OV9

Found the source of water ingress into the front boot - loose grommet behind the nearside headlight. Not been able to gently persuade it back in, so another trip to Northway is in the offing.

I am in some ways quite relived that I am not a dozy bastard who leaves his boot open. In the meantime, the car is living under a cover and wearing the automotive equivalent of a tenalady in the front boot.

simon_g wrote: ↑Wed Aug 07, 2019 4:54 pm
Repair quote is very steep (not least because of the fancy Honda pearl paint) so have to put it through insurance.

You could have that pulled, skimmed and painted for £250

Found out today that it isn't my wheels that need balancing. It would appear that both rear wheels on the M140i are not as circular as they ought to be. Can't get in to friendly BMW garage until 27th due to "stuff" to get them looked at and a warranty claim put in the their evil overlords.

Wheels look immaculate too. They been balanced up as well as possible for the short term. Bugger!!

Are they likely to warranty bent wheels? It's wear and tear surely?

Swervin_Mervin wrote: ↑Wed Aug 07, 2019 8:26 pm Are they likely to warranty bent wheels? It's wear and tear surely?

It's worth a crack and the dealership were open to it. The wheels have not the slightest sign of damage on them and the car is only 11 months old. Watch me kerb it before the visit. The worst they can say is "no" at which point I'll buy two and put it through my expenses.

Nathan wrote: ↑Wed Aug 07, 2019 7:29 pm

simon_g wrote: ↑Wed Aug 07, 2019 4:54 pm
Repair quote is very steep (not least because of the fancy Honda pearl paint) so have to put it through insurance.

You could have that pulled, skimmed and painted for £250

Yes, some of the PDR / smart repair guys do amazing work.

Worth investigating.

McSwede wrote: ↑Wed Aug 07, 2019 8:35 pm

Swervin_Mervin wrote: ↑Wed Aug 07, 2019 8:26 pm Are they likely to warranty bent wheels? It's wear and tear surely?

It's worth a crack and the dealership were open to it. The wheels have not the slightest sign of damage on them and the car is only 11 months old. Watch me kerb it before the visit. The worst they can say is "no" at which point I'll buy two and put it through my expenses.

I wouldn't buy 2! Just get them straightened out.

Swervin_Mervin wrote: ↑Wed Aug 07, 2019 10:00 pm

McSwede wrote: ↑Wed Aug 07, 2019 8:35 pm

Swervin_Mervin wrote: ↑Wed Aug 07, 2019 8:26 pm Are they likely to warranty bent wheels? It's wear and tear surely?

It's worth a crack and the dealership were open to it. The wheels have not the slightest sign of damage on them and the car is only 11 months old. Watch me kerb it before the visit. The worst they can say is "no" at which point I'll buy two and put it through my expenses.

I wouldn't buy 2! Just get them straightened out.

We shall see what happens the review the options

Explosive Newt wrote: ↑Wed Aug 07, 2019 6:53 pm Found the source of water ingress into the front boot - loose grommet behind the nearside headlight. Not been able to gently persuade it back in, so another trip to Northway is in the offing.

I am in some ways quite relived that I am not a dozy bastard who leaves his boot open. In the meantime, the car is living under a cover and wearing the automotive equivalent of a tenalady in the front boot.

Nice work tracking it down, water leaks are a fucking nightmare...and they make the car stink. Never managed to fix the one in the Bora, and after every rainfall is smells like a swamp.

My headlight PPF is attempting to make an escape.

Finding pre-cut stuff is proving to be difficult, so may have to go to a place and get something done custom. I wasn't going to bother....but after seeing how much new light units are, I'll probably just get it done.

Just buy a roll off eBay and do it yourself? Lights are easy as piss to do.

Intermittent ‘Brake System Fault’ imminent fiery death warnings coming up on the Megane dash. Suspect low fluid.

Nathan wrote: ↑Wed Aug 07, 2019 7:29 pm

simon_g wrote: ↑Wed Aug 07, 2019 4:54 pm
Repair quote is very steep (not least because of the fancy Honda pearl paint) so have to put it through insurance.

You could have that pulled, skimmed and painted for £250

Too far gone for that.

IMG_3084 by kiteless, on Flickr

Matty wrote: ↑Wed Aug 07, 2019 10:41 pm My headlight PPF is attempting to make an escape.

Finding pre-cut stuff is proving to be difficult, so may have to go to a place and get something done custom. I wasn't going to bother....but after seeing how much new light units are, I'll probably just get it done.

I'm with mito on this - can you make a template by tracing the light and cut something yourself?

Or just not bother? Even the dots that are still stuck have an obvious and ugly edge, and I doubt a bit of film would do much to blunt the impact of a strike hard enough to break the light anyway.

May be of more use to prevent the hundreds of tiny chips that build up over time, but as it's not likely to do mega mileage pounding up and down the motorway all day I expect it'll be long gone before that becomes a problem.

The rest of the car has PPF though, and that’s the problem with precut as it doesn’t cover the edges so if you hit it the wrong way with the pressure washer it can lift. I just Applied PPF on my lights and used a surgical scalpel then tucked the edges in with a plastic trim removal tool - no visible edge. Hopefully it won’t get degraded by uv and road rash either as the old ones looked a bit beat after 80,000 miles despite polishing them up.

McSwede wrote: ↑Wed Aug 07, 2019 7:33 pm Found out today that it isn't my wheels that need balancing. It would appear that both rear wheels on the M140i are not as circular as they ought to be. Can't get in to friendly BMW garage until 27th due to "stuff" to get them looked at and a warranty claim put in the their evil overlords.

Wheels look immaculate too. They been balanced up as well as possible for the short term. Bugger!!

One of my standard 18s is slightly bent. One of the stealers in Glasgow tried to charge me £650 for one. Looking to get it straighten soon.

Alex_ wrote: ↑Thu Aug 08, 2019 10:13 am

McSwede wrote: ↑Wed Aug 07, 2019 7:33 pm Found out today that it isn't my wheels that need balancing. It would appear that both rear wheels on the M140i are not as circular as they ought to be. Can't get in to friendly BMW garage until 27th due to "stuff" to get them looked at and a warranty claim put in the their evil overlords.

Wheels look immaculate too. They been balanced up as well as possible for the short term. Bugger!!

One of my standard 18s is slightly bent. One of the stealers in Glasgow tried to charge me £650 for one. Looking to get it straighten soon.

It cost me £450 for a new rear when mine cracked a couple of years ago - that was from Cotswold.

MINI is MOT’d. Two new tyres from Blackcircles fitted at home by a mobile blokie. Cam cover gasket + special washers from eBay. Full set of discs & pads from ECP and a pair of exhaust mounts from GSF.

Even doing it all myself (except the tyres, obvs) it cost me about 15% of what the car cost to buy in the first place. I can see why people think cheap old cars are expensive to run.

Used my handy lift to get some suspension parts off the donor metro before it's scrapped



And the full body loom which I will thin out and hybrid to fit into my lightweight base model carb car which I'll be running with fuel injection.



Even on a small basic old car like a metro it is remarkably heavy. No wonder everyone went canbus with shared function looms!