Car appreciation... the aesthetics, the engineering, etc

Did my first city driving yesterday, made me realise how wide the roads are where we live...

Went to a gig, got a parking spot right around the corner from the venue, hooked up with an old mate from London thirty years ago, caught some friend's bands playing, dropped my mate and our mate he was staying with at home then went to a drive-thru Burger King on the way back to mine... Good fun but was knackered by the end of the night, was concentrating so hard on my driving... Looking forward to the next night out...

Wait ‘til you have to do it drunk!

Ha! I drank so much fucking water last night...

Crazy that once you've got your open licence you can have two mid strength beers in the first hour then one every hour after that and you're still under the limit...

Surely thats not a blanket rule? If you were small in stature you'd be in no state to drive

I’m aware

That's the general rule of thumb... It's nuts...

If you were small in stature you'd be in no state to drive

Talking from experience

#truth
I do get iffy about driving even after one pint, and I weigh 70ish kg these days. Cant imagine being ~50kg and driving after two pints on an empty stomach

I should have said those are two standard drinks, so two 33cl 3.5% beers...

I was always nervous about having any alcohol before driving but now that I ride a motorbike, I just won’t touch a drop before riding. No point in risking it, in terms of safety, not legality.

Crazy that once you've got your open licence you can have two mid strength beers in the first hour then one every hour after that and you're still under the limit...

Except that your liver doesn't metabolise alcohol effectively until you stop drinking, so that's gonna keep adding up.

liver doesn't metabolise alcohol effectively until you stop drinking

Not sure how that would work.

Yeah my thoughts exactly. If its enough to get me drunk, I shouldn't be driving. If im not drinking enough to get drunk I may as well drink something else. Never an excuse to drink drive

You maybe, others not. Hence mentioning it, as modern pumps don't seem to like it and I know that fords don't like it and it can kill the lift pump and then inturn kill the main pump.

The Astra VXR is throwing intermittent warning lights on ABS and whatever the skiddy car icon refers to. Also intermittent noise on braking (in wet it seems). Garage took a look but couldn't replicate or trace an issue. Online suggests a faulty sensor.

I rarely drive it and know nothing about it.

Any suggestions?

Need more details on the car, which VXR?

Is the noise like squealing?

a 'metal on metal' sound, its a 2006 model

Could be many things.
Dicky sensor.

Dry pads, as in no copper slip on backing plate causing noise.

Uneven pad wear (assume garage actually looked at all four calipers) could be a worn pad touching edge of worn disc.

Have a look on the inside of the wheels, any fine silver metal particles ? would indicate a brake pad back plate is wearing down a disc, could mean a sticking caliper.
Thats just a quick generic checklist and not just for VXR's.

thanks, i'll try to take a look in daylight tomorrow

The noise could be a red herring, sometimes a noise will have always been there, but something brings it to your attention.

ABS and Traction Control light suggests wheel speed sensor, the fact that you're getting a warning light means it's something related to the braking and ABS system that is monitored with sensors, so if not a wheel speed sensor, it could be the ABS pump.

ABS tone ring and the ABS sensor are also possible culprits

Aka wheel speed sensor.

Some pictures of aforementioned fast Forester.

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