Your fleet running reports

[integrale_evo]

New tyres on the mito. They’re looking past their best, and with an MOT test looming it seemed sensible to replace them.

I was going to stick another set of winter tyres on, but can only assume this years production hasn’t really kicked in yet as rheee wasn’t much choice, and they seemed pretty expensive.

Last time I went for 205 50 17 as it seemed to be the most popular suitable size, lots of choice and cheaper than the other sizes I could use.

This time, very little choice, I ended up going back to the Oe 215 45 17 size, and chose an all season instead of a full winter. I was going to try some Kumhos, but they rang to say they were out of stock, so I’ve put another set of Nexens on. I was very pleased with the previous set, they did 20k+ of all year round use, were great when we had some snow, and only felt a little squirmy when pushing hard on very hot days.

Hard to compare exactly, because the winter one is so worn, but interesting that the all season has normal looking outer tread with more winter style centre section. Most all seasons seem to run a winter style tread pattern all over but with half as many sipes in them.

[jamcg]

The start/stop feature on the Galaxy hasn't been working since the engine work was done two years ago. The system was active, but never activated. Initially I thought it was because the battery was knackered, so I had that replaced, but it still didn't activate.

I figured that all the short drives meant whatever trigger conditions were needed, were never achieved, so didn't bother with it.

Having a bit of idle time the other night I googled something fairly vague about stop/start not working and up popped a video about how to reset the battery management on a Mondeo. Given they're basically the same vehicle it was worth trying.

So, switch on ignition, lights to position two, press the rear fog light button five times, then the hazard lights button three times and the battery warning light flashes three times to indicate a reset. Took the car for a longer drive and hey presto the start/stop works again.

Not quite as silly has having to turn the wheel lock to lock, but still a silly thing to have to do.

Had to do this with the focus to make mine work, it’s a different sequence that included flashing main beams, so no resetting in dark carparks it’s part of the other modern battery annoyance, where it starts to do different shit as batteries age- the focus was always saying “car is charging” on the start stop status. Reset the battery life timer and low and behold it works again

The internet says you shouldn’t do it because it’ll ruin your battery and you’ll have to replace it. So the only solution is to replace the battery, but for some reason “I might as well try it and see before I shell out for a battery” isn’t an option on one make forums

[Jobbo]

It looks like a CTEK flying lead that you screw onto the battery terminals I did that with the Evora too - makes it so much easier to do a quick top-up.

I have one to fit to the MX5. Must get round to that.

[Jobbo]

And on the subject of the MX5, I have it booked in to be wrapped from 6 September. I was also trying to get the alcantara interior package before then; the tops of the door cards are body coloured and need wrapping as well, so taking the door cards off once only seems a good idea. But they're a 6-8 week delivery timescale from Japan so I'll have the interior done after the exterior.

Also now I've done about 750 miles in it, a few more feelings about it:
- It's probably harder to get in and out gracefully than my S2 Elise was.
- It turns in quite sharply and you can definitely choose whether your line round a bend with the accelerator pedal; not sliding, just altering the attitude. Makes me a bit wary about changing the wheels and suspension because I don't want to harm its playfulness.
- I'm getting used to the controls now and have had a good sit in it playing with settings in the iDrive-alike. Stopped being irritated that the stereo controls are on the opposite spoke of the steering wheel to the Audi.
- The new higher-resolution screen is nice but it is very wide and not very tall so Carplay is a bit squashed up - very much the opposite of something like the Tesla portrait orientation screen.
- Something I hadn't realised was a change from the 2016-2023 MX5s is that the indicator arrows on the dash have changed for this year. They are outline arrows and not that bright, so when they come on they look more like a check engine light. But it seems the lane departure warning system had a permanent light on the dash in the pre-2024 models if you turned it off which also made you think it had a check engine light. So I prefer the 2024. See video below from 16:04 (which I may have watched a number of times...)



Overall, yes I love it. I can see why people say the 1.5 is enough; the 2.0 can just be left in gear and you don't need to work it to keep up with traffic. But that makes it more livable. I haven't yet had many opportunities to wring it right out though; it is much much quicker these days. And it annoyed me yesterday morning that I drove to work and saw four MX5s but I was in my Audi and couldn't wave to them.

[JonMad]

Thanks to @Sundayjumper for your time on a Sunday morning to investigate my Fabia weird indicator behaviour. We seem to have improved things by unplugging and reconnecting the body control module, but, as you know, on my drive home it's still occasionally delaying the flashing when you operate the stalk. Curiously, only seemingly on the motorway - once off (lower revs/voltage?) the indicator behaviour was more consistently correct again.

2024-08-18 11.11.33.jpg (272.87 KiB) Viewed 1736 times

Thanks Steve for your expert hands

2024-08-18 11.20.03.jpg (252.29 KiB) Viewed 1736 times

Also thank you for the ride in the 360. What a machine. Very civilised at low revs, plenty of space inside (it’s wide, certainly compared to the 996). Gave it full beans in 2nd and 3rd though and it pulled and sounded just how you’d imagine.

2024-08-18 12.08.42.jpg (215.98 KiB) Viewed 1736 times

[JonMad]

Yeti and Brenderup trailer did another sterling job taking us to France and back. Having the trailer means you are put on the level that's first off the boat on the other side, so shorter queues at passport control.

[Swervin_Mervin]

Washed the E91 for the first time in months.

This happened:



As of very recently these are NLA and no, you can't get cheap ones off ebay because the E91 has a uniquely sized tailgate roundel.

As it happens, I did get a new OEM one last year as the original was starting to look a bit cack. However, now that I know they're NLA, and given that the rest of the bodywork is starting to show signs of its age, I'm tempted to just araldite on the old one for now and keep the new one for some indeterminate point in the future.

[V8Granite]

Retrofitted. If there's one thing I've learnt in my time with Italian cars, is that that answer to every issue they have is "battery voltage" - and as it won't be a daily driver it's so I can give it a bit of a boost if I've not used it for a while.

A mate has one...He let the battery voltage go low. It wouldnt start, or re-start after stop start kicked in. Dash lit up like the proverbiale xmas tree.

Another moan about modern cars I have is they seem to absolutely shit themselves if you disconnect the battery.

And the reset proceedure on the Giulia is turn the car on, full lock left, hold for 2 seconds, full lock right, hold for 2 seconds, back to centre, car off. I shit you not. Who thinks of this? Why not just something where you can hold down two buttons, or a 'reset' in the infortainment.

It’s because it will have lost its steering angle sensor position. It needs to know exactly where it is.

Dave!

[Matty]

And on the subject of the MX5, I have it booked in to be wrapped from 6 September.

What colour did you decide on, or is it a secret?

As of very recently these are NLA and no, you can't get cheap ones off ebay because the E91 has a uniquely sized tailgate roundel.

Shirley you can get a knockoff one from Aliexpress and keep the genuine one for a bit until everyone is scrabbling for them and sell it for £500?

[integrale_evo]

Give it long enough that enough people want them and bmw will start making them again. Probably at twice the price they used to be.

Is the badge part actually a different size? I’d be amazed if someone doesn’t make some close enough.

Bmw list a specific one for the back of the e53 as it comes with the chrome plinth. I found out you can take the badge off, open the holes a fraction and push on a standard £5 badge like they used on the front for about 40 years

[Swervin_Mervin]

Reading up on a recent PH post from someone that's had the same, apparently the original roundel (not the backing frame) is 72mm. They got a 70mm wheel roundel off eBay and it.looks.fairly decent tbh.

I might get one and compare, now that I've cleaned up the frame part.

[Mito Man]

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/BMW-Badge-E ... gIpqvD_BwE
What’s wrong with this?

[integrale_evo]

X5 was making a worrying noise when taking up drive. Had a quick poke under it and found a loose heat shield. Pushed it back in place, had a look to make sure nothing obvious was gone / hanging off.

Still made a weird noise.

Jacked it up for a proper look under it gave the prop centre bearing a push and the metal frame had cracked through on one side! Removed it and looked like the weld the other side was starting to crack too.

Usually the rubber bearing support splits. Was a meyle one too so supposed to not be really cheap crap. Of course it was Friday when I found it and no actual retail stores had one in stock.

Ordered a febi one from carpartsinmotion for a whole £30 which arrived today.

I did a quick weld up job on the old one just to make sure that was the cause. Obviously this also damaged the rubber next to the weld, but I wanted to replace it anyway.

[Swervin_Mervin]

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/BMW-Badge-E ... gIpqvD_BwE
What’s wrong with this?

Looks a bit ropey! Anyway - have ordered a genuine 70mm alloy wheel sticker roundel. £6.

[Jobbo]

And on the subject of the MX5, I have it booked in to be wrapped from 6 September.

What colour did you decide on, or is it a secret?

No secret - Atomic Teal, same as James from Throttle House’s car.

He very helpfully had his previous MX5 wrapped in a slightly bluer colour so I was able to compare and prefer the teal. I did get a sample first as well; it’s a lovely sort of peacock blue. Looks like it could have been a factory colour - in a world where Mazda actually sold a proper colour.

[mik]

He very helpfully had his precious MX5 wrapped in a slightly bluer colour

[mik]

Cleaned and re-oiled the K&N on the Evora earlier.

Realised that I bought the filter in 2016, and last cleaned and re-oiled it in 2018. Whoops. It wasn't too bad to be fair.

[integrale_evo]

Swapped the prop bearing for the new replacement this evening.

Pretty easy 25 minute job. Thankfully you don’t have to mess around with the exhaust or any guards or anything to get at it.

[Broccers]

Boxster is in for pre Mot which it required discs and pads all round along with one front tyre so replacing both with conti 7s rather than ps4s s. Anyone using those? Read theyre alright

[MikeHunt]

I swapped from run flats to sport contact 7 on my 5 series and they are very good.

A lot cheaper than the ps4s, were available which was nice and they won the last eco tyres test.