OV9

Do any of the folk who have such bad brakes use the quick car washes ?

I banned my FIL from using them or I'd stop looking after his car as the wheel cleaners used are horrific.

Dave!

I think occasional use is more of an issue, once you get corroded spots from standing the done get used hard enough to get worn off. Rinse and repeat. Usually seems worse on the inside too, you’d think the outside face being more exposed to rain would be, but maybe they corrode more uniformly instead of just a sticky spot where the pad has sat.

Those merc brakes must have made some horrible noises, ours had a horrible rumble / vibration when one of the rear disks got a bit grotty, nowhere near as bad as SJs ones above!

Like Harry says - lack of use, plus my parents live on the coast (<100m from the beach, I just checked!), and the small amount of use it does get is very gentle. My Dad is still pretty healthy, but he's certainly slower than he used to be, and definitely not haring around like a teenager !

Yes, the brakes felt awful, but I was still a bit shocked at exactly how bad they were.

Just to back up what SJ said, the Merc with the dodgy discs hardly gets used. Our parents still have about 6 cars and most of their journeys are very local, so they use the little Nissan Pao for a lot of them, and my dad for some reason loves his old Saab converible, despite it being pretty awful. I reckon the Merc often goes for several weeks at a time without use.

We've always used Genuine Merc discs and when that goes weeks without use they were noticeably rustier than the Audis. Maybe they have a higher iron content or something.

Dave!

Got some remarkable efficiency out of the Tesla. Did almost 50 miles with just 1 kWh.

Ok it got some assistance from Alcoholics Anonymous


What really happened was a cvnt in lane 3 of the motorway didn’t spot me in lane 4. Just started coming over and I ended up having to go right up to the central reservation - instant puncture.
Limped it 3/4 of a mile to one of those emergency lay-bys as it was on a stretch of smart motorway - luckily didn’t inconvenience anyone with a lower speed limit as the stupid system didn’t even realise anything.

Bent the wheel too.

Should all be fixed by Saturday though.

Mito Man wrote: Wed Feb 25, 2026 3:29 pm Bent the wheel too.

Should all be fixed by Saturday though.

Annoying. You think the wheel is repairable?

My tyre fitter reckons it’s repairable but he’ll take it to the wheel repair people tomorrow.

I had a wheel straightened from my Mercedes cls that in the words of the tyre fitter, was shaped like a fifty pence piece. It was the inner rim that was bent so I had no idea, just a slow loss of air.

I seem to be hoarding parts, much to the disappointment of the Mrs who wants me to do her golf…

Merc, mot, flying colours etc. phew, something I don’t need to spend time on.

Mito, feels much better now the power train isn’t rocking around. The exhaust flexi needs replacing, normally I’d just buy a flexi and weld it in, but a whole new front pipe I’d £55 and I’d have to take the old one off to weld it it makes sense to stick a whole new piece on.

I think I’ve identified the occasional annoying rotational squeak as a sticking rear caliper. I had to free up one side last year, seems the other is now messing around. Again, a rebuild set is very nearly as expensive as a new pair of calipers. £66 later (for the pair) they’re here. The old ones are really crusty too so these will look much better.

An x5 bush remover tool has arrived, I’m hoping I can do them by just dropping the subframe a couple of inches instead of taking the whole thing out as that’s a lot more work than I want to get into at the moment.

I did the bushes on the X5 I had many years ago, there's an exhaust hanger that's right in the way, to avoid removing the whole exhaust the bodge is to get a blow torch on the hanger, bend it out of the way, do the bushes, then heat it & bend it back. It worked OK.

On the way home from my Mams a car pulled out of a side road obscured by a Morrisons delivery van, couldn’t avoid them and this is the result. Other than the obvious cosmetic stuff the wheel is pushed right back in the arch, and check out the bleb in that tyre So it’s parked up at the scene until I can actually get someone to answer the phone at my insurance company, they just want you to submit everything online ffs. Then it’s the game of will they fix it or write it off

Jeez, hope everyone is okay?

Ouch - annoying!

If you think this is a clear-cut non-fault for you, you can always engage Accident Exchange to make the process a little less painful.

Bloody hell

Ouch indeed. Doesn't look too bad, but they write off cars for the smallest stuff these days. Who's the insurance with? Rare to have online only for accident arrangements.

mik wrote: Wed Feb 25, 2026 11:58 pm Ouch - annoying!

If you think this is a clear-cut non-fault for you, you can always engage Accident Exchange to make the process a little less painful.

These slimy fucks (and their ilk) can get in the bin.

Ouch, hope you're OK. Is that your work vehicle? Being without that will be a pain I'm sure; if it impacts your ability to work make sure you put in a claim for lost earnings.

What a mess, hope you're ok.

I was on a course last week and recovery firms are starting to get twitchy about recovering EVs from shunts if there's any hint of damage to the chassis which leaves the battery models at risk of leaking toxic gases or fire due to thermal runaway. If the car has been on fire, a lot will refuse to store it on their premises unless they have a tank to submerge the car for 24-48 hours, or at the least, leave it where it is for that period of time to reduce risk of it reigniting.

There's been a few cases where recovery firms get the car back to their place, lock it up, come back in the morning and the whole place has burned down.

On a sidenote/nerd note, it's also an incredible amount of water needed to put an EV fire out if the batteries catch. You're looking at easily emptying a single appliance and needing another 9000 or so litres from somewhere.

Mito Man wrote: Wed Feb 25, 2026 3:29 pm Got some remarkable efficiency out of the Tesla. Did almost 50 miles with just 1 kWh.

Ok it got some assistance from Alcoholics Anonymous


What really happened was a cvnt in lane 3 of the motorway didn’t spot me in lane 4. Just started coming over and I ended up having to go right up to the central reservation - instant puncture.
Limped it 3/4 of a mile to one of those emergency lay-bys as it was on a stretch of smart motorway - luckily didn’t inconvenience anyone with a lower speed limit as the stupid system didn’t even realise anything.

Bent the wheel too.

Should all be fixed by Saturday though.

Is it a standard 18 inch wheel? They are surprisingly cheap. I got a new one from Tesla rather than repair when mine cracked as I was a bit skeptical about a weld repair on it.

Sundayjumper wrote: Wed Feb 25, 2026 9:32 am Like Harry says - lack of use, plus my parents live on the coast (<100m from the beach, I just checked!), and the small amount of use it does get is very gentle. My Dad is still pretty healthy, but he's certainly slower than he used to be, and definitely not haring around like a teenager !

Yes, the brakes felt awful, but I was still a bit shocked at exactly how bad they were.

Do they feel better now?
And when are you getting the M5 back?
This was simply the universe providing a silver car for you.