artichoke273

Ah yes, from memory most models use the HV-199515 for £123. I can't recall when the £204 set come into play. Granted they were still more than the Grayston set for £86. I went by positive caravan site reviews and MAD seemed to have edge. No one had done a back-to-back test so it was all subjective, but it sounds like we're both happy with our choice.

I've had MAD Progressive spring assistors fitted to mine for a year or so. I had the same problem with the jockey wheel hitting the ground. They make a big difference to rear ride height when towing or with a fully loaded boot and a bike rack. No noticeable difference to the ride when not towing. I told my insurance company and they were fine with it, as they don't rate for them. http://mad-suspension.co.uk . They were very helpful answering questions prior to ordering and afterwards for advice on fitting.

The mk2 was launched in 2008 and as far as I'm aware has never had a 2.5 v6. The mk1 did get a facelift in 2006.The GPS antenna is in the fin on the roof, to access it you need to remove the rear of the headlining. I believe that's the same on the mk1.

I tried the bumper protector, delivery was fine but I was disappointed with the edges considering the price. No response to emails, so I had to file a Paypal claim to get a response. To be fair they were then pretty quick to resolve the issue - which involved me sending them a photo of the protector bent double and them issuing a full refund (including postage). Ironically when I bent it back you couldn't see the bend, but I still wasn't happy having it on my car, even though it hadn't cost me a penny.

All good here. I notice the same bars under a different name are No.1 bestseller on Amazon.co.uk at the moment. If you filter through the negative reviews due to them not fitting a Zafira and bad experiences from dodgy sellers, they seem well received. Only approximately 1 in 100 purchasers write Amazon reviews and as a nation we're naturally inclined to review when we have a bad experience. I can therefore guesstimate that Amazon are selling roughly 400 a month. This is the third batch I've seen in Lidl in the last two years, my store had about 20. 600 Lidl stores in the UK, 12,000 sets per batch, all sold out. I think if they were flawed or not fit for purpose then the internet would be awash with bad experiences. Just my humble opinion of course.

Sorry I'm an idiot - the front bar is clamped to the roof rail just behind the front foot next to the join and the rear bar is clamped just in front of the middle foot.

It was possible to add a secondary speed display in the form of a digital readout in mph which sat in the middle section of the MFD and still retained the kmph in the lower section using VCDS. I tried it a few times on mine (manufactured May 12) and I couldn't get it to play ball.

Further back makes them quieter but I have the front bar as far forward as possible (just in front of the middle foot that joins the rail to the car) to minimise the weight on the rear section of the roof rails, and in turn the weight on the rear axle. The reason is that when I'm using mine, I also have a boot full of luggage, plus a trailer applying 40kg of downward force on the towbar and I like the car to sit as flat as possible.

Preston Motors in Forest Gate certainly renewed my faith in car dealers. Don't put their distance from you put you off, they will arrange delivery to anywhere in the UK. Very competitive and definitely the first place I'll be calling when it's time for a change.

Make a quick call to your local dealer's parts dept. Also, I'm not sure what glue you tried, but it might be worth trying an epoxy adhesive like Araldite - if the surfaces are properly prepared (no old glue, grease, etc), and it's given time to cure, then the bond will be as strong as the clip.

Just to confirm, the 'Variable boot floor with aluminium rail & partition system' does result in a completely flat load area with the rear seats folded. I guess it's still out of the question at the price, but I thought I'd let you know.

Excellent, thank you. That's very useful info to consider. The manufacturer of the bike carriers recommends a cable lock through the bikes and the car's roof rails for security, so I think this worthwhile for added safety. I absolutely agree that should the roof load come off, it would be the vehicle travelling behind that was affected and that has always been my primary concern. The same with trailers and towbar mounted bike carriers. Having had another conversation with the metalurgist about steel grades, I'm happy with my set up for the load I'll be carrying. Though I complete understand your original concern and I'm very pleased that my original post didn't go unchecked, so that others can make the same decision under their own circumstances.

Well, I wasn't trying to silence any critics with the views of my friend. I almost left that comment out of my post, as I could see it might be inflammatory, but I wanted to give you as much information to make an informed comment. It is your learnings from the University of Life that I was hoping to tap into. I understand your point about 4 x 17p bolts, but that is the going rate for a 8.8 bolt. The t-track system from Thule uses four M5 bolts, that can't be improved on without drilling more holes in the roof box / bike carrier, which will presumably weaken that. Do I need to find some £10 bolts? Could I ask what you use on your roof bars?

That is interesting. I'm no engineer but I can't help thinking that one of us has our units mixed up (and it could easily be me). The M6 bolts are 8.8 grade with a tensile stress of 800 MPa (81 kilogram-force/square millimetre). Even if they were 10.9 grade they would still only be 1040 MPa. I can't figure out how wide a bolt you would need to have 800 kg in tension, if indeed we are talking the same units. More worrying, is that the T-track bolts supplied with my bike carrier, that were slightly too wide were M5 cup square bolts. Granted, they might be a higher grade but that wouldn't account for a 1000% increase, or any significant advantage on the other maximum loads. Thule T-track bolts are essentially M5 square head bolts. It would be interesting to know how the roof rails are bolted to the car roof. Finally, I ran my plan past a friend who has a PhD in Metallurgy & 40 years experience of non-destructive testing metals for the MOD. His thoughts were that it would be absolutely fine. Anyway, the bikes were due to be attached for their maiden voyage tomorrow morning, I certainly don't want to do anything dangerous when it comes to roof loads. So if you can let me know your thoughts based on the above extra info before then, it would be appreciated!

The u bolts supplied with my bike carrier were annoyingly 1mm too narrow to fit around the aero bars (which are 46-47mm I think), which is why I had to use the T-track. Also, the u-bolts I had were designed for square bars and the instructions stated they weren't suitable. I imagine that this is because all the tension of the horizontal section of the u bolt would go through the centre of the lower curve of the bar. If you have curved u bolts that fit then I can't see a problem. If not, then probably cheaper to use the roofing bolts and washers above (£6) in the T-track, than hunt around for some different u bolts. The M6 roofing bolts are normally tested to 50kg-75kg tensile strength each, so with four in use, they should withstand any forces they might encounter.