nickguzzi

Nah. I eventually moved out of the city when it became infested with students. They'd arrive all clean and shiny, driven been down in Daddies big merc or volvo, next weekend they are filty dirty having had a party every night. The house opposite - as someone's idea of fun I presume, stuck hardcore porn all over the upstairs windows and still there weeks later despite asking, contacting police and university. Frequent ****ing in the front garden, like it was miles to the loo in the terraced house. A few doors up, one of the incumbents ran an all night disco most weekends, one of his customers dumped a wheely bin on the bonnet of my car, and the bin itself on the roof - you can imagine the mess and the damage. Again no interest from the police or university. When I was at university (twice), I had to work hard to keep up with the workload (perhaps I'm thicker than I like to admit)- I presume there's just multiple choice papers now.

They lie!

Mineral oil degrades rubber. Even a small amount will cause it to happen.

Could be someone or something within the area of the local loop emitting (illegal)radio frequencies. These could be detected by your system when handshaking with the exchange and eventually you have so little bandwidth you can't maintain a stable signal. Have you tried a reboot of your router? We were told to switch it on and leave it lone (with dire warnings of all sorts of problems). The speed was terrible, and constant dropping of signal. We got fed up, switched it all off and when it came back up it was much better Have you asked for a line check? The underground part of our loop was both copper and aluminium, as they were permanently wet, a simple cell was created which caused interference. Is the ASDL line connected to a correct master socket - ours was connected to an extension. The line from the roof was also cracked. It took quite a bit of foot stamping to get it more or less sorted. Big threat of a hefty bill if no faults found. Even after they sent me an email saying they would come to replace the faulty line from the roof, they invoiced me for £180. Which they finally admitted was not my fault. One of the many visiting engineers discovered the incorrect socket and replaced that. Another crew spent a day looking at the underground section of the local loop. They said someone would come and replace the aluminium cable soon - but certainly not in the 5 years I lived there. They did manage to transfer us over to another empty line which worked much better. Lubenham was one of the first villages to get superfast broadband, but at 37meg according to the download apps, it was bareley better than before, and now we are back on metal out here in the Fens, the service at 4meg is mostly better. We found the overseas call centre service very poor. Contrasting and conflicting instructions. Half way through a complex set of instructions, the operator would hang up. Or they obviously not understand a work you said or a word on their crib sheet. We did manage to get through to some tech services here in UK, but moved our whole package to orange, which did provide better service, despite being the same openreach people.

Oil will degrade rubber in fairly short order. There are other lubes which are suitable - various silicone/ptfe preparations.

The chairwoman of the village I used to live in was a stickhernoseinbusysbody. She got one of these vigilante gangs going and tried to elicit support from me - I told her where to go. The stormtruppen got training from the local plod, who also lent them a hairdryer and presumably the hiviz kit. I presume they have some sort of quasi official status, as they have a real hairdryer thingy. Any speeders were reported and got a visit from aforementioned plod. No actual legal enforcement, but the threat was there. Only good thing was she got nicked by a police camera in the next village a couple of weeks later.

My 56 L&K on 17" wheels has sports suspension. At least on the front, the spring paint codes are different to standard. The ride height is slightly lower - only 10-15mm on mine though. The first several motor factors swore all non Vrs's had the same suspension. They claimed that was the info on their computer when inputting my VIN. A VAG supplier had the correct info, and springs.

Editied due to faulty briskoda. Not only are different rubber compounds available, different void/non void patterns are too. Once you go off into the wider VAG world, the more sporting versions have different offsets for the "wings" as well. I have some Superpro ones, work similar to the Whiteline ALK. Still in one piece (well two actually, as that's how they come) and still silent and holding up to the most uneven roads in the countryafter nearly 4 years. There used to be loads of pictures on various PQ35 platform fansites, with extensive discussions as to the merits or otherwise of each type. You will be able to see the differences and read the feedback as to the efficacy and suitability for your needs.

But Ligna would be fun anyway! Don't let German wine makers hear you say that Moselle and Rheingau wines are the same. My BiL felt the need to explain the differences in climate, orientation. soil blah di blah di blah. For hours.

Yup, the Poles broke the Enigma machine by having dozens of students piece together the shredded documents from the German Embassy in Warsaw. This gave lie to the "fact" that Enigma was unbreakable, and hence it was worth putting in the effort to continue to read nazi messages when adaptations to protocol rendered their method unviable. Hence Bletchley Park, the Huts, Turing and the gang.

Not on your direct route but Sinsheim is worth a detour. http://sinsheim.technik-museum.de/en Ladenbourg near Mannheim, has the original Carl Benz factory, with a small museum. http://www.automuseum-ladenburg.de/ Both are in picturesque parts of Germany, and should you wish, an alternative to a vehicle based visit would be to visit some of the Wineberg (vineyards). Kloster Eberbach is where the film "Name Of The Rose" was filmed. Nice wine too. http://kloster-eberbach.de/ As you would be in the Rheingau, there are "n" number of other vineyards to visit. Rudesheim is a town which lives on the wine trade, so an easy way to get into the subject. http://www.rudesheim-rhine.info/ Ditto Bingen. You can easily pick up a Rheinschiffart, and have a trip up the river itself http://www.rudesheim-rhine.info/ KD is another company doing similar trips. The plus is that you could plot a route though the Ardennes to within a quick blast to the channel. Rather than the flat and boring north German plain.

I paid £90 each for 4 Hankook Ventus V12 but in 17" size. Fitted. Second set. Nice and quiet, grip and handle well, and wear well too, should that be important to you. No anti kerbing thing.

Both my Octavia's developed a stiff and obstructive gear change. A change of oil worked wonders. This one needed the gear change cables being stripped, cleaned and lubed too - if yours has a cable change. Make sure you use the correct oil. There has been a thread recently.

Walk away. Now.

I knocked up a nice chicken curry on Friday. All the trimmings. Appetiser was the obligatory popdoms with pickles, riata and beer. Starter was homemade onion baaji and samosas and beer. The chicken curry was loosely based on the old Jamie Oliver recipe from his very first series. It's not very hot as our friends are newcomers to the world of spice. To accompany this I did a very nice aloo gobi - light and fresh and a great match for the chicken and beer. The aloo gobi worked well reheated as supper last night. Rather than a dessert, we drank some more beer. All went down rather well, and no messy repercussions so far. I may have a go at a kulfi style sorbet, flavoured with cardamom or cinnamon for next time. Easy to make in advance.

Just done the SCC thing. Claiming back the deposit from the previous landlord. They refused three solicitors letters. Solicitor advised us to forget it as costs would greatly outstrip any award. Costs, if awarded are only a percentage. Set the SC court thing in motion. Pick up or print off the forms. Fill out and send to plaintiff. Wait the statuary time - 14 days. The landlord paid up at that point. So that's the end of the personal experience. This is my recollection of the next steps. If they are still refusing to pay, you send the forms with a cheque to cover costs and fees - about £200 all in. (I don't think they have the option of refusing to communicate by now - they would loose by default). There is then some sort of adjudication. In our case it would have been clear cut, they were acting illegally and could have been liable for several times the amount due in damages. As the "winner", you get your fees returned. (A friend, many years ago put up for one of these and lost). Fill out the forms, stating your case. Send to other party. So far cost free. Once the waiting period is over with no settlement, send off the forms to the SCC. You pay up front all the fees. There is no guarantee. While "civilians" tend to get the benefit of the doubt, in your case without any details what so ever... who knows? . Should the case be decided in your favour, the fees are then returned. Otherwise - you loose. Even if you win, you still have to collect your money. The SCC does not seem to have the power to force payment. Presumably you would have no difficulty in getting a county court judgement for debt, then the bailiffs go in... Massive mistake on their part.

The tiny garage at Three Holes has not changed less than one road spring a week for as long as he can remember. All makes, all models. all ages. We don't have a particular propensity to pot holes, the roads just slide back into the fen.

No comments about the crap packaging?

I have had a Whiteline RARB fitted for 3 years now, nary a squeek. Did you use the sachet of supplied grease?

Still pleased with the Hankooks. Now on the second set. The last lot still gripped to the end - a nail was their ultimate downfall. On my car, quiet, nice progressive handling and roadholding always good enough for me. Price isn't bad either.

There is over paintable silicone, but to be honest, I can't really see the point in this case. Decorators caulk should do the job. Easy to apply, easy to clean up. If the worst happens, you can always strip it out again.

I just read in your other thread that you don't want any lowering. Having already smashed a sump once on a mk1, I was a bit leary of doing the same again. Despite mine having some sort of sports suspension from the factory, and now living in the fens where the roads are VERY uneven and driving in rural France where they are almost as bad, in the 3 years ownership I have only hit the undertray a couple of times. It isn't broken yet. When I had the alignment done a few weeks ago, the guy found the ride height a few mm lower than the computer said, but nothing radical. I'm not sure if the springs are of a different rate but they certainly keep the sump and road separate.

Up rated RARB is one of the best/easiest things to do to improve an Octavia. IMO. Re the link, my mtg bolts were fine. I read somewhere someone using stainless bolts - don't - they are not up to the sort of loading a suspension component can be subjected to. A shark remap next, which means you need a brake upgrade if you don't have 312mm already. A good alignment will be the icing on the cake. I started having it done because of tyre wear. But have found the steering is so much better too. The first time I had it done on my current car, fuel consumption improved about 10mpg on the (computer) - which was worth have and probably paid for itself by now.

On the bottom of the spring there should be a few paint splashes which denote the spring spec. The motor factors contacted when I replaced mine all insisted they had the correct spring, but didn't know from the VIN/reg no that my car had been built with sports suspension. I had to go to TPS/dealer to get the correct one.

A woofy dog is a great deterent. I worked in Hinckley for 20 years - they all though Nuneaton was a great place to go out for the day.... The downside of having a reasonable amount of space - you need a rideon, strimmer, chainsaw etc etc. or be enamoured with jungle.