Ekona

God I love Allo Allo

Miles off on both. Offset you could get around with spacers, but the PCD will require other methods. More hassle than it's worth IMHO, and while the E92 M3 wheels are nice they're not especially light or different enough to be worth the effort. Just realised whilst writing that that you didn't say if they were the OEM wheels or not, could just be aftermarket wheels. If that's the case, could you not get them in the correct sizes?

Monty Python boxset. Get it and laugh your ass off, it's still funny now. I love Fawlty Towers, but Jo hates it.

Welcome along! Have a read of the Sticky in the ICE forum, tells you all you need to know about what to buy to keep your steering wheel controls.

Why is Santa humping the wing mirror?

Don't have crappy clothes. Clean out my wardrobe out quite often. LIES Every man has a set of crappy clothes for getting dirty in, for doing the garden or working on cars or building sheds. It's the manly thing to do!

I use some ChemGuys degreaser agitated and soaked up with a microfibre, and then some AG tyre shine for the plastic bits. In theory you shoud be able to bag off the electric bits and attack with a hose, but there's no way I'm that brave.

Seriously though, wear an old pair of jeans and an old t-shirt or jumper. That's all any of us do, 'tis all you need. Same as you'd wear for washing the car.

An apron? As in what wimmin wear whilst cooking the tea? Good lord man, what's wrong with you?! :wink:

What's the PCD and offset of them?

Very sad news

Riiiiiiiiight. You do realise that brace is still there, albeit hidden in the ragtop? http://www.newsroom.nissan-europe.com/download/media/specialfile/491_1_5.aspx That's Nissan's own press release. 'Sense of purpose' is the paragraph you're after. There's no roof, it's got a bit of extra bracing to try and account for this, but it's still not as stiff as the coupe.

Ummm, yes there is. I upgraded to mine to the Eibach ones, so I know there definitely is an ARB at the rear! If there wasn't, then the car would leap around all over the pace as the two rear wheels tried to go in opposite directions at every bump. Unless you're referring to the strut bar across the suspension tops... No chance the ragtop is a stiffer chassis than the coupe.

The car is made for driving, not looking at. Driving holidays aren't cheap, but if that's your passion then ultimately there's nothing more rewarding than a really long trip.

Roadster is significantly worse handling than the coupe. My fully braced ragtop still felt wobbly compared with a stock coupe back to back at Bedford, and the extra 100kg does make a difference too. If you're after a pure drive, then you need the coupe as a base. That said, the roadster is still a great car to drive, I'm purely talking comparatively here. If you want to put the roof down, then you need the roadster. Obvious yes, but that's really what it boils down to, whether going topless is more important than outright purity of drive.

My plan exactly, very early Eurotunnel after a hotel in Folkestone the night before on the run down, then whatever time Eurotunnel is running from when I leave Bordeaux heading back to Braintree. I've used Google's own timing to plan my routes, as even though I know they're quite pessimistic at least I won't be short of time anywhere. Only thing I'm unsure of is the availability of 98 once I step off the main routes, but I'll play that by ear. Worst case I'll just use 95 and suffer.

No probs mate http://goo.gl/maps/i55mm The idea is to get through France in the one (painful) hit, then alternate between fun days blatting and days where you just need to make progress. I really want to do the Pyrenees AND Barcelona AND the southern tip AND the northern coast, which is why it's so long! It'll be tiring but well worth it I reckon, and the roads I've picked have been 50% what I think looks good and 50% recommended as detours by folks who have been there. The route abrubtly ends at Bordeux as I'm heading straight back to my house from there, and I decided it was better to leave it off if I'm going to publish it on the interweb. @Ian: Sorry, I kinda assumed that you'd be doing some blat drives as well and not just point to point (Stelvio excepted). In that case, I reckon you'll be okay on those mpg guesses.

I think the costs sound very realistic, although is 30mpg not a bit optimistic? Maybe on a run at 70mph, but no-one sticks to that and on the fun runs you'll be looking at half that. Cost it for 25mpg and anything else is a bonus I would say. Aside from that, it looks pretty doable. Do you have any routes down yet? Just wondering as Holland to Italy in a day is a hell of a push, that might be better split into two days. Am happy to look things over if you like, I've spent the last week or so doing my route for a tour of Spain I'm doing next June so am used to juggling Euro roads at this point!

When you say you checked, do you mean by using the lens things that MOT places have, or is there another way of checking that's a bit easier? I got flashed a few times when I first got the 911. Turns out one light was miles above where it should've been, despite looking fine in terms of beam dispersal on the road.

Probably set too high, get them adjusted.

I've spent most of the last two days asleep. WIN.

I took my MX-5 there, very knowledgeable chaps and would use them again. Have also used DMS at Erith too, once again excellent.

Two children and a woman now. I just want to know what happened.

That tyre review site is populated by morons. Read the actual text from the users and it's clear that 95% of them have no clue what a decent tyre should be. All they do is say that their current tyre is great because they spent their hard-earned on it and don't want to lose face by saying they made a mistake. Any tyre will aquaplane, so no-one can say a tyre will never do it. Basically you have three camps: Track stuff like the R888, normal tyres like the MPSS, and winter tyres. There will be margins between those three sets, but basically you're exchanging dry grip for wet grip as you move down the list. You don't need winter tyres, but they are much better in cold conditions. I run 050As all year round and just drive to the conditions, and that's all you need to do really. Eagle F1s are good, 050A are good, MPSS are good. You won't go wrong with any of them, but the extra wear plus extra dry grip means the MPSS stand out for me.

No probs