OV9

DeskJockey wrote: Sat Jul 05, 2025 12:58 pm

DeskJockey wrote: Thu Dec 12, 2024 9:10 pm Zoe now sports new wipers front and rear. Took all of two minutes to replace them, and no more grumbling across the screens when using them.

So easy and satisfying.

Disappointingly the wipers on the Zoe are juddering badly already, not even a year old and a premium brand.

Use a Stanley knife blade to remove all shizzle adhered to the surface of your screen, then stick some IPA on a bit of kitchen towel (or a clean rag) and gently pinch the wiper blade as you run it through the towel. Towel will turn very dark.

I can't remember if I posted it on here but the last time I drove the Beetle it was running very rough on light throttle but as soon as I buried the throttle it picked up fine. Upon investigation I found a tiny piece of dirt in the idle jet so I was hopeful this could have been the problem. I didn't have time to give it a road test at the time but last night I took it for a spin and it seems to be back to it's usual plodding fitness so hopefully the problem doesn't return.

If the weather behaves we'll venture to a local classic show tomorrow.

mik wrote: Sat Jul 05, 2025 4:06 pm

DeskJockey wrote: Sat Jul 05, 2025 12:58 pm

DeskJockey wrote: Thu Dec 12, 2024 9:10 pm Zoe now sports new wipers front and rear. Took all of two minutes to replace them, and no more grumbling across the screens when using them.

So easy and satisfying.

Disappointingly the wipers on the Zoe are juddering badly already, not even a year old and a premium brand.

Use a Stanley knife blade to remove all shizzle adhered to the surface of your screen, then stick some IPA on a bit of kitchen towel (or a clean rag) and gently pinch the wiper blade as you run it through the towel. Towel will turn very dark.

Odd use for beer....

I'll give them a clean, see what happens.

DeskJockey wrote: Sat Jul 05, 2025 5:07 pm
Odd use for beer...

I'll give them a clean, see what happens.

Arf - you’ll probably be surprised how much comes off the windscreen with a blade though.

John wrote: Sat Jul 05, 2025 4:38 pm

I keep forgetting you have this. It’s very cool

Sundayjumper wrote: Sat Jul 05, 2025 6:34 pm

John wrote: Sat Jul 05, 2025 4:38 pm

I keep forgetting you have this. It’s very aircool(ed)

FTFY

DeskJockey wrote: Sat Jul 05, 2025 7:01 pm

Sundayjumper wrote: Sat Jul 05, 2025 6:34 pm

John wrote: Sat Jul 05, 2025 4:38 pm

I keep forgetting you have this. It’s very aircool(ed)

FTFY

Very good

That is a good looking Beetle, John

Cheers.

It's definitely a twenty footer though, I think the cool kids call it patina

Have you considered lowering it?

Funny you should mention that. I've had a pair of dropped spindles in the garage for almost as long as I've owned the car, must get around to it one day

Little Up passed the MOT...unfortuantely needs new brake pads at the next service after only 65,000 miles

Also insurance is due. Turns out, I forgot to remove the QV, so was shocked at the renewal price of £900*....after I removed it, £360, which is cheaper than last year, and cheaper than any renewal quote. Probably the first time in many, many years I've just auto-renewed a car policy.

*Also, I'd have been incredibly happy with £900 for both QV and the Up.

Beany wrote: Sat Jun 28, 2025 2:29 pm

Rich B wrote: Sat Jun 28, 2025 1:29 pm

Sundayjumper wrote: Sat Jun 28, 2025 1:12 pm

Huh. You must have an oversized hole ! The definitely don’t fit a 360. I’ve seen some shocking photos of radios that “fit” when they obviously don’t.

i've ordered one now as you reminded/inspired me to do it. i just need to get an opportunity to fit it (as well as fixing the variety of other issues it has!)

Honestly, the more tricky question is who is more likely to have fucked up the aperture for a standardised system - Ferrari or Lotus?

I'd be more interested in the ones with a flip out display that can be put away, but in fairness, they *do* cos a fucking bomb if you want one that isn't shite, it seems.

Mind you the Z4 with the 'computer' option is a pain in the arse to do carplay/AA headunits for so I'm not rushing it. BT audio from the phone will do for now.

I fitted my Aliexpress stereo tonight, it was pretty easy because the previous stereo had nice cabling with the right colour cables.



All worked first time and fits perfectly.



£35 well spent!

I’ve ordered one of the £28 ones with smaller screen but more buttons to hide in the Alfa because it looks nice and shallow.

Hopefully it works, can’t imagine it’s any worse than the 40 year old cassette deck I currently use

It quite neatly solves another issue too - i have no (working) phone charger port in the elise, this has a USB C on the front too. It’s basically just a screen and a volume button overall though.

Does it have a pop-off front or is that before you finished fitting it?

I didn't expect a single-DIN unit to have such a usable-looking Carplay interface. Impressive.

no pop off, just a fixed unit (yep, that was when i was testing the functions before slotting it in). It’s refreshingly simple, just some front inputs and a round volume knob that feels remarkably solid (that mutes the sound when you press it).

The horrific Sony one that was there before was a mess of tiny buttons that i never worked out what most of them did. Worst of all, it had a flimsy feeling volume dial that when you accidentally pressed it (which was VERY often because it took no pressure to do so) entered you into a weird sub menu that you couldn’t exit unless you knew the right sequence. Then it would start with its daft animations for no apparent reason.

I'm normally a total Sony fanboy but I've had a few car stereos from them over the years and never liked them anything like as much as their home stuff. I think Philips stereos were excellent but very uncool.

I’ve always hated Sony car stereos because of the really annoying

De do de do, de do de do

Noise on the 90s ones when you turned off the ignition to remind you to take the faceplate off

I don’t know why, they just felt a level down from pioneer / alpine at the time even though they sounded decent.

@

integrale_evo wrote: Tue Jul 08, 2025 10:44 am I’ve always hated Sony car stereos because of the really annoying

De do de do, de do de do

Noise on the 90s ones when you turned off the ignition to remind you to take the faceplate off

I don’t know why, they just felt a level down from pioneer / alpine at the time even though they sounded decent.

Have you looked at one of these for the Mito? Seems from my research that it’s impossible to have one that is fully compatible as the Mito headunit does some of the car functions