The grumpy thread

[hairnet]

Sorry I can't help. I can share your pain though.

 

Manchester to Chesterfield. 40 miles and around 3 hours iirc. :/

takes hour and half on the bike even ffs

[Station]

As soon as I get to the Manchester area of the M6, I want to make like the hundreds of Audi/BMW drivers every week on that stretch by doing 110mph in the overtaking lane before ploughing into the central reservation. I honestly get depressed, no wonder that area produced the musical bands it did.

[Alfamale]

@chaseracer:  Just off J30 of the M1.  PM me for a more exact address if required.

I'm not a million miles from you. I took a rust bucket of a Lancia Delta to a chap in Cresswell called "Jacko", round the back of the model village. He did repairs of rust and dings on nearly every panel and then painted over the top. Excellent colour match and reasonable finish. Best part was change from £500.

 

If you go and see him, be warned, he is definitely a character!

[Bobthebeard]

I'm not a million miles from you. I took a rust bucket of a Lancia Delta to a chap in Cresswell called "Jacko", round the back of the model village. He did repairs of rust and dings on nearly every panel and then painted over the top. Excellent colour match and reasonable finish. Best part was change from £500.

If you go and see him, be warned, he is definitely a character!

I got fed up of bodywork guys quoting daft prices or refusing to repair bodywork on my old stuff. Bought a MIG welder secondhand for £80 and just got stuck in to it. Never welded before, but it is surprisingly easy if you follow various hints and tips ont Internet. Plus painting isn't that difficult if your standards are..... Modest!

You can always improve with practice.

[Albert Ross]

It's not a great surprise but my Jag's shat it's mot

 

Nearside Front Upper Front suspension has excessive movement at a wishbone pin or bush (2.5.A.1c)

Offside Front Upper Front suspension has excessive movement at a wishbone pin or bush (2.5.A.1c)

Offside Front Steering arm has relative movement at its fixings (2.2.B.1h)

Nearside Rear Rear wheel bearing has excessive play (2.6.2)

Offside Rear Rear wheel bearing has excessive play (2.6.2)

Offside Front Rear wheel bearing rough when rotated (2.6.1)

Nearside Inner Rear Tyre tread depth below requirements of 1.6mm (4.1.E.1)

Offside Inner Rear Tyre tread depth below requirements of 1.6mm (4.1.E.1)

Nearside Rear rear parking (secondary) brake grabbing severely (3.7.A.6b)

 

Balls

Looking at the RfR list, It either has 3 axles and 8 rear wheels, or the tester is a cunt. "Nearside rear rear"? "Offside front rear"? Inner tyres? I would seriously try elsewhere, and then get this clown investigated.

[Bobthebeard]

Looking at the RfR list, It either has 3 axles and 8 rear wheels, or the tester is a cunt. "Nearside rear rear"? "Offside front rear"? Inner tyres? I would seriously try elsewhere, and then get this clown investigated.

[Cavcraft]

The Preston to Macclesfield bit (and back) seemed to be painfully slow though...

The Manchester suburbs in particular. Sucks out the very essence of your soul.

 

 

Looks like you're fucked then. The most obvious route was the one you'd already mentioned, and short of redesigning the road system or going by helicopter, you'll just have to grin and bear it.

[vulgalour]

I took a rust bucket of a Lancia Delta to a chap in Cresswell called "Jacko"  If you go and see him, be warned, he is definitely a character!

 

Jacko does sound vaguely familiar from many, many years ago.  But then who in Cresswell isn't a 'character'?  It's another one to follow up at any rate though I have been reminded about a MIG welder that was offered to me a while ago is still available, one that I'd completely forgotten about.  Trouble is, every new thing that goes into my head pushes an old thing out.

[cort16]

Looking at the RfR list, It either has 3 axles and 8 rear wheels, or the tester is a cunt. "Nearside rear rear"? "Offside front rear"? Inner tyres? I would seriously try elsewhere, and then get this clown investigated.

 

I recon the front suspension is fair enough as it has a detectable clunk but I'm not convinced about the wheel bearings or the handbrake. The question is, is it worth spending another 50 quid

getting it tested elsewhere?

[Mr Livered]

Just goes to show how much aggro an overzealous tester can cause for the hapless shiter. Whether they're touting for business or just pernickety sods is equally annoying, but just in case I get the former when using a different tester I make a point of mentioning beforehand that I do all the work myself.

 

Don't know if it makes a difference, but at least he knows that if he produces a long fail sheet, he will have to do a retest but he won't get any work out of it.

[Negative Creep]

Haven't tried it myself, but I have heard the local council's MOT places can be good, since hey don't do repairs and there's no reason to make faults up

[bub2006]

I take my motors to the local we only mot place. Always been straight up and obviously have no reason to fail for things that some more unscrupulous garages would try and get you to re mortgage your house to pay the bill.

[Mr Livered]

There was an mot garage I used in Cambridge that was terrible. When I went to puck the car up they'd not only failed it on loads of things, but they'd already priced up the repairs it needed. That was thoughtful of them eh? It came to over £500, nothing major but loads of smallish faults.

 

I drove it to another garage out in the fens and it passed with only two advisories.

[cort16]

The thing is, it's the guy I rent my lockup off who took it to them and he takes all his customers cars there for an MOT so you'd think they'd be straight up with him but results vary.

I've had a look for a council mot station but can't find one. There is an MOT only place in Ayr I might take it to. The tyres and suspension arms I'm happy to deal with but pressing in 3 new wheel bearings makes me thing I should maybe just try to sell it on before the mot expires. Am I really going to get that money back if I mot it?

[Cavcraft]

Haven't tried it myself, but I have heard the local council's MOT places can be good, since hey don't do repairs and there's no reason to make faults up

 

 

This. Also some tyre/exhaust places are good too, as it's only really in their interest to fail it on things you can see are wrong. Except **I* F**, of course, who are just twats anyway.

[skattrd]

I'm not sure what model of Jag yours is cort16, but some of them have wheel bearings that come as a complete hub. Easier to fit for a diy type person, but a bit  dearer to buy.

[cort16]

Cheers skattrd, it's a 308 XJR. I looked online at that and a 2nd hand hub is £90 compared to £20 for the wheel bearing. If I can get the hubs off the garage next door will press them in.

The really costly item looks like the wishbones.

[Timewaster]

There was an mot garage I used in Cambridge that was terrible. When I went to puck the car up they'd not only failed it on loads of things, but they'd already priced up the repairs it needed. That was thoughtful of them eh? It came to over £500, nothing major but loads of smallish faults.

I drove it to another garage out in the fens and it passed with only two advisories.

I'm guessing Lex Autocentre?

[alf892]

Surely you could just look at the things he has failed it on and decide yourself.............if no fault apparent go for test somewhere else or if points are justified then fix and retest.

 

Just dismiising him as a cunt seems a bit harsh without at least having a look for yourself. The next tester might have other 'pet fails' (IF that is what you've got).................and it will cost to find out!

[beko1987]

Found a letter advising me that my car doesnt have a parking permit flapping under my wiper at lunchtime. So I wrote an email to the security bloke asking if they had any other option than sticking it to the glass, as they melt into it through experience. He replied saying I should just leave it on the cardboard backing, and leave it on the dash.

 

He obviously missed the point I made about things sliding or blowing off my dash due to its design. Decided to file his email under C for cunts and carry on not having a parking permit. 

 

The letter (standard things that gets wheeled out twice a year, its been photocopied so many times its fading itself) threatens clamping with a release fee. We are on private land, should I feel safe telling them to fuck off and do one?

 

Oh, and Pistonheads, fuck them. Replied to a thread about missing wheel bolts, regailing my story about the xm missing one for most of its life and having been fine and someone took offence to it. Although I await him being torn apart for being a prick, I'm not going to post on there anymore, jumped up pricks.

 

Could we have a shed of the week feature on here? But rather than it being a grand, make it £450 or something fun? (yes I know about the tat thread etc)

[trigger]

That shed thread idea would be great! I'm shit at putting pen to paper though so would struggle to write anything worth reading.

[Bobthebeard]

This.....

On my recently purchased 1984 944. "Sills professionally replaced and all welding done for MOT."

 

Poked the rust blisters in the 'professionally replaced' sills, and holes got steadily larger, got grinder out and... Oh look what inner crispiness lies beneath the outer.

Arse.

[Cavcraft]

Yahoo:. What the fuck have you done to mail? It's eye bleedingly awful and seemingly it can't be changed back to how it was.

[Bobthebeard]

Yahoo:. What the fuck have you done to mail? It's eye bleedingly awful and seemingly it can't be changed back to how it was.

Agreed!

Yahoo (aptly named) took over Sky Email recently. It is now officially horrible to behold and a shadow of its former self. Also it is shit.

[mattblack]

Found a letter advising me that my car doesnt have a parking permit flapping under my wiper at lunchtime. So I wrote an email to the security bloke asking if they had any other option than sticking it to the glass, as they melt into it through experience. He replied saying I should just leave it on the cardboard backing, and leave it on the dash.

 

He obviously missed the point I made about things sliding or blowing off my dash due to its design. Decided to file his email under C for cunts and carry on not having a parking permit. 

 

The letter (standard things that gets wheeled out twice a year, its been photocopied so many times its fading itself) threatens clamping with a release fee. We are on private land, should I feel safe telling them to fuck off and do one?

 

Oh, and Pistonheads, fuck them. Replied to a thread about missing wheel bolts, regailing my story about the xm missing one for most of its life and having been fine and someone took offence to it. Although I await him being torn apart for being a prick, I'm not going to post on there anymore, jumped up pricks.

 

Could we have a shed of the week feature on here? But rather than it being a grand, make it £450 or something fun? (yes I know about the tat thread etc)

A place where I used to work bought out parking permits for employees, no idea why as we weren't near anywhere that some random would want to park up and walk to. Anyway, we were supposed to stick them on the screen but as I was running 2 cars at the time I used to leave mine the wrong way up in the dead centre of the dash so the security bod had to crick his neck to see it.

[Lord Sterling]

So, I had a fairly good day, I got rid of my old computer after stripping the hard drives and CD/DVD rom. I submitted my other computer (which I swapped a car stereo for) for upgrade as well as Sis's laptop for repairs. I got my car a little more tidied up and what do I come home to? Bastard little chavs standing right outside leaning up against my gate hanging around, one of them tried to open my own gate for me.

 

I'll be grabbing the older brother for word, I've had enough of this.

[Tetleysmooth]

Yet another reason I'm pissed off with driving. I'm in my lorry as I write this. Delivering to Colchester store tonight. You leave the A12 and go up the Avenue of Remembrance at the end of which is a roundabout. I went straight on only to be faced on the other side by two geezers in a Focus coming straight at me on my side of the road. The driver was jumping the queue on his side of the road. What do you reckon happened? He gave me a friendly wave while saying sorry. Nope. I got the middle finger. Just watched a cabbie and a cyclist jump the red light at the Hythe level crossing. Bloody close to having his car clouted by the barrier. WHY?

[trigger]

That's Colchester for you, Some total bellends drive there! And that Hythe crossing is for buses only, I've seen loads of people knicked for crossing that.

[Negative Creep]

That's Colchester for you, Some total bellends drive there! And that Hythe crossing is for buses only, I've seen loads of people knicked for crossing that.

 

 

You forget that minicabs and cyclists are exempt from all road laws

[phil_lihp]

Oi, not all of us!  It makes my blood boil when I see other cyclists behaving like that - I've actually been sat on my bike at red lights and been passed by a lycra-clad muppet who's decided the rules don't apply to him and expressed my feelings verbally but to no avail.  Unfortunately, it's the few who do that sort of thing who draw attention to themselves and then end up marking every cyclist out as a twat.  

 

It is my belief that if you make a conscious decision to do stupid, inconsiderate things, you do rather invite the consequences, although that applies to many things, not just cycling.