Your fleet running reports

[nuttinnew]

What does your wife think of that suggestion?

"Jogger on"? (Obvious set up )

[mik]

It even managed to terrorise a young lad in an E92 M3 who seemed surprised by its rapid appearance in his mirror.

I hope there were no heroics?

I have managed to accidentally book a day off on Tuesday also, but rather than cancel it… the weather looks pretty good, and lightly-trafficked tarmac beckons….

[JonMad]

Fabia:
- Electric windows not working again, so there goes my theory about them not liking the damp and only working in warm weather.
- ABS/TC lights. They’re always off when I start the car. If I reverse, say off my drive, or out of a supermarket parking space, they are off until after a few yards of going forwards (sometimes 5, sometimes 20-30) then both lights come on again together. As a test I parked up, switched off and on, then drove away forwards. Lights stayed off for the whole trip. Ok…

[mr_jon]

Big machine polishing day on the Auris. Been a bit embarrassed to show anything of the car as the paint was shocking. Swirly-to-F, completely oxidised on one side (predominantly parked facing the sun on that side for years?). Don't think it's ever been polished or waxed. First experience of a DA, got the hang after a while. Probably pissed the neighbours off with the noise but, meh, they piss me off too. Good results but I couldn't get completely through the worst scratches. Maybe for the best being a beginner; better than burning through to metal.

Half the car done!

I'm sure someone will chime in that xyz product is better than Meguairs Ultimate Compound - by all means, please do!

Cheers,
Jon

[Sundayjumper]

Got any before & after pics ? I need to do similar to the van. The bonnet in particular is currently satin white rather than gloss.

[16vCento]

If your paint is particularly bad, this stuff works wonders; https://refinishsystems.com/product/3m- ... gKXf_D_BwE
I did my red 924 with it, which had gone completely pink, and it brought the paint back to as new. Did the same with my 9-5 as well.
You ideally need a paint depth gauge as it is quite aggressive and you don't want to go through the paint/clearcoat.

[Sundayjumper]

£30 sounds like a lot of money but it’s a big bottle. Does it go a long way ? Just for returning a shine, rather than getting rid of scratches.

[16vCento]

It's a big bottle, I used about 250ml, or a quater to do a full car.

Might be overkill if its a few scratched though, its more for full correction of surfaces.

[integrale_evo]

Meguires ultimate is ok, but it’s a mass market easy to use product so it’s on the gentle side and has quite a lot of oils in it to stop it drying out, which can mask how well it’s correcting a bit.

For deeper marks or worse condition paint then you’re probably better off going for something a bit more hardcore, then refining with something milder. I have no idea what to suggest, there are millions of products on the market all claiming to be better than everything else

[Gavster]

I'm a big fan of 3M products since my 335i years back. I had some of this left over so used it on my 4 series to reresh the swirly paint, followed by a clay bar and then a good wax to seal. It made it look great and super easy to clean for the next six months.

https://www.elitecarcare.co.uk/product/ ... r-machine/

[Gavster]

Also on other fleet news, the 4 series OBC returned 62mpg on a round trip to the coast to see my folks yesterday. It peaked at an average of nearly 65mpg before I hit London on the way home. It's such an economical car on long runs.

[Swervin_Mervin]

Can't go wrong with Megs 105 and 205 imo. Former for a one-time correction, and the latter for any top-up work.

[Sundayjumper]

Ta, I'll try and reconcile my general laziness against a reluctance to spend money on consumables. The eternal quandary of time vs. money.

In other money news (this time on assets, a totally different budget ) I've been forced to buy techy stuff. I fitted a cruise control stalk to the van, very easy physical installation, but the van needs to be coded to activate it and I've had no luck finding someone to do it. Even Gavster's friendly garage that happens to be a Merc specialist can't do it. I've been spoiled by years of BMWs where coding is quite straightforward and the kit is readily available. Coding the F01 & F10 was just some easily-obtainable software and a £10 (ish) cable. Mercedes seem to have a much tighter grip on things. So I've taken what feels like a very large risk and ordered a kit from AliExpress. £200 ! Plus import duties if I get stung for those. I may have to start a side-line doing Mercedes coding to pay for it.

[mik]

It even managed to terrorise a young lad in an E92 M3 who seemed surprised by its rapid appearance in his mirror.

I hope there were no heroics?

I have managed to accidentally book a day off on Tuesday also, but rather than cancel it… the weather looks pretty good, and lightly-trafficked tarmac beckons….

[NGRhodes]

Previa only needed (no minors) a pair of rear suspension bushes to get through the MOT last week.
Guess how much ?

If I tell you they are a 2-in-1 bush (they have an inner and outer separated by a metal tube with a flange on the end) to hold the arms onto the beam and then the beam onto the chassis), does your estimate change?

Add onto that they are a dealer only part...

Then add on Toyota's stereotypical expensive parts...

Ended up costing £600 all in !

So that's a grand we have spent on the Previa in 8 months, hope that's it for a while!

[Ascender]

It even managed to terrorise a young lad in an E92 M3 who seemed surprised by its rapid appearance in his mirror.

I hope there were no heroics?

I have managed to accidentally book a day off on Tuesday also, but rather than cancel it… the weather looks pretty good, and lightly-trafficked tarmac beckons….

Looks nice, where did you go?

[mik]

Looks nice, where did you go?

Up to the Rest & Be Thankful taking it pretty easy, and then down the Cowal Peninsula. The moment you turn off the A83 onto the A815 it’s like 28 Days Later from a traffic perspective, with plenty of opportunities to zip past slower traffic that you come across - 3rd is good for this.

[integrale_evo]

Ta, I'll try and reconcile my general laziness against a reluctance to spend money on consumables. The eternal quandary of time vs. money.

In other money news (this time on assets, a totally different budget ) I've been forced to buy techy stuff. I fitted a cruise control stalk to the van, very easy physical installation, but the van needs to be coded to activate it and I've had no luck finding someone to do it. Even Gavster's friendly garage that happens to be a Merc specialist can't do it. I've been spoiled by years of BMWs where coding is quite straightforward and the kit is readily available. Coding the F01 & F10 was just some easily-obtainable software and a £10 (ish) cable. Mercedes seem to have a much tighter grip on things. So I've taken what feels like a very large risk and ordered a kit from AliExpress. £200 ! Plus import duties if I get stung for those. I may have to start a side-line doing Mercedes coding to pay for it.

Be interested to see how you get on with it, and if it can do full merc coding stuff we need to talk

[Sundayjumper]

Glow plugs

Have a virtual Curly-Wurly, you were right !

7BAA2797-8F3C-4660-857A-CBCFD46FF835.jpeg (23.24 KiB) Viewed 753 times

[Beany]

I guess you've wiggled the connector (assuming you can even reach it) in case it's just shoogled loose or got dirty?