The service writer at the dealership downplayed this when I mentioned it. Said that it was normal for the car to make noise when the wheel was turned sharply. If I had to spell a word that describes the noise, it would be something like "gronk".

Does anyone else have a chronic noise problem like this? However you spell it, I'm interested in what you have to relate.

By the way, I had a nice drive last week up to Dallas (from the Houston area). My sister was there for a trade show so I took a couple of days off to go and meet her. She lives in Hawaii and we don't get together that often.

On Thursday morning, we took a road trip out to the little town of Glen Rose, TX. The state park there has actual dinosaur footprints in the limestone formations. Pretty neat, and there's a bonus: just down the road from the park entrance is the "Creation Evidence Museum", a compound built at apparently considerable expense and open for tourists. Yes, you might say that Glen Rose, TX is in the "buckle" of the Bible Belt.

Anyway, the main thing I wanted to say is, if you ever have to drive Interstate 45 between Dallas and Houston, the cops along the route (and there are many, many of them) WILL NOT pull you over if you follow the "9 over" rule. That's the rule (really a guideline) where you never exceed 9 mph over the posted limit (especially when passing a radar gun). You also need to remember to use your turn signals, not tailgate, and not be a roadhog. These rules have served me well and I have an (almost) spotless record going back 10 years. Let's not talk about my 20's, when I usually rode a motorcycle.

On my round trip drive to Dallas, I passed over 20 police units, some at speedtraps and others rolling. Several times I crested hills and viewed officers standing in the breakdown lanes and pointing radar guns at the oncoming traffic. I never even touched my brakes, just kept that cruise control set at 78.5 mph and didn't even get a second glance from the cops.

On one hill though, I crested it at 79 or 80 and a white Infiniti about 10 cars in back of me wasn't so fortunate. I'll bet he was going 81 or 82 when he crested and the red and blue lights were on him in no time at all.

There's also the fact that most of the cops seem to be concentrated NORTH of Corsicana. I don't recall seeing more than 1 police unit south of that town (50 miles out of Dallas).

Lastly, this was about the 20th time I've made the drive to Dallas. The police have always been this lenient. I must admit that one time several years ago, I violated my "9 over" rule and passed a radar gun at 10+, earning me a few minutes of conversation with a Texas lawman. He was articulate, friendly, and professional. After he ran a check on my license, he told me to "keep the speed down a bit" and then let me go with a warning.