cool story bro (may contain course language)

[nature boy]

so on monday i changed out a couple bulbs in my headlights. on my old car the bulbs were behind a hard plastic casing that stayed in place with a retainer clip type thing. on my current car it's just this weird rubber boot/cap that fits over the housing like a hat. they pop right off and i just placed them onto the engine block.

anyway, the driver's side bulb came out without a hitch. i swapped it without a problem. the passenger side, not so much. i kept trying to get it out but it was pretty stuck for some strange reason. i think i stood there for like 10 minutes before it finally popped out (oh and i swapped out some other bulbs in the meantime too). i promptly closed the trunk and tested out the lights. sweet.

fast forward to next morning. i was lying in bed and i thought to myself, hey did i put those rubber boot/caps back on? i couldn't remember. so as i left for work i checked... and sure enough, i forgot to put both of them back on. the driver's side fortunately fell by the battery and i just popped it back on. the passenger side one was no where to be seen. crap. i guess i'll just order a new one.

call a few dealerships. the cheapest i could get it for was $18.20. that sucks, that's $20 that i could have just lost in poker. it'll take 2 days to get here (thursday), so i just ordered it.

i kept thinking that i'll drive the path i took after changing the bulbs to see if i could find the cap, but i figure chances would be slim (i drove to brentwood). i was going to tell winnie that if she were going for a walk in the alley she could just keep an eye out, but it was dark by the time i thought of it.

fast forward to today. i left work early for an unrelated reason and winnie suggested that i could walk down the alley if i wanted to. i didn't even think of it, but i thought sure. i doubt i'd find it. i went out into the alley and kept looking in the ditches. there were a lot of leaves so i was afraid that it was covered up or something. i just kept walking.

i got about halfway down the alley and guess what i see in some guy's driveway under this small housing type thing? my rubber boot/cap! i quickly grabbed it, gave it a quick wipe and put it back on my car. i called the dealership to cancel my order and now i'm a happy camper.

moral of the story? let's play poker.

[geForce]

cool story bro, let's play broker

[nature boy]

poker story cool, let's bro play.

[geForce]

up then it set

[nature boy]

dude what are you talking about? english man, speak it.

[nature boy]

[nature boy]

nsfw for language.

[Duncan]

not sure why vw makes it so complicated to change out lights... it's friggin ridiculous the amount of time it takes to change the headlights and taillights of the jetta... everything's so compact that even if you get the proper housing/covers off, you have to have tiny girl hands to reach into the area to yank out the light and put a new one in...































up it set

[nature boy]

lots of new cars are like that now. it's for space saving. would you rather have lots of room to swap out bulbs every few years or more room in the cabin for passenger comfort everyday and in the engine bay for a larger engine?

and the mk4 tails aren't bad at all. really easy actually. the headlights are a bit harder but once you get the hang of it, it's not bad. with this car it wasn't bad, just for some strange reason the way the bulb was screwed in was wrong or something because it wouldn't pop out. i had it turned the right way and everything but it wouldn't budge until i used a pair of needle nose to get in there.

[geForce]

The tail lights are usually pretty easy... there's nothing but space inside the trunk.

I think German cars are the worst for headlights though. On my A4 (not a new car, btw), it was super hard to change the light. On one side, I had to take out the air box and unclip a couple of hoses and that only gave me a little bit more room to get my hand in to undo a bolt that was holding the headlight housing. On the other side was a bit easier, but I had to take off a part of the grill cover to get at the bolt. It takes 45mins to change both bulbs, and that's if you know what you're doing. If you don't know what you're doing, it took me over an hour to figure things out the first time.

[Duncan]

it's not hard getting the taillights off on one side, it's the other side... for some reason, the panel that opens up the trunk lining isn't big enough to pull out the plastic piece that holds all the bulbs. it took me 2 min to change the taillight on one side, and 20 min on the other side... i had to pry the lining til my fingers hurt before i could angle the plastic housing in a position that made it easy to change the bulb...

but yea, i know it's for space saving, but at the same time, it's still a pain in the neck... that being said, my TWO DOOR civic had a TON more space (cabin and trunk) than this FOUR DOOR jetta and it was a breeze to change headlights or taillights...

i think i just hate this car haha

[nature boy]

i guess by new, i mean anything after the 80's haha. and giant hands don't really count lolz.

my manager's 86 civic's engine bay was so freaking huge that i probably could fit in there and close the hood. no joke.

as for dunc's old civic having more room, i'd like to see the specs because i can't see a coupe having more interior space than a sedan of the same class. that, and the fact that the a4 jetta/golfs were ground breaking in the way of interior space (not my words, but top gear's lol).

[geForce]

I think my A4 was roomier than a 4 door Civic.

[Duncan]

according to the link below, it's pretty comparable apparently.. haha... civic coupe wins in some categories and jetta others... seems like the civic had more driver room and slightly less passenger room... and even though the civic's cargo space is off by 0.1sqft, i think the configuration and the how the trunk opened it made it easier to put things in and take it out... i dunno... i think i'm just creating reasons to hate my car haha

[nature boy]