What have you done to your car today?

Conscript said:
That sucks. Must have been quick a knock to chip it like that through packaging.

On another note, out walking the dog today and a young guy drove past me in a car exactly the same as yours. Looks in just as good condition as well :)
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I've clearly started a trend - give it a few years and all the 20-25s are going to be trading in their A1s and 118Ds for 10 year old Jags :p
 
Today I learned that in order to clean the M3 19" alloys properly an alloy brush is an absolute must unless you like aching fingers as you poke and swipe the multiple slits in every wheel multiple times to get to the dirt and brake dust.

What brushes do people use?
 
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I swear by them, they are incredibly soft and i found other wheel brushes left swirls in my black alloys since they had stiff bristles however the wheel Woollies actually lift the dirt off just like a microfibre would lift dirt off your paint instead if just scrubbing it.
 
I shall add those to the shopping list then thanks :cool:

Going to get the car professionally detailed soon rather than do it myself, once the paint is mirror finished I can just do what I usually do and maintain the nice finish year round, both body and wheels now :D
 
Got my boot light bulb working.

Such a trivial thing but it was doing my head in for months as it wasn't the bulb or the holder as it worked in the glove box.

Tried another bulb and checked everything was secure in the secondary fuse box and it was still out. Locked and unlocked the car and it was lit up as I went to put everything away and rage at it.

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[TW]Fox;27429287 said:
My doubts are based on the fact even decent bodyshops rely on insurance work and no insurer would ever pay that. It might be Bentley and it might have better quality paint but spraying a bumper is still spraying a bumper.

Whenever I've had work done at main BMW dealers bodyshops the labour rate charged has always been a fraction of that I'd pay in the same dealers service department - under £40 an hour infact. I had a rear bumper resprayed by BMW a few years back and it was about £300. Whilst I appreciate it's BMW not Bentley exactly what would cost an extra £1000? It's not as if BMW are known for being bargainous!
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You can't really compare BMW to Bentley, completely different ball game.

Repair details:

- Remove and refit rear bumper
- D+A rear bumper
- Repair paint rear bumper
- Surface paint PDC sensors
- Check and quality control

Labour Value - £604.50
Paint and Materials - £298.00
E.P.A. Charges - £7.50
Car Care Kit - £5
Pre + Post Vas Sweep - £165.00

Sub-Total - £1080.00
VAT - £216.00

Total £1296.00
 
ironman said:
You can't really compare BMW to Bentley, completely different ball game.
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For many things, yes, I agree, not comparable. For repainting a plastic bumper, I'd be interested to know why they are incomparable. What is it about a Bentley Continental rear bumper that means it requires 4 times the labour spend to repaint than a BMW or Mercedes rear bumper?

£604 JUST in labour to spray a bumper? I mean really?

There isn't some sort of magic that Bentley must perform - if there was you'd be sending the car to Bentley for the repair but as you know you'll get as good if not better a job elsewhere for much less, I doubt you will be.
 
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[TW]Fox;27431716 said:
For many things, yes, I agree, not comparable. For repainting a plastic bumper, I'd be interested to know why they are incomparable. What is it about a Bentley Continental rear bumper that means it requires 4 times the labour spend to repaint than a BMW or Mercedes rear bumper?

£604 JUST in labour to spray a bumper? I mean really?

There isn't some sort of magic that Bentley must perform - if there was you'd be sending the car to Bentley for the repair but as you know you'll get as good if not better a job elsewhere for much less, I doubt you will be.
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I'm not the one making the prices! They make obscene margins on their after service.

The paint and finishing process is different to BMW. You'll be in orange peel central on a BMW, on the Bentley they will firstly do many more coats and then also flatten polish which is time consuming so I do understand how they come to their figure. If I didn't know someone who could get the same finish then you are right I would take it through insurance, fortunately I do.
 
I would hate to accidentally reverse into a parked car, and then get out to discover that it is a Bentley. :p
 
Beading on the soft top, bit foolish washing the car in this weather I guess. Full paint detail booking for next week either way!

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Fitted the new wheel and wheel bearing and washed it. I don't think I've ever had a car repair which has made such a difference, it's like driving a new car. I knew it was long overdue, but it was tricky finding the parts so I just let it get worse and worse until I couldn't stand it anymore. Very glad it's been done now - I can once again enjoy silence on the motorway instead of the constant rumbling I've been used to for the last couple of months.
 
Put in some new mats and fitted new wiper blades to the wife's S-Max. Now just waiting on a whole bunch of bits so I can fit my 'old' spare Pioneer AVH-X3600DAB head unit in along with DAB aerial and reverse parking camera.
 
Fitted some xenons to the E46. Won't put pictures up as they've been modified slightly and I fear the backlash from Fox :p

Also ordered some MTEC hybrid wiper blades, they look similar to OEM so should look reasonably good on the car - and hopefully perform well on the car too.
 
mrk said:
Today I learned that in order to clean the M3 19" alloys properly an alloy brush is an absolute must unless you like aching fingers as you poke and swipe the multiple slits in every wheel multiple times to get to the dirt and brake dust.

What brushes do people use?
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As Shaun says, wheel woolies are amazing. If your wheels are anything like mine to get between the spokes properly clean you'll need to wrap a microfibre around the handle of the smallest brush, but the rest of the woolies make short work of the rest of the wheel.
 
Took the car to Birmingham to BTM Performance to see Fred the Renault Sport Specialist.

Checked over the car and found some issues for me to sort, he fixed a coolant leak and replaced the thermostat.
Checked Cam timings and found that some fool before has broken the Intake Cam end so the tool wont fit right so timings out. need a new Camshaft to fix that but its OK as its out in a good way. (Slightly Advanced Intake).

He then replaced the Dogbone with one i bought.

All for £80. What a guy!
 
Spun the '5 last night.

Sweeping left hand bend, 50mph roughly. No changes in throttle position or steering angle. Felt the back go light and start to step out, kept the power on got some opposite lock on and it started to straighten up then decided to chuck me the other way,spun 180 degrees and came to a stop on the wrong side of the road.

Fortunately there was nobody else around and I managed to not hit anything.
 
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