Ekona

http://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&f=159&t=1570353

Exactly what I was going to say!

Technic has never about aesthetics. It's about the mechanical side, and the structural side. Creator looks more accurate, but it's much less interesting to build.

Already on the PH GB for one

Same pads I use! And I agree with you about the hex pads, I don't like them for the exact same reason, clogging.

No need to wash after a clay, I tend to use the water on the car to clay with as well after you've rinsed. After all, you're only going to put more wet stuff back on it to clay. That doesn't mean you don't need any QD as well, as the car will dry in places. It just means you need less.

That is the cheapiest, nastiest mesh I've ever seen. £40 to ruin your car? Yeah, sounds a bargain. Honest, if you genuinely like that style just go to Halfords and pick up their mesh for about £10 and DIY, it'll likely be a better job.

It's just a Zunsport one, no? Readily available from the UK.

Amen!

Have you ever driven one? You'd understand then

Having seen the form they wanted you to use, it counted for nothing anyway. If a gazebo falls over it can kill someone, fact. That's a three on their risk scale. If you weigh it down it'll be very unlikely to fall, so that's a one on their scale, giving a score of three on their matrix. They won't let you do anything over a two though! In their example they say a falling gazebo might just injure someone max, not kill. That is utter rubbish. Would you be happy standing up in court arguing you got it right when someone's dead? I wouldn't. Risk assessment is a minefield, and you don't want to be doing it unless you're 100% sure as once you do, it's your neck on the block.

You don't get the choice to go to court or not, your contract with your insurer gives them the right to settle as they see fit. You can push, or you can go it alone, but you can't make them take it to court if they don't want to.

It's all about the polishing. The longer you spend on that, the better your result. If 1.5hrs is all you can spare, and nothing wrong with that, then I'd ditch the snow foam and TBM, just get the car as clean as you can as quickly as you can (don't worry about adding swirls, you're about to remove them!) then spend your time with a decent polish. SRP will work if that's what you already have, and just take your time until you get the finish you want. You can always use a liquid wax instead of the Nattys to shorten the waxing stage, giving you more time on the polishing stage. To be honest, really you need to be looking at a minimum of a day for the whole car, however no reason you can't split that up over multiple weeks! Do a panel at a time, literally just wash, polish then protect that panel, then the next week do the next one. Once you've done them all then go back to the snow foam & TBM method, skip the polish and just top up the wax if required.

Knowing the roads in your area well, I'd suggest a starting point of 15F and 20R, all set from hardest. Tweak as you see fit, keeping a 5 gap difference first of all until you feel the car is stiff enough without jumping over the surface. You can then adjust the ratio as you feel is right. This is only an incredibly rough guide, as your geo settings, wheels, tyres and pressures of will also affect what works for you. Don't be afraid to experiment, you won't damage anything, just be aware that stiffer rear than front will promote oversteer. That said, if 32F/0R feels good then go for it!

I'd probably just take it to a paint shop, can't be any more than £60-£80 to spray a wing mirror. Hell, you could probably buy a decent used cover for less.

For a 2004 car with 60k on the clock? Not with cars like this around. It's not an awful car by any means, but the apparent paint mismatch isn't doing you any favours,. Neither is the need for a service, the camber arms and a front end respray. That's a few quid right there. You say it's tuned for 99, I assume it has a map on to run regular Super too? I'm not saying you won't get £10k for it, but it'll be from someone thinking with their heart rather than their head IMHO. *Note for Mods: I've given an honest opinion here, as the OP asked an honest question. Please let me know if you think I've overstepped and I'll edit as appropriate.

Not scared at all, I promise you. Tbh I'm sick of the Brexiters claiming scare tactics: It's not that at all, much like it wasn't in the Scotland vote, it's more that there is zero definites coming from the other side. If we stay in we know what we're getting because we have it now, if we leave there's only buts and maybes. Okay, so where are the billions to pay for the exit going to come from? Borrowing? Not on Osbourne's watch. The country is broke as it is, when the markets take a nose dive as we vote leave (and they will, I don't think anyone would seriously think otherwise) the economy suffers even more. What better way to prove your point that people were wrong to oppose than by saying you need to increase taxes to pay for it? Perfect politics.

Easy to map for whatever you want. Personally on any performance car I wouldn't run anything other than Super, and no it won't cause harm to run higher octane fuel on something mapped for less.

Not being funny, and I've tried to phrase this in as nice a way as possible, but you do realise just how important this vote is? This isn't just a shake up, this is a once in a lifetime chance to shape the future of the country. Voting for anything just because you fancy a change is possibly the single worst reason to vote I can think of. By all means vote out if you think it will improve the country, but don't do it because you're bored! Not directly related to that, and more a general question to the Brexiters: Are you prepared for the short-term pain that voting out will very likely cause? I mean in terms of the massive costs needed to negotiate the exit itself, in terms of watching the pound plummet and the effect that will have on savings and tax rates needed to sustain the UK, that sort of thing. I can absolutely see taxes needing to rise significantly to pay for the expenditure needed to leave, possibly the standard rate and almost certainly fuel & alcohol duty.

I like the people who drive a grey car on a grey day on a grey road and expect their car to be magically seen by everyone. They're just a magical kind of special.

You're forgetting we know your wife, no way that's happening

God bless insurance! Poor sod, didn't really look like he did much wrong there either.

Oh man, didn't realise it was you, sorry fella! Normally I'm offended when people don't remember me, but I'll make an exception in this case Sorry, probably not joking time yet. I'm just glad you're okay, it's a cliche but it's true. Definitely one of things you can look back on and think "If only...", but we've all had close misses at sometime on track. Sometimes you get lucky, sometimes you don't, FWIW I meant what I said about your attitude to the accident, and it's even worse when it happens to the nice guys. That'll be the teacher in the wifey coming out, she's got a good heart in her when it comes to looking after people

Have to say, the track etiquette was appalling yesterday. Three abreast braking into Brooklands is utter suicide, and the amount of cars just wandering aimlessly into a corner terrifying. I will never, ever, EVER put my car on track at any of these events. That's said, the chap in the black coupe who had his accident sounded desperately unlucky. He was a nice guy and took it better than I might have, and didn't have a single lame excuse at all. Tbh I'm not convinced the circuit was ready for cars, as with snow in the morning & sub 3c temps & shadow over that part, it can't have had any grip at all. I hope he (and Adam) managed to get home at a reasonable time. Good to meet you both too, albeit in rubbish circumstances. Sorry for not getting a chance to catch up with too many of you either! I saw Will faffing around in the back of his car but by the time I'd finished faffing too you'd gone, saw Adrian briefly has he drove past (how loud is that car?!), and Amy was busy chatting and scoffing a large pastry-based meal on her stand so I didn't want to interrupt The drifting was incredible to watch live, but the show itself felt a bit too much car park for my taste. Poor signage too, we had no idea where anything was and I'm sure we missed a load of stuff. Shame it was so cold, we had to leave earlier than I'd otherwise have liked. Despite all of that, I had a great weekend (less said about the service in the hotel on the Sat night the better, eh folks?!) and once again it proves it's all about the people, not the cars.

Akrapovic stuff is pretty, but a total rip-off. Sounds superb mate, we'll have to meet up one day and have a V8 rev-off!