John Fisher

I hit my front nearside wing on a low garden wall. I bought a new one on E-bay in the right colour and took the old one off and fitted the new one. I recall lots of fittings of many different types. Once you have the new one on, make sure the gaps are OK and that it it lines up spot on with the door. Then tighten the bolts and then replace the wheel arch liner last. I put the liner on only to have to remove it to push the new wing in so that it was matching the door. Don't trust the colour in an e-bay photo. Ask for the paint code.

I swear by Autodoc I bought Brembo rear shoes for £11 something but you need to add on postage.

I tried supaglue but it didn't last long. What did work was to drill a hole and then while holding a piece of metal with a hole in it with long nose pliers then screwing a self tapper into the metal. This has lasted a couple of years with no problems.

Hello, I replaced my Dance unit with a JVC dab/cd unit. The sound was so much better than the Dance and the aerial just sticks to the inside of the windscreen. It did need a plastic adapter to fit into the double DIN hole and a wiring adapter. Replacing it with Skoda unit will be easier but I do have doubts as to the quality of the sound of Skoda units. The problem I have found is that dab coverage is not good. Radio 4 is usually OK but Radio 4 Extra is not very good at all. The JVC will switch to FM if the dab signal fails but 4 extra does not broadcast on FM. Don't bother with a small dab radio that broadcasts the dab signal on FM to your car radio. They are very poor.

Yes, I have a 2000 Hyundai Accent PETROL. Its in good condition and runs like a dream. It looked like it was not compliant but I saw on You Tube how to challenge. I wrote to Hyundai for the certificate of conformity, you will need to give them the VIN number. This showed that the NOx per km was 0.02 gm. Well below the 0.08 ULEZ cut off. I e-mailed the certificate to TfL and have just received the letter saying that it is compliant. For a diesel you will need to check the TfL ULEZ website to see what figures TfL are using and then see if your car is compliant. If the figures are on your V45C log book send a copy of that in if not you will need to get the certificate of conformity from Skoda with the pollution figures. You will also need to send in a copy of the V45C. If your V45 does not show the pollution figures and your car is OK send a copy of the Certificate to the DVLA and ask that the figures be put on the V45C. For petrol cars I think TfL set the bar based on age rather than pollution. Good luck.

Hello, I replaced my dance unit with a JVC KW-DB92BT. The improvement in sound quality was a lot. It also has DAB radio and a cd player. These units seem to be getting hard to get. The fitting instructions were fairly poor but managed to get it going in the end. It needs a wiring kit to fit the new unit to the old wiring and also a new surround so that it fits the bigger hole that the dance unit took. The dab aerial sticks on the windscreen about half way down the A pillar. I didn't replace the speakers they seem fine.

Led lights are not E marked. I got an mot advisory.

Hello, I have heard of people putting the headrests from the rear seats on the front seats.

as I understand things, grooved discs help to prevent brake fade by allowing hot gases to vent from between the pad and the disc. I have only ever had brake fade with my Morris Minor with drum brakes all round. With that car you did use the gears to brake. A bad practice in a modern car as brakes are cheaper than gearboxes. I can recall my driving instructor saying "gears to go, brakes to slow"

I put green stuff pads on the front but didn't really notice any difference. They did seem to wear the discs down. I now have Ferodo pads and discs and they seem fine. The brakes are not as good as my old Alfa but that had discs the size of dinner plates. The Alfa brakes had little initial bite so I always left a good distance to the car in front. When pressed hard they really stopped.

I agree, I always understood that greasing bolts would alter the torque.

What ever you do dont put copper grease on the wheel bolts. You never want them to work loose.

I had the dealer fit them when I bought the car. They do offer slight protection from supermarket trollies but could be better positioned.

I replaced the paper filter on my Alfa 146 with a K & N one. Didn't notice any difference in performance and in a couple of weeks the air mass sensor needed replacing. Coincidence? or does the oil on the K & N damage the sensor? I would stick to a paper filter.

I found that the garage was only changing the oil so decided to service the car my self. The coil pack removal tool is well worth getting as they can be difficult to pull out. My oil sucking out device would not go down the dip stick tube. Sump plug washer looked OK but I replaced it with a new copper one. To get the oil filter off the plastic inner shaft give it a sharp tap on a solid surface. It doesn't take much oil so go easy. You do need to jack the car up and support it or use a couple of ramps made from some big timbers such as railway sleepers cut to form ramps. The front brake pads can be checked through the alloy wheels. Good luck.