Dear Car Talk:
Did I experience an alien invasion?
I recently went on a road trip to Yellowstone National Park in a rented 2022 Hyundai Elantra. My wife prepared the usual trail mix bag of assorted nuts and, of course, yummy peanut M&Ms, otherwise why hike?
Anyway, we stayed in a cabin in Yellowstone and left the bag in the car, with all windows and doors closed. The next morning, I was shocked to see the bag surrounded by a mix of food remnants along with unwanted rodent droppings. Whatever critters got in there surgically removed the candy coating off the M&Ms to devour the chocolate/peanut innards.
As I watched from the cabin later that morning, a gaggle of adorable ninja-like, Guinea-pig-size ground squirrels congregated over and around the rear right tire looking for something.
My question is, how the heck did they get in there? Did they steal my keys? Are there openings in modern undercarriages, or did they breach the vehicle? Seriously, do I need to buy a carbon monoxide monitor when renting a car if there’s an opening big enough in the rear undercarriage for squirrels to get in? More importantly, can we still eat the trail mix?
— Doug
Sure, eat all the leftover trail mix you want, Doug. Just be sure to chase it with some Azithromycin.
There’s no way for rodents to get into the passenger cabin from around the rear tires. As your question suggests, any opening there would allow exhaust into the car, which would eliminate you as a future Hyundai Elantra renter. So the squirrels may have detected food and were looking for a way in. But my guess is that some mice beat them to it.
Mice will often climb up the tires (more often the front tires, closer to the engine compartment, but they can travel along the exhaust system, too), and from there, they can find their way around the engine to the cowl, near the windshield, where fresh air is drawn into the cabin.
Fresh air has to be brought into the car’s passenger compartment somehow, right? If not, see above comment about future Hyundai Elantra renter status. The cowl is where fresh air comes in — far away from the exhaust system. There’s usually a mesh or wire grill covering the fresh air intake to prevent rodent access, but we know that mice have very sharp teeth and are very persistent when food is involved. Particularly peanut M&Ms, apparently.
So that’s how they got in, Doug. I find it hard to believe squirrels could make themselves small enough to get in through the fresh air vent, but I’m no rodentologist.
Maybe the squirrels just saw the mice coming down from the tires with melted chocolate all over the paws and said, “C’mon fellas, there’s M&Ms in there somewhere!”
Dear Car Talk:
I need to replace the rims on my 2012 Dodge Grand Caravan. I would kind of like to put on chrome rims but the size, 5 x 127, seems to be a difficult bolt pattern to find.
When I’ve looked for used rims, every time some Caravan rims go up for sale online, they’re gone right away.
I heard that I may be able to find new rims that fit the same bolt pattern. But how, other than driving my car to check them out and removing a wheel and trying the new one on?
— Craig
Craig, you’re in luck. We have the technology to solve your problem. It’s called a database.
I’ll give you two suggestions. Call a local junkyard (or automotive recycling center, as they like to be called now). Most junkyards have a database that tells them which wheels fit on which cars. So they can search their inventory by computer, and see if they have any wheels that fit your Caravan.
Lots of junkyards are also connected to each other through a network. It should be called “Heap-net,” but it’s not. Anyway, if the local junkyard doesn’t have anything that fits a Caravan, they can check the wire and see if another yard does.
Then you can have them shipped to you or go get them if it’s nearby.
You may also be pleasantly surprised at how many options you have if you decide to get new wheels. You can get chrome, aluminum alloy, Italian Carrera marble.
Try going to www.tirerack.com. Their database is excellent. You enter the details of your car, click on “wheels,” and you’ll see a long list of new wheels for sale that fit your Caravan. eBay Motors has a similar database that will also list used parts, when available.
And given your cautious nature, Craig, you can buy just one. And then, once you’re sure it fits, you can go back online and see if you can still find three more.
