+1 (would be loads more, but i don't think that is protocol )

mb

 

JACKO loved reading that lol


i could do something locally to promote tyre safety as i am one of only 2 tyre dealers in the area and the other one begins with K and ends in T


might be something worth looking at because the roads are rife with cars driving on tyres like the above and it really annoys me the way the public are so unaware of stuff like this .

drink driving is all over the campains
drug driving also
but a sober driver on a wet road with bald or defective tyres are just as likely to cause someone injury or even kill someone !

 

Dead right!

Les

 

If you cannot spend 5 minutes every month checking your tyres, oil ,water ,screen wash ,and bulbs then you should not be allowed to drive a car. Dodgy tyres are bad but when people have worn to the wire wu sung's and other crap like that they are asking for an accident.

 

In a month a hell of a lot of deterioration can occur, in a perfect world they should be checked daily in my opinion, although being realistic i would say that those checks should be done weekly.

 

Depends how much the car is used, I dont do much mileage but when I wash the car it gets checked over and being fairly mechanically minded I can feel/hear when something isnt quite right or different, I also think that the annual service is not the best way to do things, I do what needs doing, when it needs doing not based on a schedule that usually fairly arbitary and nowadays geared to big mileages and the demands of fleet managers, I know what needs changing but I dont always do it all on the same day, oil one week and then some plus when it feels rough, fuel filter, cabin filter etc when I think its needed based on when I last did it.

I think a lot just get it looked at when its MOT time and stuff only gets changes because its illegal or dangerous or if it grinds to a halt, to them it either goes or it doesnt, and all the complicated stuff they cant be bothered with, if it doesnt go they cant go anywhere so it forces their hand.

I still cant comprehend how people can drive a car and not know which are the driven wheels.

 

I think your post is on the button and I feel the same as you about looking after the car.

Les

 

i check mine prob 2-3 times a month just to make sure everything is up to scratch . oil , water . pressures. and treads. takes 5-10 mins plus it gets you out of the house for a while on a sun

 

i check my tyres daily and change them every year even if they look ok but however i did have a friend who is a mechanic like me come up to me once for some advice on how to stop his car pulling to the right, the first question i asked him was are the tyres ok have you checked them? to which he replied yes, yet when i checked them this is what i found:

 

I believe there are some 3000-4000 infringement notices that can be issued by simply picking up a set of car keys and approching a car. Don't have to open it, get in it, start it or drive it.

By law I believe some of the things you have to be checked are windscreens, lights, wipers and tyres every time before getting in, starting and setting off.

 

The thing is, don't they teach a bit more now in the driving test regarding cars, so maybe this problem will phase out in time?

Saying that, the way technology moves on, maybe things will not improve at all.

Had a cracker yesterday, woman pulls up for a wash, and as i walk out the door, she has a screwdriver and is jabbing it into the door handle, forcing some cardboard in, this intrigued me enough to ask what the hell she was doing..........

Nissan micras have this little black sensor near the door handle, i will guess its for thye remote locking.

This lady could not get her door open, i cant remember if it was due to a flat battery, or a frozen door, as i was feeling pretty bewildered about the whole event.

Her door would not open, so she figured that if she smashed the black covering away, a key hole might be underneath
Which it wasn't, and now she is protecting the electronics underneath, by forcing cardboard into the hole with a screwdriver, so they dont get wet in the car wash

PMSL

 

When I got some tyres fitted a while back due to a flat I obviously drove in on the space saver. The bloke fitting the tyres told me he'd had a woman come in the other day for a new tyre on her Clio.... the thing was the tyre she was after was for her space saver which she'd been driving on for well over a year since she'd had a puncture!

Considering they're normally bright red or yellow and clearly different from the normal wheel not to mention the warning stickers all over them you have to wonder how these people get through life.

 

This thread is worrying, it seems a car is a magic thing that gets you from one place to another, they all get that but not how to look after it and keep it safe, everyone is allowed the occasional lapse for a day or two but not for months on a Space Saver or no working headlamps, unforgivable, even if you arent interested in cars you need to do basic maintenance.

They do loads of Drink Driving campaigns but rarely anything maintenance related, one about tread depths and how to check them along with the consequences for not doing, both in safety and points would help, turning up at an MOT station with wire poking out should be recorded against your driving record, not points but a marker on the PNC so the Police know you may be driving an unroadworthy vehicle and that you should be pulled over for a routine check in future, I reckon that would be more useful than prosecuting otherwise dilligent drivers for a few mph over the speed limit in the dry in a roadworthy and capable car, a shed on bald tyres in the wet is far far more dangerous.

 

It is not that many years ago that the average driver had enough mechanical ability and knowledge to be perfectly able to service his own car and to know straightaway if things were not right and needed fixing.

Having that basic knowledge meant also that people had a feel for their cars and also drove them in such a way that they did not hammer them into the ground but at the same time were quite able to use the car's performance.

It made motoring much more enjoyable and a hell of a lot cheaper.

Les

 

Les, I know what you mean but I think there may be some rose tinted spectacles there, by and large it was blokes that did the driving and having a car was a big deal, you had to have more mechanical aptitude to keep it going but my dad used to do servicing during the seventies and eighties and saw some horrendous deathtraps, Escorts used for driving kids round with a rubber mat covering a massive hole in the floor, Metro's with tyres disintegrating and taxis's that had no brakes left.

I think nowadays its worse becasue people can get cars easier on finance, its all shiny and new and then it just degenerates, they sometimes dont think it needs anything doing, people do bigger mileages now and people get cars younger, imagine any self respecting 18 year old Cheshire girl not having a brand new mini to ruin !

I think I am a bit of an exception, im 39 but was always taught about cars as my dad was an engineer/mechanic (still is), we didnt have a lot of money but the cars were always pristine and well maintained, he did all his own work on his cars so I saw they arent a mystery, its easier now becasue of the internet for those who have the inclination but still, for a lot its drive it until you really have a problem or an MOT then hand over your VIsa to get it back, working again.