Your fleet running reports

[Swervin_Mervin]

Are control arms pricey on the Z4? They're about £50 a pop for the E91 for Febi

Febi units are £90 without the rear bush for the Z4 as far as I can see, basically it's the 'modern classic tax' taking a bit of effect.

Mechanic there knows I have a preference for OE or good OE equivalent (not cheapy 'get me through the MOT please' chineseum stuff) so it might even be Lemforder, although retail prices on those (a a kit with rear bush) seem a bit higher than what I paid retail.

Yeah just looked - Lemforder are £140+ on Autodoc for the Z4!

[mik]

I can confirm that lower front arms on the Evora are more expensive.

[Beany]

Are control arms pricey on the Z4? They're about £50 a pop for the E91 for Febi

Febi units are £90 without the rear bush for the Z4 as far as I can see, basically it's the 'modern classic tax' taking a bit of effect.

Mechanic there knows I have a preference for OE or good OE equivalent (not cheapy 'get me through the MOT please' chineseum stuff) so it might even be Lemforder, although retail prices on those (a a kit with rear bush) seem a bit higher than what I paid retail.

Yeah just looked - Lemforder are £140+ on Autodoc for the Z4!

I think the decent Lemforder E46 arms weren't much less (for MSport II packages, the ones with the different suspension, not just a bodykit) and that's basically what the Z4 uses - hence why I'm not going THREE HUNDRED FUCKING QUID FOR LOWER ARMS WHAT THE FUCK etc. I know you can get them for £70/side for cheapy Ridex parts etc, but as we all know for some parts like these, pay half, pay twice. Been there, done that when I had no money, etc....

Anyway, I now have a The List for the things I want to do the car to make it 'bob on'. Some stuff that really needs doing (like the wiper park position that intermittently fails to operate properly), and some that just seems like a decent laugh (remove secondary cats, and resonator), most of it easier to do on a ramp, annoyingly, like changing all the fluids, and some things I can do myself, like swapping out the mirrors for auto-dimming heated ones* - but such is the way of things when you don't have a driveway or regular/reliable offstreet parking.

I can badger my neighbour to use his drive in exchange for a box of ale (and reciprocal help with his cars) but not till it warms up a bit - fuck crawling under a car on gravel in 4deg and rain, it's worth paying £70 an hour to not do that

So I suspect I'll be contributing to the local economy a fair bit this year....

*one dims but doesn't heat, the other was replaced with just a heating one, not a dimming one

[integrale_evo]

Turns out I’m twat of the year.

I was rather annoyed at the alarm / wet electrics issue. After drying, plugging in and checking things I had a couple of fault codes so took it for a rip down the road to charge the battery a bit and see what would clear on its own.

Turns out if you forget to close the bonnet, at around 50mph it will flip up on its own and smash your windscreen and bend the bonnet like a banana.

Looks like I’ve found a bonnet in the right colour, although it’s an 8hr round trip. If it was summer I would have got any random one locally and painted it. Screen had a few cracks, just on the top passenger side. Ripped the top off both bonnet struts (£12 a pair for replacements) thankfully roof seems ok.

£150 and a glass claim is probably getting off quite lightly, but I’m still majorly pissed off about my own stupidity.

I’ve always been paranoid about it too having seen others have theirs flip on the motorway due to corroded or sticking latches. Whenever I close it I always give it a good tug to make sure it’s properly shut. Obviously doesn’t work if you forget you opened it half asleep at 6:30 desperately trying to switch the alarm off.

[IanF]

Ooof! Lucky it didn’t happen on the motorway

[mik]

Gah!

[Beany]

Fuckin' oof.

[Rich B]

Shit! That sort of thing happens when you’re in a rush, and sadly modern life seems to be 99% rushing!!

[nuttinnew]

Feck, but yes, I've seen worse results from similar happening (and also recall an incident with a mk1 Metro on a dc where the bonnet came off completely. Fortunately it got enough height that the car behind drove underneath it).

Whereabouts is the replacement bonnet?

[V8Granite]

Shit happens, no-one was hurt so just a pride battering.

Dave!