What have you done to your car today?

Associate
Joined
19 Sep 2010
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The North
My side window decided to self-detonate today after washing the car. Can only assume it had some stress fractures from time, owing to it being a frameless design soft top.

Bloody pain in the arse anyway, got Autoglass booked to come for a new one on Thursday. Pinching the other halfs car for the week :p
 
Soldato
Joined
6 May 2004
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5,991
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Fareham
Picked up a new interior for my nearly poverty spec F30 - leather seats and door cards to replace the horrific looking cloth seats. All in good condition with no scuffs etc which is good so the plan is to fit it all tomorrow.

The only thing is that they need a damn good clean. I must admit that in any of my other cars that have had a leather interior I never bothered doing anything with it as even after years of many, many miles they still looked fine. What's the best way to go about cleaning them up? Soft cloth and warm water for now and then some proper leather care product when I get some? Or just leave it until I get some proper stuff and if so, what do you guys suggest?
 
Soldato
Joined
3 Jun 2012
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10,803
Yeah.... Maybe you could make that work if you didn't have multiple posts in this thread and other threads about the (numerous)issues you've had with it.
Your point?

All issues that I've fixed.

Also, many of them are not really issues for most people, I'm just ANAL about noises
 
Soldato
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Fareham
Pretty much just a damp mf cloth. But that's more for maintenance, if it's nasty at the minute you might be better off with a cleaner and condition from LTT or Colour Lock

Cheers. I fitted them all in earlier on and I've given the seats a wipe down with a damp cloth. They don't look too bad but I'll definitely get some proper stuff, will give some of that a go. So much better than it was with the crappy cloth interior. Got the whole interior for a pretty good price too.

seatfront.jpg


seatback.jpg


Next up is figuring out the wiring for the heated seats. I need a new climate panel which is fine and to code heated seats to the car which is also fine, but I'm a bit unsure about the wiring at the minute. Oh and perhaps swapping the door cards out if I decide I can be bothered - I have got some with the leather bits on but unsure on their condition at the minute.
 
Caporegime
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22 Oct 2002
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Boston, Lincolnshire
Renewed breakdown cover on the Wife's car. AA wanted £162 for renewal, so switched to Green Flag - £73.92 (and £10 cashback via Quidco).

I have been driving for 11 years and run a fleet of 3 cars and never needed breakdown cover. I would have spent a grand over that period other wise! Even a recovery is quite cheap these days if the worst happens.
 
Don
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19 May 2012
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17,050
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Spalding, Lincolnshire
I have been driving for 11 years and run a fleet of 3 cars and never needed breakdown cover. I would have spent a grand over that period other wise! Even a recovery is quite cheap these days if the worst happens.

Having only needed to call roadside assistance on 3 of my cars in the past 10 years or so (for stupid things at home - flooded engine on the Zafira, alarmingly low oil on A3, and a Mini that wouldn't lock and had both front windows down), then for the most part I probably could get away without - however it offers my Wife peace of mind (especially with having kids in the car), and takes away any stress from me in the event that anything happens.
 
Caporegime
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29 Jul 2011
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In acme's chair.
New battery and battery isolator fitted to the E30. Tired old Halfords 600CCA 70AH battery out, shiny new 760CCA 76AH Exide Premium battery in.

It's never cranked over and started so fast :eek:

The old battery was only maybe 3 years old but being left sitting for months at a time and charged from totally dead over and over again when it was having the welding etc done in my driveway totally killed it dead. Wouldn't hold a charge anymore.
 
Caporegime
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Boston, Lincolnshire
Having only needed to call roadside assistance on 3 of my cars in the past 10 years or so (for stupid things at home - flooded engine on the Zafira, alarmingly low oil on A3, and a Mini that wouldn't lock and had both front windows down), then for the most part I probably could get away without - however it offers my Wife peace of mind (especially with having kids in the car), and takes away any stress from me in the event that anything happens.

Flooded engine on a Zafira is a simple fuse pull on the fuel pump and crank the engine till the petrol is burnt off. Checking oil on a car is something I do at least monthly if not more. A lot of these issues are nothing a quick bit of Google and some modest mechanical understanding cannot solve. I can totally understand why the AA advertise 99% of breakdowns fixed at the side of the road or whatever they preach.

I did get European Breakdown when I did a 4000 mile jaunt across Europe but still armed myself with a reasonably small tool kit with the essentials which thankfully I never needed to use anyway.
 
Caporegime
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Boston, Lincolnshire
Sample size of 3 is hardly massive.

Nothing to do with sample size. A tiny little bit of mechanical understanding can avoid a lot of things. A lot of people treat their cars like a disposable object but with a little bit of routine monitoring would reduce a hell of a lot of trouble. The average age of my fleet is 18 years old. Surely I should need breakdown cover more than anyone!
 
Soldato
Joined
13 Nov 2006
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23,702
Nothing to do with sample size. A tiny little bit of mechanical understanding can avoid a lot of things. A lot of people treat their cars like a disposable object but with a little bit of routine monitoring would reduce a hell of a lot of trouble. The average age of my fleet is 18 years old. Surely I should need breakdown cover more than anyone!

Hardly anyone cares though, i agree with your sentiment but why learn when you can pay someone else? I've had a stater motor fail, a clutch cylinder go and a split water pipe in the past, well worth the fee. None of these issues gave warning signs. Of course it's to do with sample size, none of your cars have needed it, lots of others have...
 
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