The Car Thread

[randombs]

I was under the impression that coolant changing was quite a bit more involved than oil changing - you have to bleed the radiator and engine separately, turn the heaters on, and stuff like that to clear out all the air bubbles, and also from BMW forums that doing it a bit wrong could be problematic.

[randombs]

Here's a funny one. I bought the Dension 100 ipod gateway thingy for my car (£115), as well as the CD changer retention kit (£40), from a website called Car Vision. I found out what supplier the website uses for Dension so I rang them up to ask about the retention kit (as the site I bought from didn't specify model number) and the guy I spoke to told me Dension no longer produces it as it had problems. Also, I couldn't find any other sites selling it (especially sites that hold their own stock). So I ring Car Vision to double-check this and he tells me his account manager at the supplier told him it's on order. I asked him to find out about this and now, after the Dension has arrived, he emailed me to tell me the retention kit is being posted today!

Baffling. I hope it isn't as crap as the supplier made it out to be, though, as that wouldn't be much fun.

[Yakumo]

I was under the impression that coolant changing was quite a bit more involved than oil changing - you have to bleed the radiator and engine separately, turn the heaters on, and stuff like that to clear out all the air bubbles, and also from BMW forums that doing it a bit wrong could be problematic.

ah, you mean a full change? Yeah, that can be a bit of a job but still not too bad. Not sure about the BMW but on the impreza there's not much you can mess up as long as you are careful.

[nakamura]

I have this instead Yakumo , which sounds quite similar to mine but without the 450 bhp , lol

That is EarL/Gregs old car right?

[nakamura]

lol. I wonder what my turbo sounds like. Inside the cab, it's quite loud.

Which means Mrs Charlesr always knows how much I have my foot down...... oooops (well, that and the acceleration )

Great thing about FR4WD cars is when they come to you, all you hear is suction and when they fully pass it is roar. Cool mixture of sound.

[randombs]

Got mine back from the mechanic today. Service and handbrake repair. My mum had been driving it around quite often with the handbrake up. It does have a warning bell and onscreen message, but I imagine as the damage increased over time, the message would take longer to appear on a journey. It's all sorted now, though, and the message popped up straight away when I, too, forgot to put the handbrake down at the lights just now

I'm good with stuff like that, though, as I've never done it before (cynics could argue that, as the message stopped popping up, I of course wouldn't have noticed!).

Has anyone tried painting their car? Specifically, just little things like stone chips? It's silver and I think there's lacquer but I'm not sure. Mine has a fair few, and also my mum messed up on a width restriction

I'm also interested in painting the black parts of my wing mirrors as they've got a bit of paint chipping, which has left them with white/grey spots.

[charlesr]

Unless it's through to the paint, it's not worth worrying about - you'll just get more....

[randombs]

There's some rust and stuff too that I think I should sort out.

[charlesr]

That's for definite! That stuff spreads.

[Yakumo]

I wouldn't try to pain your car unless you are qualified to do so. You'll just make it worse. The best thing to do with stone chips is to give them a good deep polish. Super Autobacks here in Japan will do one pannel for 500 yen. So for a full saloon it would cost about 4000 to 5000 yen. I had mine done a year back after chipping the bonnet and wings from driving like a tit over gravel. Great fun for me but not for my poor car. The polish removed many of the chips although a few on the plastic aero parts remain.

As for the black trim on you car, use that black liquid polish stuff (sorry, I don't know what it's called). That works wonders. My wife's car had a grey looking scuttle until I gave it a goingIf not it maybe worth importing it if you really think it's that good. over with the liquid polish. Looks brand new now. Just a shame the rest of her car looks like crap. She NEVER washes it!

[vanpeebles]

Autoglym bumper polish is ace for restoring faded plastic.

I've been touching up stone chips that are down to the metal on my car using a small watch screw driver to clean it out, then using a small model brush to fill in some primer then the main body paint. Then when dry a polish over with autoglym super resin polish.

[charlesr]

I've been sent a rather expensive (£60) car/motorbike battery charger/conditioner in the post.

I didn't order one No clue who sent it. Looks very EBAY.

I already have one. Some poor sod is going to be disappointed.

[Spatial]

Autoglym bumper polish is ace for restoring faded plastic.

Another vote for this from me.

I posted in this thread earlier in the year asking for help about some light scratches to a door trim and was told to go to the breakers yard or just stop worrying

Tried the Autoglym stuff and it sorted out the scratches a treat. I suspected it was just masking them but after all this time and several washes, they haven't reappeared.

Your results might vary depending on how deep the scratches are, but it's definitely worth the couple of quid it costs to try it.

[Yakumo]

This can not be road legal! The driver side door is glued in to place!!



Yakumo

[ChrisF]

Couldn't wait any longer... am bringing my car buying forward from August to next Monday. Gonna go take a look at a CLS 350 CDI (used) and an E class (probably 250CDI, and new). Can't wait!