Nostr Web Client

I'm not bearish though. Some cool things have been happening. I'm more mechanically capable every day. I'm comfortable doing things that made me nervous as a hell a month ago. I'm reading technical manuals and making sure everything is done to spec so my family is safe. I'm torquing things properly. I'm using quality parts. I'm recognizing and addressing issues before they become major problems in the future. I'm getting better at diagnostics. I'm grateful for the CS classes since modern cars are basically computers with wheels. That's a whole other world I'm interested in now (the software and hardware relationship). I kind of hate it at the same time though. Sensors on sensors on sensors for dumb shit.

Automotive engineering is becoming an interest and hobby.

Bad situations can have good outcomes if we do something instead of just bitch. I love to bitch on Nostr, but I am doing things off screen. I think that's how we make the world a better place. Some of you are doing it more on the tech side and I'm grateful for that. I need a censorship resistant place to bitch about various topics 😂

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ChipTuner 5mo ago

Well we can chat about that if you want, and why I got out of automotive :) Depends what your interests are. It's a highly regulated area and mfgs would rather sue joe home owner out of existence, than allow you to help people.

That said, tech life is not easy. Most guys get into it because its another trade for kids that don't know what they wanna do. It pays better than many trades but is hard work too. MFGs try everything they can to squeeze money out of dealerships and repair shops as well. While theyre forced to offer tools for repair by the government, it doesn't specify what ways they can offer it.

At some point Ford engineer gave us a megashare link to a firmware download for something one of our techs was working on. (funny story Siglent recently sent me a megashare link for a firmware recovery package XD)

For our shop, it was run buy guys who were highly motivated (3 of us started the show, I was just an employee though). We were one of the most expensive repair shops though, and generally turn down small jobs like the equivalent of your situation.

Dealership techs are usually a different story though. I've been offered tech jobs and declined because the work sucks relatively speaking in the trades. Usually the pay is lower because dealerships don't make much money in comparison to 3rd party shops. They have more overhead, mandatory warranty work (they usually lose money on) and they are required to set repair pricing based on the mfg book time which usually isn't enough for the dealership to make much on, despite it feeling like they are telling you to bite the pillow. Dealerships make money on sales, not service, may around here avoid service as much as possible. That and for the past few years they have been short staffed and hiring kids fresh out of tech school.

My experience was mostly in calibration firmware engineering (or reverse engineering).

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ChipTuner 5mo ago

Techs would rather have an engine swap then a hose repair or brake job. It pays WAY more for the time and attention. I also forgot to mention, techs at dealerships get paid on book-time or job-time not hourly (usually) some do, but it's like $5/hr just to be there. The money is on the job.

If a job says 30min repair, they only get paid 30mins for the repair which usually doesn't account for them getting setup, tools out, logged into to the dealer network, connected to the vehicle etc. So if a job takes more than the book time, you want a larger job so it pays more. Small jobs don't make the tech money, nor the dealership. They don't want them, but often have to take them, or the service writer makes a commission taking the job lol.

I understand the pay structure for techs is bad. That's a common, widespread issue unfortunately. But that's all okay because I'm not going to them anymore. I'm doing it myself or going to one or multiple independent shops for things I can't reasonably do. Don't even give a fuck anymore. The scam won't last forever. People are figuring it out and I think there will be a ton of opportunity for high quality, honest techs on the other side of it all.

ChipTuner 5mo ago

That's the market though, 3rd party shops squeese even tighter, and you fall under pretty strict regulation and insurance that mfgs provide for dealerships (its a ripoff tho). IMO dealerships that have less than a dozen locations are not making good money anymore. MFGs are squeezing them as much as possible it's pretty wild. Some dealership franchise up north are really worth keeping around, they have huge parts sourcing networks (100x better than Ford or GM or Chrysler themselves). Then the mfgs pinch them for hoarding parts because they suck so bad.

ChipTuner 5mo ago

Also, on the parts. Parts are hard man. Since about 2018-2019 mfgs make it hard to get OEM parts after the model is out of MFG warranty, usually like 5 years. After 5 years sometimes even dealers have to go aftermarket. Even oem parts suck too now-days though. Blame mfgs or mfg parts suppliers idk. But what I can say is that Bosch is usually pretty good. If you have a car (usually foreign) with Bosch equipment, they make it easier for distributors to purchase. While they do have multi-million dollar minimum purchase orders, they almost always have 20+ parts available though some part of their network in my experience.

Navistar/International, CAT ,(Ford diesel engines), (mostly diesel engines) use a healthy amount of bosch components that can be sourced. A B2B that offers some retail purchases is Alliant Power (they're called something else now, again parts is a fucking mess after 2020)

Really the only US domestic parts sources are like Dorman, or Cardone Group (I think they even merged now idk). There are some others but mostly just resell dorman or cardone white-label parts. Denso for asian stuff (high quality usually).

Sure, but mixing parts is a pretty good way to end up with problems. In this case, a $20 part resulted in a return and a lost future client. You do the math.

Well fuck I hope my wife doesn't cause more body damage but you know what I mean. That's where we always went for work. Probably wont next time. I don't know, but it's a potential loss. For fucking nothing really. I would gladly pay $20 for the companion part. To just not ask and half ass it is bizarre, but you know more about the scene than I do.

ChipTuner 5mo ago

I know people say "lost future client" often, but the truth is, and I'm not being rude when i say this, I promise. Chances are you actually saved them money or frustration which is also money. From experience, generally customers in that category who were on the edge already we not going to be future customers, and possibly saved the dealership from a loss in the short term.

The whole stack is shit. Most of it probably is due to government (EPA especially) per usual. I've heard that some dealerships make more from service though. Maybe it's location dependent? I'm sure most make the bulk of their money on financial products than anything else (including the actual car sale).

I wouldn't call $3000 in work small, but maybe it is.

It's all one big fucking sham. I don't think much will change. It's entirely ridiculous how the industry operates.

ChipTuner 5mo ago

Yeah unless you're making parts (and that's a whole other thing) you're operating on single digit margins. 2022 saw the most vertical integration i've seen in parts, distributors were buying up mfgs, then buying up software/eCommerce production companies to sell directly. If you want parts and it's not from CarID, RockAuto, Summit, Jeggs, or XDP, chances are it's now owned by one of a hanful of parts distributors wholly or in part.

I could spend all day talking about the economics of parts XD

ChipTuner 5mo ago

There's also the part where at the end of the day mfgs don't want to, or want you to repair your own shit. Cars are disposable by design, and they aren't required to sell you parts or service for your old car, so that leads to a market where it's expensive to repair things man. Shits upside down.

Yeah it is. But in their defense, I believe some of that is ridiculous regulations that make repairs impractical. It's so labor intensive (never mind components) that it does make things disposable.

I just don't want to hear anyone tell me that this is about protecting the environment. It's wasteful at every level. Actual freedom in America would fix the problems pretty quickly I think

ChipTuner 5mo ago

Did you listen to my intro on pleb-chain radio podcast Gitcitadel did?

I did. It actually got me interested in this particular rabbit hole.

ChipTuner 5mo ago

Yeah it's a dangerous place out there XD. My business partner and I often pine for the "what ifs". Generally were happy we walked away from the industry, the people we were at the time... I would do things differently now or in a couple more years time, but it's another front you have to be an activist on, and I didn't have the support or courage to die on that hill, and generally still don't. Part of me still feels like it led me deeper into the rabbit hole of free speech. I'm not sure that's my calling either, but activism chooses you, you don't choose it imo.

I generally think the Bitcoin ethos fixes many social, financial, and ethical issues over time. It'll take decades to fix all this shit. I'm just doing the best I can with what we have.

And helping my friends and family as I learn. Not sure what else I can do.

ChipTuner 5mo ago

That's the way my friend. For me, i get to share my EPA story in such a way that gets people motivated. When we were shutting down, I took every opportunity to convince others that if you want people like us in business, and it's too late to save us, but you have to talk to people. Get them to understand what's happening to the industry.

"If there is one thing I can leave you with, it's too late to save us, but it's not too late to tell your friends and family, government isn't going to save us". Most of my demographic agreed with the last part XD

Agreed and that's essentially my focus. People should be educated enough to resist where they can. That's all we can do at this point.

ChipTuner 5mo ago

In think there is more we can do, but it's going to take a whole hell of a lot of resources. That's the white pill part. I think someone with enough money and power to care, could make some changes happen, especially in the aftermarket, and there are engineers out there still, even newer ones, that actually want to participate so long as they can work a steady 9/5 and be protected from the government. But someone has to take on that risk to make it happen. Most lawyers don't want to touch it though. We were told, we has a supreme court case if we wanted to peruse it, but the likelyhood of them finding a reason to kick your doors in skyrockets. And even if you did win, he said, "ive been in this a long time, you will always need me or someone else on your payroll, it will never end" Even millionaires like Kory Willis didn't have the connections required to keep him out, despite moving his businesses across multiple countries. I don't agree with his stance, but given enough people to care could get there.

I think the hard part is the brainwashing of the public. Kory was a diesel tuner, made most of his money from deleting exhaust/emissions equipment on diesel pickups. Getting the public to back that guy... yeah. He should have the right to sell parts to people to install, but I also don't agree with deliberately making emissions worse "because you can". There are ways to make power without excessive negative emissions. Tough spot to be in. The general public would clutch their pearls in 2025.

ChipTuner 5mo ago

But I also don't agree with the government regulating the American dream of "because I can" either.

I don't accept that the automotive industry has to be shit. It is possible to have long lasting, reliable vehicles with respectful software/hardware/firmware. People just have to demand it. I'm hoping we will hit a tipping point where people demand better because they financially have to. Transportation can be much better, including options that aren't personal vehicles.

ChipTuner 5mo ago

I'm not black pilled, but my response to that is "that's cute". Again not trying to be rude, but it's on the activism front you know. For me, it led me WAY deeper into the rabbit hole of economics and finance. The fact that new cars were 10x the price and junkers compared to older vehicles (my bread and butter was 94-03 Ford pickups), but at some point guys are keeping things on life support becaus they have to justify putting $15,000 of parts into a truck that's still only with $1500. It becomes an economics problem. They have to justify the cost of owning a pickup truck for example, when they didn't before. They have to start doing accounting on what they truck makes them, or saves them in a year. Or do I just put it behind my barn and use it for parts, or sell it and rent a truck when they need one etc. It just doesn't work out economically anymore if you ask me.

Again im not black pilled, but something big has to change, and regulation is not helping. As always, the regulation is enforced on the wrong people.

If that's your response, then why not be black pilled? Why work on or demand solutions to anything? Someone could say the same about Nostr, Bitcoin, etc. Free software and money is activism too to an extent. I'm not saying the problems aren't massive, and the automotive industry is really only one part. It isnt really even my biggest issue or interest. But it's problems are pretty much the same as every other industry: Government and fiat. So that's really where my focus is. I think focusing on automotive specifically hides my actual point, which is that people need to object in any way they can. In this case, that's fixing my own shit properly and not paying other people to not do it. Or buying older cars instead of newer. Or saving and spending Bitcoin. Spending energy on Nostr rather than something else. Using FOSS software, etc. Cars aren't my actual issue, it's just the fiat component I'm focused on for the month 😂

Yeah, I'm protesting in a tiny way that probably won't matter, but the point is that a lot more people are starting to do the same. Feeding the beast won't help either.

I don't even fucking know what I'm trying to say anymore nostr:nprofile1qqsqxefne258ydmfgm2wfl02fsdqgs0d5wx29kweg9amxcqxew4t7kqpzamhxue69uhhyetvv9ujumn0wd68ytnzv9hxgtcpzamhxue69uhhyetvv9ujuurjd9kkzmpwdejhgtcprdmhxue69uhhg6r9vehhyetnwshxummnw3erztnrdakj7pvj5mv. I'm just enjoying learning more about cars and not getting raped by dealerships man

ChipTuner 5mo ago

Maybe I have a chip on my shoulder I'm not sure. I came in trying to prove everyone wrong, and realized the problem was much larger than myself or my friends could or had the motivation to solve, among other reasons. I was 19-20 y/o when I started, still in college, excited etc. Then head-first I figured out the way I thought the world worked doesn't. I'm sure many if not most people come to find that out in some way or another.

Agreed, the problem is much larger than automotive. I guess I might just feel guilty that I left the automotive activism fight (not one I wanted to enter, and surely too scared to enter alone). Maybe I am black pilled and it's cope idk? There is a huge loneliness in automotive that was hard to cope with. It doesn't seem like anyone around me/us understood or cared to understand the problem we were all facing, just worrying about themselves and slashing prices, cutting support, ending friendships when the 2022 economy and shortages it. Some of them are rebellious or coping (not sure which), like the government aint commin' after me, till they do and get their asses handed to them with tools they never knew the government had.

But yeah, for me, it's about ownership, that I can do what ever TF I want with MY property. That's where I felt alone. Where I felt, the normie generally sees the good things government does, and that means they must tolerate or work around the government instead.

Even when you speak with activist groups like SEMA in california, you listen to their seminars or their federal court cases, and it's "they generally agree that the EPA must exist to protect humans, but you need to give people clear rules on what they can and can't do" It's literally the same fucking thing as bitcoin. regulate me harder daddy. That's the part where I felt alone, like even the activist lawyers don't see problem, then who does?

Not a surprise, but we even worked with a federal government rep, and you learn real quick, their interest is to get themselves views on tik tok for "standing up for the people" and never follow up or make any change either.

Yeah the problem is absolutely massive. No single person can fix it. It'll require millions of people demanding better. I'm hopeful though and appreciate your insight. It's always good to be realistic because these issues will probably take decades to fix or at least improve. I truly think better money paired with Nostr and the old school American spirit is the best chance. Maybe I'm naive.

ChipTuner 5mo ago

That's why I'm here every day :)

Like I said, I think activism chooses you.

I do get what youre saying though. There is a point at which just buying something older won't work, which is why people need to object sooner than later. For everything. Not just cars. Like I said, that's just my rabbit hole of the month. It'll be something else soon enough