Episode 611 – Fender Flares and Flat Tires

This Week In Jeep

Average Cost Of a Jeep In The First Quarter of 2022 Is Up 

Jeep and Ram once again account for the most sales compared to the other brands under its parent company Stellantis. When the industry as a whole saw the new vehicle average transaction number rise only 16 percent, Stellantis saw its transaction prices rise 21 percent in the first quarter of 2022. Ram came to play too, with a rise of 13 percent across its entire pickup line. Most of this is because of the chip shortage and supply chain issues. Those two combined saw a 30 percent average boost to the value of just about every vehicle in the used car market because nobody could produce new cars fast enough to meet demand. But there’s another side of all this that is less mathematical and dives more into human nature. Jeep is on its way to finding a niche in the market with buyers who want upscale amenities without the showiness of a full-blown luxury brand. Many people don’t actually like luxury cars. They actually just like luxury features. Studies have shown that a majority of people like luxury looks, but they see it as an unnecessary flaunting of one’s worth or having a priority of status. 

Jeep-branded vehicles now fill this growing segment because the brand is still technically mainstream, and by that I mean domestic. It’s a brand everyone is familiar with, and it’s one that isn’t typically synonymous with flashy levels of luxury. At the same time, buying these new upscale Jeeps, which themselves have reached a new level of luxury for the Jeep brand, are providing virtually everything one would get from a luxury purchase. Well, that and some kick-ass world-class level, award-winning off-road ability too. Oh, and in case you were wondering, the average ticket price for a new Jeep in the first quarter of 2022 is now just over 50 grand. 

Would You Press Charges Too?

This one may drum up some controversy as it begs the question of whether or not the punishment fits the crime. Let me paint the picture for you. 

It’s late, you wake up to take a leak and check on your beloved Jeep Cherokee, and of course the daughter too. Can’t forget that you have a kid. Easy to do at one in the morning as you stub your toe on the way to the toilet. Only the kid is gone, and so is your Jeep. Well, the kid is an adult now, still living at home, but you didn’t give her permission to take the Jeep out. Especially this late. So you report the Jeep stolen to the local police. Who at just before 3 am sees the Jeep and pulls it over.

Both occupants were asked to get out of the vehicle and were detained. The driver turned out to be some jackass. The passenger is of course your daughter, who initially gave a false name at the scene. But I guess some advice from the police got her a transport back home in the back of a cop car once the right info was provided, and the driver, her douchebag boyfriend, is charged with one count of auto theft. 

So there’s the question, did the punishment fit the crime? 

Stellantis CEO Drops Bomb On EV World

Canceled. Dropped. Fired. Suspended. Banned. So much has happened in the last few years to those of us who have been holding up a finger and asking the questions that the green weenies don’t want to ask or are too afraid to. Well this week, the CEO of Stellantis, Jeep’s parent company dropped a bomb on the EV world by confirming what so many of us have been saying for so long. Raising the same questions and pointing out the inconvenient truths about electric vehicles that the government wants you to ignore and just buy the damn battery-powered car already!.. because don’t you want to save the earth and be a good green obedient citizen? The very man who makes a living by making vehicles, yes some and arguably a growing number of which are electric or hybrid. Carlos Tavares the CEO of Jeep’s parent company rightly pinpointed all of the biggest problems with all these breathless declarations that “electrification is the future.” While addressing the crowd at the Financial Times Future of the Car 2022 conference earlier this month, Tavares, alongside other keynote speakers like Elon Musk, turned his attention to the battery shortage plaguing the industry. He also touched on the shortages of the raw material, casting serious doubt on the ability to scale up battery manufacturing. A critical necessity for anyone wanting electric cars to be the future. 

From about 2025 to 2026, Tavares believes the automotive industry will suffer a battery shortage problem thanks to supply shortages. That’s right, the man who runs Stellantis, which has been talking up electrification big in the past year or so, thinks automakers are going to run off a cliff if they put all their chips on EVs. It gets even better. During Tavares’ address, he brought up another inconvenient truth: the reality of how raw materials for EV batteries are extracted from Earth. Now, he said the industry won’t “like” it “in a few years.” But let’s face it, the way those minerals are mined right now often involves ecological devastation and child labor with horrific health consequences.

But you go ahead and feel proud of your Prius. Jeep isn’t as guilty of this as say, well, virtually every other brand, but automakers for years have played the game of exporting the “yucky” parts of the industry to nations in the East so they can pretend they’ve “gone green.”. That’s led to all kinds of unpleasant realities, like dependence on communistic China for the lithium-ion batteries needed for all EVs.  As if that wasn’t enough, he put a cherry on top by asking some very hard questions of the feckless journalists in mainstream media acting more as cheerleaders than truth seekers.  “Where is the clean energy?” he asked. “Where is the charging infrastructure?” Neither one is here, and certainly not at the scale of what the EV freaks are going to need if their wishes come true. 

Tech Talk with Jeep Talk

TOPIC/QUESTION: Tips and Tricks For Flat Tire Trail Repair

Over the years in various segments, I’ve talked about the importance of the ability to repair a flat tire out on the trail (and out on the road) by using tire plug kits. One of the things I’ve never covered however was some tips and tricks of actually how to use the kits that I’ve recommended. Flat tire repair kits are available just about everywhere and they’re relatively cheap for what they are capable of. Pretty much every retail four-wheel-drive shop has them, and you can even get them at some hardware stores, not to mention online. They’re inexpensive and highly effective, and the first time you use one it pays for itself several times over. The most basic kits available come with bare necessities. This usually includes a knurled punch tool, a plug insertion tool, and the plugs themselves. These plugs usually have a coating on them that will harden and set the plug as it expands once it’s exposed to air. Some kits come with a tube of what is basically rubber cement which helps bond the rubber plug to the rubber tire itself.  Rubber cement is actually the end-all-be-all to emergency tire repair.  We’ll get into that a little bit later. For now, I want to go over just how easy these kits are to use and how to expand on them to make them better, and I’ll get into some tips and tricks to get the most out of your repair kit should the time come that you need to use it. Okay, to most people repairing your own flat tire is something that you just don’t want to deal with. That’s what the big tire stores are for right? But in comparison to the time that it’s going to take to dismount your spare jack up the vehicle and swap out the wheel and tire for the spare, …to the quickness and ease of repairing a flat yourself. Well, it’s just a no-brainer. Not to mention the time and cost of having to go back to the tire store to have them deal with the damaged tire. Now obviously there’s going to be a line in the sand here. If you put in a 16-inch gash along your sidewall …well I’m sorry but there’s likely going to be nothing that you’re going to be able to do to fix something like that out on the trail. However, picking up a nail or a screw, or something else out on the road, or even getting a small puncture out on the trail…is all easily dealt with when having even the most basic repair kit.

One note here, however… Getting the smallest, or least expensive kit is going to guarantee you don’t have one essential tool unless you carry tools with you all the time. The most basic kits don’t come with a pair of needle-nose pliers or end cutters which will give you the ability to remove whatever debris may be still stuck in the tire causing the puncture or leak. Otherwise pulling a nail or screw out of a tire with your fingers is going to be awfully difficult. Getting the tire in position to deal with the repair is first. If it’s a front tire this is going to be easy, just take note of where the puncture is, and move the vehicle to where you can turn that spot out from the wheel well. Having the most room to work with is critical, so it’s better to move ahead a few feet on a flat tire to make things easier instead of fighting it where it is. Now it’s time to get whatever is IN your tire OUT. Using needle-nose pliers or some kind of end cutter you’ll grab hold of what you can of the screw, nail, or whatever… and rock it back and forth from your wrist, using the tool for leverage against the tire, as you pull. Don’t just yank on it, as you may slip or cut yourself, … this way you’re under much more control over the situation. Once the offending penetrator is out of your tire, you will use the knurled punch tool to open the hole that is left behind even further.
I know this sounds counterintuitive and there may be air rushing out at you as you do it, but trust me, not only is this a good way to take out the frustrations of having a flat, to begin with, but it’s good practice for the next time too. Don’t get me wrong, it’s going to take some serious effort. Especially if the wheel is still on the Jeep. Tires are not only rubber, but they have crisscrossing bands of steel wire running around and around the inside of the body of the tire, and you’ll be trying to push this big round file-like punch tool right through all of that. Being able to straddle the tire makes it a lot easier, but this can still be done with the tire on the Jeep. The good news is that the nail, screw, rock, or branch that started all this already did the hard work. The punch tool process is the hardest part of the whole repair, but it does two important things.

Not only does it make room for the plug it also roughens up the rubber providing more surface area to hold onto the plug and or glue ensuring a good lasting seal. Once the hole is good and reamed out, a plug is removed from the kit (coated with rubber cement if your kit came with it) and inserted into the plug insertion tool. This is basically just like threading a piece of licorice through the eye of a giant needle. But this big needle has a big T handle on it, and after bending that plugin half, you’re going to take that insertion tool and you’re just going to shove it right into that freshly reamed hole. And you’re basically done at that point. You yank the insertion tool out, and the plug stays put and your tire is now repaired. The whole process would only take 5 minutes, maybe 10 if you really don’t know what you’re doing. But in most cases, you don’t have to dismount the tire, or the spare for that matter either…if you had one at all. All that’s left is to air up and get back on your way. Now let’s look into expanding your kit and making it better. If your kit didn’t come with the aforementioned needle-nose pliers or end cutters or even better, diagonal cutters (typically referred to as “dikes”) ….easy there snowflake ….  consider picking up either or both. Having the dikes will not only make removing a screw or nail or whatever it is easy, but it will enable you to snip off the excess pug sticking out of the tire, not that it’s necessary, as it’ll eventually wear itself off, but still. You don’t want to take the chance of it getting caught and ripped out. But if you don’t feel comfortable carrying or using dikes for this, then use a good sharp knife to cut the excess off.

The only other thing I would say is almost a necessity would be to have a small bottle of rubber cement on board. What this is going to enable you to do is to continually expand the kit with extra plugs, which are easily available on Amazon and other places or even at your local parts store, …or by getting creative out on the trail. I’ve seen a gash in the sidewall big enough to stick three fingers into, repaired with multiple plugs, zip ties, sticks (yes actual TWIGS), and virtually half a bottle of rubber cement. It was enough to get that tire to hold air and got him back down to basecamp and onto a trailer.  Which is all the difference in the world if you’re up on the side of a mountain deep in some rocks with no spare and a blown tire. Tire repair kits are a must-have in every Jeep, especially if you wheel out in the woods or rocks. But even to have on your daily driver or as your everyday kit, a tire repair kit should be on your “must-have” list if you don’t have one already. I’m going to leave you with one word of caution here. And that’s common sense. Ok, that’s two words, but who’s counting…  If all you’re doing is repairing a leak in the middle of the tire from a screw or nail you picked up somewhere out on the road, then this may not apply. But if your tire has been seriously compromised, and you had to use more than one plug or had to get creative in order for that tire to hold air, then you need to consider how much you are going to drive on it. It may be safe enough to get you off the trail, but it may not be safe enough to get you home. A sketchy trail repair on a tire can turn into a blow-out on the highway if you’re not using some common sense.  

Jeep Life – With Jeep Momma

Plastic Fender Mythbusters

A few years ago, I decided to wax my Jeep. Like full-on waxing, with a clay bar and all. I wasn’t as careful as I thought, and some of the wax got on my plastic fenders. It stained the part with wax a dull white. I tried washing off the wax, but it remained on the fenders. I used Mother’s Brazilian wax which apparently is not good for plastics.  I tried many different do-it-yourself ideas I found on the internet before I went out and bought the pricey auto products. I did a MythBusters type of test. First was a regular old pink eraser. FAIL. Next was Simple Green.  At first, it looked like this would work, but after the fender dried the stain came back.  FAIL.  A Mr. Clean Eraser sponge was next, which I thought for sure would work. I use these in my house all the time and they are fabulous. Again, once the plastic fender dried the stains came back. Another FAIL. Then I tried the leather conditioner that was suggested.  It seemed to work.  Even though I thought the leather conditioner looked like it worked, I was curious about the peanut butter idea so many suggested, so I put it to the test on a second wax stain. WOW! It disappeared with the first smudge of the peanut butter. But you could see where the peanut butter was applied. I decided to give the fenders a good soapy wash.  I also needed to get the peanut butter smell off the fenders for the fear of squirrels trying to eat the fender, which could have happened in my old neighborhood. We had squirrels eat through our plastic garbage can one time.

After the good soapy wash of the fenders, I noticed the spots, I used the leather conditioner on, were back. So…I broke out the peanut butter again. Then I gave all the fenders a good layer of Armor All. None of the suggested remedies worked. I tried many of them over a span of a year. However, I found a product that not only hides the wax but makes my fenders look like they just rolled off the factory floor. You may need to reapply this product after it rains or you get your Jeep dirty as it is not permanent.

Back to Black by Mother’s is my go-to product for my black plastic Jeep Wrangler fenders. However, you need to set at least an hour or two aside to do this one right. Later after one of the Plastic fender Mythbuster’s videos, a YouTube viewer shared he uses tire cleaner on his fenders. So I gave it a try. Yep, It works!  So easy. I just sprayed the fenders with a tire Foam, once the foam starts to turn clear I just wiped it down with a microfiber cloth. This is the quickest way to get those fenders looking almost like off the factory floor depending on how old and stained they are. However, this method doesn’t last very long.

Another fellow Jeeper suggested. Milsek Furniture oil. The labels suggest it polishes and cleans at the same time. It is meant to protect wood finishes from moisture and dry air. As well as cover scratch marks and remove water rings. It is also supposed to remove soap film from shower doors. AND… you can use it on all wood surfaces, vinyl, car bumpers, and dash. So I gave it a try by squeezing some of the oil on a damp cloth and began to scrub. It sure shined up those dull faded fenders. It removed the wax and it left a fresh, clean scent. My bottle was a holiday-raspberry scent. The squirrels seem to like it as I found one on my rear tire

So over the years, I tried many, many “home remedies” suggested by fellow Jeepers… like Dawn dish soap, a pink eraser, Simple Green, Mr. Clean Eraser sponge, a blow dryer, and wire brush, and yes, even peanut butter.

Those plastic fenders on the Wranglers are hard to keep looking sharp. The sun’s UV rays fade the plastic, and mud tends to stain them. For the past couple of years, I have been looking for a solution to keep them looking factory fresh. About two years ago Lithium Auto Care reached out to me and asked if I would try their Trim Serum product on my fenders. I have tried peanut butter and erasers, so why not. I did a review on my YouTube channel and I really liked this product as well. It works right off the bat. However, like all the products it is not a permanent fix. The trim serum did last for several weeks.

I would say my top 3 products I would use is for something quick and easy but short term the Spray Tire foam Then The Mother’s back to Black and the Trim Serum for longer-lasting but a little extra work.

I just recently posted a picture on my Jeep Momma Facebook page of my spraying my faded-out mud-stained OEM plastic fender with Tire foam. Quick and Easy for me and that’s all I had at the time. . WOW! More suggestions came in that I need to try. However, some of these are a little scarier as they are more permanent. One is using a butane torch and moving steadily across the plastic. Lasts longer than any spray-on treatment. The Jeeper said just don’t linger in one spot too long or you will blister the plastic. There were a couple of spray paint ideas SEM Trim Black paint and Krylon Fusion all-purpose paint works well and lasts for years said another Jeeper  He is a Jeep Friend in Virginia and used this 4 years ago TJ and it still looks good. Someone else said they make black wax for plastic parts. Or Used Motor Oil. Someone else suggested To permanently fix this use something called “solution finish” which will dye it permanently back to black My favorite suggestion but super pricey is a Jeep Product by Metalcloak. A thing called Fender Flares. Maybe one day when I win the lottery.

 

 

Links Mentioned in this Episode

NEXEN Tires USA https://www.nexentireusa.com/

Trails 411- POWERING Your Adventure https://www.youtube.com/user/backcountrydriver

The 4×4 Radio Network http://4x4radionetwork.com/

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