Originally Posted by Air&Road

Sigh..... Well, it looks as if you are going to make me write this for about the hundredth time:

ALL alternative refrigerants such as Freeze 12 OR Freeze 12a fall into one of two categories; flammable or blend (Freeze 12 and 12a are blends.) The downside to a flammable does not need to be elaborated upon. A blend may need to be described.

Blends typically consist of two, but sometimes more than two refrigerants. Typically one of the components provides oil circulation and the other provides heat exchange.

The disadvantages of the blends are numerous, but the main two disadvantages are that the components leak at different rates, and they cannot be recovered for service.

Since the components leak at different rates, upon servicing a leak, the remaining refrigerant must be completely recovered, the leak repaired and then recharged from scratch with a fresh blend charge. This leads to the second disadvantage:

Since after a leak, the charge no longer has the correct blend, it cannot be recoverd and reused. It must be recovered into a scrap container and a DISPOSAL FEE MUST BE PAID.

Additionally every system using an alternative refrigerant, by Federal Law, is supposed to have the proper refrigerant specific fittings installed. I've done a good bit of auto a/c work and I have NEVER seen anyone install the correct fittings on a converted system except for 134a conversions.

The down sides to these alternative refrigerants are numerous and given that R12 has come back down in price to a level not too far above 134a, price, alternative refrigerants are clearly more trouble than they're worth in today's refrigerant market.

Originally Posted by aklim

I like my creature comforts so the newer technology has a huge thing that it does for me. Unlike many, I am not nostalgic so I could care less for an older car and in fact, I stay away from them. You couldn't entice me into a 25 yo anything. For instance, does the knob and the rough setting appeal to me? Absolutely not. I prefer being able to adjust each side to a setting comfortable to the driver and passenger as opposed to a slide setting which is so imprecise. I like my heated seats that turn off high heat and then turn off altogether later on. Sure, you pay a little more but I want the driving experience to be a pleasant one instead of a spartan existence.

Originally Posted by aklim

I like my creature comforts so the newer technology has a huge thing that it does for me. Unlike many, I am not nostalgic so I could care less for an older car and in fact, I stay away from them. You couldn't entice me into a 25 yo anything. For instance, does the knob and the rough setting appeal to me? Absolutely not. I prefer being able to adjust each side to a setting comfortable to the driver and passenger as opposed to a slide setting which is so imprecise. I like my heated seats that turn off high heat and then turn off altogether later on. Sure, you pay a little more but I want the driving experience to be a pleasant one instead of a spartan existence.

Other than my lawn equipment, I have eliminated carburetors on all my toys and cars. Sure, I like to Jetski but if you gave me a carburetor controlled ski, I'd trade it for a good hooker in a heartbeat. NFW do I want a carburetor on anything I own if possible. When they sport a problem, I immediately send it out. I don't fix those old crap technology.

Originally Posted by iwrock

Then there is this argument....


Not gonna lie, it was pretty nice sitting in traffic in my E55. AC on full blast, ventilated seats on high, air suspension on comfort, massaging/pulsing on the seats going, and music cranked.

Originally Posted by JamesDean

Hey my 300D's a/c works. Seats arent ventialted though. The pulsing is not as hardcore as my 300SD but its there!

Originally Posted by iwrock

Hehehehe. Does the 300D have the "pulsing" option?

Originally Posted by The Clk Man

How can someone having crabs, call it a "Creature Comfort"?

Originally Posted by JamesDean

Hey my 300D's a/c works. Seats arent ventialted though. The pulsing is not as hardcore as my 300SD but its there!

Originally Posted by Hatterasguy

I can run out tomorrow and buy any modern car and it will go 150k miles with no repairs and virtually no maintenance. GM especially because for the first 100k I don't have to do anything other than oil changes.

Disposable? After 10-15 years they are pretty shot anyway, time to upgrade. Only reason some MB's lasted was because of fanatical owners. If I maintained a Chevy Cruze like that it would last 30 years. Trust me diesels break, I have done plenty of work on broken diesels. The only difference is when a diesel brakes its freaken expensive, gas engine parts are cheap. For what a set of injectors runs on any MB diesel, I can buy spark plugs for the life of a couple of Chevy trucks.

Repairs what repairs? Old cars are a hobby you have to wrench on them every weekend. On late model cars you need to do...well nothing. I haven't wrenched on a vehicle in lets see...May when I had to replace a PS return line on my truck. Cost me $5.

Originally Posted by aklim

Does it have individualized controls or is it all one big slider switch? When it gets too cold do you have to readjust it or does it keep the temp you want?

Originally Posted by spdrun

My 240D is actually split between sides. You do have to readjust it, but I prefer that anyway. I want air of a certain temp blowing in my face full-force, as opposed to the kem'pootah keeping the CABIN at a certain temp.

(The times when I rented a car with thermostatic climate control, I absolutely loathed it.)

Originally Posted by aklim

I much prefer set it and forget it. If the sun is stronger, it changes the fan speed as it does when it is weaker instead of me having to keep futzing with it. When it cools down enough, it maintains it without me having to adjust. I have more fun things to do than to be adjusting things as it changes.

Originally Posted by spdrun

Thing is, I almost always drive with a window down unless I'm running the A/C full blast. Even in dead of winter. This tends to really confuse a lot of climate control systems.