Your fleet running reports

[Foz]

ML in for an MOT, the usual remembering late, struggled to get anywhere so stuck it into Kwik Fit for a £29 cheapo special.- It will pass its well maintained

Of course it failed on a cracked rear spring, preposterous quote, no thanks I will take the car away and its off to the local tuna who has sourced OEM parts for way less that the kwik fit shitters!

[Matty]

Lovely. Still a great colour for the S2. Is it for sale yet?

Aye, only on SELOC and MLOC at the moment, I'll drop it on PH tonight. I suspect it'll go abroad, apparently the French are really keen on the 135 and 135R for some reason.

I sold my Exige to a French chap, one of the easier sales I've ever had. He did a bank transfer for over £20k before he even arrived in the country...not sure I'd be that trusting

[Alex_]

The M235i went into the dealers last Wednesday for its third service and needed an MOT. The MOT failed with two majors: front driver tyre has a bulge and the suspension ball joint has worn excessively, bloody potholes. The ball joint was replaced free under warranty but they wanted £190 for one MPSS. I went to my local tyre place the next day to get both front tyres changed, each MPSS costed me £135. Went back to the stealers on Friday morning to get the car re-MOT and it passed in 10 minutes. The issue with replacing the ball joint is that they did an alignment, which resulted in my steering wheel not straight , again. When I got the car new, they couldn't straighten the steering wheel after three attempts.

Took the car to John at Pro-Grip in Larbert to get the alignment done:



After an hour and 70 quid, the steering wheel is straight again. Top service from John as usual:



I'm now looking to get a dent on my bonnet fixed:



I think it was caused by the kids next door playing basketball . Mik gave me a contact but the guy is only doing trade work at the moment. Took the car to a guy I used before hoping that he could fix it using PDR but said he'll need to repaint the entire bonnet. I'm reluctant due to the cost for a relatively small damage. The paint job is £800 and the bonnet's got PPF on it so that's another £800 - £1000 to get it reapplied. I'm getting another PDR guy to come and see what he can do first before making a final decision.

[JLv3.0]

Had no idea PPF was that much just for one (admittedly fairly big) panel. Heavens.

[Alex_]

Had no idea PPF was that much just for one (admittedly fairly big) panel. Heavens.

The problem is that the guy I used wouldn't do just one panel, he charges per front-end or front + sides. Plus if I get the bonnet painted, they have to blend the paint with the bumper so that piece will also have to be replaced.

[Swervin_Mervin]

BMW dealers cannot do alignment IME. Staggers me what they think is acceptable. My E91 was left dragging its 4rse after they did the rear bearings and they insisted the not-straight steering wheel had been like that when it went in.

125i also had to be aligned elsewhere after the same dealer replaced the rack. Wasn't obvious though at the time as it was driving fairly ok - it was the saw tooth wear that developed that gave it away.

Both cars sorted at the local Infiniti dealership on their Hunter rig

[Swervin_Mervin]

Does that really need paint btw? Looks like it should be a very easy PDR job.

[Alex_]

Does that really need paint btw? Looks like it should be a very easy PDR job.

Thats what I thought but there's also a crease along the bottom of the dent so perhaps PDR will not be perfect?

[Rich B]

Open the bonnet, borrow those kid’s basketball and throw it with just the right force at the underside to knock it back out.

Or yep, if the paint isn’t broken, that’ll go back from what I’ve seen.

[mik]

I've called ProGrip a couple of times over the years, but always leave it too late for the window i have avaliable. The fact he is always fully booked out seems to confirm his excellent reputation.

Did my dent guy not recommend someone else you could use? Poor show if not. I know he worked with another guy who worked Edinburgh area who also seemed to have a only glowing feedback....

[Alex_]

I've called ProGrip a couple of times over the years, but always leave it too late for the window i have avaliable. The fact he is always fully booked out seems to confirm his excellent reputation.

Did my dent guy not recommend someone else you could use? Poor show if not. I know he worked with another guy who worked Edinburgh area who also seemed to have a only glowing feedback....

He didn't pick up his phone when I called a couple of times, just a voicemail saying he doesn't do private work at the moment. I think he's part of a franchise, I contacted a different guy under the same company and he wasn't interested either, again due to the amount of trade work.

[Rich B]

Well I answered the mystery of who scratched my bumper...

Of course it was me! I just did it again in the exact same place, on my wall coming into my own driveway!

Glad I haven’t got round to fixing the last one! Googling “bodyshops in ascot”....

[Beany]

Had an engine fault warning come up on the Mondeo, so rolled my eyes, banged on the OBD thingy, pull fault codes....

Nothing live,
Nothing pending,
Nothing historic (after I wiped it shortly after getting the car).

So I guess I'll be spinning up the VM with ForScan on it tomorrow. Seems to be behaving itself fine though, so seems likely it's just something transient (famous last words)

Oh, and the TPMS pointed out a pressure mismatch for me, although it's clear that one of the sensors is a bit off. I'll get around to resetting that using the ford workshop procedure (the usual ignition on, ignition off, spin around three times, let some air out of the tyres till the horn beeps at each wheel, sacrifice a goat, and such - couldn't just have a fucking menu option for it, could they?)

[JLv3.0]

Seems to be behaving itself fine though, so seems likely it's just something transient

Ignore it if it's gone off. Don't waste any more of your life chasing the rabbit - wait for it to go wrong.

I had something happen on the Audi the other day that has only happened once before, in similar conditions - i.e. a mega-nuclear sandstorm. Tiny splutter from the engine and the display starts flashing BRAKE FAILURE. They hadn't failed at all so I went on with my life.

[Marv]

Seems to be behaving itself fine though, so seems likely it's just something transient

Ignore it if it's gone off. Don't waste any more of your life chasing the rabbit - wait for it to go wrong.

JLIC. But that said, have you tried cleaning the MAF?

[JLv3.0]

Daily, no doubt.

[Simon]

Seems to be behaving itself fine though, so seems likely it's just something transient

Ignore it if it's gone off. Don't waste any more of your life chasing the rabbit - wait for it to go wrong.

I had something happen on the Audi the other day that has only happened once before, in similar conditions - i.e. a mega-nuclear sandstorm. Tiny splutter from the engine and the display starts flashing BRAKE FAILURE. They hadn't failed at all so I went on with my life.

IME with the Mondeo although it's started as a transient issue, it'll occur with greater frequency until something decides to stop working altogether.

[JLv3.0]

Cool. You know what to fix when that happens.

[Sundayjumper]

My car ran very nicely at Bedford yesterday. Had a slight worry early on when the brake warning light came on after a couple of laps, but I kept an eye on the pads all day, the light stayed on but they didn't appear to wear down at all. And then driving home the light was off again. I'm wondering if the sensors are cleverer than I thought, and actually warn of high temperatures as well as pad wear. That would explain why the light was off again at hometime.

I need to work on my braking on track. I'm often being too cautious, braking early and safely and then rolling through the corner thinking "I could have gone 5/10/20 mph faster here."

I'm impressed with the Federal RSR595 tyres. My first experience of trackday tyres and I could definitely feel the difference compared to the Contis on my other set of wheels.

I had two sessions of tuition during the day - a big thank thank you to Duncs for donating the afternoon slot he wasn't able to use - and it was very very worthwhile. Having someone next to you doing a running commentary talking you through the lines and braking points was a massive confidence boost. On subsequent solo runs I could hear his voice in my head all the way round.

Top speed I saw was 131/132 mph on the speedo (so prob 5-10mph slower in reality) hitting the limiter in 4th down the main straight, still with a second or two to think about braking. I guess the car will go a touch faster if I used 5th and was more confident about braking.

bedford1.jpg (77.54 KiB) Viewed 2575 times

I like my car

[mik]