Andy H Dibley

I'm not one to judge or care what someone does with their car, all their choice etc. But I've seen some nice RS wheels up for sale and I'm thinking whether they'd go with my car or would they look a tad silly.

 

What do you guys think?

 

Bare in mind, almost stock looking 2008 Zetec, only really dressed the front grills up. With 19" Multispoke RS Alloys.. opinions?

I wasn't on the boards at the time due to login issues, but late last year (5 days before Xmas) I had a run in with a deer http://www.fordowner.../39217-oh-deer/

 

After that, had an issue with a main dealer taking some paint chunks out of my bumper, as well as then finding someone had dinged my door in a car park...

 

So thinking not a lot else can happen to my poor car, there I am, driving home one night, only about 100m from where I had the deer incident, driving like a saint for fear of Bambi coming at me again, up ahead a car comes speeding towards me. I notice he's pretty far over the white line on my side, I move over, but he's still moving over, about two car lengths from me I have to make a pretty sharp turn to avoid what would've been a head on, the last thing I saw was it was a Red car with an R at the start of the registration. Then an almighty bang. 

 

The bugger had completely removed my wing mirror! Add to that they hadn't stopped. I did a quick U turn and chased them down. They turned down a horrible country road where I ended up losing them for a bit as I grounded out my car on a bit. Eventually I found the car, abandoned in a farm yard, lights still on, no one around. Rang the old bill who in fairness for the area and it being so hard to found, arrived quickly and said a dog unit was on the way. 

 

Ending the tale, they traced it straight to a work unit on site, which also happened to be the insured address of the car, but not where the registered own lived. The old bill gave me all their details, but in reality I'm very anti insurance claiming for a wing mirror. So am waiting to hear what they have to say about the situation. 

 

Either way, ended up giving me some repairs to make...

 

Wing mirror before:

 

I managed to salvage the colour casing, which is cracked but still fitted back on. I have however dropped the new one that came with the entire assembly off at the painters. 

 

New wing mirror fitted, straight swap over, very simple, and cheap £50 for the whole assembly, everything works though:

 

 

Now onto the bumper, it got pulled off its hangers on the passeger fender, the rawl plugs that affixe it in there got completely ripped out and dragged the thing metal down with them sadly. So it was a case of pull the liner, lower the bumper, tap the fender back into shape and turn the rawl plugs 90 degrees so they were gripping on fresh metal:

 

 

The liner was also damaged and ripped the corner tab off, so a quick repair with a bunch of zip ties:

 

 

Proper job, all back together looking handsome:

 

 

There is still a bit of damage to the underside of the bumper, but I'm thinking I could start the Zetec-S body kit with the chin spoiler that would cover all of that up...

My car was due its 5th year 62,500 mile service today so I had it all pre-booked at my local dealers to be picked up and dropped off.

So far, no issue with the service, my gripe is that on the paper invoice they've noted 'paint chips on rear bumper'. Now I'm incredibly anal about my paint and the condition of the car, only Saturday did I go round it but decided against washing it, these were not there and I didn't take it out at all yesterday.

So I'm a miffed about that, but added to it, I've gone to go look at the service book, and half the information isn't written down. They've just about managed to put the dealer stamp on the page, but none of the relavant information about genuine parts or whether the schedule has been fulfilled are ticked.

Again, call me said, but I'm paying over the odds to take it to a dealer who can't even fill in the service boom properly.

Regards the paint chips, I'm stopping in on the way home to have a word. I hope I'm not in for a fight on this one.

Should probably add 'gear' into that title...

Anyway, my gear knob has gone and lost a bit of the silver trim round the front edge, it bugs me. I really fancy fitting something from the Richbrook range, has anyone else done the swap?

While having a quick look this evening, the knob does just simply unscrew like most, but the gaiter seems to be stuck to the bottom, does this come off some how, if so how?

Cheers in advance!

Not in a bad way, but should serve a caution to anyone not on top of their cars safety.

Coming back from the pub I go to, I decided to use the motorway rather than the rural route that caused me grief with a deer. Pulling off the motorway, into a 30, must admit wasn't fully aware of my speed, but I know I wasn't speeding. Out of no where a red light stick appears and waves me into a side road where it would appear half of Thames Valleys finest are waiting.

I got asked for my driving license, who I was insured with, what I was doing, and then asked, when did I last check my tyres. I'm a bit anal when it comes to stuff like that, I try to do it every time I wash the car which is at least twice a month. Anyway, I say it had an MOT two weeks ago, they give me a free check all the same. Then he leans in the window, which I must admit was a bit off putting and spots a zip tie bag on the passenger seat. I guess thinking he's possibly just uncovered the worst drug runner ever, I reply with 'a tap and some screws...' (Engineers eh!). He then says I'm going to breathalyse you just as a routine thing.

Its at this point my rule of no drinking at all when driving final pays off! Even though I was coming back from the pub, I'm sadly one of those types who doesn't drink when I'm driving. So after collecting my souvenir and hearing all my details come back ok, I'm allowed on my way with a warning to watch my speed.

All fun and games, but I did see one woman getting a ticket for something. I personally think it's a good thing on the whole, just glad I wasn't in a rush or needing to get anywhere as the 5 minute wait for the all ok was a bit of a nuisance, and makes you twitch a bit.

So folks, check your cars over if you're out late, make sure they're legal etc!

As for me, I got myself a funky new straw!