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

Shit. It does look better.

That does look mega.

You can get narrow(er) roof boxes, which allow you to fit roof box + bike(s) on the roof. Obviously this is dependant on the width of the car and roof rack.

I have fitted 2x bikes + thule ocean 600 on various cars as we needed the room in the boot for our dogs.

Slammed or lifted?

That looks better than stock too. So looks like Skoda put it out at exactly the right height to make it look as bad as possible.

@umop3pisdn & @NurseHolliday - alternatives? 3-5 year old family car, auto, petrol, <£10k

I’ve been very relaxed about my bikes on the roof, having performed extensive testing of their ability to stay put under spirited driving conditions.

Someone did pull into Bedgebury with a bike barely still held in place the weekend before last however.

Thule Outride racks are my recommendation.

i've toured france with my partner in a 1999 Yaris, with two bikes in the boot. Its totally doable.
if you have more space you just take more stuff, you don't necessarily need it.

I've never seen the inside of a Yaris, but I imagine we were carrying more luggage when we did 6 weeks round France on the tandem lol.

You can get narrow(er) roof boxes, which allow you to fit roof box + bike(s) on the roof. Obviously this is dependant on the width of the car and roof rack.

I have fitted 2x bikes + thule ocean 600 on various cars as we needed the room in the boot for our dogs.

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News on the C55, they found a load more belt trapped behind the tensioner, with that removed it spins freely and without any grumbles, they reckon the belt was old - they're meant to be changed at 4 years but it appears that that hasn't happened (largely because I assumed it was changed two years ago when I bought the car).

It's running fine now, so it appears that a three hour wait for the AA was the downside to this little adventure. They've adjusted the squirter on the rear window and it's on the diagnostic machine for the parking sensor now, but (horror of horrors) they can't fix the CD multi changer, so I'll have to find someone else for that - would anyone have a recommendation?

Try phoning Bromley Car Audio - they are doing some work for me this weekend and Sunny clearly knows his onions. They might not do the work, but they might know someone who can.

http://bromleycaraudio.com/

I’ve been very relaxed about my bikes on the roof, having performed extensive testing of their ability to stay put under spirited driving conditions.

Vice Versa

I often envisage this as Dammit's weekend activities to be fair...
(Semenuk has actually just signed for Subaru Motorsports USA Rally Team)

So in R53 news I got my report back from visual inspection and diagnostics at Icetronix. The check engine light was the knock sensor. They've reset it and it's stayed off since.
I need new tyres (eyebrows were raised and jaws dropped, they're not even terribly badly work but they're bloody awful tyres), new brake pads front and rear, new brake discs rear, new battery advised before winter, small CV boot leak on passenger side, small oil leak and power steering fluid leak "somewhere" (I'm not convinced they weren't exaggerating it to make a bit of work for themselves as the engine bay is spotless so I'll keep and eye on oil and power steering fluid levels for now) clutch is a bit tired but fine for the foreseeable. Not bad for a 14 year old car, mostly consumables.

So seeing as I need tyres anyway I've just ordered a set of Japan Racing Wheels JR5 in matte gunmetal, I've also gotten a bit tarty and ordered a stud conversion set and some forged JDM extended wheel nuts in black, all from JDM Distro who are incredibly helpful to deal with and I couldn't recommend highly enough!

I'm awaiting a quote from MTec for a set of grooved and dimpled discs with black protective coating for front and rear and I think I'll just go for a set of Brembo pads as I need to wind it in somewhere the splurge (regardless of how good the EBC Yellowstuff pads supposedly are they'll have to wait until next time).

*not R53 brake discs

Don't get Mtec discs they are absolute garbage

Really?? I've been trawling all of the Mini owner groups and about 90% of comments regarding them are people who are extremely happy with them?

Any other recommendation that isn't violently expensive?

Considering fitting a towbar to my mk5 golf - having looked at some options, does “electrics coding required” mean I’ll need a garage to sort something out?

I mostly just want to be able to use a Thule bike rack I already have, so a garage Labour charge will tip the scales in the favour of a Saris Bones

Have a look here

https://www.kits-n-bits.com/re-coding-towing-electrics/

Looks like its for accommodating the wiring into the canbus.

(Coincidentally I am looking into this now but there are no towbar options for my car)

Just waiting for confirmation of availability for the rear callipers which should come tomorrow, then ordering my new brakes. Not cheap, but should be a significant upgrade.

^Those on the front, these on the back:

356mm fully floating rotors on each corner, 32mm at the front and 28 at the rear.

The rears will be larger than the fronts that I had on the 850R, which stopped quite well.

Cheers, that's got some great explanation. Looks like it's a big enough job that I'll just buy a new rack!

Japan Racing Wheels JR5

should look great on those wheels. If you've not already made the change, getting rid of the runflats made a huge difference to the way my mum's R53 drove.

Yeah I won't be going for runflats. Going to get some Yokohama Advan Fleva V701 in 205/55R15 which should be nice!

Took a punt on those MTec discs, I know they're not going to be AP Racing (thanks for making me feel better about all of my spending Dammit) but they should be an improvement over stock for now and keep the show on the road until I can have a think about maybe changing to an R56 brake upgrade or something spicy like AP Racing, Brembo or Wilwood. Should hopefully have everything delivered quickly so I can get them fitted before I aquaplane off the edge of the world with current tyres.

Japan Racing Wheels JR5 in matte gunmetal

Strong.

oooooooooooOPPPPSSS. TOO LATE.

bOLLOK DROPPED.

That's nowhere near as bad as the new BMW 1 series though

Very good...