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

highly experienced alpine descender, race car helmsman and man of a certain age and cleverness

Almost textbook shit sandwich there. "You're really good at these things! You're old. You're really clever!"

says go straight for a 600 (a cruiser not a sportsbike)

The only problem being that proper cruisers, as opposed to naked or retro bikes, don’t actually corner very well so I can’t imagine they are that good for “learning” to ride on.

Feeling very smug yesterday at replacing my fucked wing mirror. It's not even like our road is narrow, but dickheads still manage to hit them. £25 off eBay for an exact model and colour match. Bolted it on and the fucking connector plug was different. Thought "fuck it" lopped both plugs off and spliced the old plug into the new unit (tidied up after the below photo, was still making sure it worked at that point). Neglected to note which way the two grey wires were to be connected and the new unit only had one black wire while the old plug had two. A combination of pure luck and my car not having heated wing mirrors mean whatever way I'd did splice them first time, worked. Electric adjust, kerb/courtesy light and indicator all fine.

Then this morning, the person who parked behind me on the road had their mirror completely fucking annihilated overnight. Bits everywhere.

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Perfect, thanks for the insight. Seems very difficult then!

Do the CBT, then sign up for DAS and before that starts book an extra session on an 125 if you’re nervous/struggling with controls.
Big bikes are a lot nicer to ride and you can still get a slow one if you don’t have self-restraint!

The C63 has one wheel which has cracked and been welded up - which is a bummer.

What are peoples opinions on this - safe to run with, or replace with new as it'll crack again at the least convenient time?

The C63 has one wheel which has cracked and been welded up - which is a bummer.

For what it's worth I ran a wheel that was cracked then refurbished (welded) for about four years on my Focus without problem, and it never leaked or cracked again. The merc has twice the power and it's probably heavier but I don't know that would make much difference to forces inside the rim - I'd guess not.

Personally I'd err on the side of caution and replace, if only for peace of mind. I think that C63 would look great on some 18s with a bit more sidewall.

A lot cheaper to keep the Michelins that are on there though.

I had wondered about new rims - the 16 spoke 19's do have a reputation for cracking and bending.

Wasn't there a recall on thos wheels? Or maybe I'm thinking about here is aus.

They are pretty well known for cracking, I’ve not heard of a recall here though

If you're not a bell end just buy the bike you want. You'd kill yourself on a slow bike if you wanted.

I bought a KTM 990 Duke aged 24 as my first bike and I'm and idiot and still alive. My second was a Honda blackbird.

Riding bicycles gave me great awareness and perception, injust had to speed up processing and ride sensibly to behind.

Just buy a nice bike and don't look back.

Just buy the best gear, I bought the best possible you could have. I did my cba in full 2 price held race leathers, Sidi boots and race gloves. All i got was respect from the instructors for being smart. I then bought myself an airbag once I passed and got a big bike.

I need another big twin bike. To go along with the dirt one I never ride.

Just handed it back after 4 days, recommended the hire place replace the brakes, as got them down to the copper pins on front or back, couldn't tell. Hoot of a car, not exactly fast, but quick enough, and 40-80 mph twisty a roads are its happy place. Low speed corners with rough road surface it becomes apparent its a basic car with simple suspension/dampers, but the shell and general dynamics of it are great. Most honest car I've driven in a few years for sure, if we needed something small in the fam, would be one of those!

But quiet on the wheel recommendations, maybe the answer is “BBS LM all the things”.

Rotiform VCE 4lyf.

There appears to be a million choices of configuration for those. I like the ‘90s BTCC vibe of some of them.

Best modern Merc wheels ever were the 16 inch version of the Mehkab alloys.

Wouldn’t go over the brakes I’m afraid.

Why did they fit Brembo floaters on some Abarth 500s?? £550 for front discs, corroded because I don't drive it enough..which I'm trying to see as a positive. All other consumables are relatively cheap.

At that price wouldn’t it be worth getting them skimmed?

How corroded? You’d need it to be sitting for months for discs not to be cleared of corrosion by half a dozen big stops.

Or if they’re further gone than that get them skimmed. Plenty of garages will do this for tens of pounds per corner.

I did ask the garage who did the inspection whether they still skimmed and was told no. I've not actually had new ones fitted yet, so am taking to a specialist for a second opinion.

They don't appear too bad to me. Covered 26k in 6 years, but does get used a couple of times a week so yes, was surprised.

Cool beans. If possible take it there via some fast roads and do some hard stops to try to clean them up. Google will find you some methods.

I’m having the fronts on my car skimmed in a couple of weeks to cure a wobble. It’s very much still a thing.

Mobile tire fitter/supplier recommendations for South London?

Needed to get my tyre plugged as I parked on a screw. Are plugs a permanent solution or should I go and get a patch. And, are patches permanent or should I get a new tyre...?