Olaf

yep, there's a clear process for landlords disposing of abandoned goods. it's a bit of a f%#king hassle to be fair; it was suggested to me by some very experienced landlords, on finding a bunch of random sh*t abandoned at my house when moving back in.... was to take the entire lot to the tip, and if anyone ever asked about it the answer was "the house was clear when I took posession as noted on the bond report; I know nothing about the property you mention". The process involves posting notices, charges for storage, and disposal after x weeks. All that for abandoned sh#t. Lazy f#cking tennants, there's stack of brown-smelling karma for them - and their back passages - too. Leaving their sh&t behind - can't they fill rubbish bags, clean up after themselves, take a trailer to the tip? /rant.

hey Elijah, it's not as flash as Ron's excellent negotiation gambit, but Bridgestone stores are having a 'buy one, get one half price' deal**. Which I guess amounts to 25% of a pair. Test-pricing today, their opening price well undercuts Tony's, which should open up for some outstanding competitive bidding between the big-boys to buy your business. PS - ** till 24 March

hey Rohan, what sort of Warranty do Bridgestone Stores provide?

you'll find it's being watched by the drug squad. you'll be bailed up/jailed up before you know it. incommunicado and fearing for your life in a holding facility.

sounds like -1 for Wheel Magician. I'm looking for a good repairer in Welly...

I shouid like to call a point of order here: 'the segment' formerly known as "the sport saloon" in the 2-litre (or thereabouts class) was surely created in the 1960s, one of the cheif protagonists was the Triumph 2000 (straight 6) then competing with the BMW Neu Klasse. The class got a little split/cloned where we had Dolomite Sprint/2002 + 3 Series, and Triumph 2500/5 series. Larger 2 litre class and smaller 2 litre class.... eventually everything got a six! I will concede that BMW has essentially owned the segment since the e21 323i. and in the larger 2 litre class, the 5er has pretty much owned the segment. - well packaged - sporty handling - executive image/cachet - solidly engineered - class-leading in refinement, drive, comfort, handling, performance. It is for these reasons the 3er has consistently been the segment benchmark. The question Herbmeister rightly poses, could be reinterpreted as: "is the 3er still the segment benchmark? Has BMW lost their competetive advantage?" Ron, you can besmirch 911 character from here till sunday, though I've never met one I'd boot out of my party #8 ) bad character is in the eye of the beholder. After all, there are many in the british isles who describe BMW, Mercedes etc as 'german skateboards' and 'magnetically attracted to hedges arse-first'... which is more representative of a lack of experience with RWD and loss of traction, than any poor manners on the part of 3er or c-class. Olaf

congratulations on the move! people seem to drive Ford Falcons or Holden Commodores. If they're a little odd, they'll drive Citroen or Saab. It's interesting, Citroen has a long standing in Taranaki (pronounced Tarr-ann-uh-kai) Olaf

I'd like that.

Oh man. it's lovely. I must.... avert..... my eyes.

I picked up - rather unexpectedly - a set of style 194 wheels (staggered) - today, following a trademe offer. I spent a couple of hours cleaning them up - I doubt they'd ever been washed on the inner rim before. after springs... Next is: to find a kerb-rash repairer (recommendations in Wellington appreciated!) and then: some decent rubber in the 225/45/17 and 245/40/17 flavours. Happy, me.

pics or it didn't happen! Are you still on Style 68's, or "something different"?

I used to go to New Plymouth for work, a bit. I really like NPL, the people are friendly, the weather's pretty good. It's a small provincial NZ town, with the attendant features. Took my family there last year for a long weekend; we liked it so much we're going back this year. there are some reasonable restaurants there. Car culture is big, though largely centred around rods, muscle cars, street machines, Americana, and Oz iron. Mike's Organic Brewery (past Waitara) is worth a visit, the beer is pretty darned good. Gowett Brewster Gallery - though small - is outstanding. One of NZ's best record stores - The Vinyl Countdown - is in New Plymouth. it's a bit pricey to fly in and out of, and a little too far from Wellington for a quick hoon. You've got twisty roads to drive in the country, fishing, surfing, and fresh air. brilliant! what industry takes you to New Plymouth? Energy? Dairy? Sheep? Transport? cheers Olaf

Pete, if you've not experienced them, consider http://europeanleathercare.co.nz in Petone. You can have them do the work on your leather, or buy their kit and do it yourself. with a few hours elbow grease, I had my volvo black leather seats looking nealy new. the Elephant leather preservative is amazing. HTH. They do different kits to match the colour of your leather. Firmly recommended.

NZ New, 2 owners, V8 Sportpac, 100kms.... $17k. http://www.trademe.co.nz/motors/used-cars/bmw/auction-1046650527.htm looks tidy, sounds well looked after. Not an M-Sport, and higher K's.... still, 100 kms for 14 years old, it qualifies as low k's. It'd be $13-15k all day long, given the number on the market, and the comparative age and unattractiveness of V8s for most punters. I rest my case.

indeed, good result. what they really meant was "we're not going to try and extract monies from you.... becuase we haven't a leg to stand on, our client is irrational, and you're a consistent and articulate witness.". They (try to) make it sound as though they're a court. "hold you liable" ha! Pull the other one... 500 times. ahhhh, that's better. cheers Olaf

sounds like a top idea, just pitch in and organise one mate. welcome aboard to both! The good thing about a saturday local meet is it can be less of an impact to the family routine...

jeez if it's for looks surely they shoud be 'good looks'. ? these folks are tomorrow's Darwin awards winners, pure and simple. Just because you "can haz stance" doesn't mean you should.

hey Francois, how's it coming along? Are you going to make Beach Hop with this awesome project? I trust it's all coming together for you. cheers Olaf

I've had two sets of KYB. The first in a VW GTi A2 16v. They lasted less than two years. Although they were stiffer and worked better than the flogged-out originals (115k miles), they just couldn't hack the pace. Standard springs, wheels, tyres. They died. Replacing them with Boge Turbo was a revelation. The second was on a NIssan Maxima. Replaced the original Nissan oil shocks with KYB gas shocks. Sharpened up the handling, made for a more sporty ride. Good value for money. They lasted fine over five years on the car, and were working fine when I sold it. For your e28, I think your focus of getting it going and on the road is an excellent one. When it's time for shocks, you might consider Sachs, Bilstein, or perhaps Meyle (at the budget end)? HTH

if it helps, back when I ran an e30 325i it had two 'interesting' issues. mileage was around 130k miles. I'd already replaced dizzy cap, fuel filter, leads, plugs, oil and air filters. 1. Hot start frequently wouldn't start. Cranked over fine, but wouldn't catch. 2. Sometimes it would have a massive miss/hiccup (like a sneeze)... different gears, different speeds, roughly similar engine speeds. (like a 2nd to 3rd gear change when letting the clutch out, or at 80mph cruising in 5th... I had a couple of RAC callouts, they couldn't figure it. Solved by replacing fuel pump relay, and the DME relay. At that point the car was 13 years old. I think these two items are often overlooked; the contacts in the relays oxidise over time. You could crack em open and burnish them, though given the price of new ones, just replacing makes sense. HTH

I think Aotea is the same, Paul. It's kinda sad we don't seem to have those coin-operated 'wash-it-yerself' places down here like they do in Auckland. Or is there something I'm missing, and Vellingtonians can 'show me the way'? Top Tip: The 'green' way to get a half-decent job at a carwash is to use the Caltex touchless carwashes, no brushes, all spray, and they recycle the water too. cheers

"wrong"? That's a very strong opinion! Simply, insurance is business. The client pays some money to cover risk of loss. The company accepts fees as 'premiums', accepting the risk. They have super statistics known as actuarial tables to help them assess the risk. They're not in the business of judgement as to whether or not the car is maintained above and beyond WoF standard. They don't view folks operating their cars dispassionately as 'bad people'. It's simply a numbers game. Re N54 & N55, of course the e92's electric water pump is not an 'extra' item; it's just another added-complexity maintenance item that one needs to get ahead of. If you were planning on running an e92 on break-fix rather than planned/preventative maintenance, I predict there will be tears before bedtime. cheers Olaf

nothing wrong with ludicrous, mate. but what's the intended use (of your e30 project); road fun? track weapon? crossover?

PS - isn't it odd, using a water blaster will usually produce less runoff, and use less water, than washing with a conventional hose!

according to chemical guys, of their snow foam soaps: "All Chemical Guys products are biodegradable and VOC compliant. They contain no volatile chemicals, and they dilute and break down when mixed with water." I can imagine the neighbours though... the FIGJAM assumption that I'd not have done my homework before dumping my nasty car chemicals into the stormwater drains, which of course in turn runs to the sea. They're probably driving a Prius and burning tanalised fenceposts in their woodturners. #; ) Are you in a suburb that drains to the basin in Porirua, Neal? Genuine concerns there, understandably.