gjm

Been a bit of a delay due to a suspected torn ACL... Surprising just how much that slows down the crawling under cars activities. Checked trans fluid level. Looked OK... Drained trans 'fluid'. Ha. Looked like old engine oil. No sign of any debris, but to be honest, not sure I'd have seen any. Certainly nothing on the sump plug. I'll see if I can drop the sump over the weekend.

I was actually asking about disposal, which I didn't want to pay for - we have use for a few old tyres around the farm. It's "free". The rest was just a 30 second comparison exercise for the costs of fitting, balancing and disposal. Yup - pretty good price (for NZ. ? ). It's a sign of the times that 195/65-14s aren't readily available from many 'good' manufacturers - Toyo Proxes CF2 rose to the top of the shopping list, but none to be be easily found.

+$28 per tyre for the fitting, balancing, tyre valve and old tyre disposal. Which seemed expensive, so I checked around. (Hyperdrive assure me the valve and tyre disposal are free - no charge.) Beaurepairs charge $10 for fitting, and another $15 for balancing, so there is some sort of agreement in pricing for that service. Nocams charge $7.50 for fitting, $10 for balancing, and $2.50 for old tyre disposal.

The compact? €42900.

Hartge F1 - 1988 MB W124 300E with a modified M88 engine, built by Hartge. Sold at auction last month for €72600.

@BMTHUG

Of course it's overpriced. Not in the least uncommon. Most E30s are overpriced. Pretty much anything with a manual gearbox attracts higher pricetags than might be deemed sensible. This one is a little more unusual being a 'vert, NZ new, and low kms. No mention of service history though, and you'd have to expect that to be full, complete and up to date. But yes - expensive.

Back in Mercedes again. I do borrow Mrs M's Baur from time to time.

I've no issue with spending the extra for Michelins, etc, but finding them is a real problem at present. I've run Hankooks on the W201 for ages. Very pleased with them.

Tyres for Mrs M's Baur 325. (1990 E30 325.) Been looking around and stock sizes - 195/65-14 - aren't as commonly available as they might have been a few years ago. I'll probably take a look at a Bridgestone offer but as we only need 2, that's not necessarily ideal either. Thinking either Kumho KH27, or Hankook K415. $130-170 per tyre depending on source. Any views either way? Edit: Bridgestone are offering Ecopias at $161 fitted, but no special offer. Current 'Buy 1 get 1 half price' and similar deals are only for specific models of tyre. Beaurepaires are offering buy 3, get 1 free, on the Goodyear Assurance TripleMax 2 at $150 per tyre, but plus $26.20 per rim for fitting. Hyperdrive are offering 50% off with discount code. However, by the time you're finished with all the faffing about, there's little to choose between suppliers when it comes to the same model of tyre.

Sold the E46 320d. Sad day, but it does have a small issue - it won't start. Our move, no garage or workshop, and largely - no time - have meant I didn't get it sorted. Gone to another forum member though, and I'm sure it will live again.

Received a small package of service spares for m chainsaw. Sent from China in February. Arrived last week.

$49 for a WoF in town. And I can take a look under the car at the same time.

Certifiers and certification have a different viewpoint to the rest of us, and using OEM parts is no guarantee of acceptance. Replacing an E30 autobox with a manual one, using all parts from an otherwise identical car, still requires a cert. Yet you can R&R anything and provided it goes back as it was originally, it's not an issue.

I think that's your certifier being a touch strong. The auto to manual swap does require cert (pedal box) but all else being equal, the prop doesn't need hoops. Bizarrely you can dismantle and rebuild the entire brake system and no-one will bat an eyelid.

I do believe I have a set of 6 COPs bagged up in the container here...