Thinking outside the box.

[dodge man]

I’ve had two things happen recently that made me evaluate my thought process. Like a lot of people you have a plan and instead of think about it differently you just plow ahead. Examples are always the best way to describe this.

My wife’s car has two slightly bent rims. They are OK but have a slight vibration. I found a set on Facebook about a 2 hour drive away, one was badly damage but that was ok I only need two. We drove two hours to get them and when we got there we thought they were a match. It turns out they have about 5 colors for these wheels and while close, not a match. Why didn’t I take a wheel off her car and bring it with?

I damaged a pipe plug on the mid mount mower gear box on my tractor. It’s a larger allen sized plug and I tried to use a torx. I bought a new one at the JD dealer and thought “I hope I have an allen that large” and I knew this when I left the house. My larger allens are all a 1/2 drive socket setup, why didn’t I grab the stick of them? I had the correct size but I should have taken them with to verify.

In both these cases pretty minor things but how often does this happen to you?

 

[Michiganguy]

I’ve had two things happen recently that made me evaluate my thought process. Like a lot of people you have a plan and instead of think about it differently you just plow ahead. Examples are always the best way to describe this.

My wife’s car has two slightly bent rims. They are OK but have a slight vibration. I found a set on Facebook about a 2 hour drive away, one was badly damage but that was ok I only need two. We drove two hours to get them and when we got there we thought they were a match. It turns out they have about 5 colors for these wheels and while close, not a match. Why didn’t I take a wheel off her car and bring it with?

I damaged a pipe plug on the mid mount mower gear box on my tractor. It’s a larger allen sized plug and I tried to use a torx. I bought a new one at the JD dealer and thought “I hope I have an allen that large” and I knew this when I left the house. My larger allens are all a 1/2 drive socket setup, why didn’t I grab the stick of them? I had the correct size but I should have taken them with to verify.

In both these cases pretty minor things but how often does this happen to you?

Sounds about my speed!
Although I probably wouldn’t have noticed the color difference until after I bought them and got home.
On the other hand depending on what kind of day I’m having I would think what the heck, since I can only see one side of the car at a time, I’d put one color on one side and the other color on the other side and shake my head and walk away.

 

[dodge man]

We bought the wheels and brought them home. The ones on the car I’d call natural aluminum and the set we bought I’d call a slight gray. I’ve thought about putting two “wrong” ones on one side, the style is identical, just off on color.

 

[Avenger]

This happens to me all the stinking time! I believe the phrase is "hindsight is 20/20"

Here is an example of what just happened with me regarding Christmas lights. We never really did Christmas decorations on the old house. Being up in the woods, there was no one around to look at them, why put in the effort? Our new home is not in the woods, and along a semi busy road, with neighbors. A perfect house to decorate. We have the lights, why not put them up? So I started banging away with the staple gun, hanging up lights on the eves, making it look awesome. Then I plugged them in... a few strings lit up... not many. These are older lights, the kind that are not LED. Now I get the awesome opportunity to move the ladder around and check each bulb. It would have made much more since to plug them in on the ground and check the strings BEFORE putting them up. That whole hindsight thing comes back to mind.

 

[dodge man]

Don’t worry Avenger, if I’d been there I probably wouldn’t have thought of it either.

 

[5030]

Sounds about my speed!
Although I probably wouldn’t have noticed the color difference until after I bought them and got home.
On the other hand depending on what kind of day I’m having I would think what the heck, since I can only see one side of the car at a time, I’d put one color on one side and the other color on the other side and shake my head and walk away.

Typical Michigander like me actually. Washed the wife's burb last week and forgot to wash the passengers side and my wife made a snide comment to which I replied 'you can only see one side at a time' anyway. I have a TV dinner that night and I had to make it myself too.

 

[5030]

We bought the wheels and brought them home. The ones on the car I’d call natural aluminum and the set we bought I’d call a slight gray. I’ve thought about putting two “wrong” ones on one side, the style is identical, just off on color.

Get yourself a can if aviation aircraft paint stripper, remove the tires if any and wear rubber gloves and a mask and coat them with it, use an old but clean paint brush and let them stand for 3/4 hour and hose it off and I guarantee it will remove all the paint, no issue. Napa sells it btw. Wicked stuff, has an old airplane on the front label and the back is loaded with cautions, none of which you will read anyway. Just the gloves and mask and wear old pants and a long sleeve shirt because that stuff eats everything it gets on, including cloth and toss the paint brush when done because it will eat the brush bristles as well. They keep getting shorter and shorter as you go on so line them all up first because you need to be pretty quick or you will run out of bristles....

 

[CalG]

Wet back roads will fix those wheel colors in less than a mile.

 

[oosik]

In the past - I would do that all the time. Leave the damaged "part" at home and then not know if the purchased part was correct. Now - I always drag the faulty part along with me. I still get it wrong - some times. But not quite as often.

That's one of my pet peeves. The part on my tractor is some specialized size. The part store only carries standard size replacements. Means another trip into the Kubota dealership to order the special part.

 

[mikester]

I’ve had two things happen recently that made me evaluate my thought process. Like a lot of people you have a plan and instead of think about it differently you just plow ahead. Examples are always the best way to describe this.

My wife’s car has two slightly bent rims. They are OK but have a slight vibration. I found a set on Facebook about a 2 hour drive away, one was badly damage but that was ok I only need two. We drove two hours to get them and when we got there we thought they were a match. It turns out they have about 5 colors for these wheels and while close, not a match. Why didn’t I take a wheel off her car and bring it with?

I damaged a pipe plug on the mid mount mower gear box on my tractor. It’s a larger allen sized plug and I tried to use a torx. I bought a new one at the JD dealer and thought “I hope I have an allen that large” and I knew this when I left the house. My larger allens are all a 1/2 drive socket setup, why didn’t I grab the stick of them? I had the correct size but I should have taken them with to verify.

In both these cases pretty minor things but how often does this happen to you?

It's times like this you know you are still alive!