Sun, Glare, and the Open Road: A Driver’s Guide to Better Vision

W-A-T-T presents John Paul, the car doctor, all things automotive.

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Now, here's John Paul, the car doctor.

And good Sunday morning everyone and welcome to another edition of the car doctor program

on 959 W-A-T-D.

My name is John Paul, the car doctor here to help you with your car problems on this Sunday morning

and not just car problems.

So, you know, try to help you with all different kinds of problems.

Today we're going to be reviewing the Nissan Kix, a small SUV, and coming up in the next couple weeks,

next Friday, next Sunday, we're going to be talking with Bob Tasker III,

Tasker Ford, legendary Ford dealership.

His grandfather was instrumental working with Ford Motor Company in their racing.

In fact, I think his grandfather invented the Taurus SHO.

We'll talk to Bob about that.

And also, Bob Tasker, an American funny car driver.

He's the first drag racer to brake 340 miles an hour in a wheel driven funny car.

So, we'll talk to him next week.

So, we've got a lot of things going on.

One of the things that bothers me, and I think it's bothered me forever,

but has bothered me as I get older, is solar sensitivity, I guess is maybe a way to kind of talk about that.

You know, my ability to be out in bright sun just sort of bothers me.

When I was young, I would buy, you know, sunglasses at the cheapest department store.

I could find them.

And since then, I've tried to do a little bit better with my choices of sunglasses.

I think years and years ago, I bought a pair of Ray-Ban aviators,

which if you know me, I'm not a style person, but aviators in another style, I suppose.

But I still think I have them.

But with us on the phone is Dylan Coates and Steve Vaughn, both from I-King.

And they're here to talk about some sunglasses that they're responsible for through the Hobie name and the Salt Live name.

Dylan, Steven, good morning and welcome to the CarDoc program.

Good morning.

Oh, there we go.

Okay, we're both there.

That's good.

First off, let's start with Dylan.

Tell us who you are, what you do, and then we'll go over to Steven and ask him who he is and what he does.

Yes, I'm the marketing manager with I-King.

And, you know, as you mentioned, we have two large brands, Hobie Eyewear, Salt Life Eyewear,

that we're the licensees for.

We do some private label stuff, some other brands as well.

But those are the two main ones that command the majority of our focus that, you know, we have out in the market.

You know, both great pairs of sunglasses for being out on the water, all polarized, great for the outdoors, great for driving.

And just, you know, like you said, very important to make sure you have a good quality pair of eyewear.

And I didn't know much about Salt Life other than, you know, I had to put a Salt Life sticker on the back of my car.

But, you know, other than that, I wasn't really that familiar with Salt Life, but their name is tied to quite a few different brands now.

And Steven, tell us who you are and what you do with I-King.

Yeah, hi. So my name is Steven Vaughan. I'm the director of product development for I-King.

I've been there for 18 years so far.

So I've gotten a joint making glasses for both brands for quite some time.

The Salt Life collection actually just came out two months ago, so we're really excited about it.

But it's really taken off right out of the gate, which is very exciting.

Yeah. How can, you know, I've mentioned that, you know, sunglasses to me aren't cosmetic.

Although a lot of people, you know, wear sunglasses for fashion or, you know, whatever reason it is,

I need to wear them when I'm outdoors, if I'm doing work outside, if I'm trying to enjoy myself outside.

How important is it to have good quality sunglasses and what goes into making good sunglasses?

Yeah, so there's a lot of things. First of all, something like sunglasses is always a balance between fashion and function.

You'll have people who wear them. Well, let me step back. They all serve the same one purpose, which is to protect your eyes from the sun.

And sunglasses are actually listed, I think, by the FDA as a medical device because of that reason.

But then, like, for the individual wearer and the different circumstances, it really comes down to are you looking more for a look

but don't care as much about the features and the length and all that?

Or are you looking for performance first, fashion second?

Both of our collections are a balance of both. And we have a lifestyle component and a performance component to both.

But they all perform extremely well and protect your eyes against harmful UV rays.

And both collections are all polarized, so they also protect against harmful and tyrosine glare.

That's a really good point. And I remember once buying a, I guess, middle of the road priced sunglasses,

but I made the mistake of buying lenses that were way too dark.

And I thought, well, I'm going to be out in the bright sun. I should have really dark lenses.

And they literally made me feel paranoid. Lens color is really important, right?

Yeah, so that's also, there's certain signs behind it, but it's also personal preference.

So our lens colors in both brands can be broken down into two categories.

You have your gray based lenses, which tend to be darker.

So you can have like gray or gray with a blue mirror.

The blue mirror will cut a little additional light, but it's also an aesthetic choice of people like the Marathon though.

And then the other family is our copper or brown lenses.

And those are, those are a lighter color tint. I find them to be very soothing on the eyes.

So like in your situation, if you wore a copper lens, you probably would have enjoyed that a lot more.

And then we have copper with a green mirror.

And again, that can also cut a little bit of additional light, but it's also largely an aesthetic choice.

And then in particular in our hobby brand, we have what's called our sightmaster plus lens.

That's more of a fishing specific lens. And for anyone who looks us up after, we hope, looks us up after listening to this show.

If you see the sightmaster lens, just please be aware, especially for the audience here, that that one is not meant for driving because it's a very yellow tint.

And I could potentially wash out yellow lights when you're approaching a traffic light.

And, you know, that's something that I think a lot of people get, maybe they see this, you talk about yellow lenses,

that they think, oh, you know, yellow lenses are going to improve my night driving and yellow lenses are going to do this and yellow ones are going to do that.

But the reality of it is, whenever you block light to your eye, you're also, to some extent, blocking vision.

So except for the song, Sunglasses at Night, Sunglasses is made for the daytime, right?

Yeah, I would recommend wearing it in a tent in the evening.

Yeah. How about for people that I have a friend and she wears prescription glasses and she tends to, you know, wear her sunglasses sometimes over prescription glasses if she's reading or something.

Do you guys are either the hobby assault life glasses? Are they available as prescriptions like readers or in fact, glasses that are designed for everyday use for distance, you know, that type of thing?

Yeah. Yeah, so we have three different solutions, really. You know, this old life collection right now is regular sunglasses, but like speaking hobbies for the moment.

In our hobby collection, you can either get your prescription put in and I think almost all of our frames with one or two exceptions.

And that's just taking the lenses, going to your doctor or we have an online partner and you can get your prescription put in there.

The other option is we do have a few reader options in our collection. We have a lifestyle frame and a photograph frame called Everglades.

And then the third solution, which is my favorite and as a product manager, it's funny, I want to wear all our sunglasses, but I end up wearing just these because the system is perfect for me.

I'm a prescription eye wear wearer. We have a collection called Duo. We have three different frame styles and then they have matching clips, so not fit overs, not these universal clips that look kind of awkward with glasses, create a lot of reflection in between.

And this is a magnetic polarized flip on system. And the way it works is I have my duo frame. I wear the one called Lenox and that's my everyday all day glasses.

I wear them in the office, I wear them when I'm driving, but the minute I'm out in the sun, I just pick up one of my clips and it clicks on instantly.

I mean, you can put these on in half a second and you have polarized glasses and it's far less expensive than getting a polarized prescription because a polarized prescription first of all costs a ton of money.

But then now like, okay, you have that prescription, but you still need indoor glasses and then what if it's lighter out or not as bright out?

So with the Duo collection, all five of those lenses I mentioned before are available in each of the three frames and they're really inexpensive, like $40 or $50 for each clip.

But now it gives you like, you can have up to six glasses in one, you can have your indoor glasses plus up to five different lens tints for the outdoors.

So that's the one that I recommend the most because I am truly a customer of that product and it's just fantastic.

The other day I was coming home from work and it was pouring out and then suddenly the rain stopped, but it was one of those ones where the sun immediately came out afterwards and I was heading west.

So the glare was absolutely blinding and I just popped the clip on and in two seconds I was like instantly soothed and my eyes were relaxed again.

We talk about polarized glasses a lot.

I know these are very, very specialized and I should have done a little research first.

Do you offer any sunglasses that are not polarized?

In the two collections, Hobie and Salt Life, both brands are based around the water lifestyle.

So in these particular brands we chose to do all polarized because of the nature of the activities that people would likely be doing.

But polarized glasses are fantastic in all conditions and like I said, even at one driving, if I didn't put polarized lenses on, that glare still would have been hitting me.

I would have had a little less sunlight getting through but the obnoxious and fatiguing glare still would have been there.

But like we've done other brands in the past and in those cases we'll do a mix because maybe people don't want polarized in all situations.

Yeah, the only time I've run into an issue with polarized glasses is some infotainment screens will sometimes wash out with polarized lenses and even some driver monitor systems when they, if you're wearing polarized lenses,

for one of a better word, the spy camera that keeps an eye on you in some of these new cars will actually come up that the camera is blocked because of the polarized glasses which is just one of those weird things and just about that.

So what is the difference and maybe this is a better question for Steve, well maybe it's a better question for Dylan.

What's the difference between Hobie and Salt Life? I mean they both seem like very good quality sunglasses to me.

Yeah absolutely, I'll be able to take that one. So with Hobie Eyewear, you know it's been around since 1982 which a lot of people don't realize it was one of the first polarized brands on the market and really with Hobie you're going to find the most value in a pair of sunglasses out there in the market.

You know the amount of technology and the premium quality that we offer with that brand is going to feel like it should be a $200, $300 sunglass but it's only around 80 to 120 depending on which frames you're getting.

So you get everything that you get with those high end brands that you get with Hobie plus a lifetime warranty and not to mention some technological features that other brands don't offer.

You know what we say with Hobie is much like Hobie Alter who started the Hobie brand, he was always trying to find solutions for challenges based on the water and we've taken that same innovative spirit within the eyewear line as well.

So if you run into any type of challenge with sunglasses on the water the biggest example I'll give you is how many times have you lost a pair of sunglasses out on the water when you're leaning over the boat or you know you hit a wave or something like that.

We offer a line of floating sunglasses so right away that takes care of that problem you know you don't lose your sunglasses in the water anymore when you drop them overboard and you're not wasting you know all that money that you spent on a good quality pair of sunglasses.

They're going to stay with you so that's really what you see in the Hobie eyewear line like I said it's the most value you're going to find from any premium brand out there in the market with SaltLife.

You know the quality while not on par with Hobie is still very good.

That is an all $40 price point all polarized brand.

However the sunglasses they don't feel like they should be $40 like when Steve first developed the line and he showed them to me I was like Steve these are you feel like they should be more like $70 or $80 sunglasses so you are still getting an insane amount of value with that brand as well.

As well as a lot of different you know kind of like fashion or more fun looking style choices there but both both brands excellent for being out on the water excellent for being outdoors you have a lot to choose from and you're going to find a lot of value with both of them.

I mean the the idea that they float and I will tell you a story that I don't Jesse will say I'm embarrassing him because of this.

The Oakley sunglasses I have I found when I was swimming and someone must have lost them off a boat or something and I'm like oh these look like pretty good glasses and then I ordered a set of lenses for them and the frames are nice and I'm like.

But I don't know that I would spend I think they were Holbrooks and they're you know a couple hundred bucks something that I wouldn't typically spend and when I compare them to some of yours I'm like they look pretty similar for about half the price.

Yeah no that's that's correct and we always say if you haven't lost a pair of glasses on the water you haven't spent enough time out there so anyone that owns a boat or legs going out there I'm sure has experienced that same story that you said and fortunately you were the one to find the glasses but someone else did lose them.

Yeah yeah exactly exactly and the other thing I noticed and maybe it's just me the other thing I noticed is salt spray seems to clean up pretty quick with them.

Yeah so all of our hobby lenses they have a hydro clean 360 coating so that repels you know like sunscreen oils water any kind of gunk that you would have a face out on the water.

Simply just take the microfiber cloth that we include with these sunglasses and it just wipes right off the lenses so they're going to stay clear so that is definitely an added bonus that you get with the hobby eyewear line that's one of those premium features.

And that's one of the things I noticed when I'm in my car and because I'm taking my sunglasses on and off a lot take them on and off a lot but I really need especially spring and fall when the sun's lower in the horizon.

And you know all of a sudden like Steven said you hit that time of day sometimes where all of a sudden the sun is just right in your windshield and you grab a few glasses and there's nothing worse than grabbing a pair of sunglasses that are dirty and these seem to clean up really quick which is nice.

We're talking about working outside and you know sometimes you're actually doing physical work outside and you want to wear eyeglasses and sunglasses specifically.

Tell us about are these glasses recognized as being shadow proof.

So all of our lenses meet a certain minimum impact standards by law.

Steven bring them into the you know into the market.

But we do have in particular style called Everglades.

So I mentioned that one before that we all have readers with that but those are ANSI readers.

So ANSI is I forget it's like American National Standards Institute but the people who work on job sites will be familiar with that.

And those are safety rated and those are aren't like OSHA approved for working on like a construction site or working in a factory and so on.

And that one is available in all most of the lenses that I mentioned and also a clear and the yellow lens like a shooting lens.

You know we were talking about Hobie before and I only know the Hobie name from kayaks but some of these some of these sunglasses are made from recycled kayaks right.

Yes so we launched that collection last year and technically the term is called upcycled.

So recycled is when you're done using any type of material you go and you recycle it gets broken down it gets used again.

Upcycled actually taking excess material from a manufacturing process.

So in this case it's the Hobie kayak.

You know there's some excess plastic that gets shaved off of the hulls of the kayak and we found a way to take that grind it down and turn it into floating sunglasses.

Made a hundred percent from the Hobie kayak plastic though and then those float as well.

So that's how we came up with the upcycled collection.

The last year we launched whole float which is more of kind of your wrap support frame and this year we launched hatch float which is more of a lifestyle shaped frame.

You know kind of similar to look into maybe like those whole Brooks you mentioned earlier but both of both of those pairs like I said are part of that upcycle collection.

They are made from the upcycled Hobie kayak plastic.

They feature bio-based polarized lenses.

They have all recyclable material in the packaging and a portion of sales actually goes back to support the Fish America Foundation which benefits conservation projects all across North America.

So if I wear good sunglasses will it let me catch bigger fish and be a better driver?

I mean it's certainly going to help.

You know as Steve mentioned we offer a lot of different lens tints for different types of fishing especially that Sightmaster Plus lens.

A lot of the professional anglers we work with that's their favorite lens just because you know it's meant to be worn in overcast conditions.

Like if you're out there earlier when it's cloudy you may think I don't need sunglasses right now because it's too dark.

You still need that eye protection because the sun's coming through the clouds.

You still need the polarization to be able to see into the water and see the fish and the structure.

But with that yellow based lens it actually brightens everything up in those conditions and it allows you to see more where others might miss.

So always important to have sunglasses on but that one's definitely a game changer in those types of conditions out on the water.

Yeah I drive a lot more than I boat so I find that just having good sunglasses in the car is important.

The idea of different colors do different things but the idea that going with a good quality is important like I said earlier.

You know going with those you know inexpensive generally inexpensive glasses that actually made me feel uncomfortable because they were they were too dark.

And I'm saying well I'm driving cross country I need really bright you know I could run into really bright sun.

It was a horrible mistake to make so it is important to find the right balance of lens color and frame fit.

And also frame weight is important between the Hobie and Salt Life frames they're very lightweight.

Yes very lightweight and especially that upcycle collection made from the kayaks.

We've just found with that plastic that it's even more lightweight than our regular sunglasses while still maintaining the same durability.

So definitely a good one to check out if you want to you know wear sunglasses and almost even forget they're on your face they're that light.

Where do you buy them.

I was at a local hardware store the other day and they had a giant sunglass collection which I never expected to see at a hardware store but where do you buy Salt Life and Hobie sunglasses.

Yeah absolutely so we're available in a lot of different independent retailers across the country.

Salt Life we just started that Steve said two months ago distributing that out into the market.

It's on Amazon right now they will be launching on SaltLife.com shortly but Hobie Eyewear you can go to HobieEyewear.com.

We have a dealer locator if you want to use that to find out a dealer you know close by you or you could just buy directly from the site.

You know right now we have a special going on for Mother's Day you actually get a free water bottle with any purchase.

And for those listening we are going to activate the discount code CARDoctor15 if you want to take 15% off your purchase.

So just a nice little benefit for listening today but yeah HobieEyewear.com that's the place to go and you can see all the different frame and lens options that we covered today.

So CARDoctor15 is what we need to remember so that's fantastic.

Yep.

Perfect well guys I want to thank you for taking a little time out of your Sunday and join us.

Anything else you want to fill us in before we let you go?

No make sure you wear your sunglasses outside.

As we said it's very important and you got to keep your eyes protected.

You only have two of them and you want to hold on to them right?

Exactly.

Alright thanks guys.

Take care and have a great rest of your weekend.

Bye bye.

You too.

We need to take a break.

Pay some bills.

My name is John Paul.

This is the CARDoctor program.

If you would like to join us our phone number is 7-8-1-837-4900.

7-8-1-837-4900.

Phone lines are open.

When we come back we are going to talk about the Nissan Kicks which does it really mean like sneakers?

Is that what that means?

We need to find out.

No.

Well it's going to talk about the Nissan Kicks when we come back.

My name is John Paul.

This is the CARDoctor program.

We will be right back.

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The latest test drive is in the 2026 Nissan Kicks SR.

This is an all-wheel drive kind of vehicle that reminds you why small SUVs have become

some of the family sedan.

It used to be station wagons, well, sedan, station wagons, minivans, SUVs.

It kind of reminds you why these work.

So the Kicks is practical.

It's easy to drive.

It's comfortable enough.

It's dressed up enough so you don't feel like, especially this one, the SR version,

so you don't feel like you bought the bargain option.

I will admit, when I bought my Hyundai, so I was looking for the bargain option,

was there some regrets?

Yeah, roof rack would have been handy periodically, which it didn't come with.

Better backup camera would have been nice, that kind of stuff, but it did its job.

Anyway, but this is not any of that.

Nissan has taken what used to be basic transportation, basically an appliance,

and turned it into something with a little bit of a lifestyle and attitude.

The first thing you know is the Kicks looks sharp, looks better than it ever has, in my opinion.

Nissan gave it some bold lines, a wide stance, and enough attitude where it stands out in the parking lot.

When you look at other crossovers, I went to Home Depot yesterday, parking lot full of small SUVs,

Chevy Trax and Ford Escape, you know, Honda HRVs and CRVs and RAV4s, and the Kicks actually did stand out.

And it stands out in a way that doesn't, I don't think is going to look dated.

You know, sometimes there's classic style, like the original Volkswagen Beetle.

Style today still works, it's one of those things that still works.

You know, some of the, you know, BMW 8 Series from the mid 80s doesn't work.

It just looks 80s, it just doesn't hold its age very well.

I think this is going to hold its age pretty well.

In the SR trim, you got the two-tone roof, you got larger wheels, kind of a sporty flavor.

You know, it doesn't try too hard, doesn't scream out, I'm trying to be sporty.

It looks a little more expensive than it is.

That being said, our fully loaded Kicks came in at around $35,000, so it's not cheap by any means.

Inside Nissan deserves some credit.

The cabin feels modern, clean.

It's laid out pretty nice.

Twinscreen dashboard is nice.

12-inch touchscreen wireless Apple CarPlay, Android Auto.

They're standard, and that's kind of how it should be.

In 2026, you shouldn't have to wire in your phone to anything, it should be.

Sit there, connect, charge the way it's supposed to, all that sort of stuff.

The SR trim adds sporty touches, and again, it keeps it from feeling like it was the mid-price car with the rental lot.

The front seats are comfortable.

Nissan uses something called Zero Gravity Seat Design.

I think people when they look at especially smaller SUVs, you're going to spend a certain amount of time in them.

Find something with comfortable seats.

These seats are comfortable.

I think on a long drive, your back will be happy with these.

Rear seat room, we had two adults in the back of this car the other day.

They found enough room, and that was with my seat pushed all the way back.

They seemed okay with it.

Cargo space is good.

It loses some compared to some others, but I think overall cargo space is pretty good.

There is no spare tire, and I don't know if it's just on the SR trim or not.

There's just an inflation kit, but it looks like if you lift up the back floor covering,

and you took all the foam, styrofoam dividers out,

and in there, there's a whole bunch of empty space where you could tuck all kinds of different things.

But if you took out the styrofoam, and the air compressor is a little tiny thing,

size of two coffee cups put together, and a bottle of sealer stuff.

If you took that out and threw it away, and threw the styrofoam away,

well, don't throw the air compressor away.

It'll come in handy.

But through the styrofoam away, I think you could fit a spare tire in there,

at least a compact spare tire.

So I think if I bought one of these, I would want to do that.

On the road that kicks, it's pleasant to drive.

The two-liter engine makes like 140 horsepower, uses a CVT transmission,

which people love or hate.

Most people don't always love them.

Nissan is doing a really good job.

They have them really sorted out these days.

But you're never going to confuse this with the 300 horsepower hatchback.

It just isn't like that.

But around town, it feels light, easy going.

It's quick enough.

It's easy to park.

Lately, I've driven some big SUVs to the point where it's like,

if I'm going someplace that I know is going to be crowded,

I don't want to take it because it takes up too much room.

Where parking is at a minimum.

This park is easy.

Like I said, trips to where have I been?

The only place I ever go.

Home Depot, Walmart, and the hardware store.

Works good for all of those.

The all-wheel drive system adds real value.

If you live in the Northeast or any place where the roads get slick,

all-wheel drive is the way to go.

I didn't price out the difference between all-wheel drive and front-wheel drive,

but I noticed when I was car shopping sort of online a month or two ago,

generally not a big difference.

1,200, 1,500 dollars difference between all-wheel drive and front-wheel drive.

If you think about trade and value, especially living in the Northeast,

if you decide, I'm going to get a front-wheel drive car because I never go out in the wintertime.

Then you go to trade it in four or five years later,

and you trade it in and go, oh, that's front-wheel drive.

People want all-wheel drive.

If there's a little bit of money difference between the front-wheel and all-wheel drive,

it probably makes sense to get the all-wheel drive.

Especially, it's snowed this year, so take advantage of it.

Even though I'm in Florida right now, I realize it did snow.

My neighbors tell me it snowed a lot.

Even on Cape Cod, it snowed a lot.

I live on basically a dirt road that doesn't get plowed.

The poor woman who lives next to me, fortunately, she has a jeep,

and she parked at the end of the street so she could trudge through the snow

to get in her jeep to get to her job.

Anyway, ride quality is respectable, certainly.

You'll feel potholes. It's a small SUV.

It has to do with the short-wheelbase, but it doesn't beat you up.

Noise levels have been improved, though. Under hard acceleration,

the engine can get a little bit noisy, and there is some road noise,

but something that's pretty common in all but the most expensive, compact SUVs.

With the kicks, you get safety tech, good fuel economy,

about 30 miles per gallon combined with the all-wheel drive.

Modern tech, although you can always give me more buttons and less touchscreen.

You know, I'm adapting to touchscreen, I guess now,

just as we're seemingly getting away from it a little bit,

but I like buttons. I like radio buttons.

I like to be able to just feel around for stuff.

I also, as weird as it sounds, this has a legitimate shifter.

So it actually has a center console mounted shifter that is mechanical.

And I like that. I like that better than buttons and knobs.

As much as I said, give me more buttons.

I like the idea of when you put it in drive, it goes in a drive,

you put it in reverse, it goes in reverse.

The idea of pushing a drive or a reverse button rather than a shifter,

and again, maybe it's just my old age, but I kind of like it.

The only upside I will say about the ones with the push button,

if you shut them off, they go right back in the park,

so you don't forget to do that.

But I like a mechanical feeling shifter.

I guess I like the idea of mechanical things,

and that mechanical shifter is something I like.

According to Nissan's website, you can buy a Kix.

All-wheel drive for under $30,000.

I hate to say it, under $30,000 for a new car now

is getting a little bit harder to find every year.

So my verdict, Nissan Kix SR, it's not flashy, it's not fast,

it's not trying to impress the neighbors, but it's honest, it's useful,

and it's a little bit smarter than it first appears.

So certainly worth a try.

And I've been saying for months now, I'm worried about...

I'll back up.

I've been saying for months the idea that Nissan and Infiniti

have been putting out some good products.

The products seem better than the company.

I'm always a little worried about the company.

I just read a report the other day that Nissan is going from

a projected $650 million deficit to a $650 million profit

for this quarter coming up.

So they're turning things around.

They're closing some things down.

The new management seems to be doing what they need to do

to make stuff work.

So my concerns maybe are unfounded at this point.

If you would like to join us, and I hope you will,

our phone number is 781-837-4900.

What do we have for questions so far this week?

We have the shark fin antenna cover.

My Kia Sorento broke off due to rusty screws.

Both Kia and my mechanic want to replace the whole unit.

It costs hundreds of dollars.

The internet says the cover can be replaced by just using epoxy.

There not seems to be any other damage.

Maybe.

I've actually seen somebody 3D print stuff like this.

So maybe you can do that.

The Kia parts catalog, which I went and looked through,

does not show the antenna as a repairable part,

which is why probably your mechanic and the dealer

both want to replace it as one unit.

I have seen these universal antenna covers.

They attach with double-sided tape as a replacement.

I don't have any experience with these.

But if this was me, and I didn't do my own repairs,

I'll talk about that in just a bit.

I'd lean towards following the advisory mechanic.

My concern would be, you already mentioned that this one failed

because the screws were rusty.

So my concern would be water intrusion,

which could lead to corrosion of electrical components.

The cosmetic fix with epoxy may work short-term.

I'd be concerned that it's not going to provide a lasting seal.

And where so many things are tied into the computer network,

rusty, crusty wires on even something like an antenna.

And that antenna does sometimes more than one thing.

It's part of the communication system with the car sometimes.

I'd be concerned about that.

I think last week I mentioned that the Volkswagen we have,

I was changing the oil because I've had less than stellar luck

having something like a simple oil changed on.

Part of the reason is the Volkswagen we have is annoying at best

to change the oil.

There's a pan that runs under the engine.

It's held on with, I don't know, 18 screws,

which are triple squares, which are, I don't know,

whoever invented triple squares should,

I don't know what should happen to them.

But a triple square is imagine something like a torx,

but also imagine like a square drive,

a square nut that you turned 90 degrees

and then 90 degrees again.

So you have this weird shape nut or bolt,

depending on what it is.

And Volkswagen is the only one, I guess maybe Volkswagen Audi

are the only one that uses triple squares.

So to change the oil on this car,

it requires two different size triple square drivers.

So it looks like a bolt,

but it also kind of looks like a torx

because the driver goes up inside of it.

So two different triple size bolts.

And the drain plug is torx.

So you're using a torx drive for the drain plug,

triple squares to remove the cover,

which I'm doing it on ramps, so I'm under the car,

kind of holding the cover up with one hand.

Fortunately, I've been using quite a bit of it,

the Bauer 20 volt cordless 3A ratchet,

which made it a little bit easier

to get all these fasteners off.

Then when I went to go change the oil,

and last year, I was a little disappointed, I guess,

and I didn't notice it.

Last year when I changed the oil,

this car literally goes 1,000 miles a year.

And Volkswagen says change the oil once a year,

or 10,000 miles.

Poor little Volkswagen doesn't go over it.

Maybe it goes a little bit more than that, but not much.

I think I got...

I went to advanced or one of those parts stores

and got an oil filter.

And Volkswagen's like a lot of European cars,

you got to get Eurospec oil,

because it has certain additives or whatever in it,

so you get the Eurospec oil.

I got the oil filter, and I don't think I noticed.

It sits inside a canister,

and the one that I used last year

didn't fit particularly well.

I will admit, I am not a huge Fram oil filter person.

I tend to like Wix products or their parent company.

I just find their products generally a pretty good fit.

I don't know what kind of oil filter this was.

I mean, it looked right, if you looked at it.

But when I took it out, I noticed it was sort of floating

in the oil filter housing.

So, hmm, it was floating in the filter housing.

Was it really?

Now, maybe once it all tightened up,

it all tightened up and it worked fine.

But I noticed the replacement, which was the Wix,

which was the Fram premium filter,

because that's all they had on the shelf.

It seemed to fit better on the holder.

And when I screwed it in, and Volkswagen is very fussy about,

I think it's 25 Newton meters of torque

to tighten up the oil filter housing.

I used a, I have an old, beam-style torque wrench.

From, I don't know, who knows how old,

I think it's an SNK Tools torque wrench

with the beam pointer style that I have here.

I have a clicky style torque wrench up north.

But I bought a digital converter thing from Harbor Freight.

And this sounds like a Harbor Freight commercial all of a sudden,

but it isn't.

I bought the triple squares from Harbor Freight.

They were, I think the set, and it was the mid,

it wasn't their top of the line icon set,

because I don't think they had them actually.

But it wasn't the cheap Pittsburgh one.

It was somewhere, it was whatever the middle brand is.

And I think the set was like 30 bucks.

And a full set of triple squares.

And then I bought a set of torques on sockets,

which up north, I think I have Snap-On.

Down here, these were Pittsburgh.

They work fine.

They did their job.

You know, would it be something to use every day in a shop?

Maybe not.

The triple squares, absolutely.

And they're sort of shallow, so they don't,

me under the car on ramps having a shallow socket kind of helped.

But, you know, that worked good.

The Bauer Impact Air Ratchet worked,

not Air Ratchet, Battery Ratchet worked good.

I bought a set of, did I get them?

No, I got them.

They were, you know, Harbor Freight,

you buy something and you get something free kind of thing

if you spend X amount of dollars.

And there was an icon set, so their premium socket line.

And it was two 3A drive 10 millimeter sockets

and two quarter inch drive 10 millimeter sockets.

And that was the gift, you know, you could buy, you know,

you could get, you know, a set of chamois or a ratchet strap

or about a tarp.

And I'm like, you know, 10 millimeter socket,

that's the one everyone always loses,

having a couple extra ones, nice to have.

Just for fun, I priced out the 10 millimeter 3A drive deep socket

and it was on one of the tool truck stores online.

One socket was $28 for a 3A steep socket.

This was a set of four for 10 bucks.

And it was kind of the same deal with the triple squares.

I stopped at an independent tool truck,

there's a garage right at the end of my street

and I saw the guy there went in and said,

hey, I'm looking for, you know, this size triple square

and he said to me, yeah, it's like $22.

I'm like, huh, buy a whole set for 30.

So again, not a hybrid freight commercial,

but so far the hybrid freight stuff is as fit all the needs

I needed to.

So if you're looking for regular tools to do your job,

whether they're, you know, whether you're listening

as somebody who works in a shop or owns a shop

and the icon brand, I don't know, you know,

people, people have told me they've been really happy

with the icon brand and even the lower brands down

and all this stuff has a lifetime guarantee.

My neighbor who's never been to a harbor freight store

owns a business that they have a snap on account.

He has a snap on account and his business partner

has a snap on account.

But they're out in the middle of nowhere.

And I said, you know, you could probably, you know,

get something similar for a lot less money.

You know, the difference is the tool truck comes here

every week and when I break something,

I just leave it there and they leave me a new one.

So it makes it nice and easy.

So the convenience of that is worth for me driving

to Portland or wherever he lives up in Maine to go get it.

So there you go.

I have somebody who complained sort of.

He says, I just read your column.

So this might have been in the Quincy Sun because it's

my column, you know, blah, blah is where it does run my column

in the Quincy Sun once a month or so,

or maybe you read it on Boston.com.

I don't know where.

And he says, I agree with, he said,

you're an explanation about jump starting.

I agree with the process if the vehicles are old school,

but I fear today's new cars with all the computers.

That method could not be the best approach.

Wouldn't you agree the starting surge to my understanding

could cause damage to electronics.

I would have preferred your response was first check

the owner's manual if possible to avoid possible damage.

Good point.

The vehicle owner's manuals do contain a wealth of information.

I often joke the owner's manual is the least read book

ever published.

Usually the best looking item in a junkyard.

You're correct.

That probably should have led with check the owner's manual

rather than ending with it.

Modern vehicles have sensitive electronics and following

manufacturers specific procedures is always the safest

approach.

Still, vehicle electronics can be damaged from reverse polarity,

poor or wrong connection points or voltage spikes from

improper equipment.

So you need to be careful.

Someone else said, I just received my national oil and lube

news trade magazine.

Didn't know there was such a thing.

There was a flyer advertising an AC oil additive called cool car.

It stated it will bring the air conditioner temperature down

by 12 degrees.

Is this snake oil or legitimate product?

I don't know.

I've never heard of it.

But I've seen similar additive market is they call them

thermo conductive lubricants.

I don't even know what that means.

I had to look it up.

It was like a made up name.

But I guess it's put the pieces together.

Conducts cold better.

They're not refrigerants or sealers to design to improve heat

transfer.

In theory, they could offer some marginal benefit.

I would say minor at best.

That said, I wouldn't rely on an additive to fix or significantly

improve AC performance.

If you're in your car and the AC is just not working as good as it

used to be, I don't think adding this stuff is going to do

anything.

You better find out why it doesn't work.

Is it something like the condenser, the thing that sits in

front of the radiator is clogged and it's not allowing for

air to pass through it and take away heat?

Is it that the blend door that controls that warm to cool air

that comes in the car?

Is it the blend door is not working right?

It's better to diagnose and repair the root cause and try to

depend on an enhancement product.

I don't know why I use that word.

But I did.

Why don't we take a break?

Our phone number 7818374900.

If you would like to get through, phone lines are open.

You can get right through.

You can talk to me.

You can talk to Jesse.

You can find out what's going on.

And when we come back, we'll talk to Jesse about his 200th

episode.

We'll be right back.

Tune in to 959WATD Monday nights at 9 p.m.

to hear Massesoya today.

An hour dedicated to introducing you to the students, staff,

and faculty of Massesoya Community College.

Each show you'll hear uplifting stories, discover the latest

news, and learn more about the community that makes up Massesoya

Community College.

Monday nights at 9 p.m. on 959WATD.

Honored with a Lifetime Achievement Award from the

National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.

He's John Paul, but car doctor on 959WATD.

And welcome back to the car doctor program.

Remember, if you want to see about a discount of eyewear, car

doctor 15, and we'll come up with a website in a little bit

just to do that since you're going to turn that on.

I just know what's going on.

This is a question I get way more often than you would think.

And it's weird because phones have become so much part of

our vehicle.

I'm starting to see way more phone problems than vehicle

problems sometimes.

And this person says, I have a 2018 Subaru Crosstrak.

I purchased in 2021 a certified pre-owned from a Subaru dealer.

The car's been great, and I enjoy driving it.

However, the Bluetooth connection with my cell phone now

has a problem.

It connects normally, but when I answer the phone, the person

in the other end can't hear me.

Can you hear me now?

I can hear them and do receive the text.

Is there a microphone somewhere that needs to be replaced?

Any suggestions?

What could be wrong?

There is a microphone, but there's really a problem with that.

The issue might be software related with the phone or the

vehicle.

The first thing I do is pair a different phone to the system.

So if you have an Android, borrow an iPhone.

If you have an iPhone, borrow an Android.

To rule out, it's a device specific issue.

Also, there's been some infotainment upgrades with Subaru,

and that's worth checking to see if there's any problems there.

If you are, you're saying you're using a Bluetooth, so that

rules out any cable problems.

One of the things I see with cable problems with people that

plug in a cable to connect to their car is some of these

non, mostly iPhones, I guess, but some of the non-Apple

products, although it says it's iOS compatible, some of them

just don't do the job.

Now, Jesse, you would say something about your podcast in

like two million episodes or something?

What's going on with that?

It feels like it.

Yeah, but we have our official 200th episode coming up on

Tuesday.

On Cinco de Mayo.

It is Cinco de Mayo.

Does it have anything to do with Cinco de Mayo?

No.

Beverly, Massachusetts.

It's very close to Mexico, though.

It is.

I've heard that.

Can you give us a hint?

What's going on in Beverly, Massachusetts?

It's an old case about a demonic possession, something

that's a little nice for Cinco de Mayo.

Well, it makes full sense.

I see it.

So these are just official episodes.

We're approaching like 500 actual podcasts being uploaded.

But we sprinkle in little side content episodes in between

and movie reviews and stuff.

But yeah, it's talking about the history of, I believe it's

Beverly, Massachusetts.

I'm not actually doing the episode, but I will be there.

It's a Rob episode.

So he's covering the case.

And if people are unfamiliar with the show, it's very much

a historical podcast.

We give the history of the town and kind of dark things that

have happened, the dark history of the towns, and what has led

to alleged hauntings in and around that exact place.

We cover a different place every week.

That's hometown ghost stories.

And that's called hometown ghost stories.

That is right.

For people who, unlike me, are not members and follow you

and stalk you on YouTube and other places.

Yeah, you should do more of that.

You should do more stalking.

Oh, all right.

I'll keep that in mind.

Yeah.

Little advice with Jesse today.

Do more stalking.

I have some advice.

Go to iKing.com or, you know, go to, um, or you could go to

Hobie Eyewear and figure it all out.

But Car Doctor 15, if you'll convert discount.

I might have to use that discount.

How much is the discount?

50.

I'm guessing it's 15%.

Oh, that sounds about right.

Yeah.

Since it's called iCar, since it's called Car Doctor 15.

So, yeah.

So we've, we've actually had some, you know, the people from

Bling offered a discount.

Uh, people from a car care company offered us a discount

at one point for our listeners.

Um, we've had, we've had people be nice to us.

So I like that.

That's good.

That's good when they do that.

Especially when they do that without being asked.

Even better.

I'm going to do one more quick question here.

And this one is, um, person has a 2015 Toyota Highlander.

It runs great.

The tire warning light is on all the time.

They check the tire pressure with the gauge or happy.

They've been advised as probably one of the tire valve sensors

that's the problem.

Is there an easy effective way to determine which one and, uh,

and which tire is located on?

Yes and no.

Yes it is.

You can take a proper scan tool.

You can see which one is not reading properly.

And then, uh, you can figure it out.

But realistically, it's a 11 year old car.

That is the, the sensors are probably at the end of their life.

So what I would do, because I'm cheap and people know me as being frugal and

all, um, labor to replace the sensor, it's going to take some time.

Wait until you're getting new tires.

So go out there with your tire gauge.

Check the tire pressure like you normally do once a month with a good gauge.

And then when it's, um, time to replace your tires, talk to your tire shop

like Sullivan tire and say, Hey, look, I need to replace my tires,

but also my tire pressure sensors are probably about dead.

Can you put those in at the same time?

You'll save some labor and save some money all at the same time.

So there you go.

Well, that music means Jesse's kicking me out like he does every Sunday.

But I appreciate them.

Let me in my favorite until next week.

Make sure you wear your seatbelt.

Drive safely.

Be good to car.

And if you do see an emergency vehicle by the side of the road,

slow down or move over.

It saves lives.

Talk to y'all next week.

Bye.

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