Scottdale/ Phoenix Stingers
- Thread starter Riley K
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Fatalifeaten
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I'm in Mesa, and have been a desert rat my whole life. I've got a long list of things to say here, but for some reason I can't post it (I think I'm too much of a n00b on the forum and hit some kind of limit). Soon as I can, I'll share.
______________________________
Fatalifeaten
Active Member
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Still not letting me post. OP if you'd like my tips, holler and I'll DM them to you (hopefully).
Frustrating.
Frustrating.
Fatalifeaten
Active Member
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1. Park in the shade. Don't worry about proximity to a door, it doesn't matter. Walking 8 feet to the door sucks just as bad as walking 98 feet to the door, but the difference between 120 and 160F in your car is a nice, shady tree. Find a shady spot to park, your body will thank you when you return to your million degree steel box to drive home.
2. Get a sunshade for your windshield. Unless you enjoy melting your hands to your steering wheel. Even red interior Stingers are hot AF in the summer. People who joke about driving with oven mitts or gloves, but you can get real blisters and skin burns from a too-hot steering wheel or shifter knob here. It only takes one time to painfully learn the lesson.
3. Remote start may be expensive but it's a worthwhile investment here. Get that AC cranking before you arrive.
4. AZ summers absolutely NUKE batteries. if you get 2 years you're fortunate. Be prepared. Having it in the trunk may help, but I don't have enough info yet to say for sure.
5. Wiper blades are a yearly wear item here. The heat just cooks them and they need to be replaced. If you use your washers at least once a week to help keep them a little more moist, they'll last longer but mileage varies.
6. Winter tires are not needed unless you plan on going up the hill during a storm (and odds are they'll turn you back anyway in a Stinger). All seasons are fine year round, and nice grippy summer tires are also no problem during our "winters"
7. Because we get so little rain (and we're just now coming into Monsoon), the roads trap a lot of oil and grime. People here are complete idiots who do not understand that the first 30 minutes or so of a good rain makes the roads more slippery as those oils come to the surface, and you need to be extra careful driving on them. Not necessarily because of your own driving ability, but because of your fellow morons who still view a rain storm as some kind of miracle from God and don't understand how to operate a motor vehicle on wet roads. if you have a RWD Stinger, be careful. it can get tail happy fast during a storm if you aren't paying attention.
8. Sandstorms are no joke. if a giant wall of dust is headed for you, get the hell off the road. If you get caught in a storm, pull off to the side as far as you can out of the travel lanes, turn off your lights, and wait for it to be safe to pass again. We have a LOT of accidents during dust storms because people follow the lights in front of them in low visibility and rear end the guy sitting on the side of the road with his foot on the brakes. Another annoying fun fact is that sand is moving fast enough in some cases to scuff the crap out of your paint. Yay! it can also get into the window seals so when you put the windows up and down you scratch them all to hell and back. Again, Yay!
9. Keep some water in your car in case of emergency. Also, stupid as it sounds, a good golf umbrella. both will come in handy in the event you have a breakdown and are stranded without the ability to run your AC. Even hot water that's been sitting in your car is better than no water, and shade is life in the desert.
10. Your car will probably feel a little less peppy during the summers. This is normal in a turbocharged car. They like cool. moist air, and we have blistering, hot air. The power output will be down a bit. The upside is, on cool days when we've have overnight storms, you're driving a Ferrari and all that boost rockets you around like a madman! it's like "Oh, Hellooooooo boost!" all over again, every time.
2. Get a sunshade for your windshield. Unless you enjoy melting your hands to your steering wheel. Even red interior Stingers are hot AF in the summer. People who joke about driving with oven mitts or gloves, but you can get real blisters and skin burns from a too-hot steering wheel or shifter knob here. It only takes one time to painfully learn the lesson.
3. Remote start may be expensive but it's a worthwhile investment here. Get that AC cranking before you arrive.
4. AZ summers absolutely NUKE batteries. if you get 2 years you're fortunate. Be prepared. Having it in the trunk may help, but I don't have enough info yet to say for sure.
5. Wiper blades are a yearly wear item here. The heat just cooks them and they need to be replaced. If you use your washers at least once a week to help keep them a little more moist, they'll last longer but mileage varies.
6. Winter tires are not needed unless you plan on going up the hill during a storm (and odds are they'll turn you back anyway in a Stinger). All seasons are fine year round, and nice grippy summer tires are also no problem during our "winters"
7. Because we get so little rain (and we're just now coming into Monsoon), the roads trap a lot of oil and grime. People here are complete idiots who do not understand that the first 30 minutes or so of a good rain makes the roads more slippery as those oils come to the surface, and you need to be extra careful driving on them. Not necessarily because of your own driving ability, but because of your fellow morons who still view a rain storm as some kind of miracle from God and don't understand how to operate a motor vehicle on wet roads. if you have a RWD Stinger, be careful. it can get tail happy fast during a storm if you aren't paying attention.
8. Sandstorms are no joke. if a giant wall of dust is headed for you, get the hell off the road. If you get caught in a storm, pull off to the side as far as you can out of the travel lanes, turn off your lights, and wait for it to be safe to pass again. We have a LOT of accidents during dust storms because people follow the lights in front of them in low visibility and rear end the guy sitting on the side of the road with his foot on the brakes. Another annoying fun fact is that sand is moving fast enough in some cases to scuff the crap out of your paint. Yay! it can also get into the window seals so when you put the windows up and down you scratch them all to hell and back. Again, Yay!
9. Keep some water in your car in case of emergency. Also, stupid as it sounds, a good golf umbrella. both will come in handy in the event you have a breakdown and are stranded without the ability to run your AC. Even hot water that's been sitting in your car is better than no water, and shade is life in the desert.
10. Your car will probably feel a little less peppy during the summers. This is normal in a turbocharged car. They like cool. moist air, and we have blistering, hot air. The power output will be down a bit. The upside is, on cool days when we've have overnight storms, you're driving a Ferrari and all that boost rockets you around like a madman! it's like "Oh, Hellooooooo boost!" all over again, every time.
From interior to exterior to high performance - everything you need for your Stinger awaits you...
Fatalifeaten
Active Member
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Sabs
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Once nice thing about the auto start/stop is that it necessitated an AGM battery for the Stinger. It should last much longer in the heat than lead acid. Granted, it'll be twice as expensive to replace when it does go out, but we might see 5-7 years out of them. The heat has eaten a battery in my Optima about every 2 years.
Tangent52
Member
AGM batteries are new for this desert rat also. I got tired of replacing batteries every two years. I once put a Optima 5
year battery in my Honda.
It lasted one year.
year battery in my Honda.
Manaz
1000 Posts Club!
AGM batteries are new for this desert rat also. I got tired of replacing batteries every two years. I once put a Optima 5
year battery in my Honda.
It lasted one year.
Sadly, Optima batteries aren't what they used to be.
Girafferen
New Member
Need to look for these, living in the desert everyone is right, two years max on batteries.
______________________________
From interior to exterior to high performance - everything you need for your Stinger awaits you...
Tangent52
Member
I always buy the 5 year battery, then after the two years I get a new one free. Then after the second one goes bad, I get a decent discount on the 3rd
Fatalifeaten
Active Member
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So much this. And if your FLAPS hires high school kids or clock milkers, you can extend that free replacement at least once when they forget to remove the stickers for the sold date. I think I pay full price for a battery about every 5th replacement.
(FLAPS == Friendly Local Auto Parts Store, for those wondering. I know we're not all the same level of esoteric car nerd around here.
)
