H5

As has been said (as told by a number of body shops) silicon is not bad for paint or the car at all. If anything, it helps with the look and shine. The issue is when paint work needs to be done as it is a pain to deal with when it has got into the paint itself. It causes prep and matching issues. Hence, I now use Poorboys and CG products with no silicon in.

Got a nice finish on that!

All we need next on the stand is some unknown DJ with some blown speakers annoying everyone

What does it look like side on?

I have friends in ding places, but describing it over the phone is hard. Cost isn't so much the issue, it's whether it can be got at. Either that or I have to go and find the guy and strangle him and use his ground bones to fill the dent....

OK, I know it happens to everyone at some point, but it still infuriates me when it happens.... Popped to the shops this morning and did the usual of parking the Zed in the most inconvenient place in the car park, away from anything. Get back and a guy in some @*!# box Proton is making his way away from next to the Zed looking for another space (there were hundreds around) and as I start approaching the Zed he clears off out the car park. Surprise surprise, the div has left a bloody great dent in the rear quarter panel. Pics aren't great, but you can see the size in the reflection of the bucket in the 2nd pic... Anyone had a dent here pushed out successfully? If not, who want's to join me on a Proton hunt??

Check that the metal plate behind the brake disc hasn't been nudged and is catching the disc itself. I have had this and had to bend it back away a bit. Also check there isn't a stone trapped around the caliper or anything. Other than that, if they have been checked with the wheels off, not sure what else it could be apart from pad and disc noise from the slots.

Very nice!

Shame they have been a bit useless. Am sure the car will put a on your face though!

I'm happy to see their is a good debate, but...I'd still like the fundamental flaw in the original post to be answered... "Does uprating the rear tyres from 040's to 050's whilst leaving your fronts at 040's mean you are suddenly more likely to crash or have an unstable car?" How...you have not affected the front, it still has the same lateral grip as before...still the same braking grip...in fact all you've done is make the car more stable in the wet as the rear is less likely to let go because it will clear standing water quicker and will have slightly better lateral grip as a result. Perhaps somebody could ask Bridgestone this question...I think I know what the answer would be. Before posting this free advice up I think it really had to stand up to some scrutiny. I'm open minded on car issues, and would love to be convinced I'm wrong here because then I'd have learned somethien that may help me :-) Uprating the rears to 050's from 040's, while leaving 040's on the front will make the car inherintly have more understeer in the wet. Car manufacturers believe this to be the better combo, as this is what they dial into cars as standard. In the dry you will likely not notice, in the wet however, the front end could wash out much more easily, which is dangerous, but not as bad as the opposite and having oversteer. Good work John, look forward to seeing what they say Amended to what I think you meant Chris? As another example of what I think Dan is trying to say.... I had an old show car that was lowered to within an inch of it's life, had a boot full of ICE etc. and I used to have quite a bit of involvement with Yokohama. So it was running on Yoko A539s all round. This was fine, the car still had the manufacturer level of understeer (proportionally) when pushed and in the wet it was a little bit of a handful with the suspension being so firm. But I knew that it would always understeer. It got to the point I needed to replace the fronts and Yokohama didn't have any stock of the A539s. So I looked around and ended up getting some BF Goodrich tyres that were noted for their wet weather performance. While in the summer I didn't notice too much difference. The first burst of rain came and something started coming out..... While doubling back around a roundabout that I know very well from my years of living down the road from it, I noticed the front end gripped a bit more than I expected. A nudge of the throttle and a lift off and waheeyy! Steering from the rear in a Volvo! If it had been with A539s on the front (which I had had for the previous 3 yrs on the same car) then it would have just pushed the nose wide and then gathered back in. So much so that in my FWD car I could practically get the rear end to step out on demand in the wet! Up until this point I was really skeptical about all this stuff about mixing tyres. It wasn't a large speed but it was definitely noticeable and caught me out. So if you're not expecting it, you would be more likely to crash I would say! So if you wanted it to handle like that in the wet, then fine. But keeping the tyres the same all round will keep the handling in both wet and dry conditions pretty much as the manufacturer intended. I think that's what you're saying Dan?

If it's a hire car, I break it in at about 6500rpm in 2nd for a while. If it's my car, I wait until the oil is up to temperature and build up over a 2-3 month period. Most modern engines don't need 'running in' as such.

And you live by one of just a handful of bends in the US!! Lovely looking motors - I loved our Elise, would definitely have another one. Hope things turn around for the company too.

http://varrstoen.com/blog/ This might help explain a little bit more, have a quick word with CS on this as well.

Having had the both 350 and 370 on track, I can say the 370 is a better point to point proposition. Proper rapid and handling is something of a step up IMO. Try one!

Very nice job!

What new stuff have you gone for?

I would guess so. Without seeing them I would guess the discs have quite a ridge on the edge and some fairly obvious grooves around the face of the contact area. Time for some new stuff then!

If you're England and you're going to win the world cup, you might as well do it beating Germany and Argentina on the way...!! Welcome to the club

I get mine into a single garage fine. Just need some carpet on the walls and a steady nerve to keep the passenger side close to the wall!

Technically the car has missed out on a coolant, brake fluid and a spark plug change so I'd be getting a full health check and update done.

and after you have tried being so positive about the car after the 'issues' you had.... I believe it's for the better, you might be able to tell me... Man after my own heart - I kept it quiet and the team guessing - all adds to the pain

Looks like the disc that that pad is working with is a tad worn by those lines in the pad material.

Now that's a good service! 'Thank you sir, however for just £500 from your 350 we appear to have replaced almost everything and turned it into this.....' Looks great, I think the interior is one of the best things about the 40th Anniversary models. Enjoy it!

The football will definitely be being shown on all the screens at Brands. I have had contact directly from the organisers, so you can enjoy it in the sunshine! Chris - edited your post with this update.

There isn't, it's a Vauxhall club so Lexx will be hanging out with the Corsa boys