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Mar 17, 2020 15:38:14 GMT
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ive seen cars like your observation, the regulars with their little ongoing faults. i think the worst was a mitsubishi delica 4x4 with the gearbox which sounded like someone shoulder barging a hammer drill through a breeze block. it was like it all the time i knew the person. i don't know if its for economic reasons, shoe string no effs given type thing. i think allot of cases its just pure ignorance (they don't know any better) Part of it is that we actually know too much, and rationalise the noises and faults. We know what the problem is likely to be, what will happen if it fails and even how we can bodge it up to get home - I can even get a mental picture of a part moving and just imagine what is going on!
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1968 Cal Look Beetle - 2007cc motor - 14.45@93mph in full street trim 1970-ish Karmann Beetle cabriolet - project soon to be re-started. 1986 Scirocco - big plans, one day!
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Mar 17, 2020 16:07:05 GMT
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I got asked by a lady in work with a Punto if I could have a look at the racket her car was making, upon starting it the problem was blindingly obvious, asked her when she checked the oil last... not since I bought it she says, 2 years ago. Thing was dry as a bone, not seen her at work since either
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Mar 17, 2020 16:30:41 GMT
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I suspect a lot of this is older people (shall we call them the self-isolating community?) who are reluctant to give up driving and lose their independence but feel their present car will "see them out" as it were, so keep it running well after it should have been scrapped. They're also less sensitive to the bangs knocks squeaks and scrapes that usually indicate something is wrong. They started driving when standards were slacker in the first place and now they're too stubborn to take advice or use common sense.
(Not all old people are like this, plenty are conscientious and sensible about these things.)
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Mar 17, 2020 18:31:11 GMT
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I suspect a lot of this is older people (shall we call them the self-isolating community?) who are reluctant to give up driving and lose their independence but feel their present car will "see them out" as it were, so keep it running well after it should have been scrapped. They're also less sensitive to the bangs knocks squeaks and scrapes that usually indicate something is wrong. They started driving when standards were slacker in the first place and now they're too stubborn to take advice or use common sense. For the example I was using earlier in this thread, its like you know him personally! The thing is, it had its last MOT 2 1/2 years ago, and nothing ever gets looked at, I mean the brakes were binding so bad once that you couldn't put your hand on the hubcap, it was that hot, but then they stopped rubbing so it 'doesn't need checking'. It actually terrifies me to think what it will take to get the car checked over.
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Mar 17, 2020 18:48:07 GMT
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Currently running without a rad fan in the Golf, with the heater on and windows open until I can get it to Daves this week... ...been like it a week or so! Fixed!
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Mar 17, 2020 18:59:41 GMT
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I saw an immaculate Riley RME drophead not long ago at the Classic Car Boot Sale. All four tyres were cracking up on the sidewalls - they must have been ancient. It's bizarre that someone had obviously done a really comprehensive restoration job on the car, and then put the knackered old tyres back on. Nice car... ...shame about the tyres.
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Mar 18, 2020 21:43:33 GMT
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bah...a bit of tyre paint will fill those cracks!
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'80 s1 924 turbo..hibernating '80 golf gli cabriolet...doing impression of a skip '97 pug 106 commuter...continuing cheapness making me smile!
firm believer in the k.i.s.s and f.i.s.h principles.
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Mar 18, 2020 22:47:54 GMT
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bah...a bit of tyre paint will fill those cracks! It's probably the 24 layers of old tyre paint that's cracking!
We've all driven cars that we probably shouldn't at one time or another. I shudder when I recall what I would drive in my youth to get to work till payday rolled round and I could afford to buy parts! Try doing London rush hour traffic with no clutch hydraulics (for 4 days as it happens) been there, done that! And that's one of the more minor transgressions! I've never failed to get within walking distance of home in almost 50 years of motoring, I once drove an MG1100 over 70 miles on a broken crank and my old MkI Tina GT more than 50 miles with a hole in the number 3 piston you could drop a valve through! Every week I take a customers car on a 50 mile round trip to a warehouse, she runs a pet shop and needs to pck up supplies but her eyesight is too bad to drive anymore so I do it. It's an ancient diesel Zafira and the rad fan seized up solid 3 or 4 years ago. I've not bothered to fix it, if I get stuck in traffic more than a few minutes, I just switch it off! No Problem!
But many years ago now, I had a blowout in the o/s/r tyre of a customers Merc 350SEL on the M40 above the Denham island at a thoroughly illegal speed which produced an epic "moment" that will live with me forever. No cheap curse word tyres for me and definitely not partworns, most come from scrapyards that break accident damaged cars, you never know WHAT has happened to that tyre before you got it! I've seen too many with big pigeon eggs on the sidewall or detached tread plies to ever risk it, particularly with super expensive ultra low profile tyres. they just don't take punishment well!
You younguns these days, don't know yer born!
Steve
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Mar 18, 2020 23:10:26 GMT
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That's just reminded me of when I first got my Maxi 1500 and decided to 'see what it could do' on the motorway. I hate to think what tyres it had on it! It was one thing getting it up to the (mumbles)MPH, but I have never been so terrified when trying to slow down.
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That reminds me bmcnut, my first rrc was an ancient 2 door, which blew up two weeks after I bought it, having been told ‘oh they’ll do 100+ all day long mate’ Well yes it would do 100, but certainly not all day long, and also not if the oil in it has been there so long it’s turned back to coal ( can you say Black Death?), but most interestingly* it wanted ALL 3 lanes of the M1 to do it Not something I’d repeat!😱 EDIT-tyres, well they were up, that was all the consideration I gave them, also 😱
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I suspect a lot of this is older people (shall we call them the self-isolating community?) who are reluctant to give up driving and lose their independence but feel their present car will "see them out" as it were, so keep it running well after it should have been scrapped. They're also less sensitive to the bangs knocks squeaks and scrapes that usually indicate something is wrong. They started driving when standards were slacker in the first place and now they're too stubborn to take advice or use common sense. (Not all old people are like this, plenty are conscientious and sensible about these things.) Love a good sweeping statement, not that I'm immune to them myself! As an "older person," all I'll say is that one day I took the '38 to work, just to give her a bit of a run. At lunchtime, I went down to check fluids whilst she was cold and on flat ground. Within moments, I had four of our (fairly young) drivers come over asking what I was doing. I'd have thought standing there with a dipstick in my hand, it would have been obvious, but no... I also suggested that our driver should investigate why the vehicle had a low speed vibration. Would an egg on a rear tyre do it? When I lived in Malaysia, there was a popular sport amongst the kids was drinking lots then revving your car until the valves bounced. It was great fun standing on the balcony at 4am watching yet another engine sick its fluids up all over the floor and the owner looking nonplussed as to why. My Old Man used to beat mechanical sympathy, maintenance, brakes and tyres into me, and he followed that right up until he ceased to drive. Hope I'll be the same.
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stealthstylz
Club Retro Rides Member
Posts: 14,926
Club RR Member Number: 174
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Press on regardless?stealthstylz
@stealthstylz
Club Retro Rides Member 174
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Mar 19, 2020 10:10:53 GMT
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I can't comment negatively on this as I absolutely run my dailies into the ground as long as they go roughly in a straight line and slow down when I press the brakes then its fine. I don't really use the brakes much anyway, it was several months after the Weekender a couple of years ago (got forced off the road on the way down) where I finally looked under the car and noticed the rear axle mounting had snapped clean in half and crushed the rear brake line flat. After a bit more investigation and the O/S engine mount had snapped in half too and crushed the brake line on that corner. Didn't even notice in driving I only checked because the vibration at idle was making the exhaust rattle.
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cjhillman
Posted a lot
1979 Capri (Rolling Project) 1985 Escort mk3 (Daily)
Posts: 1,600
Member is Online
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Mar 19, 2020 10:52:07 GMT
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I like to think i wouldnt do this but, My Escort had lenient MOT the other year and i was advised to get the brake pipe moved... didnt do it for ages worrying it would split when i moved it. In the end another garage guy just bent it and said he wouldn't have failed it anyway. When i bought this Car it also had perished tyres which are long gone now. I think i'm only pressing on with a slight oil leak at the moment. I do notice these things about others Cars too haha
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Mar 19, 2020 11:06:12 GMT
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I must admit to feeling like a bit of a rebel the other week driving home from work with the whole exhaust system inside the car rather than under it after it sheared at the front pipe joint. Wouldnt have gone much further in it though.
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Last Edit: Mar 22, 2020 7:09:38 GMT by strikey
'80 s1 924 turbo..hibernating '80 golf gli cabriolet...doing impression of a skip '97 pug 106 commuter...continuing cheapness making me smile!
firm believer in the k.i.s.s and f.i.s.h principles.
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Mar 19, 2020 18:47:57 GMT
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I did that in my old mini estate, except I ripped the exhaust off on a pothole. It pulled the front pipe off the Y piece, so I unhooked it from the mounts, opened the rear doors and stuffed it in the car. With the mesh air filters, a hot cam, no carpets or sound-deadening, it was without doubt the loudest 30 mile drive ive ever had.
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Mar 19, 2020 18:59:49 GMT
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It's an ancient diesel Zafira and the rad fan seized up solid 3 or 4 years ago. [/div] Wasnt the Zafira only introduced in 1999? That's practical a new born!
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Years ago I lived near Llantrisant, I used to occasionally encounter an elderly farmer driving an Austin Princess, (wedge) which was absolutely hanging and would never have passed the MOT test in a thousand years. He didn't let that deter him, or the fact the windscreen was opaque with dirt or the fact he was nearly blind, he could be seen driving at 10mph with his head stuck out the window, one hand used as an eye-patch on his worst eye whilst squinting out of his better eye.
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Mar 20, 2020 18:31:47 GMT
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It's an ancient diesel Zafira and the rad fan seized up solid 3 or 4 years ago. [/div] Wasnt the Zafira only introduced in 1999? That's practical a new born! [/quote][/div]
It's a 99 model and has 184k on the clock, still on its original diesel pump, turbo, dual mass and clutch too. I'd call that ancient, at least in relation to most "modern designed" cars! It really has no right to still be running!
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ChasR
RR Helper
motivation
Posts: 10,251
Club RR Member Number: 170
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Press on regardless?ChasR
@chasr
Club Retro Rides Member 170
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The amount of times I’ve had conversations about tyres. I just don’t do cheap tyres and honestly don’t see the point in part worn. Are these really safe? The beading being stretched 3 times! My mom would gladly pay £10 for nasty tyres 🙈 I tell her no chance. I fitted 4 new Bridgestones on the stag last May, with tracking it was £279, I don’t think that’s bad for such a prominent safety item. Just fit new good tyres peeps. Rant over I just bought a 2012 vehicle at 70k miles - one of the rear tyres was 2012 (so could be original) and the other early 2013! And it got through multiple mot's with very little tread I'm sure. Makes me wonder about the MOT standard now. 1.6mm of tread is the legal limit has been for a long time, when I was an MOT tester id look at tyres and think “jeez that’s a fail” then get the old depth gauge out and it would be just legal, nothing I could do pass and advise. MOT standards are pretty pants My tester is like that and IMHO a little too keen. He doesn't sell tyres FWIW or in with someone who does. He has me down as someone, as my tyre fitter does, who wants to get his money's worth out the tyres, so I do tend to try and challenge him. But he is very fair to me and my family's cars on MOTs, despite a couple of people thinking I should change them. As for tyres, I've been almost full circle, including: -Mid-range tyres -Budgets -Part worns of varying types. A few things made me change my outlook -I once got hit in the wet by a Pug 306 on a N branded tyre that bent the back of my then KA. It also injured my sister being the rear passenger ; she had nerve problems in her right arm for years, and sometimes burnt her hand due to a lack of sensitivity ; she's OK now but it did take physio/consulting to get that right -Dad hit someone in a £300 Escort he bought on mixed but legal-part worns ; the car just didn't want to stop at all. 2 second gap? It was more like a 7 second gap! -I fitted some budget mid-range tyres (Semperit for those wondering) onto the back of my Focus ; After all, £90 for a pair of new Full-Runs and a pair of part-worn Semperits was cheap. The car had some laughable oversteer on the Semperits followed by unpredictable understeer at surprisingly low speeds ; I lived with them, albeit wished I spent almost 4 time more getting decent rubber. I lent the wheels to my friend. I managed the car, but was aware i was a liability ; he basically wondered what would posses me to drive on those ditch/kerb finders ; It was cost. -The last two times I had P/Ws, one had a chunk missing out of the side of the sidewall ; I asked the well known Spon-End based tyre fitter to not fit it ; they kicked up a big fuss about that, and I knew the car needed an MOT as well. The other time, I had T1-Rs come on a set of wheels I bought. My Clio only wanted to go left on them ; they had come off a car with a geometry issue; New boots later and it drove perfectly. So yes, I really am not one to talk, but I do try to get something decent these days, and then moan about the cost for some time.
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Mar 21, 2020 21:21:34 GMT
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Pulled this out of a garage it had been sat in for 35yrs,got it up and running new calipers pads etc but the tyres (that had been flat for who knows how many years) where almost as new I pumped them up and got it m.o.t'd and ran it for a couple of months before selling it. The feller who bought it drove it back to Cornwall from Essex,ha.
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