December 2001
Following our annual dinner dance, I was driving through Chester this morning at 02.00 hrs with a happily drunken passenger and his wife the back. He was amazed that I had been drinking water all night.
"Wouldn't it be great if the police stopped you" he slurred, "You haven't touched a drop not even a half of lager". Hmmm: not so sure I wanted to be stopped sober or not.
What I was very conscious of was, by sticking rigidly to speed limits, I honestly felt as if I was a danger and a pest to other drivers.
As we left the city centre and entered the outskirts, it was clear that 30 mph was needlessly slow and traffic was building behind me. Some of them of course overtook and continued on at a perfectly safe speed, probably around 40 mph.
By becoming a mobile roadblock, for no safety reason at all, I had caused/invited/ frustrated them into making an overtaking manouvre.
I now understand even more what highways engineers mean when they say that the safest speed of travel is the 85th percentile speed.
Sticking to limits in all circumstances, either faster or slower, can be very dangerous. Read more
IS there any way to correct the toe in setting for the o/s/r tyre, it looks as though it is pointing in too far, confirmed by a 4-wheel alignment system. It makes the car pull to the left slightly, as well as wearing out the rear right tyre more quickly than the others
Cheers,
Andy Read more
My Renault Megane is a due 36K service fairly soon and at the Renault garage that is about £340. In HJ's list of good garages there is Denton Motors, which is about 200 yds from my house - anyone with experience of this garage can you let me know - could save me a fortune.
Thanks in advance Read more
Anthony,
Thanks to Dave N for recommending my colleague Andrew Moorey, but he is based in Horsham and also covers the Crawley area, and I myself cover Worthing/ Shoreham/ Littlehampton. I must point out that Tune-Up only carry out engine work - in addition to our normal diagnostic/engine management checks we are happy to carry out oil + filter changes, and other routine engine service items, but we do not carry out whole vehicle services, so attention to brakes, steering, suspension etc will involve a garage visit. In addition to Denton Motors, Swift Motors in Station Road, Worthing, are Renault specialists.
Regards, Adam
Some years ago when I was editing a military electronics magazine, a collegaue of mine was driving to Faslane, the submarine base in Scotland. He was stopped for speeding. He challanged the police radar gun reading by saying that what he was carrying in a crate in the rear of his Vovlo estate had probably interferred with the their gun. When they asked what was inside the crate he said: " Sorry can't tell you - offical secrets and all that." They ignored the speeding and gave him a high speed escort to Faslane (probably to check out his story). I think he was carrying a box of spanners.
Another knowlegable colleague questioned the police on how they tune their equipment - he was told by a tuning fork at the station - he asked them when was the last time the tuning fork had been dropped. No response and they let him on his way. Read more
Ha Ha! No, sorry... :-))))
I do know that bit of the M3 - my parents live near Christchurch - I'll remember that one.
El Dingo (Martin)
I am certain this will have been discussed elsewhere, reference other cars but I need to ask anyway. When I wash my car it appears much easier to clean the brake dust off the front wheels than the rear. Is there a different grade of pad used on the rear? Read more
More likely just that the rear pads are newer, so contact the disc earlier than the (older and thinner) pads on the front. The rear wheels on my Rover 600 now get more brake dust than the fronts following a new set of rear pads.
Does anyone know of a website which lists and shows the names of car manufacturers colours.
....So many different names for just one colour these days
-cobolt blue / sprint blue /venetian blue ... thats just a few of Fiat's blue's.
Any ideas ? Read more
Thanks for the link Mark
Unfortunately it concentrates on American cars.
It's just the kind site i'm looking for but with a UK emphasis.
Since the cold snap a couple of days ago, the driver's side front electric window on my 190E has become extremely slow and the motor sounds really sick when going up the last inch. Is the motor on it's way out or does the whole lot need a spray of WD40? Any ideas?
Thanks Read more
Marc
Had the same problem on SHMBO's XR3i this summer and on checking found that the window glass, due to its slight curve, was jumping out of the rubber guide as it reached the top,causing undue pressure on the motor. Thanks to Haynes and numerous prayers to him above, accomplished a removal of the door side panel and the reseating of the glass and with much celebrating found it worked OK and has done since.
Come on you Merc owners give him a hand.....
DVD
Did you know that, if all the cars in the world were laid end to end, some prat would come up on the hard shoulder.
Any other seasonal offerings? Read more
A couple of weeks ago I noticed the coolant temperature on my Golf 1.8 GTi was not up to normal(90C) after about 15 minutes driving. I have watched it pretty closely since then and the time taken to reach normal varies greatly from 10 to 30 minutes.
I have had thermostats go on other cars and the temperature never gets up to normal; but(eventually) this one does and then stays at 90.
The car went in for a 30k service today to VW Main Agents and sure enough the diagnostic printout showed a fault on the coolant temp sensor. The garage replaced this FOC even though the car is 21 months old and a personal import with a 12 month garantee.
However driving it home the temp still didn't get up to normal after 10 miles.
(outside temp was +1C).
Any advice please on how long it should take to reach normal and what the problem might be?
Thanks
Bob H Read more
The turbo should heat up the oil independently of the thermostat holding the coolant in the engine until it heats up. Maybe the temperature sender is shot.
HJ
Some interesting things on these websites for people who suffer with vibration even though thay have had their wheels balanced.
Also explanation on the annoying crooked steering wheel problem.
www.pro-align.co.uk/index1.html
www.mototec.co.uk
www.merityre.co.uk Read more
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I must be showing my age, I still use 32 ft per second squared !
Actually that's easier when also using mph, where 60 mph = 88 ft/sec