April 2002
One of my (work) partners turned up today to borrow SWMBO's Disco to go and collect her punctured MX5 wheel. Turned out she had had a puncture on the way home from a night out with a friend (who was in the car). She took off the shiny alloy and put on the spacesaver only to find that the alloy would not fit in the boot. Neither would it fit in the car with the passanger - anyway despite being only a few weeks old it was filthy (brake dust, grime and general cr*p) and certainly would have sullied the lovely interior of her car. Fortunately a knight in shining plastic found her outside his house and let her keep the wheel there (this was at 0100 in the drizzle and dark). So she was off to get it and repair it. Makes you think though.....! Never thought I would hear the F word and MX5 in the same breath, let alone from her, whom I have never heard utter an oath in 10 yrs. By the way she blames me, yes me. I had an idea last year that everyone in the Office who drives in work time should go to the local tech for a basic mechanics course...had she not been she would have called the RAC. See you just can't win. Read more
just bought this car, where are the spark plugs? Read more
"In the engine block? Surely they are in the cylinder head...."
Jon - Surely they are in the "thread"!?
GRD
Jack
Does anyone know of a good one in this area ? Read more
I completely agree with you and am fully aware of the operations of dealers
Problem is trying to find which one they sub it to. Ive tried asking and been refused and even tried the lowly secretary with a scam but she was wise and told me to speak to the service team
Of course it isnt in their interests to tell me so they wont leaving me blindly hoping of that anyone who lives in the Twickenham/Isleworth area sees this and they know the name(s) of these guys
Your generous help yet again please. I am hopeless at using search engines and invariably end up with the same advert for treatment for piles whatever I'm searching for.
Is any backroomer familiar with a web site giving details of cheap room only type accommodation on French autoroutes/route national. After years of 'just a bit further and we'll find the camp site' we've decided to go for a night's stop and a bit less pressure.
Cheers and thanks in advance
Colin S Read more
Thank you one and all. If I can't find a decent berth out of all that sound advice, I probably deserve to sleep in the gutter.
Colin S
Last nights some joyriders decided to play dodgems with the cars in my street and had dented and removed some paint off the drivers side door of my Celica 190
I am loathe to take it to the Toyota Service centre and get ripped off so just wonder if anyone can recommend any franchises that do these things. I've heard of people called dents away or chipsaway or someone like that but after some advice on contact numbers, experiences etc
I live in Ealing, West London and would also be interested in any reputable local body shops ? Read more
Chips Away repaired stone chips and (minor) dings for me. The cost was £70 (compared to £270 for a respray). Three months on I can't find where the chips and dings were.
If anyone's interested I've updated my Resources Page
The off-Motorway Petrol Stations link has been fixed and there's some links to roads sites added under the Route Planners And Maps Section. Read more
Motorists "Protest" page updated too:
News and Info - Misc additions
Government Links - Police and Courts Section expanded
Drink Driving - new section
Announced in the German Press VW are to build Polos in China and reimport them for the European market,they will probably come with a rice an noodle holder.Yaris built in Poland along with Deawoo and the new Pug plant is there going to anything left in the EU.Both Nissan and Renault are planning new plants in the East ,I think people should support Rover a bit more or the UK will have no industry left. Read more
Andy - Presumably this will be the Marco Polo!
Jack
Moved from a diesel to an injection petrol model. Any tips on maintaining injection engines over carb ones?
Dave Read more
Sorry! I obviously haven't been paying attention in class and Guy hasn't been keeping me updated!
{:~)
Bought a 309 for £700 - K93 1.4i GLX, 73000 miles, fairly good history.
What are the main things to look out for?
Oh and its a bit... hesitant at lower revs, seems to chug a little if I try to accelerate hard. Otherwise its great, in very good condition. Could the dodgy running at low revs be dirty injectors? Read more
The 1.4 unit is a strong motor; the cambelt is a cinch to do.
£69.99 should see it done, no probs :-)
Wonder if any of you can give some practical advice with regard to claiming for damage caused by speed humps?
This afternoon a friend turned up at an event with oil pouring out of the bottom of her sump, had a look underneath and found the bottom of the sump with a nice dent in it and a lovely little hole. Her son said, 'Told you, you had hit that drain cover' turned out that she had scraped the sump on a manhole cover placed a few feet after a speed hump.
The trail of oil was good enough for us to actually retrace her route back to the offending hump. Sure enough about four feet after the hump was a manhole cover protruding about a half inch or so from the surface of the road just in the right place to meet the sump on its way down after passing over the hump. About a yard after the manhole cover started her trail of oil. Fortunately I had a camera handy so have some nice shots of the damage to the car, the start of the oil trail, the manhole cover and its proximity to the hump plus a shot of another vehicle grounding.
She is not a 'boy racer', she is a mid-fifty year old, well respected, local school-teacher driving a 94 Metro and insists that she was doing no more than 15 mph when she went over the hump. Now she faces a bill for a tow-in and a new sump.
Now, given that we have picture evidence of all the damage etc which is the best way to proceed?
Should we try ringing the local council as the highway maintainer, put it in the hands of her insurance company, go straight to a small claim or claim against the utility that owns the manhole cover?
Advice would be greatly appreciated, especially from anyone who has succeeded in a similar claim. Read more
i) Send a recorded delivery letter to the chief exec asking for £ x, briefly explaining the nature of the claim, and stating that they have 10 days to pay up or you will issue a county court summons
ii) After 10 days issue a small claims summons at the local county court, this is easy to do, the court staff will help you fill it in
99.9 % of the time in situations such as this councils will pay up on receipt of the summons
If push comes to shove, have your day in court and treat it as a fun project, drag along friends and press etc
Browse
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That's interesting - many cars have different tyre sizes front and rear with or without differing wheel widths but usually the same wheel diameter.
example - BMW M5 ( Oh no, here he goes again, I hear you say....)
front wheels 8X18 - tyre 235/40*
rear wheels 9X18 - tyre 245/35*
(* or similar)
However, I remember the TVR Griffith having not only different size tyres but also wheels - the front were 15inch alloys and the rears were 16inch.
Not much point carrying a spare then I suppose, ......where's that can of punture repair foam?
Chad.R