What have you done to your car today?

Michael Myers · 2 Nov 2025 at 18:02

Simon said:
That will be worth it. Great you have a garage to take your time and do it properly. Mugen castor bush ?

i picked up a full set of hardrace bushes, just trying to decide what coilovers to get as its an ideal time to fit them. i know Ohlins are regarded as the best but I'm not sure i want to splash that sort of cash :cry:

mrk · 2 Nov 2025 at 19:11

Bonnet cover for £30, been without one for years.

Yaayuh! · 3 Nov 2025 at 08:08

Had to avoid a moron coming onto the roundabout as I was coming off. He was taking a wide line (over the white line). Wanged the kerb

. Now that’s 2…

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Conscript · 3 Nov 2025 at 08:19

Girlfriend came home with the right hump the other day, she also kerbed her first alloy on her new car, on the way home from the stables. Granite kerb on a mini roundabout she misjudged. Another reason why I'd rather the car had smaller wheels.

On the plus side, she was quite receptive to the idea of waiting until after winter and refurbishing all the wheels in a colour other than black...

Demon · 3 Nov 2025 at 10:35

The Daughters car failed it's MOT.. Fiat 500C

Front Lower suspension arm and rear brake pads.. Garage quoted £800.. Looked moderately straight forward on youtube videos, so thought I might as well give it a go since I'd be paying anyway!

£128 for both lower suspension arms and rear brake pads from GSF..

All in it took ~4 hours and that was me doing it all by hand for most of it..

I did buy a better caliper rewind tool (one that pushed against the caliper as it turns, mine was just one that goes on a 3/8" extension bar and you manually push).

And I found out that after messing around manually undoing all the hefty bolts on the drivers side which took a while, I found my '450Nm' mains power Clarke impact wrench which was hopeless.. however, my Milwaukee impact driver rated at 226Nm (using a hex to 1/2" adapter) managed to undo all the main bolts!..

Not sure how a garage with a lift and raft of tools got to £800, with a decent impact wrench and definitely on a lift, that would have been well under 3 hours and that includes cleaning all bolts/screw threads, greasing what needs it, and wire brushing the area and cleaning/protecting as needed to make life easier for any future jobs..

bainbridge · 3 Nov 2025 at 12:23

Topped up the Norris McSquirters on the Mrs's new to us EV.

Also checked tyres pressures even though I think this can be checked on board.

Not much else to do so I wiped the big plastic thing that pretends to be an engine cover.

Rroff · 3 Nov 2025 at 12:27

Demon said:
Not sure how a garage with a lift and raft of tools got to £800, with a decent impact wrench and definitely on a lift, that would have been well under 3 hours and that includes cleaning all bolts/screw threads, greasing what needs it, and wire brushing the area and cleaning/protecting as needed to make life easier for any future jobs..

Something which frustrates me a bit - with a proper vehicle lift and decent tools I could do a lot of stuff on my vehicles and quite quickly - but I'm not going to mess about outdoors on a sloping stone chip drive.

sigma · 3 Nov 2025 at 12:32

Demon said:
The Daughters car failed it's MOT.. Fiat 500C

Front Lower suspension arm and rear brake pads.. Garage quoted £800.. Looked moderately straight forward on youtube videos, so thought I might as well give it a go since I'd be paying anyway!

£128 for both lower suspension arms and rear brake pads from GSF..

All in it took ~4 hours and that was me doing it all by hand for most of it..

I did buy a better caliper rewind tool (one that pushed against the caliper as it turns, mine was just one that goes on a 3/8" extension bar and you manually push).

And I found out that after messing around manually undoing all the hefty bolts on the drivers side which took a while, I found my '450Nm' mains power Clarke impact wrench which was hopeless.. however, my Milwaukee impact driver rated at 226Nm (using a hex to 1/2" adapter) managed to undo all the main bolts!..

Not sure how a garage with a lift and raft of tools got to £800, with a decent impact wrench and definitely on a lift, that would have been well under 3 hours and that includes cleaning all bolts/screw threads, greasing what needs it, and wire brushing the area and cleaning/protecting as needed to make life easier for any future jobs..

They will charge you book time price + coffee and cigarette time + tax on parts

Did the quote perhaps include doing both sides?

I think I have that same mains wrench, that's disappointing to read!

Jonnycoupe · 3 Nov 2025 at 12:59

When I first saw the picture I thought you have been victim to a parts theft!

GTAMADDOG · 3 Nov 2025 at 17:54

E92 335d went for its MOT today and passed with no advisories. Funny, because last year it had one advisory about corrosion to the rear subframe and two advisories about brake pipes, and I haven't done anything to them. Different testers with different ideas about corrosion, I guess.

I still want to change the rear discs and pads because the discs have a small lip on them, but otherwise I can now move on to hopefully getting the E46 welded up and back on the road now I know that I don't need to spend anything on the E92 to get it through the MOT.

Martynt74 · 6 Nov 2025 at 17:33

Currently at the MOT station here in Spain.
It’s different to the UK in that you turn up and they do various tests to the car on a conveyor belt type system where you drive in, do various tests and then get a pass/fail and drive off.

My main issue is the washer jets have stopped working and developed a leak. I’m praying I can blag the tank is empty (can hear the motor). I only need the car a couple weeks and it’ll be scrapped but the current test expires next week. It’d be nice not to have to fix it!

Uther · 6 Nov 2025 at 17:44

Martynt74 said:
Currently at the MOT station here in Spain.
It’s different to the UK in that you turn up and they do various tests to the car on a conveyor belt type system where you drive in, do various tests and then get a pass/fail and drive off.

My main issue is the washer jets have stopped working and developed a leak. I’m praying I can blag the tank is empty (can hear the motor). I only need the car a couple weeks and it’ll be scrapped but the current test expires next week. It’d be nice not to have to fix it!

Wouldn't it fail for no washer fluid though?

Martynt74 · 6 Nov 2025 at 17:50

Uther said:
Wouldn't it fail for no washer fluid though?

In theory yes, but I’ve heard reports that sometimes you can be lucky and wing it as long as they can hear the motor as it looks more like an empty tank than a fault.

Retests are free so beyond wasting a journey I don’t have much to lose.

sigma · 6 Nov 2025 at 19:40

Martynt74 said:
Currently at the MOT station here in Spain.
It’s different to the UK in that you turn up and they do various tests to the car on a conveyor belt type system where you drive in, do various tests and then get a pass/fail and drive off.

My main issue is the washer jets have stopped working and developed a leak. I’m praying I can blag the tank is empty (can hear the motor). I only need the car a couple weeks and it’ll be scrapped but the current test expires next week. It’d be nice not to have to fix it!

You're going to scrap it?

Martynt74 · 6 Nov 2025 at 19:56

sigma said:
You're going to scrap it?

Unless I can sell it for more than scrap but it’s a 20yr old Kia Sportage with 300km. It’s not worth much and for a few hundred quid to not desl with Facebook marketplace it seems a decent option.

Annoyingly it passed on the wipers but failed on an undocumented tow bar which has been fitted for around 5 years prior to me buying the car!

deviation · 6 Nov 2025 at 20:25

Demon said:
Not sure how a garage with a lift and raft of tools got to £800, with a decent impact wrench and definitely on a lift, that would have been well under 3 hours and that includes cleaning all bolts/screw threads, greasing what needs it, and wire brushing the area and cleaning/protecting as needed to make life easier for any future jobs..

Was that £800 including genuine parts? If so there's your answer.

Demon · 6 Nov 2025 at 21:52

deviation said:
Was that £800 including genuine parts? If so there's your answer

They said GSF or ECP, the GSF van was there dropping off a fair few drivetec parts, thats why I knew where to try and Suspension arms were £46.66 each.

deviation · 6 Nov 2025 at 21:54

Demon said:
They said GSF or ECP, the GSF van was there dropping off a fair few drivetec parts, thats why I knew where to try and Suspension arms were £46.66 each.

Ah OK, interesting - as most places now won't fit not genuine parts, of which they insist on supplying themselves.

Nice! Then you really did well then if they were planning on ripping you off for GSP/ECP cheap parts at that price with labour

Demon · 7 Nov 2025 at 06:40

Both GSF and ECP near me claim the vast majority of their business is supplying parts to local garages and they carry almost no OEM parts..

IME, most garages will only use genuine when they can’t get those parts from motor factors, or it’s a specialist Indy that mixes genuine and good quality parts to keep costs reasonable.

deviation · 7 Nov 2025 at 08:29

Demon said:
Both GSF and ECP near me claim the vast majority of their business is supplying parts to local garages and they carry almost no OEM parts..

IME, most garages will only use genuine when they can’t get those parts from motor factors, or it’s a specialist Indy that mixes genuine and good quality parts to keep costs reasonable.

I supply/work on my own cars, so it doesn't matter to me, but whenever I hear of friends/family, they mention that it's the other way around here, all garages insist on supplying/fitting OEM genuine parts.