Your fleet running reports

[Delphi]

Dropped the XC40 in for a service the other day. They did the service but reported I needed new tyres (already booked in at Costco) but also new disks and pads all round at a cost of £1200! Needless to say I told them to do one. Checked the pads and they are low (rears much more than the fronts, strangely) and the disks have a bit of a lip but nothing too bad. Ordered front and rear pads from Euro Car Parts for £130 this morning and they arrived at my door this afternoon. We've a child free weekend this weekend, but I'll probably end up doing them on Sunday afternoon.

[Gavin]

800 miles or so from the Borders to Lews & Harris last week, then up and down the island. Despite being a wallowing whale of a car it did an admirable job. I still do not particularly like the car to drive but it is subtle (so hopefully won't be stolen off the drive) and returned 40ish mpg in very mixed driving.

[integrale_evo]

Have been finishing my equaliser install. Trying to keep everything hidden isn’t easy. Control box is nicely tucked in the space a passenger airbag would go if it had one

Also removed these horrible chrome sill covers which had started corroding and going lumpy.



Swapped for plain black plastic ones saved from my old 316i



Then as it was a nice day, and it had been annoying me for ages, decided to sort the saggy headlining. The cloth was only held up by the fixings around the sides.



Getting all the sticky foam residue off the backing was the worst bit



Definitely not perfect, some idiot left the cloth folded up how it was delivered for a couple of years, although the creases do seem to be coming out a bit. Still better than having it flapping in the breeze and rubbing my head

[Sundayjumper]

My headlining is exactly the same, not got around to doing anything about it. Seriously tempted to just strip the foam and paint it black.

[integrale_evo]

They all do to some extent, this is the worst of the four I’ve owned, the mega mile four door the least saggy.

For something that just has to be presentable rather than pretty, yep some satin black paint would do the job and never have to worry about it coming off again.

A wire brush was the easiest way to get rid of the foam, but the surface after was still horribly sticky and took lots of tar remover and cloths before I was happy the fresh glue would have a reasonable surface to stick to.

[Sundayjumper]

Hmm. I guess you’d still need to do the same thing, removing the sticky gunk, if you wanted paint to stick / not be all lumpy.

[Zonda_]

2000 miles in with the 330e and it’s doing exactly what I bought it for, performance of a petrol with economy of a diesel. Average 51mpg since purchase. You can certainly feel the extra weight and in comfort mode it will understeer a bit but sport mode sharpens it all up, a lot more noticeably than in other BMWs I’ve had. Annoying thing is the button to release the performance flap, so far I have forgotten to press it EVERY time which means getting back into the car, putting the ignition on and waiting for it to release.

[integrale_evo]

Hmm. I guess you’d still need to do the same thing, removing the sticky gunk, if you wanted paint to stick / not be all lumpy.

You’d have to do something, but I’d think the solvents in the paint might mix with the residue and not affect it too much, would be easy enough to test a small area without messing up whatever you might decide to do afterwards.

Obviously you don’t want paint flaking off on your head as you drive, but it’s less weight pulling on the surface than a layer of cloth.

[Matty]

My headlining is exactly the same, not got around to doing anything about it. Seriously tempted to just strip the foam and paint it black.

Would that not increase the cabin noise quite a lot? I would have thought headlining plays a big part in it.

[Sundayjumper]

I didn’t mean no headlining at all & paint the metal black ! The card/board backing would remain and that probably does most (?) of the sound proofing.

And I was talking about my compact here - it’s already pretty noisy with stiff engine mounts, lightweight solid flywheel and low gearing. I don’t think this would really make much difference.

The Bentley needs the roof lining done too but I’m falling out of love with it and not sure I CBA with a large fiddly job like that.

[DeskJockey]

What is causing the change?

[Rich B]

Harry, I have seen your steering wheel - I'm still trying to work out if I love it or hate it...

[Sundayjumper]

What is causing the change?

I bought the Bentley last year when I was 100% WFH and it was a nice novelty that did few miles.

A new job started in January and having used the Bentley & the Cayenne more or less back to back for the slog to work (80 miles each way, mostly motorway, only once every week or two thankfully), I just feel like I prefer the Cayenne. The seat seems to fit me better even though the Bentley has loads more adjustments. The Bentley suspension is firmer than you might expect, it’s not super-wafty, but it’s not sharp either. With the Cayenne, Porsche do a pretty good job of making a truck handle fairly OK.

So apart from having loads of rear legroom and “being a Bentley” it doesn’t really do anything that the Cayenne doesn’t. And having two cars in the £735 VED band is gradually feeling less and less funny.

[integrale_evo]

Harry, I have seen your steering wheel - I'm still trying to work out if I love it or hate it...

It’s mine and I feel the same

It was a spare, the trim pieces come out ( have seen them colour coded from the factory on some individual trim cars ) and I had some cloth offcuts so thought I’d give it a go.

[integrale_evo]

My headlining is exactly the same, not got around to doing anything about it. Seriously tempted to just strip the foam and paint it black.

Would that not increase the cabin noise quite a lot? I would have thought headlining plays a big part in it.

I’d imagine it’s part of the whole sound deadening package, but doubt removing it alone would make a huge difference. On a lot of older cars it’s a sheet of perforated vinyl suspended on a couple of wires and glued around the window openings.

It’s a very thin and light fibreglass shell with some thin and light foam backed cloth glued to it. The main sound deadening is stuck directly to the roof skin.

Don’t take that off.

I did on my metro and it made the whole thing act like a drum

[nuttinnew]

Harry, I have seen your steering wheel - I'm still trying to work out if I love it or hate it...

It’s mine and I feel the same

I think it would be better with the trim pieces black*.

Talk of headlinings has got me wondering if I could get one flocked, and if so how much - would need to get the pillar trims done as well then though. Hmm.

* and the rim trimmed.

[DeskJockey]

@Sundayjumper that makes sense. You can say you've ticked the box, and sell it.

[Sundayjumper]

Also 20mpg vs. 24mpg. It doesn’t sound much, 4mpg, but it’s +20% !

[MikeHunt]

You can really go off a car.

[DeskJockey]

What does that mean? You can continue or not?