The grumpy thread

[andy18s]

Good luck with that.

A lot of places won't fit if they don't supply them....saying that they are leaving themselves open to trouble if something happens down the line...

[andy18s]

Thinking of wings, pattern parts etc. What if someone with a second-hand press bought up all the old dies from manufacturers when a car ends production. These dies cost millions to make, but presumably get scrapped at the end of a production run. Keep 'em all in a warehouse, and then stamp out small runs of parts on demand.

 

Presumably that would make for an entirely unprofitable business.

Used to work for Stadco UK which have all the old Saltofix/Hadrian dies literally lying about various yards and depots.....

[myglaren]

Well, it is insurance time once more - alerted by an email from Confused - an apt description.

I can't remember who my current insurers are, must check that before the autorenew.

 

Had a trawl around and Confused is the lowest quote.  Some of the other verge on the ridiculous.

 

Looked at the Co-Op one but made no sense of it.

Adrian Flux seems to be 'phone only and I don't do 'phones.

Admiral couldn't offer anything at all.

1st Central got stuck on the second driver form.

 

There is a lot of ambiguity - they seem to presume the car won't be used at night, whereas my son uses it for work where it is in a supervised private car park.

They also seem to think I have lived here since birth or am an immigrant where neither is the case.

Sick of it now, throwing in the towel.

 

But the grump is that I have seen many recommendations on here and the FCF but failed to note them and forgotten them all (as usual).

[dean36014]

Sold Punto and paid of credit card to leave me 150 quid a month better off. Got hope this morning from work to find the cat on the bed with an extremely bloodied paw, the halfway looking like a scene from texas chainsaw masacre, and various dead animals dissected.. One vets visit later, pain killer jab, antibiotics jab, consultant fees and £88 worse off. Got to take her back Monday for another assessment as she's ripped her claw out and has a wound in her pad and might need surgery. The final indignity was obviously feeling poorly only just left the vets and she had a crap on the blanket in her cat box, drove home with the ZX windows wide open gagging for breath! Thank god for pet insurance....shame its a £90 excess. Oh and I'm typing this on a 6 year old toshiba laptop thats currently dieing. Depression kicking in big time again, would just like a break for a change.

[Sheefag]

myglaren, the insurance price comparison websites are a sponsored stitch-up, walk into a local insurance broker's office and prepare to be pleasantly surprised/enlightened, as I was.

 

https://www.yell.com/s/insurance+brokers-washington-tyne+and+wear.html

[myglaren]

That sounds like a plan but access to insurance brokers offices is a severe problem unfortunately.

Years since I used one and they were anything but cheap.

 

Will have a look around though.  Thanks.

 

Tried AgeUK as I had a letter from them recently - won't accept the postcode of where that car is kept overnight - but it accepted it as my home address.

insuranceshite!

[Ghosty]

 

Adrian Flux seems to be 'phone only and I don't do 'phones.

 

 

Flux are on GoCompare I think - they currently hold the accolade for the cheapest insurance quote I've managed to get - £550ish for a Triumph 2000. From what people have told me they're to be avoided though.

[chaseracer]

^ FANTASTIC!!

 

(sorry...)

[richardmorris]

Walking back to the merc this morning in the supermarket carpark I saw something glistening in the n/s rear tyre. Grr nail head- or completely worn off screw. I was planning on getting a new pair very soon as they were wearing down, but had hoped to put it off another month. Also the nearside one was about 1mm more worn ( completely down to wear indicator on two of the bands) than the off side which still has enough above the marker to catch a fingernail.

 

Goodyear efficient grip performance 195/65/15 91v at £116 a pair from etyres fitting Monday. Merit tyre which are local to Bagshot were £10 less but fitting was Wednesday at the earliest which was no good.

 

This big merc does like tyres- I put continentals on when I bought it four years and 32,000 miles ago. Then the goodyears. This is the third set on the back which makes them last about 16k. At least they're not too expensive.

[155V6]

Part worn tyre place put prices up. Need to find a tyre fitter who can fit internet bought tyres

Find yourself a friendly self-employed mechanic who has a tyre fitting machine.He won't be trying to sell you any tyres,so should do it for a few quid 

[bub2006]

I'm looking for one. Cheers

[Lacquer Peel]

[bub2006]

Or buy a big bar and do it the old fashioned way!

[michael1703]

Keith Gold size 5 GRP will take two ff helmets easily.

Size 3 panniers were colossal! (Great for A1(?) size artwork)

Keith gold boxes crack but givi monokey e46's squash nicely.

 

I must have worked for most courier companies in London but never worked at delta

[Cavcraft]

We bought one of those really basic 'walk round' tyre fitting things from Machine Mart, just about does the job. I still have a TL (bead breaker) bar somewhere and a large lump hammer. Steel wheels are easy, alloys are a nightmare.

[dave21478]

i must need my fuckin' head examining.

 

i've just spent £250 on a pair of genuine Rover Austin-Rover Metro wings. Got Rover stickers and holograms still stuck on and everything!

 

and Marvin doesn't even need new wings (yet....)

 

Experience with Kerry's Metro has been that pattern parts CAN be made to fit, eventually, reasonably well where as a genuine wing drops straight on, and the swage lines etc will match up without any extra buggering about.

 

As i've got a spare pair of pattern wings already, i'll sell those on to help pay for the proper ones i've bought.

 

as i say, i iz idiot.....

 

also the Thailand bombing, didn't they pick up some ouji chinese muslim refugee type who they accuse of doing the dirty deed? 

 

Normal.

Im collecting spares for a car I havent even bought yet.

[dave21478]

19th of June in the south of France and I have lit the fucking log fire, its so cold. Its been pishing down for literally months. The odd clear day or two has done nothing to dry things out and the rain is a constant fine drizzle that soaks into everything, interspersed with biblically heavy thunder storms. Rivers are flooding, ground is saturated and its just fucking miserable.

I cant get the Metro or the Panda out of where they are parked.....the Metro gets 8 feet before bogging down in the mud. The Panda would probably manage it but I dont want to churn the lawn up any more than it already is.

This is supposed to by pretty much the busiest time of the year for me work-wise, but I am sat on my ass looking out the window at the rain instead. Oh and if Im not working, Im not earning. Brilliant.

[HH-R]

I've never, ever, had a successful online transaction with Verified by Visa or Mastercard Securecode with any card provider. I FUCKING HATE the bastard.

 

Also: car insurance. Was £289 on Friday or something. Go to buy today, can't - got to click recalculate. £5 more today with the same details. I wanted to buy online so I didn't have to use the phone and talk to someone, but Hastings still makes you fucking ring them up to say you don't want the renewal that's nearly double the price. I also now need to contact them again to tell them that they don't have carte blance with my card for a continuous payment authority like I did last year, something you have to allow them to do to buy their insurance. For "refreshingly straightforward insurance", they're pretty frustrating.

[Eddie Honda]

Keith gold boxes crack but givi monokey e46's squash nicely.

 

I must have worked for most courier companies in London but never worked at delta

Nothing that bit of matting and a splodge of resin doesn't sort out (mate did GRP roofing, so had loads of materials in the garage)

 

Delta became City Sprint around 1998. They used to dish out KG size 1 panniers and size 3 top boxes along with the obligatory radio and pager.

 

I already had the size 3 panniers and size 5 top box which I bought when I was working for Apollo in Glasgow (Later Hayes Apollo). The size 3 panniers are the same bottom half as the size 2, but with a taller 6" lid. The Kawasaki cast rack was chucked and a two piece one made by a mate from 1/2" square tube, old gudgeon pins, 20 B&H and an all-nighter. The panniers were pulled in as close as you get whilst retaining a pillion seat (fat-arsed birds need not apply) and had to clear the exhaust. The rear indicators where ditched for shorter-stemmed ones to fit in the gap and I fitted a standard (portrait) number plate (2 liner as it was a low number). The top box was fitted long-ways over the pillion seat as it would have been to high/far back. When carrying a pillion it was removed, or if circumstances dictated and empty, turned 180 degrees on its two mounting bolts to hang out back.

 

The fairing is a Mk5 Acrybre Products Wedge. (Formerly Churchgate Mouldings, Acrybre sold on to Skidmarx) The absolute widest point (by a couple of cm) was the upper fairing at the front and the widest point lower down were the panniers. Filtering on the bike wasn't too difficult at all providing you kept the thing bolt-upright and aimed well. The panniers often attracted comments about their size, including from the plod, but were great for carrying lots of crap instead of calling in a van.

 

The fairing I first fitted to a GPZ305, one of my fucking stupid ideas. (Interesting* to ride in the slightest breeze)

N48PGG 004 by E Honda, on Flickr

 

KG Size 5 on a SV650. Secondhand pillion seat bought and bolted to a block of wood under the vinyl. Box could be swapped over quickly for the original pillion seat. To the right you can see the framework for those megaboxes (from the GT550) attached to a GT750.

DSCF0001 by E Honda, on Flickr

 

For ultimate crashability, Craven Equipment Corcordes are pretty decent.

[myglaren]

I've never, ever, had a successful online transaction with Verified by Visa or Mastercard Securecode with any card provider. I FUCKING HATE the bastard.

 

Also: car insurance. Was £289 on Friday or something. Go to buy today, can't - got to click recalculate. £5 more today with the same details. I wanted to buy online so I didn't have to use the phone and talk to someone, but Hastings still makes you fucking ring them up to say you don't want the renewal that's nearly double the price. I also now need to contact them again to tell them that they don't have carte blance with my card for a continuous payment authority like I did last year, something you have to allow them to do to buy their insurance. For "refreshingly straightforward insurance", they're pretty frustrating.

Only twice had a problem with the Visa verification, once when I forgot my password and guessed it (wrong ) and then buying a phone from Tesco but their computers went haywire.

 

As for Hastings, I was about to insure with them.  May reconsider that one then.

[Dave_Q]

Surface dressing.

 

You know, that thing where they lob a load of gravel down on a thin layer of glue or something instead of ever actually fixing the roads.

 

Whoever invented it needs a slap. Been out on my pushbike today, the stuff is a nightmare to ride on, uphill or down.

 

Not to mention the damage to cars from the loose chippings.

 

In this case there wasn't anything wrong with the roads they've done either.

 

Just stop it.

[Bren]

Women.

 

Me on the phone to wife "I'm lost."

 

Wife "where?"

 

Me "If I knew that I would'nt be lost would I?"

 

National geographic often point out that large swathes of Siberia and northern Canada have yet to be fully explored - they need to include Chorley as well.

[HH-R]

Only twice had a problem with the Visa verification, once when I forgot my password and guessed it (wrong ) and then buying a phone from Tesco but their computers went haywire.

 

As for Hastings, I was about to insure with them.  May reconsider that one then.

 

They've been OK, other than the renewals process is stupid. The best company I've been with for not having to talk to anyone was Swiftcover. Most changes could be made through the website, they even encouraged you to do this by making it gratis but charging an admin fee if you rang them. They want an extra £100 a year though :/

[Tamworthbay]

If you don't want to talk to anyone go with quote me happy, problem comes when you actually WANT to talk to someone and the fuckers don't want to know. They should be called quote me happy but piss me off the rest of the year.

[myglaren]

One of my daughters was with Swiftcover and couldn't get a no claims certificate from them when she changed.

[254575]

ugh.

 

steel wheels with tyres are the hardest things to dispose of. not allowed at dump, scrap man wont have them if they have tyres on. I've also had no success with ebay listings for 99p 

[myglaren]

Tried Swiftcover and turned down.

 

One of the problems is overnight parking - my son works nights and it is in their secure car park overnight but there is no provision to explain this.

[Tamworthbay]

One of my daughters was with Swiftcover and couldn't get a no claims certificate from them when she changed.

quote me unhappy day to use the new quote as evidence of no claims, only problem is that no other insurer will accept that. Dickheads.

[Cavcraft]

Facebook 'for sale' pages can an be useful for old steels and tyres, people often want them to put on cars they're scrapping so the can keep their lots.

[beko1987]

ugh.

 

steel wheels with tyres are the hardest things to dispose of. not allowed at dump, scrap man wont have them if they have tyres on. I've also had no success with ebay listings for 99p

My local tip allows 4 a year, with paperwork to sign. Thats how I got rid of the 3 old ones from the zxq