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On 10/8/2021 at 8:04 PM, Jdesign said:

Well I had a epic day yesterday. I discovered some roads in Wisconsin that I would never imagine existed. Im talking switchbacks, massive elevation changes, and hairpins. Black ribbons of glory. A few of the roads were not in ideal condition, but there were so many that had FRESH blacktop I was amazed. I drove through the drift-less area from Eu Claire, all the way to Sun Prairie just west of 94. It took me about 8 hours of driving as I was doubling back and taking roads that I couldn't hit. I marked a bunch of them that I felt were worthy of a future cruise. Im likely going to go back this weekend and verify I solid route as I will be staging a video for two of my friends cars in the area. 

Mind sharing them as route in google maps or something??

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2 hours ago, gilber33 said:

Mind sharing them as route in google maps or something??

I marked all the roads that were epic, but they are not really in a cohesive route per say. I was back-tracking a bunch, just trying to hit anything that looked squiggly on the map. I also am guilty of enjoying myself so much i forgot to mark some.

https://goo.gl/maps/zPko6QLMbGP69fBp9

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Do you guys think the growing concerns regarding the supply chain will impact getting parts for cars? I have my list of things I want to do on the e30 this winter and I'm starting to wonder if I should get as much as I can now to just have it. I know not everyone wants wheel bearings for christmas, but if the other systems are strained, I assume it would have some spillover? 

Things that I can think of is I'm looking at new speakers and an amp for the car. Crutchfield has them all in stock now, but they only have like three single-din head units in stock. Could speakers be next? 

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1 hour ago, gilber33 said:

Do you guys think the growing concerns regarding the supply chain will impact getting parts for cars? I have my list of things I want to do on the e30 this winter and I'm starting to wonder if I should get as much as I can now to just have it. I know not everyone wants wheel bearings for christmas, but if the other systems are strained, I assume it would have some spillover? 

Things that I can think of is I'm looking at new speakers and an amp for the car. Crutchfield has them all in stock now, but they only have like three single-din head units in stock. Could speakers be next? 

You mean already impacting?  I work directly with the automotive aftermarket suppliers in the suspension, accessories, electronics, lugs, performance parts, etc categories and everyone is already falling behind and it's not looking to get better for 2022.  If it is made out of copper, aluminum, steel or relies on being shipped into the country then it will continue to struggle.

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1 hour ago, patsbimmer1 said:

You mean already impacting?  I work directly with the automotive aftermarket suppliers in the suspension, accessories, electronics, lugs, performance parts, etc categories and everyone is already falling behind and it's not looking to get better for 2022.  If it is made out of copper, aluminum, steel or relies on being shipped into the country then it will continue to struggle.

I am aware that segments of parts are becoming more difficult to get. When I shopping for suspension or the casual browse I have been seeing more performance stuff being backordered with no ETA. I guess I was thinking more of like the cart of random maintenance parts that I put together on FCP. Should I be ordering that kind of stuff now knowing that there is stock of it right now even if it's a project that I'm not going to get to until March? Should I be ordering speakers from crutchfield right now before the demand spikes over Christmas? 

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46 minutes ago, gilber33 said:

I am aware that segments of parts are becoming more difficult to get. When I shopping for suspension or the casual browse I have been seeing more performance stuff being backordered with no ETA. I guess I was thinking more of like the cart of random maintenance parts that I put together on FCP. Should I be ordering that kind of stuff now knowing that there is stock of it right now even if it's a project that I'm not going to get to until March? Should I be ordering speakers from crutchfield right now before the demand spikes over Christmas? 

Order when you can afford to get it.  If it's made of any commodity it will eventually become a problem.

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1 hour ago, patsbimmer1 said:

Order when you can afford to get it.  If it's made of any commodity it will eventually become a problem.

A couple years ago, the electronics industry went through a capacitor shortage. The cause was allegedly that the manufacturers had planned on demand falling, but it never did. It takes years to spin up a new factory and no one wanted to do it if demand was going to level off or fall. Supply slowly started to dry up.

Of course, when word got out that there wasn't going to be enough supply, everyone panic-bought, which of course made the problem worse, causing more people to think "This is bad, maybe I should panic-buy...".

A year later everything was back to normal and no one was worried about the alleged capacitor shortage anymore...

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2 hours ago, HipMF said:

A couple years ago, the electronics industry went through a capacitor shortage. The cause was allegedly that the manufacturers had planned on demand falling, but it never did. It takes years to spin up a new factory and no one wanted to do it if demand was going to level off or fall. Supply slowly started to dry up.

Of course, when word got out that there wasn't going to be enough supply, everyone panic-bought, which of course made the problem worse, causing more people to think "This is bad, maybe I should panic-buy...".

A year later everything was back to normal and no one was worried about the alleged capacitor shortage anymore...

Good story

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2 hours ago, HipMF said:

A couple years ago, the electronics industry went through a capacitor shortage. The cause was allegedly that the manufacturers had planned on demand falling, but it never did. It takes years to spin up a new factory and no one wanted to do it if demand was going to level off or fall. Supply slowly started to dry up.

Of course, when word got out that there wasn't going to be enough supply, everyone panic-bought, which of course made the problem worse, causing more people to think "This is bad, maybe I should panic-buy...".

A year later everything was back to normal and no one was worried about the alleged capacitor shortage anymore...

I guess it’s technically panic buying, but I think of it more like trying to avoid having something dumb go on back order and and prolong projects. That’s happened a couple times already and it’s super annoying. 

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I've typically always bought most parts around the holiday sales because of pricing but at this point if it's something I'd need I would just buy too. This reminds me I need some E34 parts.

I was lucky to get a water pump for my 15L Cummins same day a month ago. Newer trucks can't get them right now along with EGR sensors, all 280+ days out on back order 🙄

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I'm working as an electrical contractor now and supplies are a big issue.  Simple stuff like breaker panels, meter pedestals, breakers, etc.  And if you can get it the prices have gone up by 50% just this year on many things.  Construction is really busy right now so it is probably due to both supply issues and increased demand.

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4 hours ago, jc43089 said:

I'm working as an electrical contractor now and supplies are a big issue.  Simple stuff like breaker panels, meter pedestals, breakers, etc.  And if you can get it the prices have gone up by 50% just this year on many things.  Construction is really busy right now so it is probably due to both supply issues and increased demand.

I work as a lighting and controls engineer for a lighting rep agency selling to distributors and contractors and you are 100% correct. Our lighting manufacturers had at least 2-3 price increases this year alone. Lead times for fixtures and control devices have sky rocketed too. We are still super busy tho which is good. 

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3 hours ago, P_Roloff said:

Mmm, south bluff. Always wanted to try it, never knew where to start. Any tips?

Don't?

There's no trail, so it's a combination of talus scrambling and bushwhacking. Choosing your route and navigation are key. I feel like it's faster to stay on the talus as much as possible. Avoid heavy underbrush. Any area that's not flat, but not too steep will be rocky, but covered in moss/vines/etc and will be difficult to get across and that describes about half the bluff. Poison ivy everywhere. It also seems dirtier? The sun hits it at a lower angle because of the slope, so it's probably damp/wet more often.

Other than that, it's not bad. I started on the talus field just a tad west of the south shore beach, went straight up, then turned left near the top of the bluff to get to the talus the runs along the ridge. It seemed to work out okay, but it's slow going. I was out there 4-5 hours including time for exploring around, taking pictures, etc. It's nice if you really want to get out there and be by yourself away from the tourists, but the other bluffs are nicer for scrambling/exploring IMO.

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3 hours ago, HipMF said:

Don't?

There's no trail, so it's a combination of talus scrambling and bushwhacking. Choosing your route and navigation are key. I feel like it's faster to stay on the talus as much as possible. Avoid heavy underbrush. Any area that's not flat, but not too steep will be rocky, but covered in moss/vines/etc and will be difficult to get across and that describes about half the bluff. Poison ivy everywhere. It also seems dirtier? The sun hits it at a lower angle because of the slope, so it's probably damp/wet more often.

Other than that, it's not bad. I started on the talus field just a tad west of the south shore beach, went straight up, then turned left near the top of the bluff to get to the talus the runs along the ridge. It seemed to work out okay, but it's slow going. I was out there 4-5 hours including time for exploring around, taking pictures, etc. It's nice if you really want to get out there and be by yourself away from the tourists, but the other bluffs are nicer for scrambling/exploring IMO.

Good to know, thanks. I’ve been back in the gorge southwest of Burma road (highly recommend, I can point out the location of a couple neat little waterfalls back there if you ever want) and a few other places off trail in the park, but haven’t tried the south bluff just yet. Would be neat to get a different perspective on the park though. Maybe later this fall when things dry out a bit and the leaves have fallen…

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11 hours ago, P_Roloff said:

Good to know, thanks. I’ve been back in the gorge southwest of Burma road (highly recommend, I can point out the location of a couple neat little waterfalls back there if you ever want) and a few other places off trail in the park, but haven’t tried the south bluff just yet. Would be neat to get a different perspective on the park though. Maybe later this fall when things dry out a bit and the leaves have fallen…

I haven't been back there yet, but it's on my list. I would assume that it's kind of the same as the south bluff back there. If you go expecting there to be a nice trail and signage, you're probably gonna have a bad time.

I do need to get back to that gorge though. It's one of a couple spots in the park that allegedly sometimes gets climbable ice in the winter. I don't really plan on doing any ice climbing, but it would be cool to check out either way.

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