Ask a Shiter

[twosmoke300]

Its to pull off the tossy little crome caps on the nut

[grogee]

Ford did do a Fiesta 'Studio' on the last model, which didn't even show in the brochures. That had manual windows, a cassette player, and not a great deal else. Did have PAS though IIRC.

 

Not sure if they do one on the new model.

 

What is a 'cassetteplayer'?

 

(joke)

[grogee]

My 13-plate Focus 1.6 TDCi 115PS has drums on the back... which are painfully obvious behind the tarty 17" wheels. Drums aren't that bad according to my braking expert friend that works at Nissan. Less servicing, less noise, less trouble. The fronts do all the hard work (and deposit brake dust all over the tarty alloys).

 

A while back Vauxhall was doing 'stalloy' wheels, these were steel wheels with a plastic cover that looked alloy. It was better than those Halfords plastic cover jobs though because the spoke holes lined up so it looked '3D' if you see what I mean. Although they'd look shit after a few kerbs.

 

My mate who knows about wheels says steelies are almost always lighter than cast alloys... if you want proper light ones you have to go for forged alloy, like Merc did a few years back.

 

like these (scroll down): http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?p=5083994

[grogee]

NEW QUESTION ALERT!!!!!!

 

I saw a picture of a Vauxhall Astra engine the other day. It had a blown head gasket. This got me wondering about new cars. Manufacturers these days have a fixation with not installing an engine temperature gauge. The new Astra doesn't have one; as do many other cars. Old tin, even my dreadful eighties stuff, had them. A freind's Punto was bereft in addition; however it had a warning light.

 

So, a temp. gauge used to be considered a vital indicator of engine health. If, and on occasion it has, mine behaves oddly; I'll complete my journey, smoke some fags and maybe consider ding something. I have replaced thermostats, flushed radiators, resurrected broken fans and generally prolonged the life of some of my cars by the dictation of the temperature gauge.

 

However if it wasn't there I wouldn't have known about these maladies until, perhaps, too late. So the question is: are cars without such an instrument more prone to catastrophic failure and overheating?

 

My Volvo S90 (nee 960) had an overheating funny turn. I phoned breakdown and got towed from Basingstoke to Leamington. It transpired that it was the sender that was broken, not the engine... I suppose manufacturers can say there's one less thing to go wrong. Thinking about it, my Primera had a sticky gauge that wouldn't work unless you bashed the dashboard with your right fist.

[grogee]

Halfords used to sell these little squares of film that you put on your wing mirrors which repelled water. Meant that you wing mirrors were always clear and pretty much never iced up. I cant find them anywhere.

 

Does anyone know what I am talking about or am I making things up again? I cant think how to search for them.

 

Talking of things to stick on a mirror - does Halfords still sell those blocks of plastic that are semi-spherical so help you see the blind spots in your mirrors? 

 

Don't know what happened to Ford's mirror man in the late Nineties, but he was sure turning out some dreadfully useless mini-mirrors. Can I see owt backwards? Can I fook.

[HH-R]

He must be working for Fiat now, the mk3 Panda mirrors are flippin hopeless. They made them bigger for the last ones but they look like van mirrors so people swap them for the old ones even though they're crap.

[Pillock]

I still find there's blind spots, especially when there's no curvature to the end of the mirror like some cars have.

I've noticed that safety drives thicker and thicker B and C pillars which doesn't help, I could lose a supertanker alongside my Peugeot.

[mercrocker]

Is there a way to permanently block sellers from ebay searches? I commonly search for the cars I own and I constantly get the same seller selling 'used' aerials/wipers/led bulbs using the same images 1000's of times. I know how to do it for individual searchs, but believe it or not, ebay what with their incredible rapport with the customer/seller hasn't yet implemented a system to do this.

 

Pisses me off, too.......If you include a phrase common to those twat listings and prefix it with a "-" (minus sign) in your searches you can at least filter them out of the results.    Ebay unfortunately side with these fucktards because its basically a 21st century online Grattan catalogue and they are not the slightest bit interested in the likes of you and I.  

[catsinthewelder]

Looking at just used items unless it's something really specific often helps.

 

New question

 

I've been offered a job changing a wiper linkage on a friends S Type Jag,  any tips?  I can see lots of plastic covering the vital parts but hope that the S Types American roots mean that it's easy to fix WCPGW?

[Bobthebeard]

 

I've been offered a job changing a wiper linkage on a friends S Type Jag,  any tips?  I can see lots of plastic covering the vital parts but hope that the S Types American roots mean that it's easy to fix WCPGW?

Probably not in the 'job for life' category, but should see you employed for a good while!

[catsinthewelder]

Oh well,  5 until too dark tomorrow then see how much of Saturday morning it takes up,  there's a bit of undercover in the pub carpark for when the heavens open (pub landlords car).

[KruJoe]

Focus ... tarty alloys... steel wheels...

Last week I saw a recent-ish Focus with missing wheel trims exposing really good looking steelies, which would look ace painted bright silver. 16's I think.

 

Edit, these:

 

 

 

I saw similar on a Meriva too:

 

 

[twosmoke300]

Astra h std steelies

[HillmanImp]

I remember network Q used to do CAPS or Glass valuations online. Now though they want al your details so that one of their sales reps can contact you or they will bombard you with email tat etc. Is there anywhere else I can get this information easily?

[Wilko220]

Read Parkers in W.H. Smith's?

[Skizzer]

I remember network Q used to do CAPS or Glass valuations online. Now though they want al your details so that one of their sales reps can contact you or they will bombard you with email tat etc. Is there anywhere else I can get this information easily?

 

WeBuyAnyCrap don't bombard you with emails, as long as you tick the right opt-out boxes.  You do have to give them an email address, but they just mail you once with the quote (probably twice actually, with a reminder).

[HillmanImp]

Parkers are 'avin a laugh though aren't they. Maybe WBAC are a good idea. Will give them a punt. Ta.

[Richard]

I've seen two mobility scooters recently with number plates on them. You quite often see them with fake plates saying "GR4N" or something but these appeared to be proper ones, a 63 and a 14 plate IIRC. Are these things getting registered now?

[Wilko220]

OLD 1E

[DeeJay]

2 FAT

[Pillock]

There's one round here with a Q on it but cartell.ie says no such plate.

I think if they can reach 15mph or something they have to be registered.

[Luckythirteen]

Hang on, Caffiend & Luckythirteen are women?!

Tis true.

 

Isn't the thing about mobility scooters to do with their use? Here in the city, it's all joke plates. But I came across an old guy on one out in Angus a while back, and it had plates front and back, with SP13xxx on. Legit local reg.

Where he was there aren't any pavements, it's all narrow B roads and single track. So maybe he'd to get it registered, as it would be used 'predominantly' on public roads?

He was heading for the A90, hanging on with this mad grimace. Which is why I remember. I shouldn't laugh, but...

[Wilko220]

When using the central locking on my Xantia estate, it takes several 'locks' - sometimes 10 or 15 - before I can get the tailgate to lock with the rest of the car.

 

Other than drowning the mechanism in WD40, which I've already tried, any ideas?

[Inspector Morose]

Any "mechanically propelled vehicle" that is capable in excess of sustaining 15mph or more legally should be registered, insured and taxed. This includes mobility scooters, electrically propelled bicycles and those lethal but strangely compelling bolt on engine kits for bikes you sometimes see on eBay etc.

[Richard]

I looked it up and it seems that scooters need to be registered if they can do 8mph.

[Pillock]

When using the central locking on my Xantia estate, it takes several 'locks' - sometimes 10 or 15 - before I can get the tailgate to lock with the rest of the car.

 

Other than drowning the mechanism in WD40, which I've already tried, any ideas?

Does it try at all? If it's struggling, WD40. If it just doesn't do anything for ages and work OK whenever it wants to, loose wires. Probably in the hinge.

[DSdriver]

Does it try at all? If it's struggling, WD40. If it just doesn't do anything for ages and work OK whenever it wants to, loose wires. Probably in the hinge.

Following with interest cos the XM is the same

[Cavcraft]

Parkers are 'avin a laugh though aren't they.

 

 

If they really sell Parker's in Smiths it should be in the 'fiction' section. I've read more believable stuff in the letters pages of Razzle.

[Wilko220]

Does it try at all? If it's struggling, WD40. If it just doesn't do anything for ages and work OK whenever it wants to, loose wires. Probably in the hinge.

Yes, it appears to try each time, although I'll check out the hinge/wires situation just in case. Thank you.

[HillmanImp]

I went on WBAC and they are offering £4,325 for the 10 plate Mazda 2 with 40k on the clock as the missus wants shot of. I reckon we can get closer to £5k for it.

 

Went a test drove a 1.6 55 plate Focus today to see if she liked it as she fancies something a bit bigger than the Mazda. We went to a garage which have it up for a laughable £2,495 with its 85k on the clock and no tax. We were only looking to see if it was something that she fancied as it seems like the logical choice but I did not really take to the salesman, he seems a bit disinterested in listening to me prattle on about old cars, so decided to string him along for a bit and see what he would offer us as a swap on the 2 cars.

 

So for a cashback price on the 10 plate Mazda 2 with 40k on the clock against a dirty, Focus 4.5 yrs older with over twice the mileage and a dent in the back, we were offered £300.

 

GR-£2,950. Okay I realise these places need to make a profit but you ain't coming across as honest there.

 

Here is the car, hell I could get an 07 plate for the same money with less miles if I wanted to. The place is really pushing credit too. They have a W plate Astra G with 'GUARANTEED CAR FINANCE' written on the side that they are parking up the road. If you need finance to get one of them you cant afford the fuel.

 

http://www.cullingworthcars.co.uk/used-cars/ford-focus-1-6-sport-5dr-115-bradford-201407316241466

 

I notice the back photo has been done to avoid the dent on the OS corner.