Man of Honour
- Joined
- 21 Nov 2004
- Posts
- 46,383
Yup, super cheap, really effective, minimal visual impact.
What have you done to your car today?
- Thread starter mattyprice4004
- Start date
Yup, super cheap, really effective, minimal visual impact.
Associate
- Joined
- 19 Dec 2017
- Posts
- 720
Following on from my previous race van audio upgrade, I managed to get a tow bar on today so it can actually fulfill it's purpose of towing the race car 
I've fitted 5-6 tow bars to my cars over the years and always used vehicle specific wiring kits but £180 for this old van as well as mandatory coding to make it work, just seemed a bit ridiculous.
Universal kit is no where near as tidy, but a hell of a lot cheaper and included a split charge system to keep the trailer's battery for the winch charged up. It was a nice and relaxed post-work project nonetheless.
Untitled by mikehhhhhhh, on Flickr
Untitled by mikehhhhhhh, on Flickr
I've fitted 5-6 tow bars to my cars over the years and always used vehicle specific wiring kits but £180 for this old van as well as mandatory coding to make it work, just seemed a bit ridiculous.
Universal kit is no where near as tidy, but a hell of a lot cheaper and included a split charge system to keep the trailer's battery for the winch charged up. It was a nice and relaxed post-work project nonetheless.
Untitled by mikehhhhhhh, on FlickrUntitled by mikehhhhhhh, on Flickr
Really need to get setup so I can work underneath vehicles sensibly at home - paying £100 labour to replace a couple of shock absorbers which I could have done myself in 15 minutes kind of sucks. Plus had to go main dealer as none of the decent indie garages around here had less than a 3 week wait on appointments.
Then they noticed my wipers were smearing (just needed a quick clean) and were suggesting £66 to replace them - I just laughed as that is a 2 minute job I can do myself.
Then they noticed my wipers were smearing (just needed a quick clean) and were suggesting £66 to replace them - I just laughed as that is a 2 minute job I can do myself.
Deleted User 298457
Deleted User 298457
Took my wife's Ibiza to get MOT. Had a call within 5 mins of dropping it off -
"It needs wipers, £55 fitted"
I ask her to ring back and ask them if it'll be failed on the MOT because of them, and if so I'll come down now and replace them myself.
"We haven't done the MOT yet"
Basically just saw her as an easy target for £55.
Caporegime
- Joined
- 22 Oct 2002
- Posts
- 28,361
- Location
- Boston, Lincolnshire
£55 for fitted wipers. Lol.
That industry is a mess. Other half had to recently cancel her MOT because the brake caliper bracket seized up and I couldn't get the part in time to replace it.. the guy would not take no for an answer, kept trying to suggest things to get the car in and charge her to recover it to garage etc. I got a bit tired of listening to it, picked the phone and he did not question me at all, cancelled in 10 seconds and call was over. It's a joke 
Today I sold it for crazy money, 32k 
. Well I part ex-d it for a newer, faster version. I was hoping to go electric but to be honest with all the waiting lists and an incoming second child decided to just go for another 3 years of worry free motoring.
I also finally cleared out the garage ready to take the M535i in.
Speaking of which, if anyone wants an unused Duramat 5x3m floor hit me up. Been stacked in a corner taking up space for 3 years.
. Well I part ex-d it for a newer, faster version. I was hoping to go electric but to be honest with all the waiting lists and an incoming second child decided to just go for another 3 years of worry free motoring.I also finally cleared out the garage ready to take the M535i in.
Speaking of which, if anyone wants an unused Duramat 5x3m floor hit me up. Been stacked in a corner taking up space for 3 years.
Soldato
- Joined
- 2 Mar 2004
- Posts
- 11,919
- Location
- SE England
I went to Castle Combe on Wednesday. Racked up 240 miles on the road, and 60 miles on the circuit, and the car just did everything it was supposed to. Really enjoyed it, too – it was the first time out on proper and fresh tyres, which I'd had to import from the States. Made a world of difference, unsurprisingly, as did the new (to me) lighter wheels.
I was quite surprised at how well it performed, in all honesty, once I'd got used to Combe again. It definitely needs another 150-200bhp, though, to be where I want it to be. Then it might really be something.
I'd like it to be a little stiffer and have a little more initial brake bite as well, so I'll probably aim to do something about that in short order. And trim 100kg off it. And fit more supportive seats. And...
"Help, I'm being chased by a giant Italian hatchback!"
Pics courtesy of Jeff Bloxham / the Guild of Motoring Writers.
I was quite surprised at how well it performed, in all honesty, once I'd got used to Combe again. It definitely needs another 150-200bhp, though, to be where I want it to be. Then it might really be something.
I'd like it to be a little stiffer and have a little more initial brake bite as well, so I'll probably aim to do something about that in short order. And trim 100kg off it. And fit more supportive seats. And...
"Help, I'm being chased by a giant Italian hatchback!"
Pics courtesy of Jeff Bloxham / the Guild of Motoring Writers.
Soldato
- Joined
- 2 Mar 2004
- Posts
- 11,919
- Location
- SE England
That's a pain! Hopefully, it's nothing too complicated or costly.
Speaking of Abarths, mine seems to have either a boost leak somewhere or dead actuator
Need to book it in for a test.
A code read should show up if the actuator is toast?
Nuts. Checked all hoses just in case one has come lose or has an obvious split?
There were a few loose clamps which I replaced, but no difference. I'd have to take the bumper off to check the ones around the intercoolers.
Yeah, access down there is a pain. Ah well fingers crossed its a nice easy fix for you.
Trying to find someone to do a pressure test with smoke, but ask a regular mechanic about that and they look clueless
Trying to find someone to do a pressure test with smoke, but ask a regular mechanic about that and they look clueless
Can't plug smoke in to a tablet.
Dropped off the Caterham for its 1000-mile service. Lovely blat across the countryside in the morning mist; nearly hitting tractors and old biddies...
I miss it already
They had a 485CSR in stock. In-board front suspension, independent double wishbone rear suspension. Looked bad ass, and has a 240bhp 2.0 Duratec. Must be completely mental. €75,000+ though
I miss it already
They had a 485CSR in stock. In-board front suspension, independent double wishbone rear suspension. Looked bad ass, and has a 240bhp 2.0 Duratec. Must be completely mental. €75,000+ though
Associate
- Joined
- 16 Jan 2005
- Posts
- 2,416
- Location
- South Wales
Today we picked up a used-approved 2019 320i for the wife and said goodbye to the Tiguan. Weirdly we felt a bit sad seeing the Tiguan go (funny how you can get attached to a grey metal box)… we’ve put 81000 miles on it in a bit over four years. It moved us into our new home, got us to work through the heavy snow, been an absolute workhorse. But the wife fancied a change, the gearbox starting to feel a bit sluggish (with the very occasional emergency mode issue), and with the mental used car values we got a great part-ex price.
Very nearly didn’t happen though. We travelled down to Milton Keynes from South Wales last night, stayed in a cheap b&b and went to collect at 9am this morning. Sales man was keen to get it done quickly as it was his day off but came in to do the handover. I insisted the wife drive the car, and I wasn’t handing over cash until she had. Just as well - horrendous judder when braking, especially at higher speeds. Car back to the dealership, engineer looked at it. We got told “this is normal for a mild hybrid system and it’s how the brakes work”. He hadn’t even taken it out to examine the fault. Interesting considering the 320i isn’t a mild hybrid so I had a rather frank conversation with the service manager about being treated like a moron. Was ready to walk away at this point but they wanted the chance to strip down the brakes and check it all out. They did so, bled the brakes, reassembled and the judder was still there, just as bad. We’d been there a good 4 hours at this point (nearly as long as it’s taken you to read all this…) so I said they needed to replace discs and pads on all four corners to see if it fixed it or refund the deposit.
Service manager agreed, replaced all four corners and problem solved. Good customer service in end.
Took the shine off the excitement for the wife a bit but the 4 hour drive home put a smile on her face and she’s happy now.
Moral of the story, obvious as it may be to all of us here, is 100% always test drive the car before signing on the dotted line. So many of my mates don’t bother when buying from a main dealer - madness.
#coolstorybro
Very nearly didn’t happen though. We travelled down to Milton Keynes from South Wales last night, stayed in a cheap b&b and went to collect at 9am this morning. Sales man was keen to get it done quickly as it was his day off but came in to do the handover. I insisted the wife drive the car, and I wasn’t handing over cash until she had. Just as well - horrendous judder when braking, especially at higher speeds. Car back to the dealership, engineer looked at it. We got told “this is normal for a mild hybrid system and it’s how the brakes work”. He hadn’t even taken it out to examine the fault. Interesting considering the 320i isn’t a mild hybrid so I had a rather frank conversation with the service manager about being treated like a moron. Was ready to walk away at this point but they wanted the chance to strip down the brakes and check it all out. They did so, bled the brakes, reassembled and the judder was still there, just as bad. We’d been there a good 4 hours at this point (nearly as long as it’s taken you to read all this…) so I said they needed to replace discs and pads on all four corners to see if it fixed it or refund the deposit.
Service manager agreed, replaced all four corners and problem solved. Good customer service in end.
Took the shine off the excitement for the wife a bit but the 4 hour drive home put a smile on her face and she’s happy now.
Moral of the story, obvious as it may be to all of us here, is 100% always test drive the car before signing on the dotted line. So many of my mates don’t bother when buying from a main dealer - madness.
#coolstorybro