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

Taxi.

Where do the fishing rods go more liek?

In this!

The result is very fine! What was the polishing tool, which the potions?

In this!

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yeah that has come up great. and not a curb to be seen in the pic. so something not adding up.

Poorboys dual action polisher with various sponge pads. Clay bar followed by Poorboys medium compound, Mer ultimate car polish, Meguiars carnauba wax. Plus the small matter of a day and a half of my life I won't be getting back.

Not on my driveway, but the council insist on putting them by the side of roads. Something to do with pedestrians I believe.

Mines 2015 so I'll be stumping up for whatever the investigation costs too..

Have you tried 360 alignment? Should cost around £50 at a local tyre shop. Maybe worthwhile

Looks great, also love the colour. I may look into the stuff you used because the paint on my Civic is fundamentally good but really needs some TLC.

The f21 - they don't have the diff mount cracking problems do they? I know re-welding and strengthening of the diff mounting area was a thing.
Otherwise vibration at speed can easily be tyres or wheels related but also propshaft/tailshaft/driveshaft and associated parts related.

If it is out of Warranty Cragos Autos in Dartford or BMSport in Bexleyheath, all ex BMW Techs.

Could be a buckled wheel all though you would like to think they would spot that when balancing, soft TCA bushes can cause it. Did you say you can feel it through the clutch pedal? If it is a diesel you might be getting dual mass flywheel vibration but that is not usually restricted to higher speeds.

No that was E46 models the floor cracked around the rear subrame mounts.

No I can feel it on the motorway in 6th when I use the little step next to the clutch to rest my foot.

Thanks for the recommendations on the garages - will go see them when I'm back in town.

Initially the mechanics I showed it to thought there might be play in the bushings, but when I brought it back in for a more thorough inspection they weren't convinced.

Three weeks later my wheels are still sitting in the back of my car waiting for ,what I presume are mythical, tyres to arrive.

• Ordered Yokohama Advan Fleva V701 205/55r15 from usual tyre guy... one week later his supplier comes back to say they're unavailable.
  
• Immediately see that they are available online from Demontweeks and place an order... one week later no shipping notice and no tyres, contact DT to be told they're waiting for confirmation from Yokohama UK.
  
• Three phonecalls to DT later and still no update I call Yokohama UK to be told by a very helpful chap that they only have one tyre unstuck and at the moment absolute best case would be 6-8 week delivery from Japan.
  
• Call DT to inform them of this fact and I'm assured that they tyres will be with them next day... 40mins later receive email to inform me that I was in fact correct and would I like some other tyres... no thanks.
  
• Local tyre guy back on the job and after extensive research gave him a shortlist of three potential tyres I'd be happy with (Toyo Proxes TR1 225/50r15 / Nankang Noble Sport NS20 205/55r15 / Goodyear EfficientGrip Performance 205/55r15)... all going well I'll have a set of Nankangs fitted later this week.
  
  

I appreciate we're in Covid-19 times but DT were bloody unimpressive from a communication point of view...

Also 205/55r15 -225/50r15 is a terribly tricky size to find a good tyre in :(

Any tyre recommendations for next time around? Hopefully Yokohama or Toyo will be available by then but I'm thinking I might shop well in advance in case I end up with this messing again.

Have also ordered the following bits:

• Alcantara OEM steering wheel replacement.
  
• Threaded gear knob adaptor
  
• Fugen (wish.com's finest fake Mugen) gearknob which will do fine until I swap to a Cravenspeed short shifter and get a 917 style wooden knob at some stage.
  
• Stubbier antenna
  
• Yellow tint film for foglights
  
• Gtechniq glass treatment kit
  
• Gtechniq black plastic trim treatment kit (will replace rear right hand wheel arch trim before treatment as some scum has scraped it...)
  
  

I've also been future planning for performance upgrades and I'm conscious that R53s tend to run really hot so I've ordered a set of replica Mugen Civic Tyre R bonnet vents to vent the bonnet. I'm not absolutely certain I'll go with them until I offer them up for a look but I wanted something a bit different to the Focus RS ones everyone seems to be using and I didn't really want to spend the money on a set of RSI C6 ones when the Tyre R ones were a quarter of the price.

Exterior wise there will be a bigger intercooler intake scoop and a (relatively) tasteful wing and splitter planned too. I probably won't fit any of them until I've acquired all of them and sorted the coilers too for risk of veering into bad Max Power territory...

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205/55 is a very awkward size in 15.

If you go down a step to 205/5o you have a readily available selection.

My suggestion would be Yokohama AD08RS, if you want more sporty, Toyo R888R, less sporty the Conti PremiumContacts.

All available on Camskill within 1-7 days.

Where did you order those bonnet vents from? Look like a knock off the GP Garage (based in Italy) vents, which are very good quality and look good too.

Depending on how much money you want to spend and how lairy you want to go, have a look at Italy and Japan to see something "a bit different". A lot of the UK R53s end up looking the same because everyone buys the same parts all stocked by a few UK suppliers.

Orrange G Wing (GP rep) is the wing you end up seeing on every modded R53 for example.

Not suggesting you buy a full bodykit, but have a look at 3D Design and Duell AG from Japan for example, for a bit of inspiration.

If you want a cheaper version of the 917 wooden knob, have a look at https://www.instagram.com/builtbybasil/

I have one made by him in the MX5, you can see it on my insta. He did a custom design for me and added metal weight inside, the MX5 shift is really affected by lightweight gearknobs so it needs to be >500g, closer to 1kg is better.

Over the Cravenspeed I would suggest the CAE shifter, but it's 4 figures (yikes). The Coolerworx is a decent cheaper example, but still £615...

https://orranje.co.uk/shop-by-brand/coolerworx-short-shifters/coolerworx-short-shifter-pro-mini-r53-r56

Really looking forward to seeing the finished (until the next idea) result!

Yeah I really wanted to keep the circumference as close to stock as possible but there's definitely a bunch more options available for 205/50 alright. I think Dunlop used to do some Direzzas in 205/55 but I think they might be out of production. I'm pretty confident the Advan Fleva will be perfect for me if I can just get them so hopefully they'll be available next time around but I wouldn't mind having a set of wheels with R888Rs or something similar for summer/ trackday fun. I used to daily a 1997 Spi John Cooper Works on 13x7j w/ A048Rs and it was absolutely terrifying in the wet so not keen to repeat.

Those are the GP Garage ones in the picture, they look amazing but €300+shipping for two plastic vents is a bit spicy, not outrageous but the Type R style ones from Maxton Design were €85 shipped so they're worth having a look anyway!

I think they should look well on the R53 bonnet, a little smaller than the GP Garage ones but a bit beefier than the Focus RS ones.

The wing I'm thinking of going for is this K-wing that a chap off one of the Mini groups on FB is making. He does another version called a JC-wing which has deeper sides but I think the smaller sides are a bit more tasteful and a bit less similar to the G-wing everyone is running.

K-wing

JC-wing

He also does this splitter which is quite tasteful.

I've been checking out the Duell AG stuff alright, my mate has an R56 JCW and is mad for that stuff but I'd like to keep the R53 a bit more subtle (or as subtle as it can be with massive vents and a wing)... I really like the look of martijngizmo's one, it's sorting of drawing on classic Porsche RS/ Outlaw style with a bit of classic mini café racer style too. Hopefully going to keep along that kind of vibe and maybe a touch of older JDM style without it turning into a dogs dinner.

I have a Builtbybasil skateboard knob from my Alfa actually, I got him to do one highlighting the colours of the Alfa Romeo logo but I got it with a weird thread to fit an auto shift knob adaptor I had unfortunately. I'll certainly get him to do a 917 style on for me, great workmanship!

The Coolerworx shifter is definitely a possibility alright, it's a fair chunk of change but I know there are group buys for about £500 from some of the FB groups sometimes so I'll have to keep my eyes peeled!

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Thanks man, having a lot of fun with it! The ever present fear of spontaneous total failure is lurking in the back of my mind though...

My place is surrounded by soft ground so I have to do any repair work on my car at the local petrol station forecourt. Pair of ramps or a pair of axle stands and a jack should do the job for most bits of work.

Collected this early this morning, and made it the 99 miles from Southampton to the Cotswolds. It feels fantastic to be back in a Golf.

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awesome. congrats

8v small bumpers. Noice!

Looks mighty tidy, nice wheels too.

This is great man! Looks pretty much perfect as is! Anything planned for it?