The new news 24 thread

[barefoot]

My Scirocco has returned from the garage this afternoon, all welded, MOT'd and with a horn that now only honks when you press the button. Huge bill to follow.

[gm]

i received a message from my brother this morning “got a tyre warning light on the dash - can you have a look ?” 

i met him at the park ‘n’ ride when he finished work

”aye, that’ll be your problem there then”

surprisingly, for a modern (peugeot 208), there was a full size spare in the boot - and tools ! 

only one problem, the wheel was stuck fast to the hub - we took turns kicking the shit out of it but no joy  

i loosely fitted the wheel nuts and instructed paul to drive up and down a bit and stomp on the anchors. this achieved precisely sod all, made all the more frustrating as each time i had to fanny on with the piss poor jack to find the wheel stuck fast. 

“do you mind if i have a go ? this might be a bit rough “

with two bolts fitted, i gave it maximum beans, stomped that pedal good and hard and attracted quite a bit of attention from the next batch of park ‘n’ riders arriving from their day at work. no surprise that the car park guys also appeared, not as i anticipated to issue a bollocking, but to offer the loan of tools

turns out that they have a decent stock of gear to help the hapless commuter who has left their lights on all day or come home to a flat, and were  genuinely keen to help.

 by now the wheel was well and truly  detached from the hub so i stepped back and let them finish the job. 

nice to see a bit of decent customer care, i’m fairly sure the lads were pleased they were able to help us but were secretly wishing it was a couple of young office tottie instead of a pair of badly old blokes  

cheers, durham park ‘n’ ride lads ! 

 

 

[MrGTI6]

Been to Kwik Fit for the first time ever this morning. 

I received a random email from them last week for a discount code for some budget tyres that fit my car for £20 each fitted and balanced if I ordered two or more before the end of the month. 

My MOT is due at the start of November and the rear tyres needed replacing, so I thought I'd give them a go. 

Booked in for 8:30 this nothing, and I turned up a few minutes early. They got straight on with it and it was all done in a shade over 20 minutes. 

I know Kwik Fit have a bad reputation but I have to say the service was excellent. 

[Zelandeth]

20 minutes ago, MrGTI6 said:

Been to Kwik Fit for the first time ever this morning. 

I received a random email from them last week for a discount code for some budget tyres that fit my car for £20 each fitted and balanced if I ordered two or more before the end of the month. 

My MOT is due at the start of November and the rear tyres needed replacing, so I thought I'd give them a go. 

Booked in for 8:30 this nothing, and I turned up a few minutes early. They got straight on with it and it was all done in a shade over 20 minutes. 

I know Kwik Fit have a bad reputation but I have to say the service was excellent. 

Now have a close look to see if they've mullered your sills by not using the correct jacking points, and good luck ever getting the wheels off without an impact gun...

Bicester branch charged me £350 odd (car was being driven by my other half at the time - I was still 450 miles away up north as we were in the middle of the move south) for new front discs and pads plus a set of tyres back around 2013.

When I eventually made it down here a month or two later it became immediately apparent that they had never touched the front brakes.  Tyres were a totally different brand to what I'd ordered too.  Of course I complained - neither the branch nor head office were in the slightest bit interested.  I seem to recall having to jump on the end of a six foot breaker bar next time I wanted to get the wheels off too.

Going back further to ~2005 I stopped into the Aberdeen Dyce branch to have them replace a broken exhaust hanger on my way home from college.  They proceeded to tell me that my entire rear braking system was in dangerous need of attention, including needing new rear discs.

Two things...firstly the car had drums on the rear, secondly roughly two weeks prior I had rebuilt the entire rear braking system, right back to the master cylinder.  At least I got an apology from the branch manager that time.

The only other time I've used the group was just prior to moving south, so around 2012 in the central Aberdeen one when they were the only place who seemed to be able to get hold of the tyres in the size I needed in less than a month.  That experience was *almost* passable, though I still had to straighten the lip on the bottom of the sills back out afterwards as they'd ignored me and jacked it there rather than under the proper points.

So I'm afraid no matter how good a deal they might wave under my nose, unless it's an absolute dire emergency I'd never even vaguely entertain the idea of going near one ever again. 

I'm sure there are good branches and bad branches, but my own personal experience has been universally poor at both ends of the country.

[Timewaster]

It has always been that tyre and exhaust chains are at the bottom end of the market.

There are some very good independents out there but the chains seem to be the worst.

Management incentives to rob customers seems to be the main issue.

The other is minimum wage, disinterested staff, each trying to do the work of 3 people.

Sitting in the waiting room of an F1 branch waiting an absolute eternity for them to not fit 2 tyres whilst listening to the service desk conversations was an eye opener.

That and the previous 3 failed attempts to get two tyres for a basic Focus.

It was a company car, so I had no choice.

I'm willing to bet they were the cheapest contract we could find. Despite me wasting £100s of company time when I could have been in and out of somewhere competent and back to doing something useful.

 

 

All that said, a friend of mine used to get his 911 serviced at the local Kwik fit and never had a bad word to say about them.

[Metal Guru]

9 minutes ago, Timewaster said:

It has always been that tyre and exhaust chains are at the bottom end of the market.

There are some very good independents out there but the chains seem to be the worst.

Management incentives to rob customers seems to be the main issue.

The other is minimum wage, disinterested staff, each trying to do the work of 3 people.

Sitting in the waiting room of an F1 branch waiting an absolute eternity for them to not fit 2 tyres whilst listening to the service desk conversations was an eye opener.

That and the previous 3 failed attempts to get two tyres for a basic Focus.

It was a company car, so I had no choice.

I'm willing to bet they were the cheapest contract we could find. Despite me wasting £100s of company time when I could have been in and out of somewhere competent and back to doing something useful.

 

 

All that said, a friend of mine used to get his 911 serviced at the local Kwik fit and never had a bad word to say about them.

Our local Kwik Fit are abysmal and I only used them because my wife had a company car. Far from doing unnecessary work , it was nigh on impossible for them to change tyres that weren’t actually illegal. I appreciate some of that might have been the lease company’s fault, but their attitude was awful and condescending.

However , I’ve had excellent service from other branches in emergencies while away from home ( Bridgewater and Strood thank you). 
I normally use a local independent who are excellent as are our local ATS.

I think it’s more down to the local management what the attitude of the staff are like.

[JMotor]

I did a very silly thing this morning. 

Plan is to return it to the road. 

[Joey spud]

I laugh when people say I won't use Kwik fit as they're crap and robbing bastards.

I visit around 150 of their sites twice a year to calibrate their tools and can honestly say there are probably a dozen or so that are I think are below par and I am a fussy bugger.

They do not nut gun up wheel fixings to 11 they use a torque wrench.

I've found a lot of their sites are managed and staffed by guys that have been in the motor trade for decades.

Strood is one of my depots and they're decent guys their master tech is ex JLR and the mot tester is older than me.

I had a guy tell me recently that he wouldn't use a dodgy company like KF and always had great service from his local Tyre Pros so stuck with them.

I didn't have the heart to tell him Tyre Pros is owned by KF too.

Like many trades it's hard to retain good staff many depots are undermanned a few ATS sites I visit can no longer open on a Saturday anymore.

[HillmanImp]

Got the new oil separator in. Quite easy, worst part was taking all the plastic shite off that was in the way. 

Was stuck in quite tight though. Had to climb on the car to yank it out. 

Will have to see if this solves the running issue. Its running fine at the moment. Lets see if it stays that way. 

Gonna take it for a bit of an Italian tune up this afternoon, maybe up to Harrogate or something and see how it gets on. 

[Conan]

Today I went to look at this 1992 shape Honda Civic Saloon. These've been on my radar for a few months now. It's 1.5-litre VTEC Manual. The seller said £800 would buy it.

Anything above 1/4 throttle the thing would hesitate and buck. Possible cause: bad distributor. Reason: rev counter also goes crazy when it goes nope. The rest of it is pretty wretched as well. Otherwise it runs and drive just fine.

I'm pretty sure I could spend another £2-300 fixing the issue and other few things and have something to bomb around in for a few months, part it out when I'm done and not lose much. But the level of arsedness is at all time low at the moment. It's not an uncommon or unusual car.

[Tickman]

1 hour ago, Joey spud said:

They do not nut gun up wheel fixings to 11 they use a torque wrench.

When they did a set of tyres on my work van last year they used the rattle gun to put them on and then someone else checked with the torque wrench that they were tight enough.

Unfortunately the torque wrench just clicked on every bolt.

I used a breaker bar to undo all of them and then did them up properly.

There was no way they would have come undone with the van tool kit.

Same as everywhere, some places are great and others are shit.

[RoverFolkUs]

As long as you ignore the advice of fast fit outfits and/or get a second opinion then they're generally ok if you go there knowing exactly what you need and don't get frightened into spending £500 for rear discs and pads on a car with drums on the rear !

 

[Joey spud]

18 minutes ago, Tickman said:

When they did a set of tyres on my work van last year they used the rattle gun to put them on and then someone else checked with the torque wrench that they were tight enough.

Unfortunately the torque wrench just clicked on every bolt.

I used a breaker bar to undo all of them and then did them up properly.

There was no way they would have come undone with the van tool kit.

Same as everywhere, some places are great and others are shit.

Can't defend that one..

[HillmanImp]

3 hours ago, HillmanImp said:

Got the new oil separator in. Quite easy, worst part was taking all the plastic shite off that was in the way. 

Was stuck in quite tight though. Had to climb on the car to yank it out. 

Will have to see if this solves the running issue. Its running fine at the moment. Lets see if it stays that way. 

Gonna take it for a bit of an Italian tune up this afternoon, maybe up to Harrogate or something and see how it gets on. 

"Right then, listen here you ungrateful little shit!"

Was fine for an hour or so but went into restricted performance mode sat in traffic going through Otley on the way home. 

Tried clearing the code but it decided it wanted to stay on. 

Gonna leave it a bit and see of it fucks off. Need to see of there's an egr relearn procedure or something I can do. 

On the plus side, no smoke or owt though even when it was bring a shit.

[Zelandeth]

28 minutes ago, HillmanImp said:

"Right then, listen here you ungrateful little shit!"

Was fine for an hour or so but went into restricted performance mode sat in traffic going through Otley on the way home. 

Tried clearing the code but it decided it wanted to stay on. 

Gonna leave it a bit and see of it fucks off. Need to see of there's an egr relearn procedure or something I can do. 

On the plus side, no smoke or owt though even when it was bring a shit.

Disconnect the battery for a while?  Forcibly reset everything and give it no choice but to do a relearn.

[Ged]

I wonder how hot an XUD can get before head gasket consumption

Hose burst

[Bren]

Just been the gym. To say I had the place to myself was an understatement - in fact it was like being in the fruit and veg section of a Glasgow supermarket.

[hairnet]

7 hours ago, HillmanImp said:

 

 

rubber bands broke m8

or (cameraman) this hamsters too big to fit can i get a smaller one please

[stuboy]

7 hours ago, HillmanImp said:

big cat eating its  captured prey

[puddlethumper]

1 hour ago, Ged said:

I wonder how hot an XUD can get before head gasket consumption

Hose burst

About that, I reckon.

[Wibble]

10 hours ago, Joey spud said:

I laugh when people say I won't use Kwik fit as they're crap and robbing bastards.

I visit around 150 of their sites twice a year to calibrate their tools and can honestly say there are probably a dozen or so that are I think are below par and I am a fussy bugger.

They do not nut gun up wheel fixings to 11 they use a torque wrench.

I've found a lot of their sites are managed and staffed by guys that have been in the motor trade for decades.

Strood is one of my depots and they're decent guys their master tech is ex JLR and the mot tester is older than me.

I had a guy tell me recently that he wouldn't use a dodgy company like KF and always had great service from his local Tyre Pros so stuck with them.

I didn't have the heart to tell him Tyre Pros is owned by KF too.

Like many trades it's hard to retain good staff many depots are undermanned a few ATS sites I visit can no longer open on a Saturday anymore.

I haven’t been to a Kwik Fit for years so can’t comment on recent service levels but remember an incident around 1989 when my then Cortina was booked in for tracking and rear brakes.

They did the tracking and then removed and refitted the steering wheel so it was straight 🤔

As for the brakes, on return from the work they did, it was parked on my parent’s drive and soon rolled backwards, missing my brother’s mate but hitting the wrought iron gate. Bent the gate, smashed the rear light and creased the rear wing. They paid for all repairs to car and gate to be fair.

[RoverFolkUs]

1 hour ago, stuboy said:

big cat eating its  captured prey

It's only after the wallet 😂

[stuboy]

4 minutes ago, RoverFolkUs said:

It's only after the wallet 😂

my v6 suckles off my wallet

[Bren]

Saw a nice 2011 crown victoria interceptor on ebay. I really like these however 16 mpg and performance on a par with continental drift puts me off.

[robinmasters]

12 hours ago, Joey spud said:

I laugh when people say I won't use Kwik fit as they're crap and robbing bastards.

I visit around 150 of their sites twice a year to calibrate their tools and can honestly say there are probably a dozen or so that are I think are below par and I am a fussy bugger.

They do not nut gun up wheel fixings to 11 they use a torque wrench.

I've found a lot of their sites are managed and staffed by guys that have been in the motor trade for decades.

Strood is one of my depots and they're decent guys their master tech is ex JLR and the mot tester is older than me.

I had a guy tell me recently that he wouldn't use a dodgy company like KF and always had great service from his local Tyre Pros so stuck with them.

I didn't have the heart to tell him Tyre Pros is owned by KF too.

Like many trades it's hard to retain good staff many depots are undermanned a few ATS sites I visit can no longer open on a Saturday anymore.

Last time I used them they told me my brakes pads were dangerously low. I'd changed them myself a month or two prior, so just smiled and said I'd get them looked at. I did double check afterwards and the pads looked barely used. Lying shysters.

[Metal Guru]

11 hours ago, RoverFolkUs said:

As long as you ignore the advice of fast fit outfits and/or get a second opinion then they're generally ok if you go there knowing exactly what you need and don't get frightened into spending £500 for rear discs and pads on a car with drums on the rear !

 

Some cars do have discs  on the back with drum handbrake on the inside. Subaru and Kia to my knowledge, but agreed some fast fits do take the piss  but so again do main stealers at twice the hourly rate.

Best one I had was being told my shock absorbers were leaking oil. (Feel around find some grease, viola, they’re leaking . )

Funny that, as they were gas filled.

[62 Austin]

On 9/4/2022 at 8:05 AM, SiC said:

A local village hall had a classic and cherished show today. Very badly advertised, it only was announced on their Facebook page yesterday. I didn't bother taking the MGB as it was walking distance and I couldn't be bothered to pull it out of storage.













 

Oh  gee those toyota Hiluxe pickups are nice. We're unallowed to buy those in my country(former colony south of Canada).

 

[LabRat]

It's been 3 days of hell, but we've finally moved into to our new house. Managed to bag a 70 plate transit from hertz for the move, which was nice. Even nicer was the half tank of diesel in it, so it didn't need filling afterwards!

Best bit after years of fighting with dickhead neighbors for parking? 

Off-road parking! And the 8 bottles of ale and a welcome card from the new landlord are a nice touch too. 

Even George seems happier (excuse the ratty old settee- it keeps him off the decent one for now! (Going when I can afford a couple of decent armchairs that fit the feel of the place)

[Rustybullethole]

Throttle body clean up curb side live action.

Dont look like the rains lifting think I’ll just get wet.

Edit;  Back indoors with a beer as suns just past the yard arm (metaphorically if not meteorologically) 

Could of should of put it down the side and whacked the gazebo up though neighbour had once again blocked my drive and I have fully run out of polite words to get him to move. This after banging on his door for ages then him appearing with me at his window with a club hammer about to swing about a year ago many polite requests to not park there before and since the man’s a prick and I’m out of patience. 
Anyway nice smooth idle now all cleaned up plus found and fixed a slightly loose vacuum hose win win if a little wet. Might crack on with the bikes in a bit.

Edited October 23, 2022 by Rustybullethole

[Rust Collector]

Who says cars and nature can’t peacefully coexist