What did you do today?

[paulplom]

I has cream pearl lattice alloys on my metro advantage. They showed up brake dust instantly and were the worst wheels I've ever had for cleaning.
I bought some of this that did help and smelt nice as well.

[PhilA]

I bought a long bristled scrubby brush thing and shoved a wooden broom handle in the end of the thing.
Because to hell with kneeling down in all the wet and suds and crap to scrub at difficult wheels.

[SiC]

Ordered a set of springs for the TT last night. Ended up going for Napa branded springs as, after eBay 15% discount code, they were £52 for all four. There was KYB from another seller but no discount code, so they'd be just over £70. While probably a better spring, the Napa ones should last long enough for the rest of the life of the car.

There are two main sizes - pre facelift (longer/higher) and post facelift (shorter/lower). Most spring brands differentiate this by determining it as with/without sports suspension. Garages seem to default to without sports suspension - especially on the 180bhp.

I've actually noticed more and more now that so many TTs are fitted with the wrong springs. E.g. notice how jacked up the rear of this is compared to the front and the arch gap:


https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/175526516484

Looking at the MOT history, in 2013:

Screenshot_20221216-103152.png (296.16 KiB) Viewed 403 times

Yup at least one rear spring was changed! I guess both were done at the same time. It now "stanced" like a tractor.

Because of this, I'm going to change all four on mine. At least I know they're all correct and the same then.

Now I was tempted to go for the longer, older car springs but mine should have the shorter ones. While the extra spring travel would be nice to give cushier suspension, having the right springs should make everything else correct in the suspension setup, as it's setup for the shorter springs. I'm going for a wheel alignment once this is all done and their settings should be setup for the shorter springs too. Also as these come with 18s (older had 16s/17s), it might look a bit odd with the longer springs too.

[panhard65]

Got the new voice synthesiser from Germany today. I was a bit worried if it would be correct but now the 25 talks to me in English !! A silly thing really and certainly not cheap at 180 quid but it does improve things no end to know what it is going on about when it starts bleeping at me.

[LynehamHerc]

Now if only they could do one that translated women's complaints into understandable English.

[Broccoli]

Boss lady only gets Christmas off one in every three years and this year isn’t her year.

As my son hasn’t seen his grandparents since he was 8 or 9 (he’s now 13), we set out for Ireland from Minnesota yesterday.

Got up at 5am local, out of the house in a snow storm at 6:20am and to the airport for just after 7am. Mrs B kindly dropped us off before work - saving around $100 fare.

We left at 1:30pm, flew to Boston. 5 hr layover and on to Dublin. Took just over the hour to get the luggage out of the plane due to ice. Then I queued for the rental car, only for it to sound like the CV joint had gone, so drove it back. Queued again and was finally on our way, just over 3hrs after touching down in Ireland.

2 1/2 hr drive later (and only an hours sleep on the plane), I’ve made some supper and about to crash hard!

The Airbnb is amazing. Really nice people too. It a converted farm building, overlooking the Gaulte Mountains.

Definitely coming back with the Mrs at some point.

Looking forward to Monday, when we will see the grandparents finally. Giving it a few days and then health testing (COVID) before seeing them as they aren’t in the best of health.

[Eddie Honda]

Are rental cars in Ireland still costing eleventy-billion Euro a week?

[PhilA]

Did a windows update

20221216_154433.jpg (445.49 KiB) Viewed 344 times

All new glass and frames in the house now. Actually, thinking of it, the only old part you see on the front of the house now is the bricks, front door and shutters.

Everything else is new.



... it's been an expensive year.

[Broccoli]

Are rental cars in Ireland still costing eleventy-billion Euro a week?

Too right. And it seemed that I was ripped off - either by the woman at SixT or the Orbitz website, over the insurance I paid extra for. $11 extra a day - no refund possible.
The woman begins the desk claimed that it wouldn’t necessarily cover me as it didn’t cover some people from some US states. I really need to look into that.

Not sure I trust her though. I asked if the first was was petrol or diesel and she told me petrol as diesel doesn’t make sense since they put the price of it up here.

When the second car turned out to be diesel, well, it does better miles to the gallon, doesn’t it.

[Broccoli]

Did a windows update
20221216_154433.jpg

All new glass and frames in the house now. Actually, thinking of it, the only old part you see on the front of the house now is the bricks, front door and shutters.

Everything else is new.



... it's been an expensive year.

Looks good though.

See you flying the Stars and Stripes there. Are you now a fully paid up American, or still living on a visa?