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Rich

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Posts posted by Rich

  1. I was outside most of yesterday cleaning it up and tiger sealing the bottom of the glass back to the fabric. I contacted the person who fitted the hood and they recommended tiger seal too. The rest of the bonding looks ok but I'll definitely be keeping a closer eye on it.

    We've only had drizzle rain since bonding it but there were no puddles in the car today. Still alot of condensation with the carpet being wet in places so the car is damp and needs drying out properly.

    I'll be checking it everyday and will run the hose over it if we don't get any more heavy rain.

    The guy who fitted the roof doesn't do repairs, I think because it's very time consuming but I have emailed a local company who I saw recommended on pistonheads. They do interior upholstery and have repaired hoods.

    I was also wrong about the price, a new mohair one is £650, a vinyl one is £550. Alot of money either way but hopefully a repair would be no where near that!

    • Like 1
  2. £300 for a dealer service and MOT sounds good.

    I can't believe the mpg you're getting from this. Maybe one to look at when the Accord does go.

    Diesel is 25-30p a litre more than petrol around here so unless you're doing mega miles a year petrol is definitely the way forward now. I wonder if they'll keep diesel alot higher now to try and force people to switch over.

    That's the thing with big wheels, tyres are eyewatering prices. What is the smallest rim available that Mazda made for the car, I assume 17s?

  3. 3 hours ago, adam_r said:

    21mpg seems very low for the 2.0 petrol Rich. 

    My old saloon got ~35mpg round town and could stretch to 48mph on a motorway run

    It's a 2.4 petrol automatic so it's never going to be great. I've always got low 20s around town since I got it 9 years a go. I suppose a sensor or two may be old but I'm not going to start replacing parts on a whim.

    Didn't you have a diesel Accord, not petrol?

  4. 18 hours ago, eddie said:

    Sounds like the Honda has plenty of life left in it - roll on 200,000 miles! What do you use to polish up the headlights?

    It's done 133,000 miles now. The bodywork will be gone before the engine. The tester did say the sills are quite rusty and will probably need work done on them in a couple of years. I won't be paying out for that though as it's not worth it.

    I used my rotary polisher with some fine polish and fine wet/dry paper to run them down first. You need to add regular protection otherwise they go cloudy again like mine have. You can also buy kits that you use with your drill, which seem to work well.

    5 hours ago, liner33 said:

    Is it any better on fuel ? 

    About the same as it used to be, 21mpg around town, slightly more on a run. I use Esso Supreme E0 now and nothing else. It's never been an economical car though and I've only done 2500 miles since the MOT last year so I don't do a lot in it.

  5. I looked at getting a whiteline bar for the Mondeo but decided it probably wasn't worth it for that kind of car. Glad it's made a difference.

    Yeah the new aircon gas is really expensive. It's annoying when you get it done and then find out you have a leak a few weeks later so lose it. That was with the cheaper gas though!

  6. So! With the mild weather I decided to tax it for another month and use the car during November. I hoovered it out last week and noticed the carpets were damp. After removing the door cards I remembered that the drivers side plastic sheeting had to be taped up a few years a go, this had come off. Taped it all up and I just needed to dry the carpets out - or so I thought!!

    After all of the rain this week I checked the passenger floor and found it soaked through! 

    20221101_145447_copy_1209x572.thumb.jpg.8c0d2b4a30b12867c7e27de394c6aeed.jpg

    I removed the seat and lifted the carpet up to sponge up as much water as I could. The only way to remove the carpet completely is to take the dash out or cut it.

    After lifting the carpet I was greeted with this!

    20221101_150929_copy_1382x655.thumb.jpg.b1318632e6b25aab33a40d5c6a92929b.jpg

    20221103_105157_copy_572x1209.thumb.jpg.213df33efdc1de2fee2f797080b646c2.jpg

    All of the sound deadening had to be removed as it had soaked the water up like a sponge. I checked all the seals and drain holes but couldn't find where it was coming in from.

    Last night we had loads more rain and this morning I checked the drivers side to find it was also now soaked! Today was spent striping the interior out and propping the carpet up to help it dry.

    I also removed the parcel shelf carpet to try and help me trace where water is getting in from. Then I found this!!

    20221103_115139_copy_511x1147.thumb.jpg.8ba37f8c86b33451d76e6939e48cdb7e.jpg

    Yes the glass window is no longer bonded to the soft top, more or less all the way along the bottom! I have put some duct tape on it for tonight and tomorrow I'll be putting the cover over the car to try and keep it dry. I'm assuming this is the entry point for the water but I'm not sure how it's finding it's way down to the floor, I can't find any trails where it could be going.

    Alot of the stitching on the hood has eroded the last couple of years and I had been planning on repairing this myself but I think it's going to take hours sewing it by hand. A new hood is £500 so I will try and tiger seal the glass to the fabric first and see how it goes. Otherwise I don't know what I'm going to do, it's an expense I could do without at the moment.

  7. I did all of the servicing I mentioned above but need to change the gearbox oil again. I had enough left from last time so used that as a flush to do a few hundred miles and then fill with the new oil but I didn't get around to it in the summer!

    The MOT was yesterday and it passed but with a couple of advisories this time. My MOT garage has a new tester and he's more thorough!

    A cut in a tyre needs to be monitored. That must've happened on the way there as I removed all 4 wheels on Monday and checked them over.

    Foggy headlights, so I need to polish them again, it's been a few years since I did those.

    Front brake pads are low but I knew that anyway. I replaced the discs and pads 8 years a go so will do both again. The discs have a slight lip on them so I don't think it's wise to fit new pads on to them.

    I had to seal the plastic door lining behind the door cards as they were leaking water in to the footwells but other than that it's been ok. Hoping to keep it going for another year.

    • Like 1
  8. 2 hours ago, eddie said:

    Fixed deal of 5 years at 2% odd ended and I forgot to renew it as was so busy with work - payments up of course now and the mrs is fuming with me for not sorting it.

    That nationwide deal looks ok will look into that as well as natwest who seem to be best buy this week

    Oops! Easily done though, I have a few things I've been meaning to sort out and still haven't got around to doing.

    I checked my offers with Santander earlier and the best 2 year fixed rate is 5.89%! ☹️

  9. On 28/09/2022 at 13:58, liner33 said:

    No idea about the cat theft , they have two and one is before the turbo (Never heard of that before) and a sod to remove and the other is right after the turbo at the front of the car and also not easy 

    Sounds like it'll be ok then. I read about them getting stolen in other countries but I'm not sure what year those are, probably older ones. Subarus aren't that popular over here so I doubt if they'd even know the location of them. 

  10. 28 minutes ago, adam_r said:

    Nationwide are fixing for 10 years at 4.89% if you pay the £1000 product fee

    That's pretty good considering. Could that be a sign they don't think things will be as bad as they're predicting.

    3 hours ago, eddie said:

    I have seen predictions of up to 8% on interest rates - I'm pretty exposed as on the SVR on my mortgage - have been looking at fixing but the fees have shot up and when you are a bit older its harder to remortgage as the banks seem to be allergic to lending to people over 50!

    Have you just come off a fixed rate deal or have you been on a SVR for a while?

    Guess it depends what the rate is but I would've thought that'd make your repayments quite high. My fix was 1.89% but the SVR would've been 5% if I left it.

  11. Well they're predicting a 15% price reduction but that's all relative if it happens and where we're moving to may fall even further.

    I can fix for 2 years at 4.39% now with a 3% ERC plus a £999 fee. 5 years is 4.14% but the ERC on that is 5%!

    The whole point of taking the tracker deal was to avoid paying the ERC. If we move within a year the tracker we're on is still better than paying the ERC, plus the extra £999 for changing again. I hate wasting money so the thought of paying another fee and the ERC if we end up going next year doesn't sit well with me. That would be several thousand.

    Like you say my job is fairly secure here and I can make overpayments towards the capital when I can. This has really buggered our plans though!

    There's probably not much point contacting my mortgage guy, I doubt he can access any deals better than what my provider is offering.

  12. Wow, what is Truss and the Government up to!! Things are just going from bad to worse. Seems they're predicting the base rate to increase to 6% by next year.

    I really don't know what to do now. The more I think about it the less keen I am to rent when we move with how things are. I was hoping to move before things got worse. We're planning on going next year but it's trying to get a job and move at the same time that's concerning me. Especially when I haven't really seen any jobs to apply for yet. 

    Or just take a fix now for 2 years, I can get just over 4% and put our move off. But what if property prices continue to rise, we could find ourselves not being able to afford a house we really want and having to settle for something else. If we're moving 150 miles away I'd rather get a house that we're going to love, not just like!

  13. The UP sounds like a great car, I didn't realise they did a GTi version. I love the styling on that.

    The Forester is a nice motor too, I've always fancied one. Is it the same 2L boxer engine that is in the Legacy? I still regret not getting one of those, would've been more fun than the Accord. I'd imagine mpg is low 20s around town and maybe 30 on a run. It's a shame they're so thirsty.

  14. Thanks to those who have been reporting the spam posts over the last few days. Now that the forum software isn't being paid for and we no longer get updates they are getting through the registration process!

    I have now changed it so all new accounts need to be manually approved by me so I can delete the ones that aren't genuine.

  15. Yep, you can see all of the construction site from where you used to live! If you remember the water ski lake on the way to Denham they have ripped down all of the trees by the road exposing it.

    My FIL works for HS2, he's been telling me how they transport the concrete sections and other construction stuff. It's pretty amazing even though it's also so destructive!

    Forgot to say those sections are 70-90 tonnes each and they're building it straight over the ski lake and River Colne.

  16. On 06/09/2022 at 14:09, eddie said:

    Maybe look at Continental ExtremeContact or Pirelli as well?

    Thanks Eddie. The Continental aren't available in the size I need, which is a shame as the reviews seem good. I'm not a fan of Pirelli, I've used that brand before and didn't get on with them.

    I may leave changing them until next year now as I'll be taking the car off the road end of October, possibly November depending on the weather.

  17. Unfortunately I didn't get to take the car up to Norfolk so it'll have to wait until next year now ☹️

    I'm still amazed at the reactions a 23 year old car gets! I arrived at work this morning and the headteacher and my department manager were outside talking. I always try to drive in quietly but it's not exactly a quiet car! After parking and heading in to school they both said they love my car 😄

    The tyres on the car are Toyos, which are 8 years old and showing signs of cracking between the tread blocks and sidewalls. They passed the MOT ok but I've never been happy with them and in the damp they don't grip well, in the wet it's scary! I'm planning on using the car more, maybe even over winter so want some decent rubber on there.

    I've narrowed my choice down to either the Michelin Crossclimate 2 or the Pilot Sport 3. I was also considering the Uniroyal Rainsport but they're not any cheaper than the Michelin's.

    Has anyone used these tyres? I'm swaying towards the PS3 from the reviews I've read.

  18. You can't really go wrong with a Lexus, our CT had no real issues. The only things that needed replacing were the 12v battery and washer fluid valve.

    The brakes on a hybrid could last 100k miles, we changed ours at 80k but they still had 2-3mm left on them and the rears were still the originals when we sold it.

    What's the infotainment system like on this, is it better than the Prius you had? I found the CT200 one was very poor and looked cheap. BMWs iDrive is so much better.

  19. On 20/08/2022 at 09:36, liner33 said:

    I think its the same engine as the Lexus UX that we have, I think they share the same Corolla platform , my wife loves it , i find the bleeps very annoying as it seems to bleep at me all the time :) but its very easy to drive and great for long trips. Ours is almost 3 years old now and 20k on it , trouble free apart from what sounds like a wheel bearing on the front wheel but its probably a stone behind the disc 

    Much prefer the 2.0 and improved gearbox only criticism is that's its smaller in the rear and boot than the Prius 

    I'm surprised you like the UX. I looked at those but they get terrible reviews and you've confirmed what I thought about the rear and boot being smaller. The CT has put me off getting another Lexus as the interior is just too cramped for us. Was fine on a test drive but living with it was a different story.

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