JeZed

Click on Tyres in Shipley have a £70k laser alignment machine. They charge £40 for a full 4 wheel alignment. They will check it free when you have tyres fitted but the £40 is charged if you want it adjusted. You’ll get a full printout of all the measurements at the end. Tyres are as cheap as anywhere as well.

Could be honey bees. When we kept bees they used to crap on my car. Small orangey brown spots that smear when you wash them off ? Harmless but annoying.

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I get loads of little brown spots caused by some sort of insect. I'm guessing it's some sort of excretion they are like miniature bird droppings.

I think they are attracted to the wax I use.

As for bird droppings the seagulls love my nice shiny car, they probably think it's a body of water from above.

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Wow - shiny. Nice job.

I've been meaning to do mine for a while. You might have just given me the inspiration I needed

I was on a company car and named driver for a year, direct line told me they protect it for 2 years if i go back to them. Having said that I'm with Hastings, 2 months in and so far not asked for proof of no claims, which i find odd. I'm on works insurance to drive anything booked in though.

Just had mine cancelled by Hastings after 6 weeks. They didn't ask for proof of NCD for a whole month then rejected it as it was just over two years old. Offered to re broker it and went from £218 (with 6 years NCD) to over £1000. If they'd sorted this out and asked for proof of NCD efficiently I could have cancelled within cooling off period with no cancellation fee. Because they dragged their heels they now want £45 cancellation fee. Guess what - they will be losing my business PERMANENTLY - AVOID. Scammers !!!

Angry doesn't even come close!

Best so far is Tesco Bank at £260 and they will accept company car NCD so I'm looking into that tomorrow.

I'm 55 years old and driven claim free for over 30 years - insurance industry are just a load of sharks.

Looks like a warranty job to me - unless you've run them flat or something else that's caused the damage. Looks like the tread is separating from the carcass ?

OK Thanks - I'll go with the free check and see where we are at the moment and make a decision then on what to do next.

Not tried them myself yet, but I know people who have and say the 4 are better than MPSS, and I trust their judgement.

MPS4 or MPSS or MPS4S ? Remember I'm on 18" rims.

MPS4S > MPS4 > MPSS

 

However, MPS4S aren't available to fit 18".

Is the MPS4 better than MPSS ?

That's what the "greater than" (>) sign implies

MPS4 or MPSS or MPS4S ? Remember I'm on 18" rims.

MPS4S > MPS4 > MPSS

 

However, MPS4S aren't available to fit 18".

RE050A are a very good tyre, certainly in the wet. I'd be checking the tracking at a first point, confirm that's alright first of all.

 

Assuming it is, then skip all of those and go to the MPS4.

MPS4 or MPSS or MPS4S ? Remember I'm on 18" rims.

I had an offer of a free alignment check at Click on Tyres - competitive prices and local to me when I swap the fronts.

I bought a Civic for my son last year with a massive toe in (DIY track rod end job !) and had 4 wheel alignment check at Kwik Fit. I presume the check will be similar. From what I remember it gave all the measurements, toe, camber, castor etc.

Or do I need to go to a specialist ?

Many Thanks for your advice - much appreciated.

I still suspect the geo, sounds like it's far too aggressive in terms of camber on the rear possibly.

Oh - wasn't expecting that. Bog standard car - could it need setting up ? Didn't know it was adjustable.

Still - happy that I'm not faced with a torrent of "driver error" quotes

This might be relevant to the post I've just put on the tyres forum ref my Bridgestone RE050's lack of wet grip.

Last weekend I was out on a very wet day. I was going round a large roundabout and pushing just a little bit trying to feel the front and how far I could push before a lot of understeer. As I started to (gently) back off the rear end came round a good bit and I nearly sh** my pants . My instinct to apply opposite lock (and Traction control ?) probably saved me from doing at least a 180 in amongst the Saturday shopping traffic. Not really funny at all !

I feel I need somewhere with a bit of space to have a practice and replicate the situation so I can understand what happened. May have been lift off oversteer ? might be crap tyres or a combination of the two or does the 350 have a tendency to do this. I'm quite capable of controlling a slide but I need my confidence in this car restoring.

Any advice please. My suspicions are towards the tyres ?

I've only had the car 2 weeks and the lack of wet grip is quite a surprise. I reckon I can go faster in the wet in my Ford S Max company car No confidence !

I have 4 RE050's on the car. One front is 6mm, the other is about 3 in the middle and about barely legal at inside and outside edges. (Previous owner must have run it under inflated ?) I can feel it tracking over banding in the road while the other side is fine.

So I'm a bit skint after buying the car - I could stretch to 2 fronts but not all 4.

Short list is:

Uniroyal Rainsport 3 at £98 each

Hankook K120 at £125 each

Michelin MPSS £150 'ish each

Any advice would be much appreciated.

OK, so the front tyres on my Zed are 225 45 R18 91W. Bridgestone RE050. I know 91 is load rating but not many tyres are 91 - many are 95 and then there's XL ?

Also they are W rated for speed index and many tyres are Y.

My question is must I use 91 W or can I use any tyre that is 91 or better (e.g. 95) and what about Y speed rating and then there's XL.

If I can go for anything with minimum 91W or better it opens up a much wider choice of tyre.

Many Thanks.

Picked up my Silver 07 HR last weekend - WOW !

Can't stop smiling