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What Shocked You Today

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What Shocked You Today

bugsymike said:
In principle Stainless steel sounds good, though a few points some may argue.
1. They tend to sound different to mild steel more tinny, possibly due to number 2.
2. They are more likely to fracture / crack as more likely to be thinner and higher tensity steel.
3. With the issues of number 2 above should you need to weld repair it then ideally specialist argon DC Tig equipment is preferred.
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4. Usually put together by someone who isn't an expert and they have welded one stainless steal with another or worse, used mild steel mig wire that then rusts.

I've seen no end of lovely shiny stainless exhausts with rotten welds.
 
irc said:
Of course that's no guarantee that they are still as good, or that they are even made by the same people any more...
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With exhausts though the only thing that determines the life is the material quality and corrosion protection.

Yes, there will be markups but seen enough people getting 2 or 3 months out of eBay maf sensors or suspension components and various other things to be wary.

When it comes to components "buy cheap, buy twice" can very often apply.

Not to say all aftermarket stuff is crap, it's not, but I'd need to know a bit about where it came from.

It might be 80 quid, sound like crap, need finessing with a hammer to fit and last 6 months because it's made out of tinsel. Or if might be a n.o.s. part someone wants rid of.
 
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AndyRKett said:
When you worked in the trade you get to know who the trade use. In Norwich there is a place on Woodcock Road called Exhausts Unlimited. (you have almost definitely seen there little vans flying all over Norfolk and Suffolk)

They literally carry every exhaust you could possibly want and all at trade prices (+vat)
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I will check them out. Ive previously used a wjholesaler on Whiffler Rd but they have been bought by Motorparts direct and no longer carry this system in stock. We used to use them when I was at CIty Works which used to be round the corner. You tip will be most iseful.
 
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StevenRB45 said:
With exhausts though the only thing that determines the life is the material quality and corrosion protection.

Yes, there will be markups but seen enough people getting 2 or 3 months out of eBay maf sensors or suspension components and various other things to be wary.

When it comes to components "buy cheap, buy twice" can very often apply.

Not to say all aftermarket stuff is crap, it's not it's but I'd need to know a bit about where it came from.

It might be 80 quid, sound like crap, need finessing with a hammer to fit and last 6 months because it's made out of tinsel. Or if might be a n.o.s. part someone wants rid of.
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Yes I know you are correct. I bought one from eBay for the Bravo though - just a back box- it came from Poland and was stainless steel to my suprise whenit arrived about 3 or 4 days later. That was just £58 albeit 4 years back. That was the only exhaust I have ever bought for a diesel innearly 35 years of diesel driving. The ones Im watching on eBay are two year guarantee so should be half decent. Trouble with aftermarket parts from the likes of KwickFit is I suspect they just fit the cheapest possible . I am leaning towards a bespoke stainless system for £350. This is just £30 more than the mild steel ones I have been quoted on so far. If we sell the car we will keep the exhaust and move it to the other car or sell it on 2nd hand. I will check out the contact from AndyRKett and see if they can improve on the current prices.
 
StevenRB45 said:
It might be 80 quid, sound like crap, need finessing with a hammer to fit and last 6 months because it's made out of tinsel. Or if might be a n.o.s. part someone wants rid of.
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That's what I was expecting from that exhaust. I wouldn't have bought it for my own use, because I expected it to be a pain to fit properly, and be full of holes in a couple of years. But in this case it was a bargain. Purely by luck.
Conversely, I have often been asked to fit unbranded parts and refused, because the labour component of the job was too high to risk having to do it twice.
Not too big a deal on a cheap knockoff 1.2 crankshaft sensor, but distinctly painful on something like a multijet clutch.
 
AndyRKett said:
People are a obcessed with having an SUV, but to be honest how many of them are really just cars designed in such a way to make them look stocky and bulky and give the appearance of an SUV with no discernible difference in dimensions from a regular car.

Because of your post I did a little digging. So my golf is seen as a car, and the replacement for this was the T-Roc cabriolet which is supposedly an SUV.

Golf. T-roc
147cm 152cm height. 5cm difference
179cm 182cm width (without wing mirrors) 3cm difference
434cm 427cm length 7cm difference


so the golf is slightly longer, but the T-roc is slightly taller and only a smidge wider. Park the golf on a speed bump and there wouldn’t be a difference, the weight in both is about the same. yet people will see the T-roc as an SUV but other than the physical outward appearance, the cars are largely exactly the same. Transmission, engines seats boot the layouts are more or less identical.

I’d Argue that the T-Roc is no more an SUV than the Golf is, but because of that outward stocky appearance, people will associate it as an SUV. There isn’t anymore head room or leg room, the boot in the T-roc is slightly bigger but I think the T-roc didn’t get a spare wheel where I have a spare in the golf and tool kit. There are also some quite large pocket behind removable panels in the boot of mine which I don’t think The T-roc has either.



I suspect if you did similar comparisons with other supposed SUV’s versus their standard hatch back alternative, you’d find several that were like this. I have said to my wife that width and length her mini countryman is no bigger than my golf, it is a lot taller which gives some head height and leg room as you sit more upright but it doesn’t equate to much extra usable boot space. SUVs are not “big” cars.

Going back to Ferrari though. They always said they would NEVER make an SUV. Lotus have made one at a time no one is even thinking about lotus, they used to make small fun cheap Sports cars, no one associates them with SUVs and they don’t have a customer base which is asking for one, its a very weird decision to be making an SUV for lotus right now. Ferrari have clearly decided there is too much money to be made, but in a world transitioning to electric and away from petrol, to make a V12 195mph £400,000 SUV is clearly aimed at the ultra wealthy in places like Dubai and not Europe The price is also insane given the luxury you get in the Roils Royce Cullinan for similar money. Not that any of us here are buying any of them its just sad to see these once proud and focused manufacturers giving In a slapping an SUV label on a substandard product to flog it to those without any common sense, But I’m sure if we could we’d probably all do the same.
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I was in Norwich today and had to fight through some totally ridiculous BT roadworks that were blocking the A1074 main route into the City for no reason I could see justification for. Norfolk County Highways are either weak or spineless allowing such unncessary disruption. (I speak as a retired road traffic planner) My point other than my rant is that I was sitting in Noop - My TA Panda 4x4 -looking at the cars immediately around on a blocked roundabout. The one I noticed specifically was a Jag XF Estate I had let in in front of me. My eye line was around 6" above his roof line. I rather enjoyed looking down upon his expensive folly! I do have my seat raised quite high but I can just see across the roof tops of Range Rovers. I so love eyeballing the buggers! It seems to upset their day when our eyes meet at the same level. I must get some bigger wheels for summer use.
 
The Panda Nut said:
I rather enjoyed looking down upon his expensive folly! I do have my seat raised quite high but I can just see across the roof tops of Range Rovers. I so love eyeballing the buggers! It seems to upset their day when our eyes meet at the same level. I must get some bigger wheels for summer use.
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We've got a similar experience in the C3 (same ride height as a Panda 4x4) and it's probably the one bit of the SUV experience that is worth having.

Except of course it's only necessary because every other car is an SUV..
 
bugsymike said:
In principle Stainless steel sounds good, though a few points some may argue.
1. They tend to sound different to mild steel more tinny, possibly due to number 2.
2. They are more likely to fracture / crack as more likely to be thinner and higher tensity steel.
3. With the issues of number 2 above should you need to weld repair it then ideally specialist argon DC Tig equipment is preferred.
Click to expand...
I've found this too Mike. I helped a friend fit one to his Reliant Scimitar as it was a "keep forever" car. It was a bit of a pig because it wasn't quite bent right but we got it on and hanging pretty well in the end. When first started it was a big disappointment due to the "piddle in a tin can" sort of noise. This actually got better as it aged and all went well until it was a few years old when it developed a crack in the end of a silencer where the pipe went in. Not due to corrosion, definitely stress probably due to it not being quite bent right so not under even strain from the mounts? The original supplier actually exchanged it for a new one FOC but then it developed another fracture within the next year. He moved away after that and I lost touch with him but I'd imagine it would be an ongoing problem.

Another thing is that folk often fit them with ordinary steel nuts and bolts (some do come with fixings though) which still rust like normal.
 
The Panda Nut said:
I must get some bigger wheels for summer use.
Click to expand...
It was this point @The Panda Nut realized he may have taken things too far


Fiat-Panda-4X4-Monster-Truck-1024x576.jpg
 
Father-in-law has new skoda kadoq(??). He;s had it just under a year and a low oil warning came up. Not wanting to risk driving it, he wandered from place to place trying to find suitable oil. He got some, topped it back up, all good.

Then a shock email a few days later from skoda, they've recently heard he had an issue with the oil on the car, would he like to book it in for a service. So the car must have message skoda somehow about getting low in oil - a step too far in my view!
 
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