Quick rant thread.

[jon dee 500]

That's a routine fix for bleeding tar... spread fresh chip over the top (usually a smaller grade) and let the traffic roll it into the voids. If the contractor uses normal size roading chip, that adds the extra excitement of flying stones as kiwi drivers are way too staunch to heed the "30kph Fresh seal" warning signs. Some cars will not slow down and at 100kph leave a rooster tail of flying chips behind. All part of the great kiwi road trip in summer  

Cheers...

[Young Thrash Driver 1020]

On 12/23/2021 at 6:26 PM, jon dee said:

That's a routine fix for bleeding tar... spread fresh chip over the top (usually a smaller grade) and let the traffic roll it into the voids. If the contractor uses normal size roading chip, that adds the extra excitement of flying stones as kiwi drivers are way too staunch to heed the "30kph Fresh seal" warning signs. Some cars will not slow down and at 100kph leave a rooster tail of flying chips behind. All part of the great kiwi road trip in summer  

Cheers...

I thought everyone had shares in Novus?!

[KwS 2372]

God I hate the arseholes that tailgate me when I'm doing a temporary speed limit. Yes, it does make me slow down more. No, I won't speed because you want to go faster. 

It was really bad on my daily commute over the haywards/sh58 during all the work that's been done. 

[Driftit 1925]

3 hours ago, KwS said:

God I hate the arseholes that tailgate me when I'm doing a temporary speed limit. Yes, it does make me slow down more. No, I won't speed because you want to go faster. 

It was really bad on my daily commute over the haywards/sh58 during all the work that's been done. 

Little loss of traction on the loose chip usually gets them to back off.

[Driftit 1925]

The state of semiautomated accounts for services.

Signing up to new services for my new house.

Power company.  Stuffed up and has created two separate accounts.  One for Gas.  One for Power.  Can't log into either as both don't exist.  But the bills arrived...

Internet company.  Created account.  Went to add services and found that the account number and phone number they just emailed me don't match...  They are in the same email of which was sent to me via a request from their sign in system..

[User Name 19]

13 hours ago, Driftit said:

The state of semiautomated accounts for services.

Signing up to new services for my new house.

Power company.  Stuffed up and has created two separate accounts.  One for Gas.  One for Power.  Can't log into either as both don't exist.  But the bills arrived...

Internet company.  Created account.  Went to add services and found that the account number and phone number they just emailed me don't match...  They are in the same email of which was sent to me via a request from their sign in system..

Good to see your still having fun, and if only the sideways action didn't leave tar on the car haha, guess we can go faaster...

But damn tell me about it, signing up or getting things done at a rural property for anything that's only 5 mins out of what i called a town
Give them my address, phone number...yep that's fine then its like you don't exist...follow up and finally get a human if your lucky and they explain they turned up but address didn't exist ....Proceed to bury head in sand like an ostrich

[Sammo 2476]

FCP Euro and Fed Ex who I've never had take more than a week to arrive, have had my package stuck in AKL containing all my most awaited Holiday project goodies for a week and a half and no update.

Meanwhile DHL got my new Radio from Estonia to Auckland in 2 days...

[Michael. 2312]

3 hours ago, Sammo said:

FCP Euro and Fed Ex who I've never had take more than a week to arrive, have had my package stuck in AKL containing all my most awaited Holiday project goodies for a week and a half and no update.

Meanwhile DHL got my new Radio from Estonia to Auckland in 2 days...

Fedex has been super screwed up in recent months due to the industrial strike they had in Australia, its been slow ever since, I've had a number of slow items, and they usually took a week. 

[Driftit 1925]

Yup FedEx in Auckland is stuffed. Lots of work things stuck there for weeks. 2 days from the US. 3 weeks sitting in Auckland....

[Jacko 2076]

Put my mums ebike on tardme, its 2 months old and has 2 miles on it. Receipt for $1495. Reserve 900. 

First comment - $600 offer.... 😐

Put mums 2011 Honda Fit on trademe, 7k reserve. 

First comment - $5500 offer.... 🙄

 

Dafaq wrong with people. 

[Young Thrash Driver 1020]

52 minutes ago, Jacko said:

Put my mums ebike on tardme, its 2 months old and has 2 miles on it. Receipt for $1495. Reserve 900. 

First comment - $600 offer.... 😐

Put mums 2011 Honda Fit on trademe, 7k reserve. 

First comment - $5500 offer.... 🙄

 

Dafaq wrong with people. 

Yeah but they will pay with cash

[HalfJobHarry 106]

FedEx was a nightmare for me over Christmas too. had a 31 day transit from Florida to East Auckland. 2 days from Miami to Auckland, 29 days East Tamaki to my house. 

However, the "good" news is two things I ordered after Christmas arrived in 10 days straight (not a record) but better than the pre Christmas BS. 

[Jacko 2076]

Did BMW design the X7 purely for middle aged Chinese ladies to block the right lane?

[M3AN 4015]

1 hour ago, Jacko said:

Did BMW design the X7 purely for middle aged Chinese ladies to block the right lane?

Well that + taking up two parking spots, so they really have a dual purpose, blocking lanes and parking spots.

I have yet to see a new X7 parked properly, don't they have automated parking? They should, the target market clearly need it.

[GorGasm 561]

Took my car for an alignment at a place in Hamilton yesterday because it's wandering all over the place at higher speed and is super quick to turn in, so I suspect the front is toed out a bit much.  It has been happening since I got my new rear tyres and an alignment (for which I wasn't provided the spec sheet for).  The owner came out and had one look at my car and said the problem is my brand new Atturo tyres and that whoever put these on should be shot.  Without saying much more -or asking me- he went inside and got on the phone for 5 minutes to price up some replacement Pirellis for $3000(not a great deal but not too bad either I guess).  He then proceeded to lecture me like am some sort of ignorant pleb about how there's a manufacturers spec tyre for these cars that they spend millions of dollars in R&D on and that he would never dream of putting anything other than Pirelli Corsa's on his McLaren.  We "agreed" that it would be wasting my money to get the car aligned and that I would think about replacing my tyres for the ones that are meant for my car and they would throw in an alignment for free.

f**king wanker.

I'm not saying it's not the cheap tyres causing the issue, but the car needs to be aligned first to check that the basics are correct before replacing parts willy nilly.  Called up another place and had a chat and they said bring it in Tuesday and they will check out what's going on and provide some advice from there.

 

Edited February 4, 2022 by GorGasm

[gjm 3191]

9 hours ago, GorGasm said:

Took my car for an alignment...

So many places believe they are the last word in knowledge, and that none of the customers have an understanding of what they do.

Obviously it pays well, though. McLaren, eh? Should narrow down who you went to see!

[Jacko 2076]

I used to run staggered tyres on the 130, tyre guy in manukau was adamant the wide ones went on the front as they will wear fastest. Seriously, wtf.. had to argue to get  him to pull the wheels off switch them round. I even explained it was RWD and he looked at me like I was from the moon. Stay in school kids. 

[GorGasm 561]

It's a premium shop in the car dealer area in Te Rapa, the guy had me raging after I left that's for sure.  Given the price rise of houses in the last 5 years, any home owning schmuck could mortgage up a McLaren.  Hell, that's how I got my cheap Maserati.

Have to agree about wheel, tyre and general vehicle service places.  There's a lot of macho, my way or the highway bullshit in there along with a lack of fundamental technical knowledge and willingness to learn or adapt to new information/experience.  Other dumb sh*t, the place that put my tyres inflated them to 45psi.  Door card says something in the vicinity of 33psi.

Note I also replaced the front upper control arms this week since the bushes were completely falling apart and which was actually an easy job ~ 2.5 hours.  Since that has been done it's a bit less crazy, bit still not confidence inspiring over 100kph.

 

 

[Driftit 1925]

Once you find an alignment guy that does what he is told and knows what he is doing never let them go.

The ones down here are clueless. So I am buying my own gear.

[Blackie 510]

On 2/5/2022 at 7:56 AM, GorGasm said:

Took my car for an alignment at a place in Hamilton yesterday because it's wandering all over the place at higher speed and is super quick to turn in, so I suspect the front is toed out a bit much.  It has been happening since I got my new rear tyres and an alignment (for which I wasn't provided the spec sheet for).  The owner came out and had one look at my car and said the problem is my brand new Atturo tyres and that whoever put these on should be shot. 

 

To be fair he's probably done a few alignments in his time.

Did you fit the tryes before or after the wheel alignment and did he do it originally?

Sounds like more to this story 

[GorGasm 561]

Here's a run down in order.

Handling has always been a bit busy but nothing overly concerning and the car could be pushed pretty hard confidently.

Rear PS4S tyres were shredded through to the belts.  Replaced them with Atturo AZ850s based on some positive reviews from USA Charger drivers and being cheap as hell, alignment done at the same time/place as the tyres were fitted but no spec sheet provided after the job.  Handling now totally off the wall scary at speed, drive in one direction, suddenly feels like it's going in another direction, way too scary to do any spirited driving.  Not going back there since I wouldn't trust them to align liquid down a funnel now.

Replaced front upper control arms since I knew the bushes were completely shredded and things seem better but still could use improvement.

Called up this other place based on a recommendation from a friend, spoke to the owner, and briefly explained what's happening and booked an alignment.  Turned up for the booking and as luck would have it the owner is the free person at reception so hand over the key.  Guy walks out with me to look at the car and literally 10 seconds after laying eyes on it starts laying into whoever (newsflash moron, I fitted them and you have managed to insult me minutes after arriving at your business) fitted these cheap Chinese (they're US brand, Taiwanese made) tyres and that they are obviously the problem, cue diatribe on manufacturers spec tyres and unprompted pricing of 4x Pirelli replacements.  Heck the front PS4S still have a solid 10k on them.

I was pretty f**king annoyed as I ended up writing off a whole days work and likely a half day tomorrow.  I just want an alignment done as I have no idea whatsoever what camber and toe the car is running.  If the alignment is dialed in and I still have issues then I can look at loading up the parts cannon.

That's about it really.

The way he should have handled it is by looking at the car, asking some questions and then suggesting that maybe the new rear tyres could be the problem and they he could put it in the machine to check out and adjust the alignment to make sure it's all good but that perhaps that might not be the end of my problems.  I would have been on board, 10 4 amigo.  Unfortunately he chose to be a douchebag.

My general MO is that if I get sub par or even poor service from a place is that I just won't return, nothing more.  This guy really shat in my morning coffee.

Quick rant eh?

 

On a positive story.  I had adjustable suspension fitted and aligned in my Subaru Legacy 3.0 at P&S automotive many years ago and that thing had sublime handling.  My M5 didn't even match the level of confidence that thing had.

 

 

 

Edited February 7, 2022 by GorGasm

[polley 916]

On 2/5/2022 at 7:56 AM, GorGasm said:

Took my car for an alignment at a place in Hamilton yesterday because it's wandering all over the place at higher speed and is super quick to turn in, so I suspect the front is toed out a bit much. 

 

My car is most likely used for a different purpose, but when I found the front end to feel darty or all over the place, even at 100kph I was constantly correcting it, that toe in was the problem. A bit of toe out made it a lot more settled and easier to drive.

 

Will be interesting to see what you find... and what corrects it.

[GorGasm 561]

Capital Tyres in Hamilton sorted me out.  Good bunch of guys, happy to hear me out, and dialed the car in to as close to the specs I provided as possible.  Excellent customer service.

It was toed out both front and rear, now toed in slightly on the front and stock in the rear.  Car is much more confident at high speed now and seems to have decent turn in without being hyperactive.  I'm not going to call it perfect, but i'm happy with it for now and I don't feel like I am going to die at high speed.

Have a look at the sheet.

 

Edited February 7, 2022 by GorGasm

[polley 916]

Does it gain rear toe in when it squats under power? I've always found rear toe in to give a lot more grip.

 

Anyway, at least its driving better.

[GorGasm 561]

Not sure on the dynamics of the GT under power, but in my understanding rear toe in is always the way to go for a rear drive street car.