The grumpy thread

[Metal Guru]

Driving back from my mother's house this pm, 100 miles , mix of fast A roads and motorway. Rain all the way , not particularly heavy , but standing water everywhere, especially on new or recently resurfaced sections.
Do we  not have roads with cambers anymore so water drains away? FFS the Romans managed that.

 

[beko1987]

7 hours ago, Metal Guru said:

Driving back from my mother's house this pm, 100 miles , mix of fast A roads and motorway. Rain all the way , not particularly heavy , but standing water everywhere, especially on new or recently resurfaced sections.
Do we  not have roads with cambers anymore so water drains away? FFS the Romans managed that.

 

M40 was very flooded on Tuesday across Lane 3 and 2 by High Wycombe. 

All our local roads are flooding because the leaves are blocking the drains. I kicked a puddle free the other day and drained a huge corner by work

[Metal Guru]

1 hour ago, beko1987 said:

M40 was very flooded on Tuesday across Lane 3 and 2 by High Wycombe. 

All our local roads are flooding because the leaves are blocking the drains. I kicked a puddle free the other day and drained a huge corner by work

Well drain cleaning is another matter (could also go in the “things you don’t see anymore “ thread). I think I’ve seen the gutter sweeping lorry about once a year round our town, for just a day, so most of the roads probably get cleaned about every 3 years.

[beko1987]

8 minutes ago, Metal Guru said:

Well drain cleaning is another matter (could also go in the “things you don’t see anymore “ thread). I think I’ve seen the gutter sweeping lorry about once a year round our town, for just a day, so most of the roads probably get cleaned about every 3 years.

I take my son out for a walk and let him do it for half an hour! He loves doing it and it's free local fun.

Our local litter picking group tend to sort the drains as we find them which is handy, but the nowhere ones in the dirt parts of my estate tend to get full of mud alot

[Pieman]

16 minutes ago, Metal Guru said:

Well drain cleaning is another matter (could also go in the “things you don’t see anymore “ thread). I think I’ve seen the gutter sweeping lorry about once a year round our town, for just a day, so most of the roads probably get cleaned about every 3 years.

Gutter cleaning lorry does come round here occasionally, but can never clean most of the roads because of endless parked cars.

[gm]

i am more than a little pissed off at mx5parts (where i have been a customer for 15+ years)

i spotted a brake disc / pad deal on ebay 

reading the description i noticed 

so i emailed to query the price - fair enough they admitted it was a mistake and corrected it straight away - at £104.95 it’s still a good deal so i placed an order 

this is the updated description 

so i quite reasonably expected ebc ultimax pads to arrive

not this shite

i’ve emailed to complain and request a swap, i note they have amended the description again 

i’d expect this sort of thing from europarts but mx5parts have always been very reliable if slightly pricey 

[cobblers]

2 hours ago, gm said:

so i quite reasonably expected ebc ultimax pads to arrive

not this shite

I have ended up with EBC ultimax pads on a couple of vehicles and they are absolutely dogshit so I wouldn't get too upset.

[gm]

I've used ultimax pads in the past and they've been ok, not quite up to brembo standard but better than the cheapo rubbish they sent me - they're swapping them over but that will take time and the car is currently undriveable as I completely wrecked the pads last week on track  

although that was a lot of fun  

 

[Lankytim]

Ordered a used brake caliper for the Laguna from eBay. It turned up today and the box was absolutely battered to death, the seller had wrapped the caliper in cling film and put it in a thin cardboard box without any other packaging materials. The caliper had had a good go at battering it’s way out of the fluid soaked box and it’s sheer luck it didn’t escape in transit. The caliper itself has signs of being dropped onto concrete floors etc and is covered in scrapes. It’s not even the same caliper from the advert although it should still do the trick. I paid a little extra on this specific item as it looked pretty new in the images but the one I’ve got is pretty rusty and used. 
 

Obv I won’t communicate any of this to the seller and will probably leave pristine feedback. 

[horriblemercedes]

1 hour ago, gm said:

I've used ultimax pads in the past and they've been ok, not quite up to brembo standard but better than the cheapo rubbish they sent me - they're swapping them over but that will take time and the car is currently undriveable as I completely wrecked the pads last week on track  

although that was a lot of fun  

 

I tried all sorts of pads on my MX-5 (it was an NC, however) and I never found one that was as good as Stoptech

 

I hadn't heard of them before, but they were outstanding. Great on road or track, never faded and lasted ages. 100% recommended. They were a bit of a pain to get, but I think Co-OrdSport managed to get them for me

[barefoot]

1 hour ago, Lankytim said:

Obv I won’t communicate any of this to the seller and will probably leave pristine feedback. 

You should post him a box containing nothing but a glass of used gearbox oil marked 'this way up'.

[hairnet]

On 11/1/2022 at 11:01 PM, mk2_craig said:

 

BACK ON TRACK

how on earth do you fall asleep in birmingham

at all?

*blown

[mk2_craig]

Alcoholic beverages and bellyful of food.

[MikeR]

Southport ,

went in today and had a nosey around a shop and then walked back out , into the path of a pavement cyclist who was rolling his joint .

needless to say he dropped his joint all over the pavement , legs and arms all over the place , I reversed back into the shop door way as he tumbled past saying "sorry sorry mate !! )

went back in this evening to a chocalate shop do and on the way back home ,this  guy , spliff in hand , walks off the pavement right in front of us !!!

thank good the wife was high on her G&T who she would of got out and  murdered him as the boot was full of xmas choccies !

[New POD]

50 minutes ago, MikeR said:

Southport .

 

That, my friend was your first mistake

 

[Remspoor]

On 11/2/2022 at 9:45 PM, Mally said:

Is the pedal heavy to press?

If so all is probably well with the thrust bearing. As said plate has grown into pressure plate and flywheel.

I've started them up in second gear, with clutch pedal down before today, and shot off down the road.

Keep your foot on the clutch and bang the brake pedal hard a few times.

Beware Nuns and Kittens, and put it in neutral as a last resort.

I never ever said or did this of course.

It is all sorted the car has moved under it's own power-

The pedal was not soft. I done what had been suggested. Support the rear wheels warm the engine up and floor it drop the clutch.

I tried all 3 forward gears, plus reverse. The car would not turn the rear wheels. I could start the car in gear and it did not make any difference. I had given up and had the car back on all four wheels. But I thought just one last go. Started the car, clutch down into gear and it gradually moved. no smelling of clutch burn either. Why it took so many attempts of revving and clutch up and downing I do not know.

I took videos of what was happening. But I could not seem to edit them well. So none at the moment on here.

Many thanks for all of your suggestions.

[Metal Guru]

14 hours ago, Pieman said:

Gutter cleaning lorry does come round here occasionally, but can never clean most of the roads because of endless parked cars.

Probably why they don’t bother. The ones you see tend to be private companies , so the councils probably got rid of their own and just contract it out for someone’s pal to make a profit.

[Pieman]

Yes it's a private company, I know because I've commentated on the owner of it racing at Mallory Park!  He's got a spaceframe Audi TT hot rod style thing, and lives in my home town - he mostly does sprints and hillclimbs in it but usually races at the Boxing Day meeting at Mallory.

[chaseracer]

Would this be the company with yellow trucks that takes its name from the town?

[gm]

oh bugger !

not an actual breakdown, just a lying wee shite of a fuel gauge  

fortunately only a short walk to a petrol station but i felt very uneasy leaving it unattended on the slip road 

[gm]

this is bone dry empty

[anonymous user]

I have had a few cars like that, they only caught me out once 

[Sham]

Is that because the float isn't on full droop before it hits the base of the tank, or a faulty gauge?

Either way, should be relatively easy to fix .. or just do what everyone else would do and  refuel at ½. 😃

[gm]

i normally fill up at half for that very reason, ironically i was turning off the a1 to fill up when it conked !

the dash has had aftermarket dial faces fitted at some point, i presume the needle has been put on wonky, i’ll need to carry a jerry can and run it dry again to recalibrate it. 

then i’ll do it all again when i fit the digi dash 

[hairnet]

2 hours ago, gm said:

this is bone dry empty

been there and it was mx5 based

lying cnut gauge

least it wasnt techincally a breakdown

[High Jetter]

6 months ago I organized a business meeting for a dozen people in London for early this month. All come from different parts of the country, by train. Then strike action was announced for that very day so cue much time consuming to-ing and fro-ing of emails to rearrange for 3 weeks later. Now the strikes have been cancelled grrr.....

[Neil clark]

Just fixed mortgage for another 2 years, Jesus christ......

[Spurious]

Fell asleep on the last train home last night. Should have got off in Huddersfield.  Ended up in Mirfield after the last bus and no other trains, it was an expensive taxi back home. Still, glad I woke up and didn't end up in York as I'd still be there now...

[jakebullet]

Second week in a row I've found the C1 damaged in the mrs's flat car park. Bit impossible to work out the cunt responsible as they all look like they've been parked by braille. 

[bunglebus]

I must be getting old, it's like the battle of the Somme outside and a huge one has exploded right outside the window as I was standing there. Fireworks can fuck off unless it's an organised display. I used to enjoy them but the more I learn about the harm they do to wildlife and distress they cause pets, the less I like them