Things I Don't Like

[TimST2]

[mention=98787]TimST2[/mention] I've had that happened at least twice to me [emoji24]. Doesn't help with the low profile tires. Whenever I'm going up a sharp kurb I like to go up it slowly and try to get the wheel pointing at a good angle so that doesn't happen. Don't think I'll get them refurbished my ones but might try sanding them to remove the rough edges to stop dirt sticking in them. 

Yeah I remember your incidents. I wasn't actually trying to mount a high curb but misjudged the lowered section and drove into the sloped bit. It wasnt very high at all. You're right about the low profile tyres - they offer no protection at all on a Mk7 ST.

 

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[TimST2]

12 hours ago, TimST2 said:

Managed to drive up a low curb last night which compressed and damaged the tyre and impacted the rim 

Looking at it in the cold light if day I can see that the tyre on that side is nearly on the wear marker on the inside so I guess the tracking is out too.

This might be the time to take it in for some Pilot Sports, tracking and (fingers crossed) a SMART repair on the alloy.

Ford - expect a visit next week 

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Update 1:

After cleaning up the damage and measuring the tread depth across the front of the car I've come to the conclusion that the tracking isn't off (4mm inside and outside on both tyres), and that I should probably do a temporary repair on the driveway now and think about refurbing the wheel in April when I get the tyres changed.

Here's the damage:

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[zain611]

3 minutes ago, TimST2 said:

Update 1:

After cleaning up the damage and measuring the tread depth across the front of the car I've come to the conclusion that the tracking isn't off (4mm inside and outside on both tyres), and that I should probably do a temporary repair on the driveway now and think about refurbing the wheel in April when I get the tyres changed.

Here's the damage:



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I'd give it a little sanding to smoothen the mark up for the meantime. If it's rough it's easy for dirt to stick between the edges and it's a pain to take off. I've done worse where a bit of the sidewall was hanging off the tire and luckily there was no air leak. 

Is the tire tread good? Might not be worth changing just because of that Mark on there. Hopefully you'll sort it 👍. 

[TimST2]

I'd give it a little sanding to smoothen the mark up for the meantime. If it's rough it's easy for dirt to stick between the edges and it's a pain to take off. I've done worse where a bit of the sidewall was hanging off the tire and luckily there was no air leak.  Is the tire tread good? Might not be worth changing just because of that Mark on there. Hopefully you'll sort it [emoji106]. 

 

Yeah tread should last a bit longer so a temporary repair is probably the best option. It won't be perfect because the impact has flattened the face of the rim. It still needs a second coat of laquer, but I'm out now so I'll post the result later. 

 

It'll be interesting to see how much it will cost to refurb as new wheels are £163...

 

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[TomsFocus]

2 hours ago, TimST2 said:

Yeah tread should last a bit longer so a temporary repair is probably the best option. It won't be perfect because the impact has flattened the face of the rim. It still needs a second coat of laquer, but I'm out now so I'll post the result later. 

 

It'll be interesting to see how much it will cost to refurb as new wheels are £163...

 

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That's an annoying bit of damage tbh.  It'll take some time & skill to build it back up to the correct profile shape being right on the edge there. I doubt it'll ever be perfect.  

If you keep an eye out on eBay and the selling sites you might find a brand new alloy for half the OE price.  I got one for the Focus for £50 posted, absolutely brand new, seller bought in error I think.  I was quoted £75 to refurbish the scuffed one!

[Guy Heaton]

My inlaws Lexus RX.  Yep, loads of great tech but for a car the same size as my Focus I felt hemmed in and restricted by the seats, fascia and dash.

I enjoyed getting back in my car.

[TimST2]

6 hours ago, TimST2 said:

Update 1: After cleaning up the damage and measuring the tread depth across the front of the car I've come to the conclusion that the tracking isn't off (4mm inside and outside on both tyres), and that I should probably do a temporary repair on the driveway now and think about refurbing the wheel in April when I get the tyres changed. Here's the damage: 

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Update 2: This will have to do until April when I'll either get it refurbed (or replaced for a sensible price) when I get my next service and new front tyres.

Still really annoyed with myself 

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[zain611]

@TimST2 what did you do then Tim? Honestly I have to say it looks a lot more hidden now. I might try your method on my car on how good it looks 👍

[TimST2]

41 minutes ago, zain611 said:

@TimST2 what did you do then Tim? Honestly I have to say it looks a lot more hidden now. I might try your method on my car on how good it looks 👍

Nothing clever at all - quite the opposite in fact!

I first took a file to it (!), then applied two coats of paint and two coats of lacquer from a £5 eBay alloy wheel touch up kit matched to Ford Rock Grey, lightly rubbing down with some Meguires ScratchX on a microfibre cloth between coats.

You can't see the damage from a distance, but it's by no means a professional job and doesn't pass close inspection. As I said, it'll have to do until I get it sorted properly.

[TimST2]

You might have noticed from the photos that my front tyres don't have built in rim protectors - thats because the car was supplied with the original Bridgestone Potenzas on the rear but new cheaper tyres on the front. They're sold by Ford but I dont know if it was Ford or the previous owner trying to save money. Either way, it's annoying because a rim protector just might have saved the wheel. Whatever goes on next (Potenzas or PS4s) will have them though.

 

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[zain611]

Definitely get rim protectors as its in really good condition. I might try your method with the file. Don't have a clue on the colour of my wheels. 

[Nick Y]

I don't like driving home from a friends house this time yesterday morning and hitting a rabbit on the moorland road. It was a bit misty so put fog lights on. 
Watching the dashcam video back, you can hear the impact and also see that the o/s front fog light goes out at the moment it hits. 
Looks like I'm going to have to pop to my friendly local garage in the morning then to see what damage there has been to the lighting. 
I can't see any visible damage on the car except for some brown hairs on the front splitter. 

I had to travel to my friends house (170 mile round trip) at 1am to take her pet rabbit to the emergency vets 25 miles away as it was unwell, she doesn't drive and had no one to help her out. 
I don't normally leave the house after dark due to various issues but in this case, there was no other option because I couldn't see her so upset. 

Seems a bit ironic that I do all that to save a rabbit's life and then hit one on the way home. 

[Nick Y]

Another rant on things I don't like. 
My landline has been unusable since at least Thursday. I get a dial tone but it's extremely noisy and sounds like static interference. 
I cannot make calls or receive calls.
Virgin media are saying there is no fault on the line and it must be my equipment at fault. Ummm, no, it isn't my equipment at all. It has worked perfectly well for the last 3 years with no line noise. It must be your phone plug then. Umm no, the phone plug and socket are hidden behind a bookcase where they have been for the last 3 years. 
I've got a funny feeling that someone had been to the box recently to maybe connect a new customer and they've done something there. 
So now, they have to send an engineer out to my flat to verify that it isn't my equipment. The engineer isn't coming until tomorrow between 8 and 12. 

This is only 5 weeks since Virgin media said that my connection to their network was causing issues for other broadband customers and there was a lot of noise on my connection.

[zain611]

7 hours ago, Nick Y said:

I don't like driving home from a friends house this time yesterday morning and hitting a rabbit on the moorland road. It was a bit misty so put fog lights on. 
Watching the dashcam video back, you can hear the impact and also see that the o/s front fog light goes out at the moment it hits. 
Looks like I'm going to have to pop to my friendly local garage in the morning then to see what damage there has been to the lighting. 
I can't see any visible damage on the car except for some brown hairs on the front splitter. 

I had to travel to my friends house (170 mile round trip) at 1am to take her pet rabbit to the emergency vets 25 miles away as it was unwell, she doesn't drive and had no one to help her out. 
I don't normally leave the house after dark due to various issues but in this case, there was no other option because I couldn't see her so upset. 

Seems a bit ironic that I do all that to save a rabbit's life and then hit one on the way home. 

That's really a strange coincidence you hitting a rabbit whilst taking your friends rabbit to the vet. At least the main thing is there was no serious damage on the car 👍. Is the fog lights still working? 

[TomsFocus]

14 hours ago, TimST2 said:

You might have noticed from the photos that my front tyres don't have built in rim protectors - thats because the car was supplied with the original Bridgestone Potenzas on the rear but new cheaper tyres on the front. They're sold by Ford but I dont know if it was Ford or the previous owner trying to save money. Either way, it's annoying because a rim protector just might have saved the wheel. Whatever goes on next (Potenzas or PS4s) will have them though.

 

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Which tyres are they?  Nexen?  They do appear to have a slight rim protector...but not big enough to be worth it lol!  If you look at something like Dunlop Sport BluResponse or Goodyear EfficientGrip Performance they tuck right into the rim and offer absolutely no protection...also makes it much harder to apply tyre shine right into the edges.

[Nick Y]

31 minutes ago, zain611 said:

That's really a strange coincidence you hitting a rabbit whilst taking your friends rabbit to the vet. At least the main thing is there was no serious damage on the car 👍. Is the fog lights still working? 

I hit the rabbit after I'd dropped hers off at the vets and taken her home. I was alone and on my way home (85 mile drive), it was 4:30 in the morning and on a 60 limit moorland road (main A road). I was 10 minutes into the drive home. So I saved a pet rabbits life but deprived another wild one of its life.
The n/s front fog light still works but the o/s front is dead. I'm hoping it's that the connector has popped out. There's no visible damage to any trim part or the lens. 

[TomsFocus]

8 minutes ago, Nick Y said:

I hit the rabbit after I'd dropped hers off at the vets and taken her home. I was alone and on my way home (85 mile drive), it was 4:30 in the morning and on a 60 limit moorland road (main A road). I was 10 minutes into the drive home. So I saved a pet rabbits life but deprived another wild one of its life.
The n/s front fog light still works but the o/s front is dead. I'm hoping it's that the connector has popped out. There's no visible damage to any trim part or the lens. 

Probably just blown the bulb if standard (not LED?), hot filaments break much more easily than cold ones.  Interestingly, this is used by CSI teams to determine whether someone was braking at the time of impact, brake light bulbs usually blow if they're on at the time...if not blown, the driver was probably asleep!

I wouldn't worry too much about a wild rabbit, there's no shortage of them...they breed like rabbits!

[TimST2]

Which tyres are they?  Nexen?  They do appear to have a slight rim protector...but not big enough to be worth it lol!  If you look at something like Dunlop Sport BluResponse or Goodyear EfficientGrip Performance they tuck right into the rim and offer absolutely no protection...also makes it much harder to apply tyre shine right into the edges.

Yeah - Nexen N FERA SU1, whatever that is!

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[Nick Y]

Well, I don't like the fact that I had to move my bookcase with some model kits on so that the VM engineer can access the sockets. 
When I'd removed the bookcase, I caught the edge of my arm on the shelf above (wall mounted), which then fell down taking 12 model kits with it. Out of the 12, 10 are damaged and some are badly damaged (inc the Mustang fastback I showed on here). 
This means I will have to completely strip them down to rebuild them, putting back parts which have dropped off or broken free inside. 

[Eric Bloodaxe]

Just got back from a cruise round Ireland. Yesterday we were having a tour round Dublin and got caught in horrendous traffic, due it seemed, to roads being closed for Boris Johnson's meeting with Leo Varadkar. We were stuck for ages just up the road from where they were meeting, but didn't get to see the PM or the Taoiseach - just caught a glimpse of the motorcycle escort!😞

 

[TimST2]

On 8/30/2019 at 8:07 PM, TimST2 said:

I think I'll drop Sparco an email and see what they say...

So Sparco have completely ignored me - great customer service .

I think I'll order a Mk8 stubby aerial as I think it was @STJAY who said he'd had fitted one and it looked good.

[zain611]

4 minutes ago, TimST2 said:

So Sparco have completely ignored me - great customer service .

I think I'll order a Mk8 stubby aerial as I think it was @STJAY who said he'd had fitted one and it looked good.

Do they have a customer number. I would message them again to see then just call if nothing happens. 

I had something similar when I contacted mountune about if my car had a remap from them. The previous owner stated it was mapped by them. Messaged once, got nothing but got a reply on the next email I sent. 

[TimST2]

On 9/8/2019 at 5:01 PM, TomsFocus said:

I was quoted £75 to refurbish the scuffed one!

Yep, Ford quoted me a very vague £100 inc. VAT to refurbish mine. At that price it wouldn't be any more expensive to buy a new one for £163 (from Ford) and sell my old one (removing any risk that it wouldn't be a perfect job too).

At the same time, I enquired about getting either OEM Bridgestones or PS4s fitted and they couldn't give me a price on the Bridgestones because they were out of stock. The PS4s were coming in at £155 fitted each (!) when I can get a pair fitted less that £200 elsewhere. That's with Ford claiming they won't be beaten on price and that you can get a refund of the difference if you find them cheaper elsewhere. I think in this case I'll bypass Ford altogether and save the hassle. With my previous Fiesta they were the cheapest... 

[Zico]

@TimST2 £155 for a PS4 fitted is a bit much!

I paid ~£430 for 4 PS4 and fitting last December via Black Circles which was a little on the high side. There were some better offers earlier this year for the 17" PS4s on Black Circles from what I recall. Worth keeping an eye on HotUKDeals as there are the occasional tyre offers that come up.

 

[TimST2]

7 hours ago, Zico said:

@TimST2 £155 for a PS4 fitted is a bit much!

I paid ~£430 for 4 PS4 and fitting last December via Black Circles which was a little on the high side. There were some better offers earlier this year for the 17" PS4s on Black Circles from what I recall. Worth keeping an eye on HotUKDeals as there are the occasional tyre offers that come up.

 

Looking at it I could actually get a further £15 off the £209 fitted price with Black Circles' current buy 2 offer, but I've got some life left in my current fronts so I'll check back when I need some. The £163 wheel is currently £29% off so I'm tempted to get that now - Rates Ford have been selling a batch at that price but only have 5 left...