December 2009
When I visit the USA, I often see machines like this on garage forecourts, for cleaning car mats
www.moderncarcare.com/articles/self_serve_carwashi...l
What a great idea, but.... I have NEVER seen one in UK.
Has anyone seen one preferably in the Herts area? I really need to run my mats through something like this, no amount of hoovering will do what I want (wash, scrub and dry), yet hiring a carpet cleaning machine to do a few car mats is not justifiable.
Guy Read more
Why, oh why do people swing out to the right before turing left?!!!!
I wonder sometimes if I was the only person who was taught that if you wait until the corner is level with your left hand windscreen pillar you can turn left without swinging the car to the right and into oncoming traffic, or me if I'm passing them on a dual carriageway...
(PS I'm refering to car and small van drivers here!!) Read more
SWMBO didn't believe she was doing this until I told her to try going round a corner by only turning the wheel one way.
The underhand/palm up approach to turning the wheel horrifies me. Try telling the perpetrator they need to suddenly swing the other way to avoid a child! I was a passenger with a guy who races on track that does this. I asked if he did it on track. He didn't reply.
Today I was filling up my Jag XJS with petrol alongside a truly horrid thing, Range Rover sport in sickly orange colour (like Ford Focus ST colour) with matching orange wheels.
Driver was non other than Rupert Grint, aka Ron Weasly from Harry Potter, they are fliming just down the road from me at Leavesden.
I think he took a lock of his hair to one of those colour matching services!
It was enough to scare the horses. Mind you I think RG has the capacity to be a truly fantastic actor, and I will enjoy watching his future roles with interest.
Anyone else come across anyone else (famous or infamous) on the forecourt of their local petrol station?
GUY Read more
i bumped into Henry Cooper whilst "filling up" my coffee mug in the canteen at work , must of been nearly 25 years ago..i was working at a tesco store that had recently opened and they were always having celeb guests to promote the store...also met...anita dobson, percy thrower, the gladiators, oh and the honey monster !...and not forgetting tom baker, but thats another story
Hi
I was having a bit of steering wheel vibration at 60-65mph, so took the car to get the wheeels balanced. However since this has been done the vibrations is harsher and comes in at around 50mph now.
Should I take the car back to the garage that done the balancing or will there be an underlying problem? The car drive, brakes, corners etc all fine with no noises or clunks so I dont think there is any probs with my steering or suspension.
Cheers
Flatcap Read more
Years ago when I owned my Ford Capri, at one time, I was convinced that I had a wheel balance problem. I took the car to about three different tyre places to have the wheels balanced on the car, but the problem was still there.
So, in desperation, I took it to my local garage. They carried out a thorough inspection of the suspension and steering joints and came to the conclusion the problem was being caused by wear in the track control arm bushes.
These were duly changed and, the garage were right, the problem disappeared!
Being a bit nostalgic here, but did anyone own / drive an Innocenti mini ?
Were they any good ?
I suspect I like the car as my first car was a Fiat 127 (similar in size and shape). Read more
Anybody know why BL went to the trouble and expense of developing the Metro? By
then Innocenti had gone bankrupt and they could have just taken over production.
Too obvious. Being BL, they had to spend about a decade starting and stopping their own supermini projects (9X, ADO74, ADO88) before the Metro eventually saw the light of day.
Currently run a 130K miles 1.9Tdi 5 year old Fabia Elegance which I've had from new and it?s brilliant but it?s corroding and it?s got 130K on it! My wife runs an Aygo. Not much more to say about that.... Work 1.6 Focus Zetec may necessitate sale of Fabia. Need to replace Aygo to compensate for loss of Fabia power/kit. Principal user will be my wife using it for a 40mile dual carriageway/town commute, but may also be used at weekends for 100 mile motorway trips or bendy back road blasts. Options are:
Nearly new Fiat Panda 100HP
Pros: Same power as Fabia, tight handling, small to wash, cheap to buy, low insurance for what it is, similar size/lightness to Aygo, feels better built than Aygo, built in Bluetooth, climate control, 6 speed box, looks good, young image
Cons: Inherent fear of Fiat reliability/rust/build quality, no heated seats, parking sensors or cruise control, harsh bouncy ride, miniscule fuel tank/poorer mpg, tax, poor NCAP rating, very small boot.
Nearly new Mazda 2 1.5 Sport
Pros: cheap to run, cruise control, good build, should be reliable, good handling reports (not been for test drive yet), looks a bit "younger" than the Bora, interior a bit more imaginative than Panda.
Cons: dearest to buy here, no heated seats/parking sensors, is it worth the extra cash?
5 year old Bora Highline 1.9Tdi 130 (40K miles ? have known owners from new)
Pros: VW build/reliability, should last another 100K, large boot for holidays, leather, 6 speed box, cruise, parking sensors, 130bhp, diesel performance delivery, heated sports seats, probably best crash protection here, high class image.
Cons: Will it be rusting in another 5 years? long back doors in car parks, possibly higher insurance, staid looks and possibly equally staid handling, harder to keep clean because of dark colour and complex alloys, resale prospects of a 140K 10 year old car. Expensive to repair if it goes wrong, and there?s a lot of kit that could go wrong....
Question is, which to go for..... Wife finds Fabia heavy to operate, Bora might be just as heavy, but it?s got all the kit and it?s solid. Personally find the Fabia?s handling dull and on the soft side (used to have a 1996 Fiesta) so Panda may be better from that point of view, and it puts a big smile on your face just looking at it never mind driving it, but it just lacks cruise control and the centre console looks like an upended brick and lacks storage cubbies....but would that really matter if it was effectively a go-cart with a shell on it?....Do go-carts make good dual-carriageway commuters? Is dull handling much fun on back roads? Then there?s the economy to consider.... dependability..... space.... practicality.... fun...... image..... safety...... handling..... See the problem? I?ve not really seen many of any of these three on the road which makes me wonder. Should I be considering a used Octavia L+K estate instead? But then it looks dull and the handling will be just the same as the Bora and everyone?s got one.... Or a Golf Highline? Somebody help! There?s got to be someone with opinions on this out there.
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Baz
Thanks for that. Sounds like a fun car the Panda. Don?t mind understeer ? you tended to get it in the Fiesta on wet roads at 80...again possibly down to narrow tyres. Great in snow though. Don?t like roll though ? Fabia has more than enough of that for my liking. Wansn?t mad keen on quite such a harsh ride as the 100HP though. Apparently you can get different springs for them. Anyone tried this? I like this concept of ?feels faster than it really is?. Wouldn?t take too kindly to 40s mpg after the Fabia. Jerking might not be too much of a problem. Try buying a smallish car with a biggish engine (Fabia) Jerks happen....
Workshop
Roughly what percentage of Pandas would you get in for faults rather than regular servicing? What?s the most common fault? Is the boot a big/regular job? Expensive? Mods didn?t really cross my mind until I came on here. I would be tempted to try it if I wasn?t scared of the rust... In addition, a standard Fabia isn?t quite the same to look at as the 100HP! 500 to me is in the same (out of range) league as the ?new? Mini and the ?new? Beetle. As someone once pointed out, they?ve departed completely from their original purpose i.e. low cost motoring to the masses. Posh and a status symbol now if you ask me. Wouldn?t say no to a JCW Mini though if someone was to give me one! Fully agree regarding Panda over 500.
Still not much on the Mazda or Bora... anyone?
The queueing for fuel thread reminded me of a problem I had many years ago. I had a Renault 4 which would often misfire, and in freezing temperatures would not run.
The misfire was caused by water in the fuel, and when a slug of water froze in the pipe from the tank to the pump, no go!
It took me a long time to figure out how the water was getting into the tank. The fuel filler was a short length of metal pipe which was attached to a rubber pipe to the tank, the pipe clip corroded, the pump nozzle pushed the rubber pipe away from the metal stub, (it still refuelled normally), but water thrown up by the back wheel could get into the pipe to the tank.
Any other confusing problems? Read more
well armstrong sid the prake pedal operates in a different way to the clutch & the pressure load point is normally mounted on the axis line of the pivot & the brakes servo operated whereas the cluch pedal normally has a pull action used right at the top of the pedal for maximum leverage to make the clutch as light & cotrollable as possible hence the weakness.
There were one or two vehicles out there that did have a brake pedal weakness but very rare & normally will only snap or bend in a serious accident! designed that way to reduce leg injuries.
I'm getting a new car at the end of the month :-)))
My old car has gone away, thankfully, and i've got the use of a Focus for a couple of weeks. I want to arrange short term breakdown/recovery, as I have a couple of important trips to make
Who do the team recommend ? I'm guessing I'm going to have to take out a 12 month contract then cancel it, so I want to avoid anybody who makes this difficult . Read more
AA covers you not the car so if you leave it at 12 months cover and your in someone else's car you can get them out to that to get you on your way, plus if you have a accident they tow the car away plus many other benfits and not a bad price really.
Been with them for 20 years a tow truck will cost hell of a lot more.
Need to take a car to the scrapper and have a few questions I'd be grateful for advice on...
Roughly what can you expect to be paid these days? Does it vary with make/model/age? (Car is '93 Golf GTi.) Would a specialist pay more?
Is it legal to drive an MoT failure directly to the scrappy? Does it need to be booked in first?
Thanks Read more
>>>>>>>>>preview.tinyurl.com/yhabf57
oh not as a death-trap or rip-off; just make it legal and sellable as a spares or repair
Please forgive if this has been discussed at length before (i have searched but no recent threads found)
We are thinking of getting some in-car dvd players for the children as it looks like we'll be doing a number of family roadtrips in 2010.
I was wondering what sort of experience any of you family-burdened BRers have had.
There seems to be some quite good deals around at the mo with dual screen models for around GBP100.
One question is how does the use of these things effect driver (and passenger) safety and what about the effect on travel-sick prone kids. (sorry - that'll be 2 questions then)
Any other thoughts or considerations would be appreciated.
Duncan.
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No, people. I am not a program. But if you find it right to edit it's your decision. I was just looking for info about the device for cars and came across your article. Sorry
Browse
There is not much left to clean of the drivers side one i buy a new set then on the second time fit and trim passenger side to fit drivers side, at £6.99 a set it gets vaced but not washed.