May 2005
How long would you expect a set of fronts to last on a front wheel drive car?
Obviously, I tend to drive rather harshly so expect them to last accordingly. Just curious what others tend to get out of theirs in terms of years/miles? Read more
I'm working in Milwaukee this week (got my Harley factory tour lined up for Thursday, Growler, and hopefully - to be confirmed - a rental on Saturday :-) and saw one of these on my way to Buffalo Wild Wings for lunch: www.chevrolet.com/ssr/
Same yellow color (intentional ;-) 'n all.
Far from looking hideous, it actually looked superb, from all angles. The 'small' block six liter (intentional, again!) V8 sounded pretty good too. Read more
Who cares? That Chevy is some car.
Enjoy the MoCo tour!
Just took my fiat punto in for a 2 year 24000 mile service today at a main dealer, after paying the service bill was told that the front pads and discs both need replacing,
The car has only been driven by me and has done under 12000 miles.
When i queried this was told its not uncommon today for this kind of wear to occurr on these items
I do a combination of mosty town and some motorway driving, In 30 years of driving with other cars have never had to replace items like these at such short mileage, Is this normal ?, Read more
Sounds like a typical money spinning dealer quote to me. Take the wheels off and check them yourself. I had my mondeo in for a major service 2 years ago at the dealers and they phoned me up half way through saying my rear brake pads were 90% worn and my fronts 70% worn and my wiper blades were worn. They wanted £75 per axle to change just the pads. My reply was that I had a new pair of wipers at home (the ones on the car were working perfectly at the time) and that if the rear pads were worn 90%, I had another 10% left to wear out and if the front pads were 70% worn I had another 30% to go. When I got the car back I checked the pads and there was about 6mm left on the rears and a good 10mm on the fronts. I changed the rear pads last year (a year and 8,000 miles after the dealer service), when I serviced the car myself and the front pads are just about ready for changing (2mm left) now (2 years and 16,000 miles on). The wipers I changed last month when I serviced it again myself.
Anyone have any experience of this warranty outfit? Website (www.autoprotect.net) does not seem to exist, although I think they have just been brought out. Just that I was considering sorting out some form of warranty for the Volvo estate I've just brought and this is the bunch that the company I brought the car from have (apparantly) a good deal with. Read more
I believe this company took over warranty holdings (who went into administration about one year ago). I believe Autoprotect took over the existing unwritten business.
Also heard the underwriters have changed several times since they started.
Our garage use RAC but have been approached by AutoProtect several times for selling thier warranty. My advice would be to take any 'free' warranty given but buy your own from a company like the RAC.
Why do many Manu. in the states offer 10Yr 100K mile powertrain warranty on all their cars and often have very long service intervals 20K+ while us brits would be lucky to get 3yrs warranty..... :o/
Barry Read more
My local hole in the wall place can handle my Lexus
OK
Ah, but that's nice and simple. I wouldn't fancy taking a VW PD in - would they use the correct oil? Would they even recognise it as a PD?
OK, I have a lifting problem at work and need to support approx 200Kg in a very controlled manner. Likely solutions include some sort of airbag inflated to take the weight and pressure adjusted to raise or lower the item.
Anyone know of suppliers of the lifting bags used instead of jacks for cars...I would prefer one working off compressed air rather than plugging into the exhaust gas of the car.
Alternatively, are inner tubes still available? If so what sort of weight might they support (lying flat on the ground with a circular weight supported on the doughnut of the inner tube) without a constraining wheel/tyre.
(The item is a very fragile spherical mirror 1.5m in diameter)
Thanks
StarGazer
Mods, hope this is motoring related enough! If not please move to the IHAQ thread. Read more
How about a tractor inner tube with a lorry one inside it? Would have thought if you put a fairly high pressure inside it then you probably won't have too much problem with it tilting. Think to the inflatable rings you get at the beach and they can be pretty solid if sufficient pressure is used.
Okay, I accept this is going to make me seem really dumb, but anyway...recently I've noticed that the fuel pumps at Sainsbury's have been sort of 'snapping back' a lot (I don't know the technical term, but when you pull the release trigger, and it jsut doesn't let you have nething till you ease off).
It happens only at Sainsbury's which I think's a bit weird, and I've noticed the gauge never seems to go up as much as I'd expect (25 litres of fuel ought to make the gauge up to about 1/2, as it does normally I'd have thought...though I accept this could be psycho-somatic). Also it's really time consuming when the only way to get it out is by holding it so the thing clocks up slowly...
Is it just me? Am I being weirdly stoopid or something, cause normally at other garages I'm fine? Or has anyone else noticed this? Could it actually be a problem with this one garage?
P.S. Sorry if this is the wrong area, couldn't decide if it was technically techincal... Read more
Nothing to do with air.Depends on pump feed pressure.Also the angle of filler pipe to tank.Ie if the fuel is being pushed in against tight angle of tank feed pipe.Fuel is backsplashed against nozzle..which has auto cut out..Idea is to prevent overfilling..Though it is standard for fuel filler to cut out on splashback.Depending where you are in country. some supply larger vehicles which will mean larger nozzles and higher pressure fuel supply
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Steve
Hello all,
I need a radio wiring diagram or cable colour code for a Mondeo 2.0Si 1996/1997 P reg.
It is fitted with a Ford 2006 Radio.
Cheers
H Read more
SWMBO has finally decided to give up her aversion of driving - (it's only lasted since 1993) and let me buy her a mini - not the bmw type btw.
I've had a look on e-bay and the usual sites - question is will £2k get me a half decent runner and what in particular (like what's a rusty sub frame please) should I be looking out for?
One more thing, she insists on an auto - any BR's have experience of these?
Thanks Read more
This is a car bought with heart not head - agree with you all about nearly 50 year old design - and lack of safety features - however the only car she is willing to try out again is a mini. She learned to drive in one and thus the reason for wanting one again.
Good idea about getting one for a few hundred quid and seeing what will happen - gives me enough time to convince her that in the scheme of things they're is a lot better stuff out there.
As for risk - the freedom this will provide from Thamesdown transport she believes is worth it....
Imagine this :-
Your on a trip with a boot load of luggage, yourself as a driver, your partner along side, two kids and granny sat in the back seats.
Then suddenly its pouring with rain and you have a puncture, you remove the luggage from the boot to access the jack and tools, also the space saver spare wheel. Everything goes well and the spare is fitted in no time.
Now comes the crunch, what do you do with the punctured wheel you'ved just removed. naturally you put it back in the boot where the space saver wheel was fitted, right ??
Wrong, It won't blooming fit, granny or the kids, your partner will have it on thier lap till you get to a repair center and get it repaired and refitted and the space saver back in its proper place in the boot.
The full size Steel or Alloy wheel will not fit in the wheel well in the boot floor.
Has those in Japan made a Boo Boo with the design of the Suzuki Swift.
Unless you know a way to fit it or ask the Salesman. Or make a deal and get a free roof rack.
Have fun !! Read more
the kia picanto - does not have a space saver but some foam.
however, it makes a concession to allow for a full size steel wheel to be stored if you wish.
well done kia!
Golf VR6: 18k out of the original Goodyears, and looks like about 25k out of the current Michelins. Driving style fairly gentle.