MattMe

One thing I've always been unsure of is cleaning wiper blades. When they're new every blade I've ever had comes covered in loose black surface rubber that gets all over your hands when fitting, and your sponge when cleaning if you're not carefu;. Someone told me once you should clean them and remove all the excess black stuff before fitting... Any thoughts on it?

I've not fitted one myself yet, but I heard you should see some mid-range torque improvements even without a rempa - could be wrong though. Even without a remap it allows better airflow over the front two cylinders, longer spark plug life, potentially better mpg and more power one a remap... Can't wait!

Hey Dan. I have a good friend who owns some good laser and water cutting tools for alloys who will be making me some 5/16th" spacers probably ready around September. I've not got prices confirmed yet but I'm hoping for around £100, making it much cheaper than the Motordyne. If you're in no rush I'll be getting a list of members who want them and getting a limited batch run off cheap. £200 still seems really steep for what is effectively a glorified gasket They don't often come up second hand, but have you looked on eBay?

I agree. No wonder Mandeep doesn't post any more...

Ahhh... I'd not thought of using the USB for a HDD. I think I've got an 80GB sat round somewhere. Just need one for under £200 with Bluetooth and USB then. Good egg.

Just looking on evilBay now and found a few at reasonable prices but most require additional Bluetooth adapters which go for over £100. Any ideas if it's possible to use the standard GT Bluetooth adapter with aftermarkter HUs? ta.

Hmmm... I don't want to get mine fixed in case I change my mind while it's away... And ideas on model numbers I should look out for? Still don't have a CD changer I assume...

That is awesome. I've built a few ars before but that's just... I don't know. Mental? Cool as cucumber though. Ree-Spekt, and other 'street' terminology.

I don't know what to do! There aren't many double din head units around the £200 mark, and none of them have a CD changer. I'm starting to think I may just get my Bose unit repaired and the tape deck hack so I can have 6 disc changer, and MP3 input. Plus I can keep the standard hands-free mic rather than an extra one hanging around somewhere. By the time I've bought the new HU (Clarion, or otherwise) all the adapters required for steering wheel control, surround etc it's going to be best part of £300 and I can get the original repaired for half that and still have all the features I want. Not a massive fan of the Bose but it sounds okay to my ears and I do like to keep my cars as standard looking as possible. Damn it!

Are you sure? I had a vinyl plate on my celica and often got pulled over...mainly because I have a massive baby face but the coppers never complained about the fact that it was vinyl, as long as the letters were readable and the correct size they were happy with it. These were traffic cops aswell who know the law in more depth then the normal plod so why is vinyl no longer available to buy ? You mean like this http://www.craigsplates.com/self-adhesive-number-plate And I quote: "The height is 79mm and the spacing is correct as per DVLA requirements. However, these plates are NOT road legal!" Sounds like they ain't been legal since 2001. Might just go without and when I get pulled say 'oh, it must have fallen off, sorry orificer'... No? I'll order up a standard one today and stop being so childish.

That might be a plan. Did you mount it straight onto the bumper or did you use the number plate mount? Any pictures? ^ Perhaps the worst use of this smiley ever? ^

I'm going to buy a new front number plate as mine's started craking a little bit. I've removed the original moount (or 'brick' as the paintshop called it!) and fancied one a little smaller. I noticed on some plate design websites I can create them without the spacing 'MY04XKZ' rather than 'MY04 XKZ'. Does anyone know if this is legal, and if I were to go without the space a big mega copper would likely smell me, hunt me in the night, stand outside my bedroom window, get off his fleshly fondled flying chariot and squash me with his pet pig's toes? I'm scared of that. I don't like pig toes. I fancied a slightly smaller plate rather than the mahoosive standard plate size but I'm scared of the police, in the words of Reuben. I rang one place and they said on standard legal plate spacing/sizes they could cut 15mm off each size and still be legal. Hardly worth it though, I'd have thought. Work's slow today.

Hi there matey. I've got one I just took off when I had my car painted and never bothered fitting it again. It's in perfect condition and can supply pics if you like - think I have the fittings somewhere too if you need them? PM me if interested... Matt

Jeepers! You'd think some people pay a heavy monthly subscription to use the For Sale board sometimes! It must be quite a desperate sale. 'I have this ticking box in my loft. Not sure what it is but I'll accept any offer. Please collect ASAP.' That would explain it. Otherwise - Chill out!

Cheers for the advice. I got on not to bad today. Had to stop when a crate of beer turned up... Managed to wash, clay and polish. Will get the wadx done tomorrow. Bit concerned though cos the Zed lives under a huge silver bearch tree. Was surprised how well the clay worked. IT didn't look like a lot of dirt came of (only used half a 80g bar) but it's like glass now. I left it wet after washing and used loads of lube (oooh errr) and wasn't convinced it was doing anything at all until I dried it and compared clayed bars against none-clayed. Happy with that. Seems like out of the 3 bars (DDJ Supernatural and DDJ Lube) I'll get round the car 6 times! Not bad. Lime Prime is pretty easy going, didn;t take that long and the paint's as clean as new now Perhaps I didn't spend long enough but it was quite quick going, apart from having to stop when my arm hurt. Spent about 3 hours in total. Will upload pix when I've waxed... Pics of the car that is.

I tried rubbing it directly onto the car while still in the tub but now I have huge bits of bare metal... What did I do wrong?? I know I sometimes ask stupid question, and therefore expect a stupid answer. But I'm scared, I don't want to feck up the new paint. Gonna get started now in the whole process... Don't know how far I'll get tonight, seems like a lot of work on a car that doesn't look that bad. Best be worth it or I'll disown every one of you on here who rave about how much better they look after a wax... Wish me luck

My DDJ Supernatural wax arrived today. It's a very hard wax and the only video tutorials I can find on the web show using bottled wax you pour onto the apllicator. Do I just rub one of the applicator pads in the tub and then straight onto the paint? Stupid question? probably... I received two types of applicators in the kit I bought. Blue microfibre sponges, and some white cotton pads. Which would you recommend for each product? I'm assuming the blue sponge pads for the Lime Prime, and and the white circular cotton pads for applying the wax? It might help if I had a lcue what I was doing!! Cheers...

I saw Alice in Wonderland t'other week and was quite unimpressed. I think I went in with high expectations and they were dashed. For me the technology is a good idea if used correctly. The scenic shots work really well, just adding a bit more depth but nothing spectacular. It's when they try and over-use it, to make things pop out at you that it doesn't really work in my opinion. There was an advert for football in 3D at the beginning of the adverts that looked okay and that used the depth effect, rather that the ball-coming-at-your-face effect (yes, they're the technical terms). My experience wsn't helped by the fact my eyes aren't equal, my left eye is pretty poor so my brain uses my right eye primarily I guess, so I could see blurring even with the glasses on If they can do it without glasses I can see it catching on in a big way. On a side note I thought the story in Alice was pretty she-ite too. I'd rather they just remade the original...

I just found some of the T-Cut polish in my shed so gave it a quick blast by hand. Have to say it's not made any difference! The scratches aren't really that deep, can only just feel them with my nail so expected much better result TBH. Made no difference to my windscreen either, apart from now the chips have white polish in and are more noticeable! Glass looks nice and shiny now though!

I get between 300 and 350 miles per tank on average. HAven't really been keeping an eye on it recently. What I did keep my eye on was the cost to fill it - £77.77!

So I use red mist on my weekly (or bi-weekly) clean, and proper wax when it beads less, or every few months? Won't using the red-mist product help protect the hard wax layer? And I know it's been said lots, but just to clarify. Weekly I'll shampoo and red-mist and when required wax (monthly). Then once or twice a year Wash, Clay bar, paint cleaner (Lime Prime) and wax? I'l make sure I don't go overboard with the Autoglym. I'll just begrudge not using it cos it seems good to be fair. I'll replace with DDJ when used up. I was put off the panel pot cos it read as if it'd only do a couple panels. Was I wrong? Have I just bought 10 years supply of wax? Damn! Looking foward to giving her a proper good seeing too I've owned plenty of nice cars but never really taken that much care over the paint work before. To be honest the car looks okay, alreadyhas a nice shine to it and it's only been cleaned quickly by me and the local hand car wash folk in the last year (don't shoot me for that). But since having it painted last week I suddenly feel an urge to take care of it. Think fresh paint need wax on it for protection anyways, doesn't it? Hope it arrives tomorrow so I can spend all weekend being a sad caraholic...

I've still not got round to doing this but probably will in the next couple weeks. However, even more annoying than that are the little chips on the windscreen. They're only small but I have a lot, almost looks like I have rain on my screen all the time Any ideas if the glass polish will get these small 'chips' out? I hope so cos I don't want to buy a new screen but it's really quite annyoing...

I just bought some red mist to go with it too - I doubt I'll be doing a full-on wax every week... Or every month for that matter. I've got AutoGlym car shampoo at the minute (Bright green stuff). I should be okay using that till it runs out shouldn't I? It doesn't seem to be abrasive or anything, not found a whole lot of details on it to be honest... Can't believe I just spent about £150 on cleaning products! And that doesn't even include the interior. Damn it.

Oh no. I knew I shouldn't read the car detailing section. I'm far too impulsive! At least I'll have a shiny car next weekend

I recently fitted Bosch Aerotwin wipers that I got from eBay. I was going to get a cheap set like that but read elsewhere that you get what you pay for with those cheap aero wipers. To be fair I've not used them a whole lot as only had them on a week. but ehy seem okay and had good reviews... Probably not the cheapest of that style wiper but at the end of the day it's only a few quid more. A lot on swear by the PIAA wipers (not aero) as they come with a silicone spray to aid beading of water on the windscreen, meaning you use the wipers less. Not used them myself, and they're not cheap. IMO the aeros look tidier, and supposedly perform better, that's why I went with them...