What have you done to your car today?

Man of Honour
Joined
13 Nov 2009
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11,596
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Northampton
Can one not get free windscreens from your insurer without affecting your NCB? If all those little spots are stone chips, then you're doing yourself a favour ;)
Not free, but windscreen excess isn't massive sums of money, feels pretty free when that's a MK3 focus or similar so will be £700+ without insurance
 
Caporegime
Joined
23 Dec 2011
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Northern England
Not free, but windscreen excess isn't massive sums of money, feels pretty free when that's a MK3 focus or similar so will be £700+ without insurance

The risk is always that the quality of the windscreen sucks or that the person fitting it is a complete chimp though :(
Ive had experience of both scenarios but thankfully not on my car.
 
Man of Honour
Joined
13 Nov 2009
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11,596
Location
Northampton
The risk is always that the quality of the windscreen sucks or that the person fitting it is a complete chimp though :(
Ive had experience of both scenarios but thankfully not on my car.
Glass quality can be a pain in the rear, believe me we'd rather be fitting OEM everything as it makes life easier, insurance companies put a damper on that due to cost difference (About £400 between OEM and Pilkington on a 2016 6 Series GC as an example)

We aren't all chimps though :)
 
Caporegime
Joined
23 Dec 2011
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32,923
Location
Northern England
Glass quality can be a pain in the rear, believe me we'd rather be fitting OEM everything as it makes life easier, insurance companies put a damper on that due to cost difference (About £400 between OEM and Pilkington on a 2016 6 Series GC as an example)

We aren't all chimps though :)

You're the chimpiest chimp of them all!

The guy that did the repairs on my 6gc was awesome but the guy that replaced my dad's Saab 93 was dire. I don't know how he did it but he failed to completely seal the windscreen!
 
Soldato
Joined
6 May 2004
Posts
5,998
Location
Fareham
Can one not get free windscreens from your insurer without affecting your NCB? If all those little spots are stone chips, then you're doing yourself a favour ;)

Yeah, won't affect my NCB and my excess is £90 for a new screen, although it does now mean I have to declare a windscreen claim for the next 5 years. It is pretty dirty so not all those marks are stone chips but there are still a fair few on there so it's not the end of the world. Car is a Mondeo MK4.5 and with Autoglass the quote is £457 for a replacement if I were to do it outside of insurance.

Guess I have to see if the £367 difference is saved over 5 years, I'm not sure how much a windscreen claim is likely to affect premiums. Hopefully whatever fitter I get is half decent though as the guys who did the windscreen on my 3 series made a mess of it (did that outside of insurance as it was only £180) - sealant all over the fabric of the A pillar trims and so much of it that they were bulging out a bit and the alignment on one of the wiper blades was off meaning it didn't clear a few inches of the screen that it used to.

Edit: Well, running a fresh insurance quote with and without a windscreen claim declared gives identical prices. Might as well do it through insurance and be done with it then. Only annoying thing is that the earliest date they can offer is the 16th so I have 10 days of a car with a knackered windscreen and a fair bit of mileage to cover.
 
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Soldato
Joined
22 Jul 2014
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3,857
Location
Oxon
Added my learner partner to my insurance. Had to cancel the policy and start a new one though, so lost on 4 months of no claims but really need for them to get more practise before they can take their test. Wierdly, it was cheaper for the year than it was before.
 
Associate
Joined
31 Mar 2010
Posts
1,522
Location
Lancashire
Yeah, won't affect my NCB and my excess is £90 for a new screen, although it does now mean I have to declare a windscreen claim for the next 5 years. It is pretty dirty so not all those marks are stone chips but there are still a fair few on there so it's not the end of the world. Car is a Mondeo MK4.5 and with Autoglass the quote is £457 for a replacement if I were to do it outside of insurance.

Guess I have to see if the £367 difference is saved over 5 years, I'm not sure how much a windscreen claim is likely to affect premiums. Hopefully whatever fitter I get is half decent though as the guys who did the windscreen on my 3 series made a mess of it (did that outside of insurance as it was only £180) - sealant all over the fabric of the A pillar trims and so much of it that they were bulging out a bit and the alignment on one of the wiper blades was off meaning it didn't clear a few inches of the screen that it used to.

Edit: Well, running a fresh insurance quote with and without a windscreen claim declared gives identical prices. Might as well do it through insurance and be done with it then. Only annoying thing is that the earliest date they can offer is the 16th so I have 10 days of a car with a knackered windscreen and a fair bit of mileage to cover.

I claimed for a windscreen last year, policy went up by about £60 (about 15%). Renewal still cheaper than quote elsewhere though. Didn't try without the claim for comparison to be fair.
 
Associate
Joined
19 Sep 2010
Posts
2,339
Location
The North
Glass quality can be a pain in the rear, believe me we'd rather be fitting OEM everything as it makes life easier, insurance companies put a damper on that due to cost difference (About £400 between OEM and Pilkington on a 2016 6 Series GC as an example)

We aren't all chimps though :)

Out of curiosity, what's the deal with OEM screens anyway? Is it simply a case of 'ask and you shall receive' or is it more of a battle to get
 
Man of Honour
Joined
13 Nov 2009
Posts
11,596
Location
Northampton
Out of curiosity, what's the deal with OEM screens anyway? Is it simply a case of 'ask and you shall receive' or is it more of a battle to get

Ask and hope for the best.
Luck will vary depending on who you're insured with (I wouldn't know if any are more willing), and age of the car.

As a last resort if you're willing to pay the price the difference in glass cost + your excess it's another option
 
Man of Honour
Joined
18 Oct 2002
Posts
100,345
Location
South Coast
So my windscreen washer pump died recently and I suspected the headlight washer pump might be dead too.

Bought 2x pumps and set to work today.

All online guides said to jack the car up and take the driver's wheel off to get the arch trim out which seemed a massive faff.

A mate said he simply turned the wheel and unscrewed the trim bits through the gap instead. We're both slim guys so figured this was a reet good idea.


rps20180609_133011_837.jpg


It was a superb idea! Both pumps within reach. I unplugged the headlight pump to check the filter wasn't too clogged first when suddenly...

rps20180609_133041_772.jpg


Forgot to empty the reservoir first didn't I!

Filter was not too bad:

rps20180609_133108_705.jpg


Luckily the headlight pump wasn't dead, because I thought both pumps were the same so bought two of the same. Jets now fire stronger than ever before
 

Deleted member 66701

D

Deleted member 66701

Replaced split steering rack boot on the Westfield.

This car is so easy to work on, didn't even need a jack!
 
Permabanned
Joined
13 Apr 2017
Posts
969
Location
scotland
Tried, yet again, the self-parking function and was rewarded with the usual random results.

One time it's perfection, wheels placed the regulation 6 inches from the kerb and an equidistant
space from the car in front and the car in rear. Ideal.

Next time it gets it all wrong, a 5m car into a 8m space, easy peasy, but no, it turns too soon,
N/S back wheel on the kerb [ a driving test fail I think ] and the danger of rubbing the car in front so I
have to take manual control.

I'm bemused by its arbitrary results, it's as if it has an ersatz human brain function.

It's success rate of a passable parallel park is even worse than me at the acme of my uncoordinated
steering wheel spinning.
 
Soldato
Joined
7 Dec 2011
Posts
10,401
I've only ever used it in an E Pace, even in effectively perfect conditions (i.e cones and barriers set up to emulate spaces) it needed an incredibly slow approach and occasionally an abandoned / second attempt - the 360 view is by far and away more useful than the actual attempted park function
 
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Soldato
Joined
5 Aug 2013
Posts
6,619
Location
Shropshire
Sprayed centres of some new rear brake discs ready to be changed and renewed both drop links on rear of the Focus - Old ones seemed ok but they are 8 yrs old now so preventative maintenance - might buy some front drop links now. - Not keen anymore about crawling under cars - total PITA
 
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