What have you done to your car today?
- Thread starter mattyprice4004
- Start date
![[TW]Fox](/data/man-of-honor/2009.png){kind=avatar}
[TW]Fox;30181741 said:I love grey
Grey was good... Was really easy to keep it looking nice!
I tried to make the black one look good but nothing short of a bare metal re-spray could have brought that paint back to life...
Last edited:
Failed the MOT - 2 snapped coil springs, and apparently on the Focus the rear spring can be a pain - something about having to cut the suspension arm and replace due to a seized bolt, a design fault. Which is all painful for the wallet, 7 months left of being a student (5 years of being poor so far) and will be hit with a 700 quid bill! Boohoo!
£700!? I take it that's for much more than just the springs?
Parts for the Focus are buttons and if they're just cutting the arms out I can't see how it's £500 of labour
Actually why do the arms need cut at all? If the bolts typically can't be removed why can't either the subframe be dropped or some in situ welding to get purchase on the offending item?
Parts for the Focus are buttons and if they're just cutting the arms out I can't see how it's £500 of labour
Actually why do the arms need cut at all? If the bolts typically can't be removed why can't either the subframe be dropped or some in situ welding to get purchase on the offending item?
Last edited:
What a load of crap.
Yes the bolts can get stuck but you simply heat and bash, heat and bash until they undo.
Go elsewhere
No you'd have to cut the bolt maybe but even I've managed to rip my rusty bolt out with an impact gun. They're taking the pee, take it elsewhere
Put a set of wheels off of a meganne on the Clio as the Mrs destroyed the last set. 3 of the 4 were losing air and 1 is broken beyond repair. It's looks a bit funny with the wrong wheels on but this set look like they can take far more abuse
Picked them up from eBay for 60 with tyres... Don't want the tyres but still can't be bad for a set of wheels.
Picked them up from eBay for 60 with tyres... Don't want the tyres but still can't be bad for a set of wheels.
Last edited:
Put a set of wheels off of a meganne on the Clio as the Mrs destroyed the last set. 3 of the 4 were losing air and 1 is broken beyond repair. It's looks a bit funny with the wrong wheels on but this set look like they can take far more abuse
Picked them up from eBay for 60 with tyres... Don't want the tyres but still can't be bad for a set of wheels.
Is it not cheaper just to get a few driving lessons for her?
This really. I'm fed up of people who cant drive being allowed on roads like it's some sort of right.
If someone I knew couldn't drive a car I'd tell them to get the **** off the roads, not encourage more bad driving by buying them a set of disposable wheels giving them the illusion that they can get away with being a bad driver.
It's a good job then that it isn't you or people like you who make any decisions on who can and can't drive in this country, we have a driving test for that. Besides you clearly think you are able to make the assumption that she is a bad driver having never seen her drive, which in itself is pretty impressive.
Does it make somebody a bad driver if they kerb a wheel when parking enough to damage it over a couple of years, even if they stick to all the other laws of the road better than probably the both of us? Or would speeding around the streets of east London looking for your mac10 be a better yard stick of a bad driver?
Either way ill provide a little picture of the kerb that seemed to be the one that does the damage, situated right outside our house:
And the clio riding on its new rims:
I drove it on the tyres that came with the wheels today but its going in for a different set on Tuesday as these are 205/55/16 and the Clio normally sits on 195/50/16. Mind you the bigger profile doesn't touch anywhere when I took it out for a quick test drive. I wouldn't even consider leaving these tyres on though as they are all different brands some good some bad and all at different wear levels so for peace of mind new rubber all round is needed.
Good news is that when I get the tyres off of the old wheels ill have a little refurb project on my hands for at least 3 wheels, then all I need to do is buy another one in and will hopefully have 2 sets for the car.
Last edited:
Way to go in at the deep end. Clearly there is a huge gulf between kerbing wheels and not being able to drive.
As that picture clearly shows sometimes kerbs stick out more than they should. Sometimes you need to try and get close to kerbs on narrow roads etc (otherwise run the risk of losing a mirror etc).
There is no such thing as a perfect driver - we are all human after all.
Ah balls. They've always been such a good garage in the past.
They quoted
260 quid for the MOT, a few tiny jobs (headlight alignment) and 2 new coil springs
Then 340 for replacement arms and fitting
and a partial service
To be fair if you use a term like 'destroyed 3 out of 4 wheels' then people will not generally assume you mean 'curbed some wheels when parking over many years'.
They are going to assume that she literally destroyed 3 wheels through poor driving.
Hence the reaction you got.
[TW]Fox;30183588 said:
Destroyed, kerbed them repeatedly over a period of time... It's all the same! The wheels are not fit for purpose at this time, to look at, they look destroyed and they appear to be losing air over time. Even with that wording, in my world, destroying an alloy or 3 does not mean you are a bad driver. Where was the fella with the M3 that 'Destroyed' a wheel on his new M3. Is he a bad driver?
How about you Fox? If you destroyed a wheel on a curb does that automatically take you out of some box that has you pinned as a good driver and automatically put you in the box for incompetent drivers?
The reaction I got in general was absolutely fine, it's a discussion forum after all. She could in fact probably even do with a little lesson on how close to get to the curb. That Asim post however was just standard low grade drivel.
Doesn't add up for me
Mot £35, springs say £30 each, fitting should be included in the price of your lower arms, if it isn't then I dunno an hour a side at whatever they're rate is - plus half an hour for the headlight. Us tracking at £30 or proper alignment at £60 the £260 isn't horrendous.
Arms for your car are about £40 each and you've potentially already been charged labour for the springs so I would expect no more than an hour each for these, alignment already included..what on earth is a partial service, an oil change?
£700 for what is two springs, a "service" and adjusting a beam pattern feels like main dealer pricing, which is where I'd want it done for that cash. They can probably change the sprigs without destroying the arms too