The Car Thread

[p0ke]

Get a torque wrench for tightening nuts/bolts after 100 kilometers or so just to be shure they stay in their place Especially if there comes a situation where you have new rims or nuts/bolts they will loosen up quite a lot.

Yeah, I bought one back when I bought the car. Of course that needs to be done even when someone else changes the tyres, and yeah sometimes they loosen up a lot and sometimes almost not at all. And sometimes they loosen up all of sudden too (not usually after they have been re-tigthened though, I wonder what's up with that...), so the wrench in the trunk is absolutely necessary.

 

[Kaura]

My car is leaking brake fluid. Yesterday when I left work there was a fist sized pool of the fluid on the ground. Any idea how much it would take to get it fixed?

 

[p0ke]

My car is leaking brake fluid. Yesterday when I left work there was a fist sized pool of the fluid on the ground. Any idea how much it would take to get it fixed?

Probably not much, most likely it's just a tube leaking and they'll swap that out. On my mother in law's previous car, the front left spring broke and punctured the brake line, and I think she paid 280€ to have the spring replaced and the punctured tube swapped, including parts. And the spring change probably cost the majority of that repair. The bigger problem was getting the car to the workshop - I had to drive it (because she was too scared to do it) through the city with a broken spring and no brakes

 

[soliloquy]

Honda civic? Idk ur budget but will be way better than any chevy

Also buying the cars that specifically require premium gas and then complaining about it is peak SSO

Yeah, I have a civic at the moment, and i know it will last much longer. Its already a 2012, and will probably last another 5+ years.
I just want a more 'luxury' car that isn't so basic? locally, civics are going for a higher value than they are. Same goes for Toyota. There isn't much difference between a civic and a same year lexus or something.

may look into mazda

 

[cip 123]

Heard a clang from the rear after unsuccessfully navigating the potholes round my house. Yea that's definitely a snapped spring...

 

[p0ke]

Annual inspection time next week... So I started looking at free times. Turns out the place I've taken my car the last 3 years closed So now I gotta take it elsewhere and hope they don't nitpick...

 

[MetalDestroyer]

I gotta smog my car before I do registration this year. It still needs brakes. Man now I wish I hadn't spent my down payment money on another ESP :/

 

[p0ke]

Just reserved a time for the inspection... Fingers crossed everything's good enough for them, and if this place's good I'll probably take my car there from now on. The place has been operational since 1997 so you'd imagine it's not going anywhere anytime soon.

 

[p0ke]

... and my car didn't pass the inspection

Luckily the required repair is a small one - the rear left sway bar connecting rod is broken. Everything else was OK luckily. So I drove straight to the place where I had the front connecting rods changed last year, and he'll swap out both the rear rods two weeks from now.

Also I'm probably gonna have to do something about my brakes before next years' inspection - the maximum allowed difference between left and right is 30%, and on my rear brakes the difference is now 27%. But that's not urgent, I'll worry about that next spring. Front brakes only had 5% difference and handbrake something like 13% (for the handbrake the allowed difference is 70% anyway).

 

[cip 123]

... and my car didn't pass the inspection

Luckily the required repair is a small one - the rear left sway bar connecting rod is broken. Everything else was OK luckily. So I drove straight to the place where I had the front connecting rods changed last year, and he'll swap out both the rear rods two weeks from now.

Also I'm probably gonna have to do something about my brakes before next years' inspection - the maximum allowed difference between left and right is 30%, and on my rear brakes the difference is now 27%. But that's not urgent, I'll worry about that next spring. Front brakes only had 5% difference and handbrake something like 13% (for the handbrake the allowed difference is 70% anyway).

I hate inspections, it's the reason I want a classic car here in the UK, no Tax or inspection

 

[p0ke]

I hate inspections, it's the reason I want a classic car here in the UK, no Tax or inspection

Yeah, it sucks. And it sucks even more that the law keeps changing and getting even more strict over here...

 

[cip 123]

Yeah, it sucks. And it sucks even more that the law keeps changing and getting even more strict over here...

I think they're trying to change the law on classic cars here, it'l either get better or worse, no way to know yet!

 

[M3CHK1LLA]

 

[Metropolis]

My car has been in a work shop for three weeks. Electric power steering finally gave up, and no reasonably priced part for replacing the steering rack anywhere in Europe. OEM part straight from the dealer costs 1800€ Solution was to get a fitting steering rack from a crashed car. Probably changing this one to a Golf GTI MK7 after this episode. You can't have a car with such fault, eventually part took from another car will break too and you will face same part resourcing problems again. Or in a best scenario new part breaks too, because it's a total manufacturing fuck up.

If you want a sportier "hot hatch" I would avoid Ford Focus MK3 ST or RS. They're infested with steering rack problems. Water pumps breaking or oil consuming in VAG-brand vehicles doesn't feel so big of a deal after all.

Volkswagen Golf MK7 GTI Performance got a new home from us couple of days ago. How can a car like this be so comfortable? You don't even notice when gearbox changes when gear is on D and you have eco, comfort or normal driving mode on. Also one of my favorite things are rear view camera and proper parking assist. Steering and chassis behaves really well, also brakes are good enough. All this needs is few modifications because it's bone stock. ECU and DSG tune of course, and an exhaust at least. This thing has DSG farts with stock motor and exhaust, which MK6 GTI didn't have. I'm on a honeymoon phase with this car, but it's perfect for what I want at the moment.

 

[Kaura]

Well, shit. Since my car was leaking brake fluid I took it to a shop last week and today the dude called that they can't do anything about it. Or they could but the cost would be astronomical. I'm probably going to take the car to another shop during my summer vacation and hope they can fix it somehow just so it passes the annual check-up.

The loaner car I've had has a turbo and feels like a rocket. I was surprised when I checked the details that it only has 150bhp. Because of that and the fact I probably have to get a new car I've been drooling this Opel Vectra that has a V6 (with turbo, ofc) that's been tuned to 284bhp so I bet I could fly to the moon with it.

 

[M3CHK1LLA]

 

[p0ke]

Well, shit. Since my car was leaking brake fluid I took it to a shop last week and today the dude called that they can't do anything about it. Or they could but the cost would be astronomical. I'm probably going to take the car to another shop during my summer vacation and hope they can fix it somehow just so it passes the annual check-up.

Sounds like they just don't wanna do any quick fixes on it... That or the pump's broken or something like that, in which case it would actually be expensive to fix. I don't know where you'd find such a place where you live, but over here there's a couple of shops run by guys who barely understand or speak any Finnish, and they're willing to do any cheap hack to just get cars to pass inspection.

The loaner car I've had has a turbo and feels like a rocket. I was surprised when I checked the details that it only has 150bhp. Because of that and the fact I probably have to get a new car I've been drooling this Opel Vectra that has a V6 (with turbo, ofc) that's been tuned to 284bhp so I bet I could fly to the moon with it.

150bhp is plenty if it's a small car. My mother in law's tiny Fiesta only has a 1 liter engine, but since it has the eco boost system it still has 125bhp. Acceleration's pretty nice since the car doesn't weigh anything. Feels kinda similar to driving a go kart

 

[Kaura]

Sounds like they just don't wanna do any quick fixes on it... That or the pump's broken or something like that, in which case it would actually be expensive to fix. I don't know where you'd find such a place where you live, but over here there's a couple of shops run by guys who barely understand or speak any Finnish, and they're willing to do any cheap hack to just get cars to pass inspection.



150bhp is plenty if it's a small car. My mother in law's tiny Fiesta only has a 1 liter engine, but since it has the eco boost system it still has 125bhp. Acceleration's pretty nice since the car doesn't weigh anything. Feels kinda similar to driving a go kart

Yeah, my dad called another place and they said they can fix it no problem. I don't know why he always insists on using this one dude who never seems to get anything done.

The dude really tried to sell the loaner Saab I was driving for me and told me those V6 engines are super expensive and pain in the ass to maintain so now my eyes are on a Vectra that has a 2 liter non-V6 engine, basicly the same as the Saab but has 175bhp stock and since the dude said the Saab could easily be programmed to put out 250bhp then the Vectra probably gets close to the V6 numbers. But we'll see. First I have to get that current piece of shit fixed so I can pass the inspection and sell it with light heart.

 

[p0ke]

...so now my eyes are on a Vectra ...

You know what OPEL stands for in Finnish though?

No but seriously, I don't have any experience with said brand so can't say if they're actually good or not.

 

[p0ke]

Just had my sway bar connecting rods changed - took something like 45 minutes and the guy charged 98€ including parts. Not bad... Now I'm waiting for re-inspection which will pass 100% and then I get to drive for another year...

And regarding the brakes, the guy said I probably just gotta brake harder to get the dirt off the discs