@Tomjones1995 Well, if it helps any, a standard VAG alloy will have the size information cast into the rim, something like "16x6.5J ET42 5x100".

I don't know about Honda's diesel engines but they make the best 4-pot petrol and a lot of them.  Not all petrol Civics have anywhere near the S2000 engine specs.  Personally I think the Civics going back decades were too big as a supposedly small car.  I did have a Civic S (IIRC) as a courtesy car it had the detuned Civic R engine (which itself was a detuned S2000 engine at the time) and encourage to take it for a good run but it just wasn't my cup of Darjeeling so  I only drove it home and back to the Dealership to collect my S2000 from being at the Dealership.

 

I don't know how economical running a diesel is overall, when my wife got her diesel (our only) in 2008 I thought diesel fuel was still about a third cheaper than petrol and my mate was joking when he said it was (IIRC) only 1p a litre cheaper at the time.  Had a bit of fluffing with the EGR but it didn't have DPF or Adblue and the few times I filled it I used V-Power "clean" diesel and got a cloud of silver-grey in stead of the usual black-thick-****.

 

High mileage in some cases can be better than low mileage, its all about the use (or abuse), maintenance and condition a car that has done a lot of high mileage on motorways will have a lot less mechanical wear and tear than perhaps a car with a fraction of the mileage on much shorter journeys, think about the differences in one 200 mile motorway run and ten local 20 mile journeys.  The scrupulous maintenance is required more for lower mileage.

 

I agree now is not a good time to buy a car of any cost unless you have a great trade-in or sales of your present car.  My idea was to totally widen your horizons on what cars you could look at, same as I had to when I bought my first Skoda in 1985 when Skoda were made a laugh stock in this country by the paper press who needed to keep the other car manufacturers that advertised with them happy.  I was looking at accepted makes and models that I could afford and they were over priced and unreliable, on driving something different and unaccepted I found they were also great fun to drive (rather than passenger behind the steering wheel as many car were and are).

 

We are at opposite ends of what we want in a car so I'm not the best to advise you and you'd not like the sort of cars I can think of.  Sometimes it's a matter of acceptance, if you accept whatever car/vehicle you can get you can find the merits in and enjoy it.  James Hunt, F1 Champion used to drive an Austin A35 van, like the one Wallace & Grommit have, before they were fashionable or a "classic".

    

24 minutes ago, nta16 said:

I don't know about Honda's diesel engines but they make the best 4-pot petrol and a lot of them.  Not all petrol Civics have anywhere near the S2000 engine specs.  Personally I think the Civics going back decades were too big as a supposedly small car.  I did have a Civic S (IIRC) as a courtesy car it had the detuned Civic R engine (which itself was a detuned S2000 engine at the time) and encourage to take it for a good run but it just wasn't my cup of Darjeeling so  I only drove it home and back to the Dealership to collect my S2000 from being at the Dealership.

 

I don't know how economical running a diesel is overall, when my wife got her diesel (our only) in 2008 I thought diesel fuel was still about a third cheaper than petrol and my mate was joking when he said it was (IIRC) only 1p a litre cheaper at the time.  Had a bit of fluffing with the EGR but it didn't have DPF or Adblue and the few times I filled it I used V-Power "clean" diesel and got a cloud of silver-grey in stead of the usual black-thick-****.

 

High mileage in some cases can be better than low mileage, its all about the use (or abuse), maintenance and condition a car that has done a lot of high mileage on motorways will have a lot less mechanical wear and tear than perhaps a car with a fraction of the mileage on much shorter journeys, think about the differences in one 200 mile motorway run and ten local 20 mile journeys.  The scrupulous maintenance is required more for lower mileage.

 

I agree now is not a good time to buy a car of any cost unless you have a great trade-in or sales of your present car.  My idea was to totally widen your horizons on what cars you could look at, same as I had to when I bought my first Skoda in 1985 when Skoda were made a laugh stock in this country by the paper press who needed to keep the other car manufacturers that advertised with them happy.  I was looking at accepted makes and models that I could afford and they were over priced and unreliable, on driving something different and unaccepted I found they were also great fun to drive (rather than passenger behind the steering wheel as many car were and are).

 

We are at opposite ends of what we want in a car so I'm not the best to advise you and you'd not like the sort of cars I can think of.  Sometimes it's a matter of acceptance, if you accept whatever car/vehicle you can get you can find the merits in and enjoy it.  James Hunt, F1 Champion used to drive an Austin A35 van, like the one Wallace & Grommit have, before they were fashionable or a "classic".

    

 

You make a valid point about the condition of a car been driven on the motorway Vs one round town. I've been advised in the past about that and it's a good one. The higher mileage could drive the market value of the car down but the condition could be sound as a car with much lower mileage indicating a potential bargain.

 

With part exchanging a car, do people list the faults their car has or is it a sold as seen type of deal. Because it doesn't seem morally correct to me to keep quiet in order to get a better deal?

 

Never trust anything said when buying a second hand car and doublecheck everything like asking  for a cold start a run in it in case a code reader had been used just before you arrive to turn off mil light and slways get reg and check on dvla mot history first before you go to see what it's failed on or minors listed that might now be a fail.

16 minutes ago, Stewartasb said:

Never trust anything said when buying a second hand car and doublecheck everything like asking  for a cold start a run in it in case a code reader had been used just before you arrive to turn off mil light and slways get reg and check on dvla mot history first before you go to see what it's failed on or minors listed that might now be a fail.

 

Thanks for the heads up but I was referring to myself part exchanging my car with faults I'm aware of. I've heard of people just taking cars for PX and saying nothing about the current faults there car has out of fear that the dealer won't take it as PX. Surely that's not the done thing? Do people do this sort of thing?

Edited 6 April, 20224 yr by Tomjones1995

Oh god yeah some people have no morals and will do what they can to off load a knackered car.

1 minute ago, Stewartasb said:

Oh god yeah some people have no morals and will do what they can to off load a knackered car.

 

I've heard of people doing it but I wasn't sure if it was common but I suppose it depends how you look at it. Car dealers whether they're privately owned or they're main dealers, they're all (more often than not) richer than most people so, you could think they'll just stick it in an auction or list it as Sold as Seen afterwards.

 

If you look at it that way, when a garage lists cars as PX to clear, they're not offering warranty or anything so they themselves are no better. It must be like a thing with PX, they must expect cars coming in at the end of their lives

 

 

Just an update:

 

I've driven the car to town today which is 16 miles of A road and I threw it round bends to see if it grumbles or wobbles, makes any noise at all to indicate it may be a bearing and it didn't. What I do know is is that the rumble starts at 5mph and wobbles at 70mph pretty bad too which leads me to believe it may be tyre, buckled alloy or maybe ball joint related?

 

It also wobbles more when I turn the wheel slightly while going round a slight corner that's not so sharp.

 

Am I on the right track with that so far?

 

If I can't fix this issue fairly cheaply then I'll offload the car for the best car I can find.

2 hours ago, Tomjones1995 said:

maybe ball joint related?

If you're thinking in those terms, look for an unevenly worn front tyre.

8 minutes ago, KenONeill said:

If you're thinking in those terms, look for an unevenly worn front tyre.

No, no unevenly worn front tyres as yet. I guess not that then.

 

Thanks for the advice

Edited 6 April, 20224 yr by Tomjones1995

Tom, like many you misunderstand what a trade-in is on a car like yours, the dealers have no sentiment about the car like you have, they are in business not a hobby.  A trade-in is just another way of money off the car you are buying.  If your car is worth selling to them they look at what profit they can make on it and possibly depending on what you are buying a that it's also a change of stock.  It may be, just random figures now not relating to any cars, that you are offered £1,000 trade-in but you might have got £1,200 if you'd have haggled and not traded your car in as sometimes they don't want your car for many reason and it may cost them to move it on or dispose of it.

 

You don't need to tell them what's wrong with it and you can true fully tell them you don't know if asked but they most probably won't ask you, depending on if they want your car or not as a trade in they might not drive it or even start it up just like all modern things look things up on a computer.  When dealing with official registered traders they are considered the experts not you and indeed this is the case.

 

Don't try to be as bad as some others just because someone has more money than you doesn't make them bad, you have a lot more money than many others would you want these people to take advantage of you because you have more money than them.

 

If you were selling your car privately and I asked what faults you think or know it has and you didn't tell me, so lying, that would give me recourse to action against you later when I find out.

 

Have you checked to see if there are any known peculiarities to your model, year, age of car that might give the effects you have?

 

Whether they are the problem or just part of it buckled wheels and large differences to front and rear tyres will not be helping the matter.  I'd go to a good tyre or suspension place to have your geometry checked as they should also pick up any steering issues if you tell them the problems you are having.  They could also give you opinion on the weight balancing on your buckled wheels and how best to use the tyre set discrepancies.

 

17 hours ago, Tomjones1995 said:

No, no unevenly worn front tyres as yet. I guess not that then.

 

Thanks for the advice

 

One thing that I forgot to mention, the noise I thought was from a front wheel bearing turned out to be a distorted wheel on the rear.

 

Can you not put the spare on each corner in turn to check if one particular wheel is the problem ?

14 minutes ago, totoro said:

Can you not put the spare on each corner in turn to check if one particular wheel is the problem ?

 

I was going to suggest this too. Seems like a good way of checking, IMO.

1 hour ago, totoro said:

Can you not put the spare on each corner in turn to check if one particular wheel is the problem ?

Good idea, I think one corner at least has been covered already - but better would be two spare or different wheels to eliminate the difference of the two different sets of tyres, or as I put before if the set of four wheels can be swapped over with a set of four on another car to see what wheel/tyre problems transfer to the other car from Tom's four wheel's.  ETA: and what problem(s) remain on Tom's car with four different wheels/tyres.

 

Edited 7 April, 20224 yr by nta16

A more detailed brake light switch video for the Fabia....

 

 

TMB's post has reminded me -

 

Tom,

IIRC you put you did a bounce test on the dampers but have you had them inspected or road tested, particularly the front ones, they may be contributing to your aliments, or not, but worth checking properly just in case.

  

On 07/04/2022 at 11:25, nta16 said:

Tom, like many you misunderstand what a trade-in is on a car like yours, the dealers have no sentiment about the car like you have, they are in business not a hobby.  A trade-in is just another way of money off the car you are buying.  If your car is worth selling to them they look at what profit they can make on it and possibly depending on what you are buying a that it's also a change of stock.  It may be, just random figures now not relating to any cars, that you are offered £1,000 trade-in but you might have got £1,200 if you'd have haggled and not traded your car in as sometimes they don't want your car for many reason and it may cost them to move it on or dispose of it.

 

You don't need to tell them what's wrong with it and you can true fully tell them you don't know if asked but they most probably won't ask you, depending on if they want your car or not as a trade in they might not drive it or even start it up just like all modern things look things up on a computer.  When dealing with official registered traders they are considered the experts not you and indeed this is the case.

 

Don't try to be as bad as some others just because someone has more money than you doesn't make them bad, you have a lot more money than many others would you want these people to take advantage of you because you have more money than them.

 

If you were selling your car privately and I asked what faults you think or know it has and you didn't tell me, so lying, that would give me recourse to action against you later when I find out.

 

Have you checked to see if there are any known peculiarities to your model, year, age of car that might give the effects you have?

 

Whether they are the problem or just part of it buckled wheels and large differences to front and rear tyres will not be helping the matter.  I'd go to a good tyre or suspension place to have your geometry checked as they should also pick up any steering issues if you tell them the problems you are having.  They could also give you opinion on the weight balancing on your buckled wheels and how best to use the tyre set discrepancies.

 

 

No there's no known peculiarities known with my model of car and year of car.

 

I've also been to a tyre place to check the geometry and there are things out of whack but I'm told, it's nothing that would cause the symptoms I have.

 

I've just popped up there this afternoon to have the worst offending alloys put on the back with the current front tyres and the best alloys (slightly buckled) on the front with the old rear tyres to see if that improves the issue and it hasn't. I used to have different brand tyre on the back to the front with varying pressures with no issues.

 

On 07/04/2022 at 12:44, totoro said:

 

One thing that I forgot to mention, the noise I thought was from a front wheel bearing turned out to be a distorted wheel on the rear.

 

Can you not put the spare on each corner in turn to check if one particular wheel is the problem ?

 

I've tried the spare and that's also buckled 😞

and I don't have anybody to ask if I can swap with their wheels to see if that improves the issue either.

 

So my options are either a garage to look at it AGAIN or to just PX it and have done with it!

 

Thanks to you all for your help and advice, very much appreciated

 

 

 

I thought I'd just offer up an update to all this...

 

It's been in to the garage today for an inspection and they've come up with a CV boot that's spilt and allowed dirt and debris in and the joint is clicking slightly on full lock on nearside and two front shocks need replacing.

 

They also advised me to hang on to the car as there's not a great deal wrong with it so that will be my final decision at least for the time being.

 

Thanks again everybody 😁

Hope it's not the same garage that messed up your springs that is going to do the job

18 hours ago, TMB said:

Hope it's not the same garage that messed up your springs that is going to do the job

 

No, a much better garage this time haha 😅

 

I haven't been back to that garage after they messed up my brakes sometime last year. They hadn't bled them correctly twice.

Edited 15 April, 20224 yr by Tomjones1995
Spelling

Hello again everybody,

 

I contacted the above garage for a quote on the work that they said my car needed and they quoted over a grand to do it and that's without the rust and the inevitable clutch and DMF.

 

So I've decided to see if there's another car out there and came across this 

 

https://www.gumtree.com/p/volkswagen/vw-polo-9n-gt-pd130-tdi-vrs-/1430556537

 

The sills have apparently been welded at some point and it had also been off the road for a while.

 

I'm wondering what your thoughts are regarding purchasing a car that's needed to be welded for its structural integrity to be restored and whether it's too dangerous.

 

Any thoughts would greatly be appreciated

 

Many thanks,

Tom

48 minutes ago, Tomjones1995 said:

I'm wondering what your thoughts are regarding purchasing a car that's needed to be welded for its structural integrity

I would say "cheap at half the price", but it's not.

18 minutes ago, KenONeill said:

I would say "cheap at half the price", but it's not.

 

So you wouldn't say it's dangerous and to steer clear? You reckon it's just overpriced?

 

Thanks,

Tom

1 hour ago, Tomjones1995 said:

So you wouldn't say it's dangerous and to steer clear? You reckon it's just overpriced?

I can't say whether or not it's dangerous without an inspection. I can say I'd be looking to spent more like £1_000 based on the stated issues.

I'm with Ken. And at that you'd be jist as well fixing your current one, and you've got the added bonus of knowing the history of the one you have.