J.R.

Why did you go to the trouble of replacing perfectly sound and serviceable brake discs? That shouldn't really be described as a monetary saving of £252 but saving yourself from being ripped off like all the others who believe what is simply a standard line added to an invoice "brake disks and pads 75% worn" Re the cut down bolt for holding wheel in place while fitting real bolts, you will struggle to find one as its a non standard fine pitch, however there are loads of knurled and slotted ones on Ali-Express for much cheapness, mine came as a pair in a robust case, I gave one to my neighbour and use the space in the box for the locking wheel bolt adaptor, tool to remove plastic bolt head covers etc. Using one works but having 2 makes wheel-changing much easier hence why they also sell them as pairs.

Then you should question your assumption because what they told you does not make sense, you had fully comp insurance, they would pay you out regardless of whether they had collected the money from the TP's insurers, I doubt that the money changes hands that quickly, they probably have a debit and credit ledger with all the other major insurers and settle or collect the balance once every 3 months. Your claim will be recorded as open or pending for 18 months on the database that all the insurers have access to.

Chemicals? Did you neglect to mention the swimming pool?

More options than that, there are types on Ebay who offer the service, no doubt Facebook as well, even more of the dodgy types on there. I went to a RDV on a Sunday with an Eastern European guy who did mine very cheap, the property looked like a squat and drugs den, he wouldn't allow anyone inside, he took my only key to take inside and copy at which point I realised just what a dumb situation I might have put myself in 😒he might have disappeared from the rear of the building I was now stuck in an immobile vehicle in a very dodgy area and could not even lock the vehicle to go to find help. He came back out with 2 keys cut then connected a gizmo to the OBD port and used another to read the original key when in the ignition, cant recall exactly but the cloned keys then worked and it was very very cheap.

Yes. I dont know, you can see it, I can't!

But as far as any other insurer is concerned it is not yet deemed a no fault claim and it wont be for 18 months, surely you can understand that? And that is what is giving your existing insurer carte blanche to ream you inside out. Can you please define to me what "price gouging" that you keep speaking of means? Do you actually know that the other insurer has "paid up"?

I do not and will not have a Crit-Air sticker.

You can also re-use a removed connector pin if you carefully bend the locking tang out again to the correct angle, I have had no choice but to do this on several occasions, its dont recommend it as if the pin is not securely locked it can be pushed out but it does work, not to be repeated though as the metal work hardens and the tang will likely snap off the second time. Thats why these kits are so good, the wires are pre terminated with pins using production tooling.

Well having spent just a couple of Euros with Ali-Express for a multitude of depinning tools and having bought an equally cheap kit as described by Pete of pin terminated wires and an unpopulated connector I can tell you that the world has moved on since you and I were involved with production electronics. Having tested the tools fitting and removing the terminated wires to the connector shell and having removed and refitted an existing wire from the connector on the car as a test that is how I know that I can replace individual wires one or more at a time, that way there will not be the concern about getting the positions wrong.

Self adjusters in the rear calipers not doing what is said on the tin, most likely only one of them. If you can see the handbrake compensator bracket where the 2 cables attach I bet its at an angle when the handbrake is applied. If you cant access that then compare the angles of the handbrake levers on each rear caliper, the bad one will move through a much larger angle.

You are correct, I only have vision in one eye, the contrast enhancement does indeed allow me to now see what you had seen. You are correct, I only have vision in one eye, the contrast enhancement does indeed allow me to now see what you had seen.

Not me, still putting off removing and rebuilding mine. My current strategy is to kid myself that the transmission noise is really a combination of my nicely scrubbed down to the legal limit tyres and having removed the rear seats and parcel shelf to use it as a builders van. When some cheap new tyres come up I will know for sure or I could swap to the new winter tyres before then.

Deleted, I did not read the OP carefully enough.

My Ford XR4x4's from the late 80's had metallic paint but the lacquer was only applied to the outside, all the door shuts etc were dull matt base coat. The robots were working to rule!!!!

The shuts are painted first because that is the way us non robots spray vehicles, if you want to know why its done in that order then just try doing it the other way and the lesson will stick for life, I speak as someone who has learnt most things in life from mistakes!

Coding out is simple if my factory Bluetooth module was anything to go by. I got fed up with messages coming up on the MFD saying it was trying to connect with previous owners phones, I failed miserably trying to remove the old phones and add my own, not that I really want or need the connectivity while driving. Then I fitted a Chinese head unit so the OE Bluetooth would not have worked anyway. All I needed to do was remove the BT module from the "Installed Modules" list and then disconnect it, if you dont do the latter you get fault codes saying that the now unknown module is trying to communicate with the Mother Ship 😄

It will remain as a claim pending against you for 18 months as unfair as it seems and is. The third party might get a phone call from a firm of ambulance chasers asking him if the thought of copping for £20K makes his neck hurt a little 🤣 You asked earlier what you could do to avoid being shafted, well its too late now but the answer would have been don't drop your trousers and hand them the vaseline by opting for protected NCB. If you did not have it your policy may have gone up to the £420 I think you referred to and your NCB would have dropped from say 65% to 50% for example (I'm well out of date on these things) and in the worst case you may have had to pay the extra 15% for one or two years before it being refunded when no claim was made but that usually only happens when liability is still in doubt or a potential claim against you is pending like the TP teaming up with ambulance chasers. I'll give you 2 examples from my history, no fault accident TP admitted liability, my car written off and bought back from insurers leaving me with the car and a pot of money, at renewal 6 months later my premium remained the same and my NCB (unprotected) did not drop. 2nd example no fault accident according to my claim, other guy I believe had something to hide (it was a very dodgy printing company maybe forging banknotes) and I dont even know that he reported it to his insurers, minor scuff damage to my bumper but nonetheless a silly repair estimate for painted bumper, grille and bumper beam, I got pee'd off with the repairers who had done the paintwork in advance but wanted my car for several days to fit the bumper etc, as I used it for work I just took the parts and fitted them myself. On renewal my insurers still had not settled with the TP's insurers (TP had not reported the accident) so liability was still technically in dispute, my renewal gross premium was unchanged but I had to stump up a bit more for the partial loss of NCB, when the 18 months was up it was refunded, I had requested it, as good as Direct Line were then I'm not convinced they would have done so automatically, my NCB was reinstated to the maximum and there were no surprises with the renewal quote the next year. If you are free to "Compare The Market", that is to say you can answer No! to the question of any accidents or claims in the last............ then you will get a cometitive renewal premium, if you have answered Yes! then your premium will rise significantly with your insurer and with any other, if you had protected NCB then it will go up massively as you have seen but the (protected) NCB remaining will bring it down a bit but not much but probably make it a little cheaper than going elsewhere.

Having repaired a couple of cars attacked with brake fluid and also my own being attacked with 2 pack resin from the Airbus factory opposite (parking dispute) the splash pattern is not consistent with an viscous fluid like brake fluid, I also think your claim about the discoloured rubber and the stone chip beneath it is pushing things too far! But yes it could absolutely be brake fluid, paint stripper or bird lime, the random pattern leads me to the latter but without seeing the vehicle in the flesh I could not say.

Exactly what I said about the so called protected NCB, you are paying them to shaft you.

editted

Speak for yourself! I find the CT more intensive and in depth than the MOT, one example being the vibrating plate shock absorber analysis, another is that the MOT did not test my emissions for the reason spoken of but also no brake test because it is 4x4, exemptions for both, in France both were tested on very similar equipment, but yes I do agree with your point regarding the duration of validity. Editted, I should have said exempt from the brake roller test, it was tested with a 55 year old Tapley deccelerometer! A really sought after antique which does not incur the annual fee for calibration, my pals one was passed down through the family business from grandfather to father to him so he can continue using it, any other MOT station has to have an expensive new all singing and dancing one and pay to have it calibrated every year like the brake rollers.

Do children these days actually know what "playing out means"? Heck do their parents! Some 20 years ago I was with my sister in the car close to the area that we grew up in, I was several years after her and my eldest sister but hung around the same places and did the same things but 7 and 10 years later, so we went for a walk around memory lane. We got to where the park should have been with swings, slides etc and it had all been taken up even the tarmac and was now just par of the untended forest and scrubland around it, she told me that all the play areas in the town had been removed because of drugs, vandalism etc at least a decade ago, I said to her where did your kids go out to play then? (they were about 20 then) and she said "County Mall" the new shopping centre, a place to worship consumerism which made me feel very sad for them. The internet was fairly new then and kids did not have mobile phones with internet, nowadays I never ever see kids playing out with friends and it makes me realise that there parents probably didn't either.

I knew it would be accepted as a CT and it was well after Brexit, the surprise was to get the carte grise showing that a CT was not required for 2 years rather than the expiry date of the MOT. For 2 years I was driving without a CT vignette in the windscreen, I thought surely that will result in me being questioned one day but no, I was disappointed because I really enjoy exchanges in French like that with officialdom 😒

Hear-hear!

Remember the 1970ish MK2 Tincorners with metallic paint finish? Very popular on 1600E's etc, Saluki Bronze, Tawny Metallic and I cant recall the name of the silver one which was the one you saw the most of shedding its lacquer. Ford didn't stump up one shilling towards that fiasco 😒 Editted, Silver Fox of course!!!!