Dicky

Always Always get someone from the dealership to check your car over taking note of imperfections before you leave it. I've been caught out a couple of times so do this each time now. It's the only way to avoid confrontation afterwards.

Had 4 wheel alignment checked this morning and noticed a black 350 on the ramp ahead of mine, reg NC06 LPF. It had apparently been an accident damage car (although it looked in fair shape) and the new owner had brought it in for work on the instrument display (lost pixels and intermittent mph display) Points to note were stubby ariel, carbon fibre wrap on the two headlight washers, Zun Sport wire mesh grill over the standard plastic grill. Interior looked standard Just thought you might like to know it's still alive and running.

UPDATE:- Found that paint hardness table I mentioned earlier, it's located on the PolishedBliss site http://www.polishedbliss.co.uk/acatalog/pdfs/painthardness.pdf

Mr ilogikal 1 you've come up trumps yet again. I'll take your word regarding the VXR (I can't remember where I found that paint hardness list now anyway). I think I'll train the wife to do the polishing then she can do the hard work while I drink more Merlot ha ha....sounds like a plan to me. Thanks for the chart as well, its very good of you to put so much effort in. Dicky

Good luck with that. Ah, this is a different matter - harder paint, y'see. Personally I'd step up a stage with the polish first - my choice would be Scholl S17+ but if you want to stick with Menz, 234 would be the one - on the tangerine pad still, if that doesn't get the results you're after, step up to the pad too, that being the Cyan Hydro Tech. Be warned though with that level of cut from either polish or pad, especially on black, you're likely going to have to do a 2 stage polish - heavier cut to remove the defects, then refine with a lighter cut combination to get the shine (which on harder paint would probably 85RE on the tangerine pad - a combination that would be moderate-to-heavy cut on soft paint.... confused yet? ). Just for reference, microfibre pads typically have considerably more cut than foam pads. Denim pads have more cut than microfibre pads. And Reyon pads will remove good paint from metal surprisingly quickly. CONFUSED, WHAT ME.......This is no harder than understanding the origin of the universe! By the way I came across a table of paint hardness and Vauxhall was under the heading of soft paint? (see below) I'm afraid I need to digest and research your last post because either my second glass of Merlot or your post has got my head spinning UK Paint Hardness Information (last updated 01/11/09) SOFT PAINT Alfa Romeo Daewoo Ferrari (< 2005) Fiat Honda Lexus Mazda Mitsubishi Nissan Suzuki Toyota Vauxhall (1998 >) INTERMEDIATE PAINT Aston Martin Bentley Citroen Ferrari (2005 >) Ford Jaguar Jeep Land Rover Lotus Maserati Peugeot Porsche (1998 >) Renault Rolls Royce Saab Seat Skoda Subaru (2001 >) Vauxhall (< 1998) Volvo Hard Paint Audi BMW Lamborghini Mercedes Benz Mini Porsche (< 1998) Subaru (< 2001) TVR Volkswagen

Cheers young man I appreciate your guidance. Apologies your right I've been using the 203S for light cutting along with the Tangerine pad. I've been selecting about 1/4 of the bonnet as my area, then having applied the polish I do 3 passes (a pass = Virtical polishing the area then horizontally polishing the same area) So I assume I could either do say 6 passes or more, or buy another suppliers medium cutting pad and polish (assuming their suitable for soft paint) for the slightly deeper scratches. As it happens this requirement isn't for my gunmetal car, which doesn't seem to show scratches to readily, but for my daughters friends car who has a black Vauxhall VXR which does.

1) I've been using the soft paint kit from "Polished Bliss" http://www.polishedbliss.co.uk/acatalog/pb-soft-paint-polishing-kit-cat1.html I believe it comes from "Lake Country" and is their Hydro Tech range. Unfortunately when using the main cutting pad ie Orange along with 85RE polish I can't get the scratches out I need to. Their not noticeable to the finger nail test so was wondering what the next highest cutting pad and polish to use. 2) Also is it the pad, the polish or both doing the cutting. All the different suppliers and their different pads and polishes makes it all a bit confusing.

Rear lower link bolt. Many thanks I'll look that up. Always well worth reporting safety related failures. Edit: Found it! ...now I can see how bad this could have been. Just as well you didn't put the handeling down to poor road surface

Not sure which nut you mean. Is "rear camber bolt" the description used in the manual or your own because I've looked at the rear suspension section of the manual (RSU) and the only camber associated bolt I can see mentioned is the adjustment bolt. Would that be it?

Yeah the guy did say the depth profile is a design feature of this performance tyre. It's just that I've gone through life with the simplistic view that all tyres have 8 to 9 mm tread depths so when faced with this profile my first thought was "I've been ripped" Bugger......wish I'd been born cleavour instead of devistatingly good looking!

Rang Bridgestone UK technical this morning and apparently this tread depth variation is a design feature of the Potenza tyres to allow for the removal of water. The guy mentioned that the outside of the tyre (the 6mm) is street legal down to Zero millimetre while 3/4 of the treat must be above the 1.6mm minimum depth as that's what the law permits, apparently the rear tyres will be similar. So the tyres are perfectly ok according to them. I put the same tyre on the car last time and they seem to have lasted well enough so hey ho here we go. I still feel a little cheated though so will investigate my next tyre choice which will be the pilot sports. Nearly went for them this time as there's not a huge difference in price but the tight penney pinching part of my brain won the argument on this occasion!

Can you feel any vibration through the steering wheel or elsewhere. I'm no expert but I would be thinking about either wheel bearings, altiantor bearings, front pulley belt bearings etc. I would have thought they may well grumble more when under acceleration load?

You've obviously got lots more money than me! Anyway when you get to my age the only pleasures your left with I life is A. To moan a lot B. To drink a lot C. Write letters of complaint D. Pee the wife off with all of the above Don't worry you've got it all to look forward to ha ha

Now that I've sobered up I've been searching the net from top to bottom and can't find any info/specification on Bridgestone tyres relating to the tread pattern or depth. I would have thought this info would be quite important to buyers. I've never measured my new tyres before and am only doing it now to keep an eye on the tracking which has been check as ok but appears to me to be still out. I was going to measure them every so often to try and detect when and if they begin to wear unevenly (I don't have a lot of confidence in these garages who have the right equipment but don't seem to know how to use it correctly) As I said earlier they have the tyre markings you'd expect to see on new tyres and those little rubber hair remnants still visible so they have to be new, so it would appear the tread depth measurements must be standard.

Having thought a little around this problem I'm getting more convinced it's a conspiracy. Let's face it, who checks tread depth on new tyres. So if say they sell 1 million tyres a year then that's (phi x D)x2mm depth x say 2mm thickness = a lot of rubber x 10 to the power of 6 = even more rubber. So in a year they've pinched enough spare rubber to make at least 10 million rubber bands which is enough for North Koria to make 500 propeller driven cruise missiles to attack the Western Powers. Sorry I'm getting carried away cos I've just drank two bottles of Merlot and seem to have developed verbal diarrhoea!!

Well there you go! But I will call Bridgestone UK on Monday to see what they have to say. Tyres are expensive enough without nicking a bit of my rubber, but then again if the treads are different depths it may have something to do with water removal rates. Who knows? But I'm gona be so much more intelligent on Monday!

Yep, or in other words the extreme RHS groove is 6mm. Why do I feel your going to suprise me!

The tyres are Bridgestone REO 50A and I got the them from someone other than National Tyres. However I rang NT to check the new tread depth before I challenged the supplier and they confirmed they should be 8mm when new. I agree with Mr ilogikal 1(who by the way has been extremely helpful with my detailing woes) that they may come from a dodgy batch. As for not worying about 2 mm, it's as important to me as loosing 2mm off my old man (apologies if ladies present) You realise that Geordies just live a few miles away from the Scots and like them we take care of the pennies. So 2mm represents a 1/4 ie £60 of the price of two new tyre and probably a couple of years running on a front tyre wear rate (the frequency and way I drive) so I considder it a big deal. I WANT MY RUBBER BACK! Rang the supplier and I've to take the car back Monday so we'll see what happens then but it would be nice to know a definite quoted depth just in case it develops into a slanging match.

A little update:- Just been out to check them again and noticed that both tyres still have the red and blue dye lines on the trade and those little rubber nodules you get on new tyres are still very evident. Rang National Tyres who confirmed tread depth should be 8mm Can't understand it

Had two new Bridgestone tyres fitted yesterday and ran about 10 miles home on them. Measured their tread depth this morning and noticed the inboard depth is 7mm middle is 8mm and the outside is 6mm. The garage had inflated the tyres to around 31psi which I corrected to 35 psi when I got home. My understanding is that new tyres are 8mm tread depth. What do you think?

Tell me about it David!

Thanks again guys. I've just got in and am have started reading the info provided above. You do realise I'm soon going to be a cleaver as you lot don't you. I'll look into those products you mention Tineyflier Edit: How often do you do detailing. As I mentioned earlier gun metal doesn't seem to show swirl marks so don't have a visual indication of when it needs doing. Also there must be a point when you have to stop before you break through the clear coat (see already using the right terminology) ha ha

Cheers young man, I'll give it a read

Thanks Mr ilogikal1 once again for your help, and I'll take your advice. No I haven't read the guide above Ive been reading lots of bits nd pieces about which pad does what, what the provided polishes do and polishing techniques (all of which have variations in how to approach the job). Unfortunately the link doesn't seem to work on my iPad. If you wouldn't mind having another go I'd appreciate it. One more question if you don't mind....having been over the car with say PF2400 (203s) are you supposed to then wax the car (to give it some protection)with the 85RE or do you use ordinary wax polish. I've seen a YouTube vid showing the guy spraying on what appeared to be a wax finish coat then polishing it with a microfibre cloth?

It's getting a bit confusing, what with the PF 2400 also called PO203 and SF 4000 also know as PO 106. My brain hurts. Is 85RE the same as SF 4000? If so I'll try applying that tomorrow to see if the shine improves. Don't get me wrong the shine is there but when your not seeing swirls disappearing before your very eyes, your level of excitement wanes a bit The water primiming seems to be a good idea as the main reason for doing it seems to be to prevent burning, so why waste polish I tried the brush cleaning method on the pad I used and it did seem to cause a lot of dust to fly off (dusting my nice clean car I should add) also tried the towel clean but the pad had stood a while and it may be more effective during detailing. Anyway ONWARD AND DOWNWARD I always say!