GamithUK

My question is should I go for autosocks or chains? according to: http://www.roofbox.co.uk/car-snow-socks/autosock-faq.php There are some plus and minuses: Chains are well known and often specified for the Alps for example. Chains are apparantly better in hill starts than socks. You don't need special gloves to fit chains. You're not supposed to use ABS (or traction control, ESP, ASR - wtf is ASR?) with chains?? (first I've heard of this - and what if you can't turn your ABS off?) chains make lots of noise (cheap) chains don't auto adjust very unlikely to damage your car with socks On balance the socks seem to be the better idea - they even last for some time and can be driven on tarmac (max 30mph) and are machine washable. Any thoughts? ttfn

Or this one: http://www.collegehumor.com/video/6641875/burnout-fail ttfn

I was planning to acquire a set of steels and then get winter tyres put on - though when I'm only doing around 4k a year it hardly seems worth it - I might as well get some snow chains instead. I like Tonys comment about winter being a learning curve in the UK, I know he was referring to winter tyres, but it made me think of everyones reaction to the first flakes of snow - panic! ... every year! Sigh ttfn

sshhh - I have a patent pending on that idea, keeping the bits together :-) The car came with them fitted and the adaptors were in the glovebox. Do people really nick alloys? especially 9 years old ones like mine? as far as I can see they are more trouble then they are worth. ttfn

I was hoping my car would stay out of that part of the forum :-) Annoying though since it puts a black mark on my local Renault dealership on my very first trip, in my mind at least. Either they are incompetant, lying or very confused. Oh well - it really just re-enforces my view that dealerships need to be treated with a touch of caution, mainly because their primary aim is to sell me a new car.. I have also just remembered another job - clearing out the sunroof drains, apparantly that can be another source of water in the cabin, so best to sort it before it happens. ttfn

Last thing last night I remembered that the wheels on my car had those security bolts on - obviously it wasn't a problem, but can you pass on a 'sorry' to the guys who did my tyres for not mentioning it. ttfn

<After working out that TRE means Track Rod End - doh!> Wierd - what were Renault on about then I wonder? Well at least the alignment is sorted so it's not that. Is there anything else that's down there that could seize? oh - don't tell me they were trying to tighten it up rather then loosen it? ttfn

Cheers - thanks for wishes. I'm hoping that since the vehicle is pretty well run in by now that all the major issues are done and dusted with by now - I have always wondered if cars are more, or less, reliable when they get older (given equivalent servicing of course). One thing though, is that since I am used to working on Citroens the regular tasks will be far more straight-foward (the front brake pads were an absolute doddle compared to a GS or BX), it's the tasks that needs special equipment that will be the pain :-) ttfn

Oh yeah I'd better mention that I guess :-) From what I can tell the wobble has gone, though I was only able to go at 50mph on the way back, so I need to check that properly. The left-pull is also not apparant, but I need to test that also. Aside from the issues I went in with the car seems to have a much better grip on the road than it used to - reminds my of the time I found that one of my front tyres was at 15psi and the other at 40. The car, a GS, felt much improved after getting that sorted :-) There is that slight rumble of tyres with brand new treads - nice... To be fair I think the car was pretty Ok to start with, Peter seemed happy that there was nothing too far out of spec. After the n/s track rod was freed up the total toe alignment was changed from 0.32' to 0.08' - I have no idea if that is significant, it seems pretty tiny to me. Money well spent? yes.. not only two new front tyres (backs have plenty of life in) and alignment checked (so I am more confident that it hasn't suffered an accident that wasn't reported), but I also had a good look underneath while it was up on the scissor jack and no major leaks or damage were apparant. Obviously I'm not going to be taking it around Silverstone any time soon, but for my modest needs the car is as well set up as it needs to be, so I can now concentrate on the usual servicing items and ensuring that my family will be mobile for the foreseeable future. In the near future I need to replace the rear brake pads - I already have the special piston re-winding tool needed - make sure the coolant is up to winter spec and maybe give it a precautionary oil and filter change and stock up on ignition coils, since they seem to be a regular issue with Renaults. Maybe when I win the lottery I'll get an SM and see what you guys think of a Maseratti powered Citroen :-) ttfn

No worries about missing you - I probably would just have had a go about giving up smoking and sorting yourself out first, so it's probably for the best :-) As for french cars the reason I started driving them was because of the hydraulics - though they can be a pain when they go wrong (which to be fair wasn't often) they also allowed me to carry my armour, tent, cannon and the like when I was doing medieval re-enactment. Other cars would not have been stable or even level. Also the GS(A)s, with their double-wishbone suspension, high-revving air-cooled rotary engine, adjustable ride-height and all round disk brakes were a _lot_ of fun for a young person like me to fling around. Later cars got a lot more boring until I have ended up with this. Oh - and as you may surmise, I'm not a speed freak dedicated to running a 4million bhp racing car around the roads :-) ttfn

I found that - they look Ok until you get in them and then you think 'hold on these aren't as big as they look" - it's as thought they are 3/4 size or something. Still - fine for a child seat and the occasional extra passeneger (but not 2 extra passengers :-) ) ttfn

And here it is - pictures being worth quite a few words and all that: This is just after coming back from WIM/BB - fitted with 2x Falkens at the front and the Toe reduced from 0.32' to 0.08'. ttfn

Or hitting it :-) ttfn

Ok, well I have had this for a month now, so I'm still getting started. My first car was a Hillman Hunter, but after that I have always had Citroens; GS(A)s, Visa, BXs and lastly a Berlingo, so this is my first non-Citroen, though still French :-) The Berlingo was my first new car, though it was got on the Motability scheme since my son is disabled. It turns out that aside from the free servicing the Motability scheme isn't for us (since my wife didn't get her driving license as we planned) so when it went back it was time to look around. I was initially after a C5 2.0 auto exclusive, but it turns out they were never made (only in the lowest LX trim), so next up was a Xsara Picasso, but all the good ones got sold before I could get to them, so I ended up finding my car at a dealership in Harrow - £1400 for a 2002 scenic in cherry red (apparantly - it looks more burgundy to me) with a previous driver that was disabled. It has done 73k miles, so well below average, in pretty good nick from what I could see, so the deal was done. No disasters yet, but I have so far: 1) Fitted a new MP3 playing radio in place of the cassette player/ radio/ CD multi-changer setup. I found a coimpany doing a kit which included a fascia and adapter cable for the control stalk on the steerhing column. 2) Fitted a Maplins reversing sensor kit - the fitting could have gone better since the outer sensors are facing out, so beep me about the cars on either side of a parking space, but they do the job ok. 3) Fitted replacement front brake pads - piece of wee-wee compared to doing the same on a Citroen, but the first time I've had to worry about a separate reservoir just for the brakes :-) 4) A clean (i.e. vacuum) - which didn't reveal much aside from 5p in the spare wheel well :-( 5) Cleaned out the sludge in the scuttle below the windscreen since water was getting to the passenger footwell, and removed the rubber flap that cover the drain hole. Todays rain is not inside so yey! 6) Replaced the wipers, front and rear - good thing I did since I have been using them a lot recently. 7) Got a cheap (£15 from ebay) diagnostics scanner that shows no codes - I just hope it's actually working :-) Anyway, my 6 year old son loves the car, wanting to be in all the seats simultaneously I think, and my wife loves the colour, so that's good. It's certainly a flexible car - the three rear seats move front and back (handy for when my sons wheelchair gets larger), I can use the storage under the rear seats for tools, parts, the second emergency triangle and the like. The fire extinguisher fits very nicely in the 'bottle holders' behind the rear seat, it has auto air-con, twin tilt-slide sunroofs, tow-bar, PAS. ABS and other buttons (such as the power to stop the rear electric windows by being used by kids - muahaha </evil cackle>). It doesn't have cruise control nor folding mirrors, which I found useful on the Berlingo since I could tell whether it was locked or not. The only issues I have with the car are: 1) It pulls to the left a little - I only really notice it on motorways 2) There is a slight judder when at speed, and at 70 it gets quite severe, So I'm booked in tomorrow (saturday) at 11am for WIM to see what they can see because: I took it down to our local Renault Dealership to find out if there were any outstanding recalls on it (there weren't) and for them to do an alignment check. They weren't able to do it due to the nearside track rod end being seized (the lock-nut is OK), so they gave it a quick once-over and said it otherwise looked fine. They recommended a blow-torch to un-seize the track rod end, but since neither they or I have one 'handy' they just charged me £30 for the inspection. I had also contacted the people that had done the last service and found that the cam-belt was 'only' 3 1/2 years old so I don't need to worry just yet. The last MoT showed and advisory, but I had to visit Direct.gov.uk to get the information that it was that all the brake pads were getting thin. I have done the fronts and I will do the rears when I get a non-rainy weekend day - when we aren't visiting people, shopping, going on a day out or whatever else comes up. I think that is it for now - I'll update on my WIM visit, and I hope there won't be anything too serious and that the un-seizing goes OK. I hope to be able to get a quick look underneath as well, just to see if there is anything obvious that I need to worry about.. Time to stop rambling I think :-) I forgot to add - since I commute by rail to south London the car doesn't get normally get used much, mainly local shopping trips (in 3 years the Berlingo did just over 13k miles) but in the four weeks the scenic has gone: Watford to Kettering, Rushden, Stoke-on-Trent, And several longer trips than usual - it's had quite a busy first few weeks. ttfn