The grumpy thread

[forddeliveryboy]

The whole moving world's changing into one bloody massive strobe effect with all the LEDs. I first noticed it on bus tail and stop lamps, it's not a huge distraction but there nonetheless. Since my LED headtorch has a fantastic wide, even beam why can't the council find lights with the same? At least all the heavy wiring for street lighting which is now unnecessary could be used to make hookups for EV charging points.

[Cavcraft]

The street lights at my local hospital are terrible. A sort of orange half-arsed gloom that doesn't really light the road up, with the added bonus* of being on a bend outside maternity near a pedestrian crossing. At least A&E is close by though.

[captain_70s]

I too am irritated by the new street lights which manage to be dazzling while illuminating very little.

 

Seems like a pretty impressive waste of time and money to me.

 

Even more so when they're putting new ones on every week 'cause street lamp ID number plates become drunk teenagers favourite new collectable.

[Kiltox]

I must be the odd one out - I love the LED street lighting and think it's a vast improvement - the light doesn't scatter anywhere near as far so it lights what is important and not the windows of every house in the street!

[panhard65]

They have fitted a few of these new led street lights near me an they are fucking shit if it's foggy. It's like trying to drive with main beam on and you can see bugger all. The old ones have the softer light and don't reflect back so you can see where you are going. Progress eh ?

[NorfolkNWeigh]

Oooooooh Street lights...

Up here the council have cable tied two signs on every single street lamp and illuminated road sign: one an I.d. number and the other a contact number for reporting faults.

Seems like a pretty impressive waste of time and money to me.

In Milton Keynes, where there are about 4 million street lamps and signs, they took an old school approach to this.

An old giffer painted ID numbers on every one with a stencil and paintbrush, it took him about 2 years, his high tech equipment included a milk-crate to stand on. I often wondered how much time it would have saved just by employing a taller bloke.

When the council cut the verges they have three 7.5 tonners with impact absorbing concertina things and flashing chevrons blocking a lane 1/2 a mile before the mower, this old giffer had a scruffy black 3 door SAAB 900 with the hazards on , which he moved along every 3 or 4 posts. Nobody died....although saying that I haven't seen him for a couple of years.

[AMC Rebel]

I must be the odd one out - I love the LED street lighting and think it's a vast improvement - the light doesn't scatter anywhere near as far so it lights what is important and not the windows of every house in the street!

 

No you aren't, I love them.

[AMC Rebel]

When the council cut the verges they have three 7.5 tonners with impact absorbing concertina things and flashing chevrons blocking a lane 1/2 a mile before the mower, 

 

Severn Trent around here get a temporary traffic light permit, then cone off a vast (empty) area and leave the lights going 24/7 for the entire duration of the permit totally regardless of the work going on and whatever chaos they are causing.

[AMC Rebel]

The whole moving world's changing into one bloody massive strobe effect with all the LEDs. I first noticed it on bus tail and stop lamps, it's not a huge distraction but there nonetheless. Since my LED headtorch has a fantastic wide, even beam why can't the council find lights with the same? At least all the heavy wiring for street lighting which is now unnecessary could be used to make hookups for EV charging points.

 

I think the strobe effect is where they are using pulse width modulation to control the brightness - that's how they make the transition between tail and stop on most of them.

[Richard]

This picture shows off the strobe effect quite nicely. I had my head torch on low power while I ran around with a flashgun trying (unsuccessfully as it turned out) to light the whole area. At least I seem to be good at moving at a constant speed.

 

DSC_2716 by RichardB5, on Flickr

[beko1987]

Drove most of the way down the M40 thinking I had a soft tyre or some other issue, turns out it's just a bit windy, and when I drove past a gap in the tree's I got blown about. Was most odd

[nebuchenezer]

Drivers of Somerset:

 

Fog lights are only to be used when visibility is less than 100 yards due to fog. 

 

Got that ?

 

An apology as well - my name is Angus and I have clearly lost control of my storm, it is even pissing me off now.

[jon928se]

This picture shows off the strobe effect quite nicely. I had my head torch on low power while I ran around with a flashgun trying (unsuccessfully as it turned out) to light the whole area. At least I seem to be good at moving at a constant speed.

 

DSC_2716 by RichardB5, on Flickr

Why have you got a tractor with no front wheels in a cave?

 

I quite enjoy the news footage of people punching each other to buy a TV that nobody has ever heard of. Especially knowing that when the victor proudly arrives home they find it was fucked in the melee.

 

I had a grump tonight as some dick in a Smart car accelerated into a gap I was indicating into and committed to which nearly forced me into some cones. Wanker. However you can imagine my delight when later on someone else refused to let him in and the balance of the universe was restored. For extra karma points, Mr Smart then accelerated around the car that wouldn't let him in and massively clouted a kerb in the process. I heard the crump from two cars back. Hopefully a fucked alloy and tyre justified the willy waving and the gain of two car lengths in the queue.

 

Sent from my Tab2A7-20F using Tapatalk

[Richard]

It's a mine. There are two Bedford KMs, a Mk3 Zephyr, a Morris Minor, several Minis and bits thereof and a Bedford CA down there, among other things.

[Richard]

And an otter.

[r.welfare]

Felt a thump manoeuvring into a parking space this morning, then it appeared the car had lost drive. Got out to find my front wheels pointing inwards and only one responding to input from the steering wheel. Tie rod had pulled out at the rack end on the nearside. Had the tracking done a couple of weeks ago - wonder if related?

 

Car recovered to garage where they will fit new tie rods and track rod ends both sides. Verdict is I was very lucky - the effect at speed would have nasty, although I hope it was the low-speed strain that exposed the issue.

[Guest Hooli]

Car recovered to garage where they will fit new tie rods and track rod ends both sides. Verdict is I was very lucky - the effect at speed would have nasty, although I hope it was the low-speed strain that exposed the issue.

 

Maybe not.

 

The castor (or something) means the wheel should follow where the car is going, the same as when you A-frame a car. Indeed I'm sure a Le Mans car once came into the pits in the good old days with a broken trackrod & it was only a marshal seeing it that stopped it being sent back out when they found a replacement.

 

 

As to street lamps, I'm undecided. We've got the LED ones now, they are a horrible light & our village looks a lot less quaint but at least they don't shine in our windows. I'm sure we'll all get a reduction in council tax now the leccy bill has come down right?

[Guest Hooli]

Oh forgot the main grump.

 

OI FUCKNUGGETS if you want to drive really slowly because it's raining then DON'T bloody move to the third lane & get in everyone's way FFS.

[Mr_Bo11ox]

Maybe not.

 

The castor (or something) means the wheel should follow where the car is going, the same as when you A-frame a car. Indeed I'm sure a Le Mans car once came into the pits in the good old days with a broken trackrod & it was only a marshal seeing it that stopped it being sent back out when they found a replacement.

 

 

Eh? The wheels are only going to follow if they are held relative to each other, not if they are flopping around all over the shop with a busted track rod.

[Pillock]

Yeah, surely it's the connection between the wheels - they'll be fighting to go in opposite directions but each pulls the other into line. 

[Coprolalia]

The building I run clinics in is collapsing with all the heavy rain. It's a brutalist 1930s concrete box, and the two floors above us have been derelict for years. Now the rain has started coming through the ceiling of our ground floor offices, washing the fluids from the rotting vermin above down onto us. We've doubled up in another part of the building for the time being and abandoned the rooms that are flooded.

 

NHS Management verdict - "oh that sounds grim".

[Bobthebeard]

Well, the MG ZT saga moves on. After replacing timing belts, cooling fan, tyres and generally lavishing ££££, hours and affection on the car it now wants more. After (slowly) negotiating a speed bump a strange clunking creaking noise from the rear. Jacked the car up, but found nothing obviously broken. Removed offside rear wheel and find rub marks on the inside face of the rim and a shiny bolt in wheel arch. Bugger. Offside rear wheel is leaning in at the top over an inch more than the nearside. New suspension arm needed then. Rust has taken it's toll.

Back to the local friendly garage then.... Beyond my capabilities and just don't have the equipment to do the job on the driveway.

[panhard65]

Well, the MG ZT saga moves on. After replacing timing belts, cooling fan, tyres and generally lavishing ££££, hours and affection on the car it now wants more. After (slowly) negotiating a speed bump a strange clunking creaking noise from the rear. Jacked the car up, but found nothing obviously broken. Removed offside rear wheel and find rub marks on the inside face of the rim and a shiny bolt in wheel arch. Bugger. Offside rear wheel is leaning in at the top over an inch more than the nearside. New suspension arm needed then. Rust has taken it's toll.

Back to the local friendly garage then.... Beyond my capabilities and just don't have the equipment to do the job on the driveway.

That bloody car ! It must be virtually new by now with the amount of work it has had done to it. Then how does it repay all the love bestowed on it, by breaking the rear suspension arm. I have a customer with a mk4 Golf that has played the same game this year. Nearly 2 grand spent on it with a clutch, flywheel, cam belt, fuel cooler etc. Then it was back last week with 2 rumbling front wheel bearings which was the final straw and saw it being p/exed for a Kia.

[Bobthebeard]

That bloody car ! It must be virtually new by now with the amount of work it has had done to it. Then how does it repay all the love bestowed on it, by breaking the rear suspension arm. I have a customer with a mk4 Golf that has played the same game this year. Nearly 2 grand spent on it with a clutch, flywheel, cam belt, fuel cooler etc. Then it was back last week with 2 rumbling front wheel bearings which was the final straw and saw it being p/exed for a Kia.

I know, I know.... The amount of work done by you, me and others is staggering. Still I love the car. Some cars just get to you. This one has got to me. The look it now has after all the paint work rectification and the (now) black alloys, the sound of the V6 on the new stainless open exhaust system etc etc....

A keeper. At (almost) any price really.

[Bobthebeard]

Admittedly I did know that the offside suspension arm was crusty. It failed the MOT on the rust in Scotland but I needed to get it home to Lytham after the end of the static caravan season. The MOT guy missed the rot in the arm on the second MOT at home, just failing it for holes in the inner sills. Now welded up. Seems the crust in the suspension arm was pretty terminal though. New bits are around £120 it seems. Not too horrendous.

[DVee8]

Umm may just have a problem..

The year old air filter and the new one.

 

 

 

[twosmoke300]

Dirty on both sides ? Breather issues ?

[garbaldy]

.

Back to the local friendly garage then.... Beyond my capabilities and just don't have the equipment to do the job on the driveway.

Hold on a mo you fitted a cambelt but don't think changing a rear arm is doable

[beko1987]

its half removed itself already for you!

[tooSavvy]

Ahh <nostalgia> ... Guy at my works sold on his 100A. The lad buying it was off the shopfloor and took 3 mates home.... POINGG.... one rear wheel made its bid for freedom

 

StressTesting... TO Destruction...

 

 

TS