The latest ones you buy are now the X profile ones.

Had a break in the c**p weather we have been having lately and decided to give the car a wash, polish and wax...

 

First off, snow day!

 

Next up was a full 2BM wash with Sonax energy (smells like redbull) along with a quick clay to get rid of as much contamination as possible.

 

looking shiny already

 

next up, was to give under the bonnet a clean and wax

 

Not been polished in the 2 years i have owned her (i feel bad owning up to that) so started with Sonax Cut-Max to get rid off most of the bad upper surface.

 

Next up refined with Sonax EX 04-06 finishing polish and finally Sonax Hard Wax for a full protection.

 

came up very nicely if I do say so myself.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Once this had been done, had a Uni trip to the Airbus A380 factory

 

Picked up some 215/40/17 Conti-premium tyres for basically nothing, now I am wondering...

Do I swap them onto my spiders for winter/wet weather and put the T1Rs on my alfas???

Just put them on my alfas as they are???

Thinking if I put them on for winter, I can raise the car up a bit as coilovers will surely drop it down so might have some rubbing, but the alfas are 40ET so 2mm further in than spiders....

Decisions decisions!

A friend of mine ran 215 and it rubbed like mad at highest settings on coilovers

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A friend of mine ran 215 and it rubbed like mad at highest settings on coilovers

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This is showing not much difference,

 

Edited 6 May, 201610 yr by Stewpotz

A friend of mine ran 215 and it rubbed like mad at highest settings on coilovers

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I agree.... I've had this profile in spiders before and rubber.

I was just talking to my friend about those Alfa wheels the other day... do they fit with "wobble bolts" or are you using adaptors?

I was just talking to my friend about those Alfa wheels the other day... do they fit with "wobble bolts" or are you using adaptors?

Going to be using wobble bolts, 5x98 to 5x100 is bot a bridge too far.

Going to be using wobble bolts, 5x98 to 5x100 is bot a bridge too far.

 

I've never really understood wooble bolts, what are they and what do they do then.

Basically the bolt is fixed, but the radius/taper collar is free to move side to side.

I will get a video of it when I get back from work.

Basically the bolt is fixed, but the radius/taper collar is free to move side to side.

I will get a video of it when I get back from work.

 

ah right, i understand now, sounds safer than i expected!

really like the wheels and never find any for sale!

ah right, i understand now, sounds safer than i expected!

really like the wheels and never find any for sale!

This shows how they work

So with the weather we are having, I thought I would get a start on my coilover fitting...

Rears first as I didn't have any spring compressors for the fronts.

Wheels off, up on stands and arch liners out with no issues and then...

Top mount bolt on pasengers side was an absolute b*****d to remove, first one came out with no issue, the other would not budge an inch!

An hour later and after copious amounts of WD40, scraped knuckles, punched quarter panels and a breaker bar attached to a wrench, I finally managed to get it out.

Removed springs with the help of said breaker bar as a lever. whilst under the car, moved RARB to hardest setting before reassemble.

Wound adjusters down to the bottom in the end and just waiting for it to settle, but much better lows now

Found this pipe behind OS arch liner, anyone know what it is for?

Edited 9 May, 201610 yr by Stewpotz

Fronts being fitted Thursday when a mate comes round with some compressors.

Cars looking good mate.

In reference to the that pipe. It's the fuel filler neck.

Cars looking good mate.

In reference to the that pipe. It's the fuel filler neck.

Cheers mate,

Yeah thought it had something to do with fuel as it comes from near filler cap......should it be plugged into somewhere or is it just atmospheric?

It's the leak off pipe from the fuel cap so water etc doesn't build up and any over flowing fuel can run down the pipe instead of the paint.

Ahh that's fine then

Went on a nice drive today all was fine...

Filled up round the corner and gave it a little boot full joining the motorway before a bang and rattle.

Managed to get her home and had a look to see what it could have been.....

RARB bolt has totally sheared and is MIA, somewhere on the M60 slip road at Denton

New high tensile bolts, washers and nyloc nuts order from toolstation for collection tomorrow!

Damn! Never seen them snap before, its quite a thick bolt as well! 

Damn! Never seen them snap before, its quite a thick bolt as well!

Neither have I, but there is always a first time for everything.

M10x90 is the bolt size so yeah a decent sized bolt to shear!

Well, decided to tackle the front coilover fitting today as it was sunny again and why not

 

Everything was going fine, until the list of problems occurred....

 

1. Had no M14 spline bit to remove lower shock bolt - Improvised with mole grips.

2. No way in h**l was I getting anything in the back of the strut mount to open up the mount to let the shock slide out - Resorted to spring compressors precariously attached and tightened with mole grips as couldnt get a socket in to tighten them, removed track rod end to allow hub to move freely. Then started hitting the hub assembly with a rubber mallet....worked in the end

 

And this was just one side... eventually all was fitted for that side, and adjusted down, then moved onto drivers side, remembering this is the difficult one due to driveshaft location.

 

Near side fully installed.

 

Honestly, this was significantly easier than the other side as I already had a system for getting things out etc.

 

Everything removed and strut installed in about an hour which I was happy with, the other side took nearly 3 in total :(.

 

Then cam the oh **** moment, track rod end would not go on, the thread had miss caught and the inner shaft was mangled..... a trip to eurocarparts to get a new TRE and a trip to my mates unit to pick up his angle grinder and...

 

Offending TRE after making friends with angle grinder

 

New TRE fitted without swearing and resorting to a hammer 

 

Started to disassemble my old struts as I am going to sell the H&R Springs so needed to remove them, I'm sure the bearing should be 1 piece and not 3....

 

 

Anyway, all coilovers fitted and I also have a nice sun burn for working outside all day

Fitted some new LED sidelights,  NS went in fine, OS however decided it would like to sit inside the light housing....

 

 

 

Reached the ODO number of the beast yesterday.

 

Seen it happen plenty of times now  

Get a good bendy magnet in and fish it out!

decided it was easier to just remove offending headlight from the car again.

 

couple of new spacers arrived today, 11mm & 16mm forge to bring the tires in a bit to stop them rubbing at the back.