The grumpy thread

[dollywobbler]

Certainly a consideration. The Maverick was marvellous for loosening its own wheelnuts. Pretty sure it wasn't a rogue neighbour as we don't seem to get them in these parts, and that's the only car I've ever had a problem with.

[vulgalour]

We're sure it's a neighbour, there's good reason to think so.  Also, the Princess has never had the habit of undoing her own wheel nuts, ever, and this is the first time she's spent a good amount of time on the street rather than on the drive so I'm more suspicious of foul play than mechanical quirk.  There's other random petty acts that have happened too, and the verbal abuse, and the malicious rumour mongering.  Frankly, I'd be surprised if the person I think it is didn't have a hand in it they seem to have taken particular exception to me since I stood up against them for being malicious and poisonous about a family member.  I'll just be happy when I move, I could do without this shit really.

[Lacquer Peel]

That's awful Vulga. Is it worth installing wheel nut caps? It'll make it a bit less easy to tamper with.

[vulgalour]

It is the next job, really, in the meantime I'll just keep her off the street at all times, even if it's inconvenient.

[maxpower]

It is the next job, really, in the meantime I'll just keep her off the street at all times, even if it's inconvenient.

 

And don't forget that truck load of manure to be delivered to the suspect neighbour's drive when they are out at work

[vulgalour]

Yeah, last time they told me it was attempted manslaughter/murder.  Got a local officer coming out later today to have a word, he'll go round all the neighbours again, quite a few of whom are genuinely horrified about it.  The annoying thing is I can't prove anything and I can't say with 100% certainty that the people I suspect are the people responsible.  There's things that seem more than coincidental for it happening though so I'll just pass what I suspect on to the police and hope it doesn't happen again, I can't believe it happened at all let alone twice in the space of about a month.

[HillmanImp]

I never thought about it before but maybe I am not the buffoon I thought I was, forgetting to do the wheels up after each time I take them off. Maybe someone is trying to kill me. But who? TBH, it could be anyone. I will take my chances.

 

If someone is doing the wheels that is pretty serious but the police wont five a fuck unless they catch them doing it (and what can they do them for then I wonder), or something happens. I would suggest a good shoeing from you and some mates to whoever you suspect in a dark alley, thats legal and the only fair solution.

 

You can trust me on this too as I am an anonymous person on t'interweb. I have a law degree, used to be a high ranking policeman and work as an exotic sportscar mechanic most weekends when I am not knobbing my supermodel wife, so know about shoeing people AND wheels AND knobbing supermodels. 

[Wilko220]

I don't see how there can be such thing as "attempted manslaughter" - that's a contradiction in terms, surely?

Very serious business though. I hope they catch the bastards.

[Rocket88]

Any chance of getting 16 locking wheel nuts cheap?

[Conrad D. Conelrad]

Or a damn CCTV camera pointing at the car so you can see who might be trying to kill you FFS. 

 

"Oh dear, someone has put arsenic in my lunch again. Maybe I should buy some locking tupperware, that'll take care of it".

[Mr_Bo11ox]

Simply remove the wheelnuts and lock them away so they cannot be tampered with

[Barry Cade]

Any chance of getting 16 locking wheel nuts cheap?

That'll f*uck them up for a while until they gather together 16 smaller sockets...

[TimothyClaypole]

One of those yellow paint markers the scrappies use to mark parts with on your nuts then it'll transfer onto the suspects wheel brace.

[Junkman]

If you really suspect wrongdoing, get yourself a bottle of fast drying nail polish.

Torque your lug nuts to spec, and dab each one with a drop.

This way you at least can tell whether someone has tampered with them or not while the car was parked.

[Albert Ross]

Are you sure it's not just a taper mismatch between the non-Standard rims and your BL wheel nuts? I only ask, as we used to see tis a lot with MSD wheels on Vectra B models. The tapers differ from normal VX wheels. On your motor, is it ALWAYS the same wheels? Both fronts and one rear? It could be that the wheels do not have steel inserts to take a tapered thread, instead relying on the Japanese/French style of wheel nut, which utilises a flat washer against a flat section of the hole, and relying on being hubcentric. Are you using spigot rings? Is there a hub/spigot mismatch?

[cort16]

I put a best off on that XJR and the seller is obviously hedging their bets to see if anything better comes in (fair enough I'd do the same) but I keep checking every 24 seconds to see if they've accepted the offer.

 

Have the accepted yet? No.

Have the accepted yet? No.Have the accepted yet? No.

Have the accepted yet? No.Have the accepted yet? No.Have the accepted yet? No.

Have the accepted yet? No.Have the accepted yet? No.Have the accepted yet? No.Have the accepted yet? No.

Have the accepted yet? No.vHave the accepted yet? No.Have the accepted yet? No.Have the accepted yet? No.Have the accepted yet? No.Have the accepted yet? No.

Have the accepted yet? No.Have the accepted yet? No.Have the accepted yet? No.Have the accepted yet? No.Have the accepted yet? No.Have the accepted yet? No.Have the accepted yet? No.

Have the accepted yet? No.Have the accepted yet? No.Have the accepted yet? No.Have the accepted yet? No.Have the accepted yet? No.Have the accepted yet? No.Have the accepted yet? No.Have the accepted yet? No.

[chaseracer]

So... have they accepted yet?

 

[vulgalour]

The wheel nut thing has become a grump of it's own now.  Seriously guys, it's someone tampering with my cars, it's not because I've forgotten to do the nuts up or I've got the wrong bits on the car or the car magically undoes its own nuts.  It has happened twice and both times were the only times my cars were parked for any unwatched period of time on the street.  Both times has been not long after I've received verbal abuse from the suspected parties and both times the car has behaved flawlessly with no hint of loose nuts for some time.

 

So I'm putting it to bed, that's the end of it.  Clearly they're just jealous that I'm so fucking awesome and they're trying to remove the competition.  What they hadn't banked on is the fact that I am actually more awesome than they expected and I know how to use a wheelbrace too.

[cort16]

So... have they accepted yet?

 

 

Ye...NO

[vulgalour]

What about now?

[Junkman]

The wheel nut thing has become a grump of it's own now.  Seriously guys, it's someone tampering with my cars, it's not because I've forgotten to do the nuts up or I've got the wrong bits on the car or the car magically undoes its own nuts.

That, my friend, is no fun at all. It's downright malicious. Please be careful. I wish I could help you somehow.

[trigger]

Have you thought about painting the nuts after you've tightened them?, any damage to the fresh paint would highlight any malicious activity.   

[Conrad D. Conelrad]

I wasn't joking about pointing a CCTV camera at it. Someone you don't know is repeatedly tampering with your car and you don't know what their motive is. You don't know if they'll end up cutting your brakes, torching the car, swapping the lenses in your 3D glasses so it looks like Avatar is running away from you, or worse. 

[Lankytim]

Can't you check them every time you go out in it? I would!

[RedSparrow]

Just found out that there will be builders all over the block where I live right through to the end of August. Scaffolding right outside the window so I have to keep the blinds closed. The building company have decided to hire that special breed of builder where they make massive amounts of noise whilst acheiving very little (I have worked in construction so I know a bit about it). Oh, and Czech builders like to start at 6am.
This is going to be a great summer.

[autofive]

Just found out that there will be builders all over the block where I live right through to the end of August. Scaffolding right outside the window so I have to keep the blinds closed. The building company have decided to hire that special breed of builder where they make massive amounts of noise whilst acheiving very little (I have worked in construction so I know a bit about it). Oh, and Czech builders like to start at 6am.

This is going to be a great summer.

 

often local councils will place a limit on the hours worked on site. ask your local council if they have such a restriction in place, as contractors will ignore it if no one complains

[Junkman]

The Rover is at my local garage since Monday morning for some odds and ends to be sorted before going on a bigger trip planned for next weekend.

Most things are sorted since Monday afternoon, apart from the oil change. It looks like a black hole has opened and swallowed all pre-1976 Rover V8 oil filters. After two wrong ones being delivered, we now hope the correct one will arrive tomorrow.

My wife has requisitioned the Peugeot, so I have to cycle forth and back to work, which means it rains twice a day for half an hour.

[M'coli]

Back to the noiseless electric car grump - it's all very well saying keep your eyes peeled etc., but blind people use the streets and need to cross the roads too.

[Spiny Norman]

Back to the noiseless electric car grump - it's all very well saying keep your eyes peeled etc., but blind people use the streets and need to cross the roads too.

 

I bet more deaf people cross the roads unaided.   

[RedSparrow]

often local councils will place a limit on the hours worked on site. ask your local council if they have such a restriction in place, as contractors will ignore it if no one complains

 

I think as a hangover from communist times you basically have no right to reply and no-one would ever question it anyway - the building co-op commitee have decided and so that's that. They would probably laugh in my face if I said anything!