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Allanw

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Posts posted by Allanw

  6. Posted · Report reply

    Graham, talking to a counsellor; who knows what they're doing; just listens and asks questions that are relevant, with no agenda of their own: is a really amazing thing.

    If you have an Employee Assistance Program at work, or can access it somehow, DO IT! Privately, it costs $85 a session up here.

     

    • Like 3

  7. Posted · Report reply

    In addition to what 3pedals says, some bushes/components don't need much wear/age on them to create alignment or movement problems in a complex rear end.

    E39's are prone to it, and on my Current Touran (same as MK5, MK6 Golfs, B6 Passats and the likes), the lower inner arm bushes have a massive impact on suspension movements that cause inner wear. They go a tiny bit soft, and deflect under load, altering the geometry at bad times.

    Some tyres are far more prone to this than others too.

    I had similar wear on our old E39 in the earlier stages after we purchased it.

    I rebuilt the suspension, which tightened everything up, then had it aligned by a guy who knew what he was doing - I could visibly SEE the camber difference when my wife drove it home too!

    Also, I recently purchased Continental MaxContact6's for my Touran. I was previously having a similar wear pattern on the rear, but to a far lesser extent on the RE003's

    The Conti dealer had a cutaway of the Conti's I was fitting, and also my previous RE003 tyre (by coincidence) which was worn exactly the same as mine! It was clearly evident the RE003 wore excessively on the shoulder, between where the belt finished, and the outer corner of the tread. The belt was much narrower that the tread. This area wore a triangle off the inner edge, starting exactly where the belt finished.

    On this particular 215/50R17 Conti MC6 (I haven't comfirmed they are all the same), the belt was much wider, and ran right out to the tread edge. While his cutaway sample evidenced some wear on the inner side, it was very progressive and not at all like the narrower belted tyres - he's got plenty of examples sitting there to look at.

    He's been recommending the Conti's to heavy euro car owners, because he sees much better wear across them. He's actually an alignment specialist, and got into tyres more recently (maybe 10 or so years ago, after he and his father doing alignments only for probably 50 years!)

    He keeps these cutaways out for everyone to see and often uses them to talk people up from cheap/chinese tyres (the construction is dramatically "lighter" - scary, in fact! Even for the same load ratings)

     

  9. Posted · Edited by Allanw · Report reply

    I've owned some really oddball cars, and regret selling a LOT of them... but I always knew I'd regret not keeping Dads E30, but I really miss it more than I expected ? A LOT more!

    I think we should have kept it as the classic and sold the '29 Ford model A instead! This was my olds car for damn close to half my life, 18 of my 42 years! I kept the cobwebs well cleared out of it during my late teens and early 20's. Even got breath tested with like 7? people in it!

    I drove it before Dad did and even drove it home from the dealer, while Dad followed (trying to keep up!) in my sisters VL Commodore.

    22236171366_09352a3cee_z.jpg

    ?

     

  11. Posted · Report reply

    12 hours ago, Young Thrash Driver said:

    I forget if you have done pads already, but I really liked the ceramic ones in Alans old car. They worked ok, and didn't make a mess.

    They were "Posi-Quiet" from Centric that Jules recommended, I think.

    They really were low dust, but the brakes didn't have the same initial bite as OEM - still absolutely fine under heavy brakes, but initial application was "softer", which only took about 5 minutes to get used to.

  15. Posted · Report reply

    I fitted a genuine Xenon retrofit kit to our old E39... it came with a simplified levelling system, but I never fitted it ?

    If you can find the bits, it was one sensor on the rear suspension and all the wiring and diagrams required. The factory fitted Xennons used 2 levelling sensors (one front, one rear), and isn't as easy to retrofit, because the LCM is different for levelling or not.

  16. Posted · Report reply

    12 hours ago, aja540i said:

    You can also get a remote control to turn it on and off, it will also only activate if the battery is above a certain voltage, but the control boards are a common fault. I'm in 2 minds about whether or not to remove it completely, I have heated seats and its not my daily driver.

    Retrofit it into your Leaf....

    • Haha 1

  19. Posted · Report reply

    On 10/16/2020 at 12:42 PM, GorGasm said:

    Well blow me down, the 728i is apparently faster 0-100 than the 730i.

    The 728i is even quicker if it has the sort diff ratio option.

    The 730i V8 was pretty much the dog of the range - like an E30 320i auto.... uses the same/moe fuel than the bigger engines, ends up slower than the smaller engines ?

    The M52TU in the later ones was a much more advanced engine... though the little V8 sounded nice... (mostly because it worked hard a lot!)

    • Like 1

  23. Posted · Report reply

    10 hours ago, aja540i said:

    no, the 540 was Biarritz Blau, this is Orient blau, quite a bit darker. Yes the Mrs is distracted by her Lamborghini for now, but I suspect this will come up again in the future!!

    Have you finished the Defender yet?

    Ummm... no. These things take time ?

  24. Posted · Report reply

    Is that the same colour as your old 540i Touring?

    Also, you didn't tell everyone that you got out of trouble for buying this, by letting your Mrs buy a Lambo ?

    Works for me though - I can keep the Defender a bit longer, right? ?

  25. Posted · Report reply

    2 hours ago, B.M.W Ltd said:

    Another anniversary. 10 years today. The last two years have been the hardest two years in my life and I'm still a non smoker. I'd hate to be addicted with the cost of those products these days. How many other achievers are there out there ?

    Technically, this post inspired me to START smoking?

    I just vac packed about 4kg last night!

    Well done though - 10 years!

    • Like 1
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