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• Swapping tyres rear to front 23 Mar 2006 (Forum)
  I have got a case of the thrumming, chamfered blocks on the rear tyre(s) causing a thrum at certain speeds, there has been a few cases reported recently within these pages, I recall a 330d and a Vectra. My rear tyres have done about 25k miles and are wearing more on the outside than the inside, the Mondeo does that, they both have a fair bit of wear left in them though the nearside is slightly more worn than the offside.
• VW Polo misfire 17 Feb 2006 (Forum)
  hello, I've been reading The back room for ages - and have been impressed with (nearly) all the threads and quality! Now I need help - so this is first post! SWMBO has a S reg VW Polo 1.4CL - we've had it virtually from new. Its recently developed a sort of misfire - but only when it's warm, and only under harshish acceleration. It happens in all gears, and at all revs - its more annoying than anything else.
• Volvo airbags 24 Jan 2006 (Forum)
  I have been offered a Volvo S40 02 reg which has had a side impact and needs a new drivers door and some tin bashing to the front wing and rear quarter. Nothing heavy . What concerns me though is that the curtain airbag(s) in the roof (drivers side)have gone off and are hanging down. I have seen front bags replaced but Volvo quote £500 to buy a new roof one and maybe £1000 for the sensors plus £200 labour. All of which would make the car not worth the effort. 2 questions then, please ;_ 1.
• Another Honda Accord oxygen sensor 13 Jan 2006 (Forum)
  The invoice states 'trace fault to O2 sensor 2' (£44), and they told me it will need replacing at a cost of £336 otherwise it will fail the MOT. Assuming their diagnosis is correct, judging by P 2501's experiences it looks like the only viable option I have is to find the £336, although if the warning light in itself isn't yet an MoT failure I could get the emissions checked to see if they really are going to cause a fail.
• Peugeot 406 rear o/side "thumping" noise 23 Nov 2005 (Forum)
  My 406 family estate (7 seater) has an annoying (and seemingly untraceable!) "thumping noise", which seems to come from around the rear o/s wheel /wheel arch area. It only happens at lowish speeds on a particular type of road. It seems to have a "resonance" with certain road surfaces, e.g. slight imperfections in the surface or low relief cobles.
• Vx Vectra battery & Alarm 17 Nov 2005 (Forum)
  I seem to remember you have to do something with the key in the ignition in order to prevent this happening. I could find no reference on what to do in either the owner?s manual or Haynes. For future reference does any body know the correct procedure? I guess it was kind of a blessing as it forced me to splice on a +12V battery from a handy UPS using the fused phone car kit wiring loom while I swapped the old one out, so I did not have to and hunt for the radio codes etc....
• I can't vouch for this... 4 Nov 2005 (Forum)
  We tried it out and it unlocked our car over a cell phone each time we tried it." - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - What\'s for you won\'t pass you by
• Nissan Almera 1.5 SE W Reg 23,848 Miles 27 Sep 2005 (Forum)
  I had an expensive experience yesterday had my car in for full service and mot and it failed on the o/s/r brake caliper had seized not due to corrosion . The garage i used advised it was down to a component failure inside ! They were quite amazed as they seem to think a part like this should have lasted a lot longer .
• Insurance certificate error 5 Jun 2005 (Forum)
  Second question, if I had tried to make an insurance claim, could that kind of minor error have invalidated my policy? It?s only £25 plus some annoyance, but my mind ponders.
• Inexpensive motoring - how? 17 May 2005 (Forum)
  My own circumstances are that we need two cars, mostly for shorter trips, with 2/3 people, and not much need for load/luggage. Add to the mix that we live down a lane that's a sreatm for 6/12's of the year, so cars that like oxidising are not a good bet. We currently have a £1000 Punto 55S (about to be taken over full time by daughter #1) and a £150 Uno that may be scrapped if it's going to cost too much for an MOT.
• Broken motorbike 7 May 2005 (Forum)
  Help, I,ve pushed it further than it,s been ridden over the last 3 weeks. Honda CBR1000F has 3 times in the last 3 weeks flooded when it's been either(1)sat with the choke in on a cold engine at idle (2)choke has been put off when it should run again on a cold engine and (3)having been started on choke allowd to warm up 2 minutes then allowed to idle and blipped to 2000 rpm has died.
• Peugeot 306 diesel pulley failure 15 Apr 2005 (Forum)
  Does this constitute a design failiure? I've just taken the 306HDi for a timing belt and pully change. At 62,000 miles my local garage said I was being...
• M.O.T. Rules. 11 Apr 2005 (Forum)
  Previously, I have for the last four or five years, taken my car(s) to a "while you wait" testing station, who always allowed me two weeks to make any repairs required, then take it back, have the work checked, and then issue me with a certificate with no extra charge over and above the standard test fee.
• Skoda Octavia DSG Wait 28 Feb 2005 (Forum)
  SWMBO dragged me to a Skoda dealer to test drive the new Octavia DSG. She liked it enough to think about changing and I started talking deals with the...
• Stupid Adverts 24 Feb 2005 (Forum)
  I know people will say that at least they?ve made an impact and I remember the brands advertised, but all that?s happened is that the ads have portrayed a totally negative image of their product. There is no way that I would even consider buying any of the above products.
• Discovery TD5 auto y2000 - brakes 11 Jan 2005 (Forum)
  The car rarely travels more than 20 miles per day, at no more than 40mph (with annuual 2000 mile round trip[s to Spain) The brakes now need replacing, as the discs are grooved. I want to improve the stopping distance for the long trips, and the longevity of the discs. I have seen the Rossini product, and some enhanced brakes from Rimmer Bros.
• Dumb footballer (motoring related) 23 Nov 2004 (Forum)
  Makhanya had an unfortunate accident on Thursday the 18th November 2004 after attending the Development Awards held in Orlando East at the Communal Hall. Minutes after arriving at his home, Makhanya parked his brand new red Mini Cooper S, outside his house in the South of Johannesburg. Realizing he had left something in the car, he rushed outside to find the car rolling as he had left it in neutral. He tried to stop the car from rolling down the slope but he failed when it rolled forward bashing his knee into a pole.
• Diesel cars - cynical marketing? 20 Nov 2004 (Forum)
  On some expensive cars, the Mercedes E320 and Alfa GT for instance, the diesel version is cheaper. Yet on the new Fiesta Zetec S the 90bhp diesel is £900 more than the 100bhp petrol version. The 99bhp versions of the Focus have the diesel a whopping £1,700 more. Peugeot 307 are in the same league as the 90bhp diesel is £1,600 more than the 90bhp petrol version(with the same trim) Whilst 'dieselheads' will extol the driving characteristics of compression ignition machines, most people buy them for their superior economy.
• Private sellers over optimistic on price 17 Aug 2004 (Forum)
  Plus I am in funds at present plus I need to get something more presentable to my increasing client list. On this front I have been vaguely looking at dull cars with a twist for example Mondeo ST24\'s that sort of thing. It seems to me that private buyers currently have over optomistic expectations of what cars can be sold for. In some cases wildly over-optomistic. I had a conversation with one guy who quoted me an absolutely mad price on a Vectra and when I pointed this out, refering to similar cars on Autotrader he said and I quote \'that is what the car owes me\'.
• Accord or V70 Estate 8 Jul 2004 (Forum)
  The V70 has some really cheap aspects and while its nice and quiet upto 70, beyond that it all seems to fall apart. It has also spent too much time at the dealer. The 2004 V70's I've driven seem more "together" and more refined. Had a quick go of an Accord 2.4 VTEC Executive auto and it seemed to be a better quality car than the Volvo but the ride wasn't up to much and I'm not sure it had the overall comfort of the Volvo.