Safe Speed Forums

I'm glad I'm not the only one.

My local Jaguar main dealer tried to con me with exactly the same thing. But I caught them with their pants down.

My car was already booked in to Stratstone for its service when I noticed the 'grind' but as it wasn;t a warranty item I took it to my trusted local garage. unfortuantely for me the pads were not imediately available so I decided to get them done by the main dealer instead. But the local guy assured me strongly that the discs were fine!

I told Jag when in went in that the discs were fine and not to even try it on.

I had a call a few hours later saying the discs needed doing...all in well over £1000. They refused to change the pads only citing spurious safety concerns. They then also failed to take it on a road test for other outstnding issues...citing safety (no brakes)I had aflaming row with them which resulted in them putting the pas in the boot and my locall guy doing it. But......and they gave me the wrong ones! Didn't sign the service book. Another flaming row. saw them courier the correct pads to my garage within an hour of my call.

The car is now out of warranty and I can honestly say they will never have another penny of my money. Grubby coniving little sh*ts.

What they don't realise is that I currently have east end wide boys trying to con me on a daily basis. I can spot it a mile off.

Very interesting just how far you can go for a showroom car perfection. I wondered if when a fat person walked in wanting performance extras, the sales person recommend these things or instead says "don't waste your money on this stuff, just go on a diet."?

Yes, there are many examples of car-maker con-tricks. Titanium is much weaker than high carbon steel.

ISTR 10-15 years ago there was a series drama on tv about a woman who wanted to become a rally driver. Her mechanic was good but something of a misanthrope who slept in the loft of his workshop.

There was one scene where he confronted her with a statement along the lines of "we are spending a fortune shaving every last gram off the car and YOU have two stone wrapped round your middle! Do something about it!"

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"The road to a police state is paved with public safety legislation"

It's all about pandering to the vanity of ugly people, Lucy. Some of them even have "vanity plates"! I think
it's slightly effeminate and unenglish. If these people were meant to show off, they'd have been born
beautiful. And if they are beautiful, they don't need a fancy car to show off in.

The place that ends with Fit tried the same thing. Wouldn't do it, un-effing-safe, they said.
Stick the pads up your arse, I said. Actually, I was more polite than that.



Ah.. but you are Welsh, are you not? In Wales, every exchange either works well, or it starts with an argument
and ends with a row. It is the one thing that unites the Land of my Fathers!

I have "personalised plates"!! It makes me less likely to have my car cloned and get someone elses camera tickets. Lets face it, would you copy my plate and drive around with it on? (D1 LDO)

And talking of the Welsh, why do they only have their personalised plates in English? Surely they should have the Welsh translation underneath like they do everyting else?

B'stards even have different bonnets, boot lids, doors roof panels AND BADGES damnit! AND they keep painting them different colours!!!

Perhaps it's the same reason clothes manufacturers make clothes in different shapes, colours and sizes. Same reason houses come in different styles. Same reason pretty much ALL consumer goods come in different styles...

You're not really making the brave new Abercrombie world sound terribly appealing!! I think the closest to your motoring "utopia" would probably be something from the old Soviet range of vehicles...

Come on, admit it! You're just a grumpy old malcontent who likes moaning. IF they WERE forced to use all the same components, you'd just moan about the lack of innovation!

Maybe strength isn't the issue? Maybe the strength is perfectly adequate and the weight is more of a concern? Maybe going down a size in HT steel to get the same weight wouldn't give the required bearing area against the holes in the alloy wheel? (OK, OK! I guess he ought to have had some nice matt black pressed steel wheels - with no wheel trims, naturally)!

But manufacturers do! They get key components from Bosch or Teves etc. And if you buy a V.A.G car they are all the same with many universal components. The Audi A2 is practically a VW Polo! And then theres the Audi Q7, VW Toureag and Porsche Ceyanne spot the difference competition! And the Ford Galaxy is a VW, made in VW factory. Check out the Galaxy wheel brace - it has VAG stamped on it! And so the list is......err, well not that long, but I'm sure there many more examples - oh yes another, Jags are Ford Mondeos(ish).

Not at all. I see all the guys here moaning about the "high cost of motoring" almost every day. When I
offer a way to achieve large reductions in the cost, via design reuse, I see them moan about
lack of innovation - do they want to moon on a stick as well?

It's hardly "motoring utopia" now - half these blokes say they can hardly afford to drive
anymore. You can't have it both ways, Mole. If you want it cheap, choose plain vanilla,
else quit grumbling about the cost of motoring.

It's just a sales gimmick. You can spot that a mile off. Only a car-nerd would care.

But I did some material science courses in the 70's, and I've brushed up on it.
High carbon steel can be so much stronger than titanium that it offsets the
density disadvantage. The strongest steel is twice as strong, while
the lightest titanium is half the density. So no advantage at all.
Zilch, except for the maker, who charges 10 times more for titanium!
You need a degree in con-trickery, not engineering, to get a job
at a car firm.

There was a joke amongst cyclists about titanium accessories

Nerd "I have replaced my seat bolt with titanium and saved 35gms"
Detractor " But titanium is prone to sudden brittle fracture"
Nerd "No problem - I keep the old steel one in my on-road tool kit"

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When I see an adult on a bicycle, I do not despair for the future of the human race. H.G. Wells
When I see a youth in a motor car I do d.c.brown

Wheel nuts are even more critical!

I had another scrape with a rip off merchant today. I phone up the local
"motorist shop" (you know, wiper blades, filler, radweld), and
asked about headlight bulbs. £6.99 each, he said.

So I phoned up the local tool shop, and asked him. £2.99 he said.

So I drove down there, and he had a complete kit (2 bulbs, all the side lights and
brake lights, and a set of fuses) for £4.99.

It pays to be observant.

Had exactly the same thing as Aber.

Had been looking at Bentleys but my local Skoda dealer said he has a second-hand Favorite that would do exactly the same thing at a fraction of the price.

It certainly does pay to be observant!

Skodas and Bentleys are both Volkswagens, and who would want one of those? The bentley
might be slightly better for (say) pulling out tree stumps or carrying concrete slabs, but the
Favorite is easier to park.

Do you remember what Mr Bentley said about the Morris Minor just after he had taken one for a test drive??

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"The road to a police state is paved with public safety legislation"

Bu66er! Looks like I'll get sacked when they find out I've got an engineering degree then!

I think you've missed the point on the wheel nuts but never mind...

I remember someone who reminded me of you ages ago. Had a 2 stroke moped and reckoned the bloke at the petrol station was trying to rip him off by trying to sell him some 2 stroke oil to go with his petrol...

Forgive me, but I don't remember moaning about the cost of motoring! As far as I can recall, in fact, I've been crowing about how little my over-specified luxury exec barge with far too many toys costs me to run!

I've a feeling Ford and VW have gone their separate ways on the current Galaxy, but I could be wrong. I know the last one was a shared VW / Ford / SEAT jobbie. If fact, it reminded me of a funny sotry. Ages ago, I was working in a test lab and we were doing a seat belt anchorage test on a modified Sharan. The lab superintendent (who I loathed!) was (at the time) a passionate VW fan. He happened to be in the lab when we did the test and the car did very well. He puffed himself up and turned to us, his vice thick with pride:
"That's VW engineering for you" If that were a Ford, they'd have called it "over-engineered"!"

Quick as a flash, my assistant turned back and said "if that were a Ford, they'd have called it a "Galaxy"! (but I'm not sure he got the joke)!

It's amazing how many people really refuse to believe that two cars can be the same. I have a mate who absolutely insisted on getting his wife a little Mazda a few years back and wouldn't for one second entertain the idea of getting her a Fiesta for a lot less money!