The Ors

Hi guys Thanks for the replies. Making my own looks like the way to go then. I will certainly post up the dimensions when I get to do the job. (I thought I saw some heavy duty replacements on eBay for not much money some while ago; but I can't find them now.) Darren

Hi 2002 vRS hatch. I need to strip all my doors in order to fix various problems but my experience is that the thin polythene sheet that is glued to the sheet metal under the trim panel will break/tear and be a pain to repair/refit. Does anyone know what these are called or where I can buy some decent replacements. Thanks Darren

I generally like TG as 'entertainment' but I just found the smashing of the cars a bit pointless; it seems such a waste! Also, SIARPC. I usually FF through that anyway. Couldn't give a T0ss about whatever celeb. The only ones I find interesting are the politicians.

What makes you think I accept no responsibility for my actions? Have you ever seen me cycling? Go back and re-read your first post. You said: "But the first problem is the roads they are not made for Cyclists". Explain why you think roads are not for cyclists. Who do think should be allowed on the roads? You said: "Bike Riders do not have any Insurance or Tax". I pay loads of tax! Suppose you taxed cyclists then. Which band would you put them in? Band A maybe, same as electric vehicles? £0 a yr? You said: "Bikes should have all insurance and liabilitys, should not mingle with other Traffic, and MUST be made accountable for actions." You know reading it again, I think I probably agree with you about insurance but cyclists are already accountable (the law sees to that) & the not mingling with traffic thing; that's not being allowed on the road. Why not? Roads are not just for cars. There are idiot cyclists. There are idiot car drivers. Personally I wouldn't have pulled in front of the bus, even if I knew I was right. There's only ever going to be one winner in that fight! Basically, cyclists have as much right to use the roads as drivers. We should all treat each other with courtesy. Give & take!

POIDH! (joke) But most cycle paths are complete rubbish. (+ you're not supposed to use them in excess of 18mph anyway) I also pay VED, Council tax & Income tax. Quite a lot of it. So I already 'dip in my pocket'. If I choose to use my bike instead of my car why shouldn't I? Plus I wasn't suggesting that cyclists would want their own infrastructure; just replying to D15VRS who said we shouldn't be allowed to share 'his' road! That doesn't help me get to work though does it? When I'm on my bike I try to keep out of the way of cars, even if it slows me a bit, even if in theory I'm in the 'right'. It just makes things easier. But car drivers that think they have more rights than me & that they somehow subsidise me just because I'm on a bike really get my goat. Like I said, I pay plenty of taxes myself. Give & take.

Bang on. No point being right if you're dead! The cyclist does seem to aggravate the bus driver but as said no excuse for what the driver did. It's frightening reading (various forums) that people seem to feel the cyclist 'deserved it'. What happens to us as people when we get behind the wheel! (or keyboard)

What an absolute load of **** (apart from the last sentence) Do you understand anything about the road or taxation system in this country? Says who? Do you really think the roads are there purely for you in your car? Jesus! So how do you suggest they travel? Would you be prepared to pay the extra taxes required to provide two entirely separate transport infrastructures? (before anyone answers this point; go to your window, look out at the road. Is there a cycle path there? No. Thought not.)

I have one of these. Battery lasts for weeks (don't make many calls but I do use the torch a lot). I like the 'button' phones; you don't have to mollycoddle them. My last two phones (Nokia) 'drowned' so the waterproof thing is good also. If I go swimming I just stick it in the pocket of my shorts!

You are giving her the rest of your life; that's the real gift. The ring is just a symbol. Don't spend (waste!) too much; there are plenty of other things you're going to need to spend money on... Good luck with it all.

Totally agree. If you listen to him talking after his world champ win it's all 'We did this' & 'the boys did that' rather than the 'Me, me, me' you usually get. Top man!

Driving Highway 1 (down the coast from San Fran) is a must if you're a petrol head. One of the worlds best 'driving roads'. Yosemite is absolutely gorgeous, you can book accommodation in the 'camp' there; was fun but we didn't get much sleep; watch out for bears . Napa Valley is nice, do-able in a day from San Fran. If you get a soft top beware of getting too much sun on your head; makes you feel like ****! Santa Cruz nice; Carmel nice. Sea very cold; can be sharks (Great White) If you're after a nice car, be aware that many companies don't guarantee what you'll get. When we went (12 years ago) we booked a soft top and were were told it would be either a Chevrolet Cavalier (crap ) or a Chrysler Sebring (quite cool looking ). I asked several times but even at the pick-up desk in the airport they wouldn't tell us what it was, just gave us a ticket with a parking space number on it. I was convinced we'd end up with the ugly thing. We got a 4 litre Mustang! (My point is, you could be expecting a 'Stang & end up with a Cavalier.) Good luck; you'll love it.

Any chance of a link please? (apologies for minor thread hijack ) Edit: Is it the blue plastic one?

Excellent. All you need now is a pair of these:

You have to look at this like this; 'What's the worst that can happen'? Well, in your case it'll be 'No job & a kid on the way'. Accept that situation & then realise that things can only get better. The droop will be from the stress of all that's going on. Once you have accepted the worse case scenario & come to terms with it I reckon the droop will go & you can get back to business! Hope things turn out OK. :|

I agree about forcing better safety standards but I think the blame lies with Joe Public rather than the car companies. Most people want to pay the minimum possible for any manufactured goods. If they pay more it will be for something tangible like aircon or leather seats rather than something intangible like 'improved safety'. According to US insurance figures SAAB make the safest cars. Or rather they used to; they went belly up because no-one was buying them! Some of the M5 witness quotes make for sobering reading. :(

I drive this motorway fairly regularly & hate the J25 section. It's not the road but the drivers. I guess it's locals hopping between villages but no one seems to want to use the inside lane, so the motorway effectively becomes two lanes for about 10 miles & the traffic doesn't flow smoothly.

Probably not? - Hopefully not! Flash on the Mac was/is shoot. Jobs was by no means a tech genius but one of the great things about him was that he wasn't prepared to put up with the usual half-finished rubbish trotted out by so many tech co's. He insisted things work properly; 'Flash' doesn't, especially the Mac version. I really hope Apple stick to their guns & continue to push for something better. R.I.P. Steve Jobs.

As above; it's the counterbalance spring for the height adjuster. It helps the seat to drop smoothly with someone sitting on it. Chances are the cast lug one end hooks round will have broken off. You have to remove the seat & drill a hole/make a bracket to replace the lug or just throw the spring away as it doesn't seem to make much difference to anything.

Took forever to load on my iPod; I gave up in the end. :-|

Civil Defence Teams AKA Kick the **** out of a rioter! Sounds like a good nights entertainment. I'm in!

A bunch of thugs & thieves saw an opportunity & took it. Do you really believe that any of the people hauling stuff out of Argos, Currys etc give a damn about Mark Duggan? As for the other 'thread within a thread', surely a pump action shotty would be far more useful! :|

Might get a better response from the Octy 1 forum???

Good point Billy; there is no vibration through the steering wheel. I had four new ContiSports fitted 2,300 miles ago. I'll take the wheels off on the weekend & have a good look, then swap them. I can have a more careful 'feel' of the wheel bearings at the same time. I took careful note on the way home; the rumble is definitely less for the first few miles. I guess the tyres could be warming up but I think this probably points to a wheel bearing. :( P.S. Car is totally standard.

Good point & it's on the to-do list for next weekend. Would a wheel balance problem be limited to such a small speed range though?

Hi I've noticed a faint low rumbling noise from my Octavia RS which seems to be very slowly getting worse. At first I almost thought I might be making it up but now it's quite definite. The noise occurs between 30-40mph. It could be that it's there at higher speeds & I just can't hear it over the wind noise but I don't think so. Clutch position, engine speed, Climate setting, cornering or straight line make no difference. The noise is worse when slowing (no brakes) or accelerating slowly; it seems to be coming from the front & I think I can feel it vibrating through the floor. It's louder with the windows closed. If I accelerate or brake hard through 30-40mph I don't notice the rumbling. I have checked for fault codes & found none. I've jacked the car up at the front & rotated the wheels both in/out of gear & can feel no harshness or difference side to side. I've looked around the engine bay & under the car & can see nothing rubbing/leaking/loose etc. I was thinking maybe I have a wheel out of balance but the problem doesn't seem to be there for the first few minutes from cold (although I'm not 100% about that). The car is nine years old & has done about 65K miles. Any ideas?