What have you done to your car today?

Man of Honour
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AC re-gas. It was completely dry.

You've only just bought this car from a specialist - IMHO it's unacceptable for it to have been supplied with what amounts to defective air conditioning. Did they not bother to check it before retailing it?

Are you going to be sending them the invoice?
 

mrk

mrk

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[TW]Fox;27471904 said:
You've only just bought this car from a specialist - IMHO it's unacceptable for it to have been supplied with what amounts to defective air conditioning. Did they not bother to check it before retailing it?

Are you going to be sending them the invoice?

It is a bit and it has crossed my mind. Foolishly I did check that it was blowing chilly when I test drove the car but now that I look back, it was 1-3 degrees that entire week so the vents would have been blowing chilly anyway.

Still, it's something they should have noticed considering they had the car for a bit I agree.
 
Soldato
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Southport
Not been here for a while, but quick updates:

- Fixed BCU relay problem, stupid Pektron relays going open circuit meant no horn or windscreen washers.
- Fixed fuel issue, was a bit of crud in a fuel line. 150psi of airline sorted that. :p
- Fitted the proper 45 profile tyres instead of the 40s fitted - was far too hard.

Next job, chuck a new Master Cylinder for the clutch on, and play with the power a little more. Has a rather good map on at the moment, but going to play with injectors - some lower break pressure injector bodies with Land Rover 200TDi nozzles will mean fog but power. :D
 
Soldato
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In for and passed it's MOT from Honda - £35 which was good.

They still take the opportunity to try and sell a new can of goo etc for the boot which is a bit annoying
 
Soldato
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Well, woke up this morning to snow on the ground. So after the last weeks / months extolling the virtues of winter tyres, I finally got round to sticking them on myself.
 
Man of Honour
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Well, woke up this morning to snow on the ground. So after the last weeks / months extolling the virtues of winter tyres, I finally got round to sticking them on myself.

It does kinda say something about our climate that it was January and you needed to actually put them on before you could use them :p

And IIRC you live right up in the one part of the country where you can make a good case for them!
 
Soldato
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[TW]Fox;27473439 said:
It does kinda say something about our climate that it was January and you needed to actually put them on before you could use them :p

And IIRC you live right up in the one part of the country where you can make a good case for them!

I'm not really that far north (in Scotland terms), being Arbroath is is only slightly north of the central belt. But I see your point. Except the bit about actually having to put them on before using them, that surely is a pretty obvious statement, lol.

But yes, there was a case to be made here. I did go out after putting them on...

 
Caporegime
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In acme's chair.
Do winter tyres really make that much difference over good summer tyres when you are driving on compacted snow, sludge and ice?

Surely the tread depth would matter more than the tread pattern anyway? No?
 
Soldato
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Yes, that's the whole point. I put some winters on the Lexus yesterday. I bought the car to use in the winter, they were a good price so it made sense. It's actually snowing right now so maybe I'll get to test out their performance in a bit.
 
Soldato
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I know they make a difference, I was just wondering if it is a case of it making a huge difference, or a case of it making a slight difference "but its better to be safe". :)

IIRC its more of a case of compound, rather than tread depth. The tread pattern also has an effect, typically summer tyres won't have as many tread blocks.
 
Soldato
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For snow it is the pattern as well. Snow doesn't actually stick to many things very well, but it does stick to itself. The sipes in the tyre hold snow which then sticks to the snow on the ground.
 
Man of Honour
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I would be really interested to hear more about what its like driving on them in snow.

Got a trip next month to Switzerland where I have booked a 3 Series rental with winter tyres :)
 
Soldato
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To be fair, it is. Having gone from a 335d to a 530d.

Anyway, as for driving on winter tyres, it obviously doesn't make you into a driving god or anything. The back end of my 5 series still slapped out a couple times, at low speeds, but it does make a massive difference.

For example, the picture I showed above with the incline, I share that drive with 4 other houses. All with varying FWD motors, ranging from A1's to Mondeo's and the like. A couple years ago, my 335d was the ONLY one who could get out the drive, regardless of the run up. I didn't even need a run at it, and being the closest to the incline, that was impressive enough. Never mind the map for one million torques, and the 6AT box that was in it. I never got stuck one. My mate came round with his C-Class and stupidly came down there, and took a good 2 hours of running up and down the drive just to make it to the street (clearly he had actually just melted tracks down to the ground before he eventually got out). But he almost never made it out the street either as it too is a small incline.

That sort of traction is the reason I use winter tyres. But obviously they help massively on the road once I'm out the drive. The roads up here can't be ploughed often enough sometimes. As can be seen in my picture on post 7891. Little chance my 5 series would have been successful in getting anywhere without the winter tyres.
 
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