Ekona

Need as in fit, or need as in power increase? Ask SS directly for the former, if it's for the latter then I still would. No point in doing things by halves You won't get a decent noise from a diesel though, regardless of exhaust layout. Btw, and I'm sure you know this, but DPF removal is insta-fail on the MOT now.

I finally managed to get under the car today, around my mate's house who owns both a garage with a pit and an E64 645 convertible. The main job of the day was to replace the lower wishbone on his OSF which had a knackered bush at 67k miles (interestingly all mine are fine at 110k miles), which was going fine until we stripped the knobbles from the inside of the captive Torx bolt that holds the ball joint end of that wishbone to the hub. Quick run through with the angle grinder fixed that though! Actually not a bad job when you're past that, plenty of room to work and sensible sized bolts help. We also had a quick comparison of exhausts. We both went to the same place, had the work carried out by the same guy. Both out final silencers are identical, however I still have one single merging collector (like an x-pipe) and a couple of mid-silencers in place too, all OEM. He has none of that, just straight pipes with a small silencer on each that goes straight to the rear silencers. Result? Well, mine is louder, despite having more silencers on! Anyone have any idea why this might be? Pipework is the same size (well, there's 5mm in it in diameter but I don't think that's anything), so could it be that mine crosses with an x-pipe and his is dual all the way? I know that an x-pipe is best for power to scavenge the pulses on a crossplane V8, but I can't believe it would be quieter?! All thoughts on the matter welcomed. Anyway, onto my car. The reason I wanted to get under was to change the ARB settings, as it's too awkward to do on a driveway. I had them set at max stiffness at the front, and middle setting at the rear. This was giving me far too much understeer, which meant that tuning the dampers was proving a difficult task: Remember, fine tuning is always done with the dampers, get the big stuff done first. I've now set the front ARB to the loosest setting (furthest from the pivot point), and the rear... Well, remember I said it was set up in the middle? Turns out they'd installed it to max stiffness! Not actually an issue as I was going to do that anyway, so I've left that alone. Result? Night and day. It's beautiful! Where I had chronic understeer before, to the point of trail braking before every single corner to get any confidence that the nose would actually turn in, I now have a wonderfully adept front end that turns just as it should. Or rather, just like it used to. Now that may seem odd that I've spent all this money to get back to where I was, but let's remember that I've got a completely safe geo on here right now with so much toe in that it's massively blunting the front end still, so once I get the geo back to my favoured toe out settings I expect to see massive gains again. I can also then start playing with the dampers. As I said last time out, I've set them to very soft to try and regain some compliance as the BCs are stiffer than OEM even on the softest setting, which isn't ideal but I can work round that I think now the ARBs are set correctly. A touch more damping at the front compared to the rear can now be attempted, which is how it should be. Either way, I'm now feeling far more confident about the changes I've made to the car. It doesn't stop me wanting a 911, but I'm really enjoying having something with this much charisma and such a wonderful sound to play with. Having done the tyres, dampers, springs and ARBs, I know I've a much faster car than if I'd spent £2500 aiming for a few more horses, which reinforces just why I keep banging on about how important it is to get a good handling car rather than chasing horsepower. Although I guess I can be a little blasé with 330ft/lb at just 3k rpm... For the record, that's 20ft/lb more than I had in the 911!

I've got a couple of tea lights that are better than the OEM ones Good effort, looks much better and like you say the added illumination makes life so much easier

I'm not religious, so he (He ) doesn't get a capital

Unless the 360 is a manual, I wouldn't touch it. Likewise the Gallardo. R8 or Vantage have the noise, but again they'd have to be manuals to be anything close to enjoyable. F-Type not special enough to be an experience.

Dear god someone correct the title before I go insane

They'll take anything you pay them to, as long as it's not covered in faeces. Just watch them like a hawk and tell them where to put things/what to take care of, and check everything for damage. My movers were great, a nice couple of lads who were happy to chat and knew what I expected, and very reasonable to for a 7.5T van.

It's an experience day, so pick the ones that will give you the most memorable experience. That's the Atom and the 997, btw. There's nothing like the Atom, and the pace of the 997TT will blow you away, even after bikes. Every other car on there is much of a muchness in terms of experience.

http://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/1986/1078/part/II/chapter/C/made Knock yourself out. On mobile right now so can't really search it that easy, but that's the law right there. IIRC there is no exact spec as to what can or can't be showing, it just must not allow the tyre to come into contact with the arch. Which is pretty obvious, when you think about it!

If it's not about price, then why mention it? Of course that's a huge factor in your decision, no need to pretend otherwise. Cost is always a factor. It sounds like to me that these are exactly what you're after, in terms of size of the rotor to fill the space behind the wheel. If they're at a price you're happy with, then go for it! Someone has to be the first, and there's nowhere near enough data out there that I can see to make any kind of reasoned decision. If you ask me if I would get them, the answer is no. There's enough proven data on the myriad of kits out there right now that I'd go with someone in the UK who I know I can get any issues sorted out with, without needing to buy a plane ticket. That doesn't make them crap, nor does it make me paranoid. When it comes to purchases like this, I tend to stick with the known as brakes aren't something I'm willing to take a gamble on.

IT'S NOT REAL FFS

It also doesn't look completely retarded. Most important, that bit.

Forgive me Mark, you'd know much more about this than me so I'm genuinely curious instead of being a PITA (for a change!), but whilst I get how you can adapt the throttle sensitivity via the DBW to make that more responsive, or pump up the boost to give more shove, lag or threshold itself is surely determined by the size of the compressor and the amount of air the engine can shift in a given cycle at a given rpm. Without changing the turbo as a mechanical item, how do your proposed changes affect that threshold? Is it just a case of making it 'feel' less? As in, when you adjust the DBW on the Zeds so that the car seems more urgent despite all you really doing is the equivalent of someone putting their foot down harder and faster? No criticism meant there btw, that system is no different to what I've got on the BMW and I vastly prefer that setting for the feel too. That's on an NA engine though, which is why I'm struggling to get the concept of how you can change the turbo threshold via software only.

Been like that since at least the end of 2013, IIRC. However, they still do not state that directive any where on their website, and it still refers simply to a change of colour rather than any additional info about wrapping. Given that, I'm not sure I'd bother as unless it's actually written down somewhere that you could reasonably be expected to find it, or they actually tell you directly then how are you supposed to know? This would also be backed up in law somewhere, and I'm not aware of any cases where someone has been prosecuted for not telling the DVLA about an all over wrap. The fact the DVLA don't know their arse from their elbow with regards to this doesn't surprise me at all! Would I bother telling them? Nope, I wouldn't. It's not a colour change, it's a sticker. A f*cking big sticker, but a sticker nonetheless.

Who knew of May or Hammond before TG?

But nothing will reduce the lag, which is what he was after, short of changing the turbo.

Use them them, give them a call and see. I'd expect it to be about £100 with an excess of 10% of the value of the car, but that can massively vary by insurer.

Kinda my thinking too. If they make Top Gear again it'll be dire, if they do a motoring programme with Evans, Harris and Schmitz then it'll be ace. I hope.

Take the Zed, get trackday insurance from Moris, and then just enjoy it.

Jointly developed, yes.

Unless you install a different turbo, not really mate. A different driving style is the best you'll do, using more revs to keep it in the powerband and the turbo spoiling. Trouble is, you'll lose fuel economy that way so not ideal.

FESTIVE WISHES MOFOS

Never tried them, but by all accounts they are a billion times better in the wet than the original Cups were along with better feedback and dry handling too. If you can accept the price and the wear rate, then they're the premium performance tyre to buy right now bar none. Do it, then let me drive your car to review them

Don't mix tyres: Either match the fronts, or swap all four. Personally I'd replace with 050A on the rear again, then swap once all are worn. The 050As are excellent tyres, much better than the MPS3 IMHO which really weren't all that. Neither as good as MPSS though

See, I understand that! That's the same reason I think he's great though. Totally instinctive, goes with his gut, doesn't think before speaking. Brilliant.