OV9

So new bump stops, strut tops, arb bushes, bottom ball joint and front discs and pads on the Clio.

Much much better and more more rubbing on heavy compressions.

I also have drilled discs now so can look cool at the Tescos meet up point.

Dave!

V8Granite wrote: Sun Nov 16, 2025 1:10 pm So new bump stops, strut tops, arb bushes, bottom ball joint and front discs and pads on the Clio.

Much much better and more more rubbing on heavy compressions.

I also have drilled discs now so can look cool at the Tescos meet up point.

Dave!

More more or less less rubbing on compressions

Does sound a lot of fun this 172

speedingfine wrote: Sun Nov 16, 2025 1:37 pm

V8Granite wrote: Sun Nov 16, 2025 1:10 pm So new bump stops, strut tops, arb bushes, bottom ball joint and front discs and pads on the Clio.

Much much better and more more rubbing on heavy compressions.

I also have drilled discs now so can look cool at the Tescos meet up point.

Dave!

More more or less less rubbing on compressions

Does sound a lot of fun this 172

Less rubbing, the old bump stops had been cut down, ok on the old tyres but PS5s have a very square profile and they caught quite a bit.

It's proving a great second car, the wife enjoys it and regularly drives it quite hard, the engine has some character and it's great on fuel just cruising along. The yearly running costs are less than the difference in fuel if we used the ML so it's cheap motoring.

It does make you drive like an 18 year old at times which is good fun. Born slippy and a tracksuit top essential.

Dave!

Galaxy is back on winters, just in time for the cold snap.

Zoe is doing quite well with the Cross Climate 2s that were fitted just over four years ago. We've done 30k+ miles on them, and there's still a smidge over 4mm on the fronts and 5mm on the rears. I'll swap front to back to extend the life of them.

DeskJockey wrote: Mon Nov 17, 2025 2:06 pm Galaxy is back on winters, just in time for the cold snap.

I stuck the winter wheels/tyres onto mrs-mik's E-Tron on Thursday night (after I'd got a coat of GTechniq wheel-armour onto them) too. Was worried the Vredstein Wintrac Pro+ were going to be rather noisier and squidgier than the summer "ContiSilent" (with their foamy strip interior), but whilst the latter is detectable, the former isn't.

mik wrote: Mon Nov 17, 2025 2:28 pm

DeskJockey wrote: Mon Nov 17, 2025 2:06 pm Galaxy is back on winters, just in time for the cold snap.

I stuck the winter wheels/tyres onto mrs-mik's E-Tron on Thursday night (after I'd got a coat of GTechniq wheel-armour onto them) too. Was worried the Vredstein Wintrac Pro+ were going to be rather noisier and squidgier than the summer "ContiSilent" (with their foamy strip interior), but whilst the latter is detectable, the former isn't.

Excellent. Can't feel much difference in the Galaxy. The noise changes a little, but nothing really noticeable.

This is the first week where temps are predicted to be single digit (but still above zero), so I’m interested to see how my xdrive mp4s work.. 2600 miles in and I’m amazed how comfortable it is in d2d, but also how quickly that changes in the correct settings (M2). People (mostly men sadly - women generally say they’re glad it’s not another grey/black car) seem to like the colour combo enough to take the time out and want to talk to me about cars.. may get a black one next time

827M wheels (CS ones) are available in black or bronze, so the temp effect will affect my choice on buying another set of wheels..

Matty wrote: Sat Nov 15, 2025 9:10 pm I remember those days - I used to pay to have my cat refitted for every MOT and then removed again on my Sport160

Reminds me of my Megane. I had high hopes on keeping the decat between MOTs but it was £300+ labour to remove it, let alone refit. Took it off for the first MOT I had to get through and sold the decat pipe. Net result was -20bhp/-20 lb/ft and lost the pops and bangs

Got a new MOT and extended my manufacturers guarantee and Porsche Assist today. £1634 down on the day then! Good job there was nothing wrong with it.

JonMad wrote: Mon Nov 17, 2025 4:27 pm

Matty wrote: Sat Nov 15, 2025 9:10 pm I remember those days - I used to pay to have my cat refitted for every MOT and then removed again on my Sport160

Reminds me of my Megane. I had high hopes on keeping the decat between MOTs but it was £300+ labour to remove it, let alone refit. Took it off for the first MOT I had to get through and sold the decat pipe. Net result was -20bhp/-20 lb/ft and lost the pops and bangs

The Elise one is easy to switch over, you just need to get the rear of the car up in the air to have enough room to get to it. Then you just remove the rear diffuser and it’s 6 bolts.

Rich B wrote: Mon Nov 17, 2025 6:36 pm

JonMad wrote: Mon Nov 17, 2025 4:27 pm

Matty wrote: Sat Nov 15, 2025 9:10 pm I remember those days - I used to pay to have my cat refitted for every MOT and then removed again on my Sport160

Reminds me of my Megane. I had high hopes on keeping the decat between MOTs but it was £300+ labour to remove it, let alone refit. Took it off for the first MOT I had to get through and sold the decat pipe. Net result was -20bhp/-20 lb/ft and lost the pops and bangs

The Elise one is easy to switch over, you just need to get the rear of the car up in the air to have enough room to get to it. Then you just remove the rear diffuser and it’s 6 bolts.

Craig who bought my S1 just bought a cheap MOT Cat from the motor factors and did this.

Goodyear Vector 4 Seasons fitted to the R5 yesterday. Today was the first day I had to scrape ice off my car to drive to work. I don't think my timing could have been any better.

R5 now on over 7000 miles and is great fun to drive. It feels high quality inside, the steering wheel despite being squared off feels fantastic when cornering and it zips from 40-60 coming out of bends with ease. I now have two sets of wheels and three sets of tyres for it

Tyre question from my dad as I really don’t know. He wants to fit new non runflat tyres on the 7 series. It currently has nearly new Potenzas of some form but they’re rubbish.
Seems like the only decent non run flat option in BMW star mark form is the Pilot Super Sport but they must be a 20 year old tyre by now.
PS4S available but non BMW star marked for the front axle.

Given the options do you go for:
PSS
PS4S but rear star marked and front not
PS4S but neither axle star marked

Am I clear as mud?

Mito Man wrote: Sat Nov 22, 2025 12:00 pm
Given the options do you go for:
1. PSS
2. PS4S but rear star marked and front not
3. PS4S but neither axle star marked

2 or 3.

But I also fitted non n-rated tyres to our 944S2.

mik wrote: Sat Nov 22, 2025 12:08 pm

Mito Man wrote: Sat Nov 22, 2025 12:00 pm
Given the options do you go for:
1. PSS
2. PS4S but rear star marked and front not
3. PS4S but neither axle star marked

2 or 3.

But I also fitted non n-rated tyres to our 944S2.

It’s over twenty years ago, so not necessarily how they do it now, but I did a training day at Prodrive, where they were evaluating manufacturer specific changes to a new P Zero.
They said that almost all the benefits of the manufacturer specific tyre were also applied to the general release tyre after a while, unless it adversely impacted on the wear or noise rating.
I haven’t checked, but take a look at the noise/wear rating for the star and non-star tyre.
Unless it’s a brand new tyre model, I doubt there’s any difference that the average punter could detect.

Our X5 runs BMW specific Continentals on the back and general release on the front because they don’t have an updated front tyre available - perhaps the size isn’t used on the current generation of the car?

OEM tyres were Pilot Super Sport run flats, then after the facelift they used Potenza S001 run flats which is what it has now. I’m guessing the new 7 series also has run flats so it’s also useless.
I don’t believe the sticker ratings as the PSS and PS4S have the same wet weather rating so they must be very wide bands
Will tell him to go for PS4S of any variant then.

Continuing the theme of wanting all changes to be easily reversible, I spied a very rare period Alquati manifold which means you can run later style twin carbs on an earlier single carb engine without having to change the cylinder heads.

I also spotted you can buy Chinese Weber idf copies absurdly cheap. I paid £108 for the pair

I’m not expecting any more power, I don’t use it in winter, if it looks cool and sounds good I’ll be happy. Would be nice if it gives a bit more top end, the 1500 engine feels a bit flatter than the 1350 version, just because it has a bit more torque where the smaller one needs thrashing. Exciting Up! News. It didn’t come with a spare. I don’t like not having a spare when there’s a handy space which will take one. Being a small car with small wheels a full size spare fits easily without making the carpet bulge. Picked up an as new one with tools off eBay.


I now have some plastic rear arch liners, but the weathers miserable so not sure when I’m going to get a chance to blast the arches out, rustproof and fit them.

It’s being MOTd Monday, short mot was probably part of the reason it was cheap, can’t see, hear or feel anything unusual so hopefully a clean pass.

I did the same with the spare - saved me twice now from roadside punctures!

Before fitting the archliners, check the fuel filler surround - these were notoriously rusty due to the lack of arch liners and all the crap getting stuck there.

I’ll be jet washing, drying and waxoiling the whole area before fitting them.

Being an import it’s ridiculously clean for a 12 year old car, even the brake hose unions are factory bright silver still. I was hoping to do it before the crap weather arrived but may be a bit late

Would have preferred a uk car everything else being equal but have seen plenty with rusty rear quarters and know from experience what uk roads do to even well looked after cars.

Mito Man wrote: Sat Nov 22, 2025 12:00 pm Tyre question from my dad as I really don’t know. He wants to fit new non runflat tyres on the 7 series. It currently has nearly new Potenzas of some form but they’re rubbish.
Seems like the only decent non run flat option in BMW star mark form is the Pilot Super Sport but they must be a 20 year old tyre by now.
PS4S available but non BMW star marked for the front axle.

Given the options do you go for:
PSS
PS4S but rear star marked and front not
PS4S but neither axle star marked

Am I clear as mud?

If the RF SS’s are like the non-RF ones that come on the m2, they’re very much a summer tyre (useless <5°). PS4S’s were a far better option for all year round with very little disadvantage.