It use to take 9-10 hours at 65mph, 8 hours at 70mph+ on the M74,M6,M5 A38 from my flat in Glasgow to My house in the North of Plymouth, by using the A49, and crossing the Severn on the new bridge, 8 hours and 56 minutes which was a pretty steady time including the summer, (before staycations!) rush hours around Shrewsbury and Hereford if my timing was bad added a few extra minutes.
General Existential Crisis - advice welcome
- Thread starter Jodsclass
- Start date
- Replies 33
- Views 2K
Currently reading:
General
Existential Crisis - advice welcome
Thanks Johno, we've been doing this journey for many years and 8 to 10 hours, depending on stops, is a pretty average time for us Edinburgh to Barnstaple on the A702 down to the M74, M6, M5, then off at Tiverton on the A361 North Devon Link Road to Barnstaple. This time we are going to try a midway stop as I'm finding it a bit tiring doing it all in the one hop these days and Mrs J doesn't like driving much further than our local supermarket. Looks like it's probably only worth getting off the motorway if there's an incident?
If it was me, (and I know anxiety well) I would definately prefer to be driving a car I know all about, rather than a car I haven't owned for a long time or a rental. I would be adding a couple of days to my trip (1 for the journey there and 1 for the journey home) and visiting some places I've never been before. There really is no need to do a 10 hour journey in one stint is there? How about targeting somewhere nice to visit on the way there and staying in a cheap hotel overnight, and then doing the second "half" of the trip on the second day. Arrive nice and relaxed, having had a nice couple of days already, rather than tired and stressed after a crazy 10 hour road trip. I would also do the same on the way home so that, rather than spending the last time away worrying about the journey home, a nice place to visit and another night in a hotel might be something to look forward to rather than dreading it? Avoid the "smart" motorways altogether? Take the slower roads? The scenery up and down Britain is beautiful, take a slower drive and enjoy it. As a wiser man than me once said, (something like) Take some time to smell the flowers.
Very much the way my thinking is going these days, hence the overnight. As a youth I spent some time around the Chester area. Might be nice to stop off somewhere nearby?
I must also add, I have never had breakdown cover, I think it's a massive con'. I am 50 and I have only ever needed recovery one time; I was travelling back to Poole from Durham in 2001 in a 1967 Morris Mini 850cc when the crankshaft pulley gave up and the outer half of it decided it would rather remain somewhere near Oxford than stay with us for the rest of the journey back to Poole. I called a local recovery service, a really nice bloke was with us after just under 2 hours, he loaded the Mini on the back of his truck and took us home. It was a bit stressful because this had never happened to me before but it was actually fine. The bill for a recovery from Oxford to Poole was 160 pounds and, having never had recovery insurance or AA or RAC membership I would say that I am financially hugely better of than if I had paid every year for 32 years for any of those things. They say they are selling you peace of mind but its a big lie; it doesn't give you peace of mind (you will still worry about breakdowns and if you have one it is just as stressful) and, if you do have a breakdown, they are no better than an independant recovery service. In fact, if you get recovery insurance and then have a breakdown, it will undoubtably be one of the local independant services that carry out your recovery anyway.
OP
OP
Jodsclass
Member
Thanks for all of your input, folks. I've decided to stick with the panda & I'm even doing a few more jobs on my list. New set of Bosch Aerotwin wipers inbound to replace the old Bosch ones which have started to squeak, and a fresh set of spark plugs because they are a few thousand miles overdue a change. Also had both front wheels off today to inspect pads/discs and try to fathom the annoying cold morning scrape from the nearside, which I'm putting down to the weather & rust on the brakes here in our Cornish valley. Next nice day, I'm going to give it a full valet.
Called the garage and withdrew my interest in the 500.
With regard to the Scotland trip, we always stop over in Manchester as it's my home town, so get to see friends & family in the evening. We are even thinking of staying over somewhere halfway up to Manchester for our next Manchester trip. Maybe somewhere cheap in the Cotswolds as it's around the halfway mark for us from Cornwall to Manchester.
It has really made a difference, everybody chipping in their experience & opinion. I'd lost my dad & grandads by the time I was a teen and while I had strong women in my life, they just didn't have an interest in cars. This has felt like getting advice from some folks with actual motoring wisdom, for that I thank you all.
And I'm glad it has opened up a debate about smart motorways. I personally don't like them, but then again I've only ever had one new car in my motoring history, so always like the security of knowing the shoulder is available. Not to mention the mess it has made of driving up and down the M6 for the last umpteen years. Average speed checks for miles while under construction. Urgh!
Called the garage and withdrew my interest in the 500.
With regard to the Scotland trip, we always stop over in Manchester as it's my home town, so get to see friends & family in the evening. We are even thinking of staying over somewhere halfway up to Manchester for our next Manchester trip. Maybe somewhere cheap in the Cotswolds as it's around the halfway mark for us from Cornwall to Manchester.
It has really made a difference, everybody chipping in their experience & opinion. I'd lost my dad & grandads by the time I was a teen and while I had strong women in my life, they just didn't have an interest in cars. This has felt like getting advice from some folks with actual motoring wisdom, for that I thank you all.
And I'm glad it has opened up a debate about smart motorways. I personally don't like them, but then again I've only ever had one new car in my motoring history, so always like the security of knowing the shoulder is available. Not to mention the mess it has made of driving up and down the M6 for the last umpteen years. Average speed checks for miles while under construction. Urgh!
Popitinpete
Member
- Joined
- Sep 1, 2021
- Messages
- 292
- Points
- 142
Not sure about not leaving the refuge only with authorisation but I agree with changing the wheel probably an hour before the breakdown service turns up. It's just another reason these smart motorways don't work.
If only people could drive as per highway code, ie, keep left unless overtaking, then the need to turn the original hard shoulder into another lane would not be called for.
I've been up and down the M6 a lot this past week, Staffordshire section especially and the amount of clueless people hogging the 3rd and 4th lane leaving lane 1 and 2 practically empty is unbelievable. What's the point in putting 4 lanes down if only the outer 2 are used. That's human nature I guess
Popitinpete
Member
- Joined
- Sep 1, 2021
- Messages
- 292
- Points
- 142
I can vouch for that, took me basically 17 hours to get home last September from up north, they piggy back you down the country, each truck does about 60 miles, comes to its boundary then just dumps you on the services for about 3 hours until another truck from another county takes over, I had to pay the £15 car park charge too because I only had 3 hours free. Not ideal.
JRK has published a great guide to cleaning up rusty front brakes: https://www.fiatforum.com/threads/500-disc-brakes-problems-solutions.281466/
I live near the sea so I clean up my front brakes and rear drums every year as part of a pre-MoT service.
Two other areas it's important to keep on top of rust are:
- coolant return pipe across front of engine (behind exhaust manifold)
- engine sump pan
Reminds me of a puncture we had in south china, they wouldn't let me get involved as it was the driver's responsibilty to change the wheel, watching, it was clear he had no idea what we was doing. It was one of those Highlanders (toyota 4x4s you dont get here) and the jack handle in 3 pieces to release the spare wheel. It was 2 o'clock in the morning, pouring with rain, and 60 foot drop over the side of the motorway barrier. 15 minutes later, getting annoyed as I could have done it in 5 minutes. I did not want to hang about no matter how unwise changing the tyre was.
Not as bad for anxiety as when driving in the mountains in central China or worse still in India - that really puts your stress levels right up. Or with no seatbelt, another asian trait that puts you really on edge.
UK roads are so tame by comparison.
OP
OP
Jodsclass
Member
Thanks for that.
I did take off some excess rust from around the disc edge & cleaned with some brake cleaner. These brakes did have a new brake fitting kit a couple of years back due to corrosion & a missing pin. I think when the weather improves I'll take them off again and follow this guide with regards remove corrosion & copper greasing.
I stripped back the sump a few years back & gave it a few coats of black hammerite, which seems to be holding up really well. I'll double-check the coolant pipe you mentioned, to make sure it isn't badly corroded. I'm hoping not as a few years ago the cam seals needed redoing leading to a lot of oil building up on the engine lump and surrounding ancillaries. Everything got a light coating, so that might have helped
- Joined
- Sep 14, 2009
- Messages
- 20,105
- Points
- 4,011
Today's Hammerite seems to have improved, but the older versions set harder and harder over time, becoming very brittle and easily chipped by flying stones. I had this issue with a motorbike frame. It had coped fine with the OEM paint but nothing lasts for ever. A through clean and prime and Hammerite would be perfect. Wrong! It chipped horrendously. I had to paint stripper it off and paint the area with ordinary polyurethane black.
OP
OP
Jodsclass
Member
I remember the old one for sure. My first car when I was 10 was my uncle's old 1978 mini clubman. It was an MOT failure, so I had it to practice on because I was a major mini enthusiast. I enthusiastically "rust proofed" the floor pans inside to protect them from further rot. When it came to weld in a floor pan repair, it was an absolute pig to remove. It has definitely improved. I think I did the sump 2 or 3 years ago with a few coats & it still looks perfect. No chips as yet.
My experience with Hammerite too. Can be good in certain circumstances but not good on underpinnings in my experience. I much prefer a good chassis paint like this: https://www.frost.co.uk/frost-chassis-black-paint/
