Well, I just had a fuel injection cleaning. I just had new tires put on. I had the radiator checked and cleaned out. Transmission service. Tune up. I had the radiator checked and cleaned out, transmission service, tune up, and had all the tie rod ends just replaced along with all the struts. Wow, excellent. There is one thing I would do.

Yes. Did you get any airplane tickets? No. Have you at least contacted a travel agent? I mean, you might make it. have you at least contacted a travel agent? I mean you might make it. I mean who are we to say? Well I don't know, Subarus are supposed to last forever right?

No. Well I always like to think of, let's jump right to worst case scenario. What would you envision as thest case scenario With the boat with the sailboat hooked up and you know, it's not gonna happen on the way up, right? It's only gonna happen on the way back. How much is this wine collection worth? Oh, you don't want to know thousands of dollars. Yeah It's gonna get ruined when it sits there in the Sun and it gets baked because the engine is overheated and you don't want to know. Thousands. Thousands of dollars. Yeah. How much would you pay us? It's going to get ruined when it sits there in the sun and it gets baked because the engine

is overheated and you can't run it. Yeah. I don't know. You have to crack those covers. The real danger is that you'll blow a head gasket. Right. So if I just don't drive much slower than normal and things like that. Well, I think you should definitely on the way back

Restrict your speed to 55. Yeah. Yeah, I mean 158,000 miles is a lot of miles on an engine. How many miles are you hoping to get out of this Subaru? Probably 225. Yeah, and if you didn't what if what if tomorrow the engine blew? What would you do? I'd have to buy a new car. Do it now. You should do that tomorrow. Hahaha! I mean, you are definitely taking the chance of losing the entire collection of wine.

Okay. There is some chance of that. You see, because if the engine blows on the trip, you're going to have to junk the car, in which case you'll get nothing for it. You may even have to throw in the boat. Oh my. It's safe to say the wine is worth much more than the car, right? Yeah, it is. So what you should do is sell this car, buy the new car, and then make the trip without a care in the world.

Now isn't that stupid advice, but I think it's the right advice. Okay, well that's what I called you for. Yeah, I mean unless you're a risk taktaker and you want to just live on the edge, then you can do it. But I mean there's a chance that you won't make it. Because with a sailboat and 10 cases of wine, you're putting a real extra load on the engine which is already very tired. Go and buy yourself a new Outback. Oh, okay.

You'll love it. Have a good trip, Steph. Thanks a lot. Say hello to everybody in Milwaukee for us I will bye. Bye. Bye. Now before we give the answer to last week's puzzle. We have to pause what is this? No, no union work rules. I get a minute off every time I get within a half a mile of This message comes from wise the app for doing things and other currencies. With WISE, you can send, spend, or receive money across borders, all at a fair exchange rate, no markups

or hidden fees. Join millions of customers and visit WISE.com. T's and C's apply. I'm Tonya Mosley, co-host of Fresh Air. At a time of sound bites and short attention spans, our show is all about the deep dive. We do long form interviews with people behind the best in film, books, TV, music, and journalism. Here our guests open up about their process and their lives in ways you've never heard before. Listen to the Fresh Air podcast from NPR and WHYY. Look, we get it. When it comes to new music, there is a lot of it, and it all comes really fast.

But on All Songs Considered, NPR's music recommendation podcast, we'll handpick what we think is the greatest music happening right now and give you your next great listen. So kick back, settle in, get those eardrums wide open, and get your dose of new music from all songs considered, only from NPR. Shortwave thinks of science as an invisible force, showing up in your everyday life. Powering the food you eat, the medicine you use, the tech in your pocket. Science is approachable because it's already part of your life. Come explore these connections on the shortwave podcast from NPR.

Hi, we're back. You're listening to Car Talk with us, Click and Clack the Tapit brothers. And here's the answer to last week's puzzler. Some of you may recall that- I remember the puzzler. My brother embarrassed us some weeks ago. Ah! Ha-ha-ha! By stating that Martin Gardner was dead, and his son Jim called us to tell us

that his father insists he isn't. He called his son, I'm not dead! Tell him I'm not dead! Anyway, he offered us a... Martin himself offered us a puzzler for use in our show and actually Jim stated the puzzle last week and here it is. And did a pretty fine job of it, I thought. He did. Better than we do. Maybe he wants to come out of retirement. There are three

on-off light switches on the wall of the first floor of a building. One switch, one of the switches, one of the three controls a bulb in a lamp on the third floor of the building. The other two switches, like my brother and I are, they're not connected to anything. Or they do nothing. Yeah. You're allowed to toggle the switches as many times as you want. Then you're allowed to toggle the switches as many times as you want then you're allowed to walk just once So you can put you can turn switches on one

You can turn all three of them on you can turn all three of them off You can turn two on three on one on you know, whatever you want for as long as you want. Yeah, okay Then you are allowed to walk just once to the third floor to check the light bulb Right and then you have to decide which one of the switches on the first floor is in fact the one that turns the light bulb on or off. This is a great puzzle. Martin Garden is good. Especially considering that he's dead. Well, here's the answer. Yeah.

You turn the first switch on, you leave it on for 10 minutes. Why you ask, you'll see in a minute. Then you turn it off and you turn the second switch on and you go upstairs. And you leave the third switch in the off position. There you go. Yeah. If the bulb is on, then it's switch number two, which is the one that's on. Right.

Okay. then it's switch number two, which is the one that's on. Right. Okay. Mm-hmm. If the bulb is off and it's cold, then it's switch number three, which is the one you never touched that controls that light. If the bulb is off but it's hot, then it was switch number one. Excellent. Pretty cool, huh?

This is an excellent, but this qualifies as an excellent puzzler. Because it seems so impossible. This is a Martin Gardner puzzle. It's right up there. It's right up there. It's right up there with one of his. Who's our winner this week? Chip Merrow from Loudon, New Hampshire? Loudon? Is that how you pronounce it? Loudon New Hampshire, Loudon is that how you pronounce it? Loudon. Loudon New Hampshire, it's not hamster, New Hampshire. Let's have a little more respect for our neighbors to the north. Those wackos live free and die young. And Chip, for having your correct answer chosen at random from among the 20,000 correct answers that we got, you're going to win one of our CDs.

Men are from GM, women are from Ford, and lawyers are from Daimler-Chrysler. And it's a CD about calls from cars and people and things like that, couples and relationships. Yeah, yeah, yeah. We got the idea. You're gonna really love it, Chip. I hope you enjoy it as much as we have enjoyed it. As much as we're gonna enjoy getting rid of it. Anyway, we'll have a brand new puzzler coming up in the third half of today's show, so don't touch that dial. In the meantime, we'll take your calls at 1-888-CAR-TALK, that's 888-227-8255. Hello, you're on Car Talk. Hi, this is Jim from Naperville, Illinois.

Naperville. Ever heard of it? No, never heard of it. Little tiny suburb in the western chicago suburbs great what's up jim well i have a strange problem i am up sort of a road warrior shall we say i get a brand new mercury sable every two years to put around forty thousand miles a year on it

mostly highway miles the ninety two mercury sable like handed over to my wife a few years ago has been a wonderful car but all of a sudden in the last couple of weeks, the transmission seems to really hesitate before it goes into first gear. D'oh! And goes ka-funk when it finally does. That's not good. I didn't think so.

So it has how many miles on it now? 88,000. I mean, how disappointed would you be if you had to put a rebuilt transmission into this thing? Extremely. Very disappointed. Because my new two-year-old car isn't quite ready to hand over to her. Oh How far away are we from that almost exactly a year? Well, I mean I would be tempted to wait really I would be tempted to wait because I mean This is gonna get worse and worse and worse. Yeah

But who knows you might make it for a year. It's very likely not gonna fall out from under No, it isn't gonna fall off from under it might The clunking is gonna get worse and worse. No, it's gonna happen at one point. It's not gonna go anymore. Right? Oh, there you go It's not just some inexpensive valve that needs all it is except it costs $1,500 to get at it inexpensive valve that needs all of it is accepted cost fifteen dollars to get at it uh... uh... yeah the parts are all free when you rebuild the church they give those away you get a full good news so i think you may you may have to

jump the gun here and and cut short this two-year plan yet sounds like it is it broke you have to fix it no it but they went with the point who who who owns these cars what do you mean do you own them both now uh... it's the leasing company owned the one that i'm driving right now right by from the leasing company at the end of the high mileage to your lease well

here's the thing to do swap cars with your wife i'm picking swapping transmission jail for that haha that's very good that's very good you think it's a new transmission or at least overhaul oh yeah oh yeah oh yeah I mean the truth is it may

not be the classic fifteen hundred bucks okay it might be twelve hundred oh wouldn't that be nice the sun is shining on me today haha see ya Jim! Good for you Jim. You got the right attitude man.

You got it. What are you gonna do? Thanks for calling. Thanks a lot guys. Have a good day. Bye bye. Nothing worse than an automatic transmission that goes bad. Yeah, no they do some awful things. 1888 Car Talk, that's what? 1888 228255. Hello, you're on Car Talk.

This is Nick in Columbia, South Carolina. Hi, Nick. How you doing? Oh, just wonderful, except for about to roast. Anyway, I have a 1980 Pontiac Sunbird. Really? Yeah. It's a fine little car.

It'll go from zero to 60 in about four and a half minutes but uh... it when you're driving down the road though there's one uh... clunking banging felt like godzilla underneath the car beat them with a sledgehammer type well and try to figure out jacked it up in

like check for loose ball joints in a frame bushings and all that good stuff but does it sound like it's coming from right underneath you or in the engine compartment it sound like it's coming from the right front right front as you go down the road you get this blah blah blah blah blah blah blah no it's more like BAM KABAM KABAM oh does it happen when you hit bumps or just as you're driving along on a small road there are no smooth roads yeah we have a little uh... even just on a regular road on a regular road you driving along and poem bomb bomb bang bang

and like if you go to check the car up it'll do it once if you stand there jump up down on the fender won't do it i tried riding on the hood of the car to see if I could locate the sound better. It wouldn't make a sound when I tried that. Who was driving? He was driving. My wife was driving. Did she slam on the brakes and laugh a lot?

Yeah. So you can get the noise when you jack it up. When you jack it up, you can get it to clunk once. I love it. Very good. Hold on a minute. We're going to get it now. Oh, I know.

I think I know what it is. You do? Yeah, you're going to like this, Nick. You don't? No. I think you have a cracked frame. Oh, boy. You think so?

I think so. Okay. Okay. This car kind kind of kind of looks like maybe would you call it a unibody type construction maybe? Well it used to be unibody now it's half body. Is it pretty rusted? No, not really. No, but it's not the crack is not from rust, it's from fatigue. And this thing has a cradle that holds the engine in transmission. And I bet you that cradle someplace is cracked, that subframe is cracked. And that's what the noise is. Oh, really?

Yeah. Well, what you're going to have to do is to stick your arm underneath the car while someone else jacks it up and try to locate, either by feel or by sound or whatever, where the snapping noise is coming from. And then you'll find out where the crack is and then you can junk it. Do you have it in junk? No, you can get it welded.

You have it welded, sure. But it's fixable. But I would refrain from driving it very much until you get it fixed because okay. Yeah And so I think it is something major it would have gone ahead and fall in a part Well, you may be getting ready to fall apart That's why I wouldn't drive it anymore, but get it looked at because it is it has potential to be dangerous. Yeah, okay See you Nick. Good luck. All right. Thank you

Have a good day. You too. Hey, stick around for more calls and the new puzzler coming right up. On the Indicator from Planet Money podcast, we're here to help you make sense of the economic news from Trump's tariffs. It's called in game theory a trigger strategy or sometimes called grim trigger, which sort of has a cowboy-esque ring to it. To what exactly a sovereign wealth fund is.

For insight every weekday, listen to NPR's The Indicator from Planet Money. A lot of short daily news podcasts focus on just one story. But right now, you probably need more. On Up First from NPR, we bring you three of the world's top headlines every day in under 15 minutes. Because no one story can capture all that's happening in this big crazy world of ours on any given morning. Listen now to the Up First podcast from NPR. Know that fizzy feeling you get when you read something really good, watch the movie everyone's been talking about, or catch the show that the internet can't get over? At the Pop Culture Happy Hour podcast, we chase that feeling four times a week.

We'll serve you recommendations and commentary on the buzziest movies, TV, music, and more. From low brow to high brow to the stuff in between, catch the Pop Culture Happy Hour podcast from NPR. Are you one of the half of Americans who say money management is part of their self-care routine? Or one of the 41% of young adults who think financial well-being means having multiple streams of income? On It's Been A Minute, I'm investigating how young people are turning to OnlyFans, sports betting, and Klarna to stretch every last dollar. That's all month long on the It's Been A Minute podcast from NPR. We're back, you're listening to Car Talk with us, Click and Clack the Tappet Brothers, and we're here to discuss cars, car repair, and the, the new puzzler. And this is a quasi automotive puzzler I believe oh

okay fine wouldn't you say so quasi automobiles mister mister some years ago my family and I went on a little ski vacation and we spent the first day ski vac you've never been on a ski vacation in your life. This is a puzzler. No, we did, we went on a little ski vacation in the mountains. Oh, little ski. Little skis. One foot long. One foot. There were snow shoes actually. My wife and children and I went on a little ski vacation in the in the mountains Yeah, okay, and we spent the first day Hitting the slope so to speak I did most of the hitting with my face and

After that first day we decided your butt no face much Decided to spend the next day in the more familiar and congenial surroundings of the heated pool. Good idea. And while we were there, we were sitting there, the four of us in our chairs crying out, towel boy! And a group of four people, another family started walking toward us and my younger son noticed that there were two very cute teenage girls, blonde haired teenage girls, walking in front of what I would assume were their parents. And my son studied them for a few moments and as they drew closer, he said to me,

they're Australians, you know. Wow. And I said oh you've met them? He said oh no they're as strange to me as are my textbooks. And I said oh and so you've overheard you've overheard them speaking? He said oh no but I know. Never saw them before in my life. Never never laid eyes on them. Okay. And as luck would have it, they come and sit right down next to us. And before they have a chance to utter a word,

he leans over and says to them, pretty long way to come from Australia to do a little skiing. And the father says, Hi, matey. And he says, you're right, mate, it sure is. Whistling Wow. And it wasn't the crocodile Dundee t-shirts that gave them away either.

Wow! Now, you have all the information you need. Yes, this is. And I might add a significant hint. Don't tell them where the hint is! I don't know where it is, but I think there's a hint in there. A hint! I want to just say the hint was brilliantly delivered.

Executed. Now if you think you know the answer or you're basically shut in and you're done talking to anybody, send your answer to Puzzler Tower, Car Talk Plaza, Box 3500, Harvard Square, Cambridge, our fair city, MA 02238, or you can email us your answer from our website, cartalk.msn.com, just click on the talk to car talk section. And if we choose your correct answer at random from among all the correct answers, you'll get one of our CDs called Men Are From GM, Women Are From Ford. It's a CD about couples and cars and the problems we've caused with many people over the years. And this is, I might add, is enthusiastically endorsed by the American Association of Marriage

Counselors. This tape has been the greatest boon to business since no fault divorce. If you'd like to talk to us, the number is 1-888-CAR-TALK. That's 1-888-227-825. Hello, you're on Car Talk. This is Chris Johnson from Huntsville, hi Chris Chris Johnson pretty common name yeah well it is a common name in fact I used to work with a guy named Chris Johnson you didn't have a sex change did you absolutely not okay just checking well

this Chris Johnson is alive and very well in Huntsville thank you great what's what's shaking I have a ninety one accord wagon one hundred and fifty thousand miles on that little puppy uh... still runs like a dream but i'm having a couple of weird noises that i have not had before in the past there are two of them and they don't seem to be related to each other but they're equally annoying

unlike me and my brother who i wanted to reach other but they're equally annoying unlike me and my brother who are related to each other and i equally annoyed uh... uh... i have many siblings well i'm aware of that but when i'm making and it did the one noise only happened when i'm making a left hand turn with my foot on the accelerator. If I'm coasting or if like I put my foot on the brake then the noise stops. Okay. Okay I'm gonna make

that noise. It's got like thunk thunk thunk thunk thunk thunk thunk thunk. Okay that's noise number one. Yeah now the other noise is when I put on the brake kind of hard. Yeah. But it's kind of a noise and then I might get it like a little humming noise at the end or a little tinkling like it's very musical I want to dance that was really good but these are driving me crazy and the noise both I went to my regular mechanic and he called me later that day and said that my actual my right axle was cracked

and needed replaced and then he got to look at that the left one and he said it was cracked too so i've had both the actuals for play home and that didn't do anything all chris and i am the guy where I get my tires rotated told me it was the bearings, and they replaced the bearings. And that didn't do it. It is still making both noises.

Oh, this is running into money. Yeah. Well, I mean, the first noise certainly did sound like axles. OK. I'm shocked that both axles were replaced. Well, interestingly, he didn't offer to give you your money back when it didn't solve the problem. No. I'm kind of disturbed about that actually. Yeah. I mean, if it had fixed the problem, fine.

Fine. Or if it alleviated one of the noises. Well, I mean, his answer would be, well, they were cracked and therefore they had to be replaced anyway They weren't they weren't understand what he meant by cracked in the first place Yeah, it's unlikely that the axles would be cracked. I don't know what he meant by that I think the tree I think the boots were correct boots were cracked on the axle And I've had I think I've had both those front boots replaced. Well, here's here's what I'd like you to do Okay, I think you have a warped disc rotor on the right front wheel. A warped what?

Disc rotor. The brake disc. Go back to this guy and tell him that you'd like him to replace that for free. Okay. Well, with the understanding that if it doesn't fix it, he puts the old one back on. Okay. And my brother thinks, I guess, that both of the noises are coming from the same place. Okay. Oh yeah, the first noise is coming because as the thing,

as you make a turn, that warp in the disk is moving the pads around. That's making the dun-ka-dun-ka-dun-ka-dun-ka noise. Yeah, it sounds like something's like, like... Flapping around. Yeah, like something's, that's what it sounds like, and it feels like you can feel it, just that little bit like something's just kind of flapping there see you Chris good Chris thanks for calling good work thanks

well it's happened again yeah what you've squandered another perfectly good hour listening to car talk our esteemed producer is Doug Berman our associate producer and Dean of the College of Automusicology is Ken Rogers. Our assistant producer is Catherine Ray. Our engineer is Jonathan Marston and our menu advisor is Mr. John S. Lawler. Our public opinion pollster is Paul Murky of Murky Research, assisted by statistician Margin O'Vara. Our director of catering is Russell Upsome Grubb.

Our director of Jamaican baseball Russell Upsomgrub. Our director of Jamaican baseball operations is Greg A. Jackson. Peekaboo Street directs our intensive care unit which is known as the Peekaboo ICU. The chairman of our underemployment study group is Art Majors. And our Leo Tolstoy biographer is Warren Peace, author of Leo Tolstoy by Warren Peace. Our chief counselor from the law firm of Dewey, Cheetam and Howe, as you Lewis Dewey, known to his buddies in Harvard Square as Huey, Louie, Dewey. Thanks so much for listening. We're Click and Clack the Tappet Brothers. Don't drive like my brother or my sister. Don't drive like my brother or my sister. We'll be back next week. Bye-bye. And now here is our chief mechanic, Mr. Vinny

Gumbatz, with some very apropos information. Hey apropos this, would ya? What are you Miriam Webster? Don't call me Miriam. Now look, if you just want a copy of this week's Card Talk Show, which is number 23, you call our shameless commerce division at 1-3-8-Card Junk. You got that? And if people wanted other Card Talk Paras maybe of in would they call that same number? No, you're called BJ Habibi in Indonesia. You don't of course you call the same number 888 card junk Or you can get stuff through the online shameless commerce division at car talk dot MSN dot com

Thank you very much Vincent. You've been very very helpful. Yeah help this will you? Car talk is production of do each even how in WB you Cheat, and Howe and WBUR in Boston. And even though Ann Taylor says Porca miseria, ma chi sono questi carfoni, when she hears us say it, this is NPR National Public Radio.