m1pui

To the OP. What kind/brand of tyres are you using and what is the wear level across the rest of the tyre when you've had to change them?

I suppose it's just me being used to having that bit of trust and leeway that comes from using the same garage/tester for many years over just flitting between whichever station is convenient or, as the case used to be, cheapest. Dropped my RX8 one lunchtime, he tested it and passed it. During test he found a broken drop link which should be a fail point. He simply gave me a call, told me the situation ordered the part replaced the offending item later that afternoon.

I've seen a few of these videos and what I'm saying isn't meant as a negative. It's all good and well showing a comparison like this, but not many people will be swapping NEW summer/all season tyres for, in most cases, new winters. In mine and my sisters case. Our tyres were pretty well worn. Mine were down to about 2mm on all 4 corners and the rears on my sisters were right down, possibly, below the tread indicators. I changed my tyres in November, so before the real cold set in, and the difference even then in cornering and braking was significant. I reckon, from a legal standpoint, I could've gotten through at least most the winter with the tyres I had on before, but I daren't think how compromised the car would've been. In my case, the winters I bought were about £15 a corner cheaper than replacing like for like with the Pirelli Scorpion STR's (which admittedly were more than fine in previous winters) I had on, so it was at least worth giving them a shot. Even if I decide to swap them come spring summer, they don't wear down when they're off the car so could easily last two or more winters beyond this one.

I personally I don't feel for the tester at all. I'm not saying he has to ignore it completely but surely it wouldn't have hurt him to just but it down on the advisory sheet that "number plate may need addressing before next MOT" or something similar.

That price is per tyre and those sites I mentioned, as far as I know, don't do part worn. What sizes are you's looking for

Make sure you also report those MOT stations which have issued you with a pass certificate whilst they've been fitted as they are supplying you with an invalid MOT

If you're just after tyres check out the following places; www.camskill.co.uk www.tyremen.co.uk www.mytyres.co.uk www.tyres-pneus-online.co.uk I used cam skill and tyremen to get winters for my sisters e90 330D and my RX300 respectively. Tyremen & MyTyres do tyres on wheels (steels and alloys) packages but I'm not sure how pricey they are. If you look on ebay.de (ebay germany) you can often pick up some part worn winters for some quite keen prices. They normally still have very useable tread depth as, i believe, they have to be changed as soon as they're down to 3 or 4mm in depth. EDIT: and for what it's worth. I ordered both sets of tyres back at the beginning of October and checking the price again today on camsill and tyremen, they haven't increased since then. £117 for Avon Ice Touring ST in 225/40/18. and £99 for Vredestein Wintrac Xtreme in 215/70/16. My sister has done a bit under 5000 miles on hers and I've done just short of 3000 since mid-November and neither of us have any complaints at all.

You produce your documents to prove that you are entitled to use the registration mark you're requesting, not to prove what you're going to do with them. It's about reducing casual car cloning. And from looking at the site in it's current state, it doesn't purport to limit you to guaranteed road legal plates. There's several bits on there that say this or similar, as you've already spotted yourself. If you chose to double space the gap then, from my point of view looking in, it's your fault not the suppliers. You also say that If they do decide to give you free replacements then it will be through nothing but goodwill. Assuming something to be right or wrong isn't really a solid argument. No offence, but going to the effort of blaming the supplier, getting in touch with consumer direct and imagining that you could take this court after you bought them 5 years ago is just a bit OTT really. Get over it and find a less nazi MOT station would be my advice.

My sister in her e90 330D auto had no trouble negotiating a car park that was more akin to an ice rink on Saturday night. We haven't had snow, just sleet and freezing temps/wind that meant the sleet turned to sheet ice as soon as it landed. She's on Avon Ice Touring ST in whatever 18" size BMW 3's usually wear. 225/55 18 iirc.

Is that Swedish for *****??

I'm not sure if this thread is a joke or not, but i'll chime in anyways. It is rev noise or just roar? I've got an RX300, but one of the o2 sensors in the exhaust dropped their nuts and was hanging loose. the air escaping from the sensor hole made it pretty loud. Another occasion, the rear silencer split from the pipe (it was the original exhaust from the car i think) just behind the rear wheel and it sounded like a airplane when you floored it!

I ordered a set for my mk1 RX300 from hids4u.co.uk. They were a bit more expensive than some other places I looked and and IIRC I saw a few negative comments about them when googling but I've personally had no problems and I've been perfectly happy with the kit I was sold. They were the only ones I saw that offered ones tailored for reflector headlamps and when parked facing a wall they do have a pretty clean cut top line so there doesn't appear to be a lot of scatter. I've never been flashed or abused for blinding other drivers either, which I'm quite impressed with given the added aspect of them being higher up to start with. I chose the 35w pro-plus 5000k and I've had mine fitted for about 2 & half months now.

The button on the top right that looks sort of like... [-> I've been finding that sometimes the clock looking button next to it, which I believe is new content, sometimes just takes me to the LOC homepage.

I think, as with any change, not everyone is 100% happy but I've been on a few forums who've undergone major upgrades and changes and the majority do get used to it. http://www.lexusowne...l=&fromsearch=1 http://www.lexusowne...l=&fromsearch=1 For me though, what I have noticed is that each little sub forum has their own thread where people are commenting on the change, whereas there is very little interest in the "official" thread, as it were. ie. Threads; "We have gone all posh" in the LS forum - 279 views "After 9 years I'm out of here" in the LOC Lounge - 225 views "New Website Update" in General Discussions - 66 views Note, these are only the threads I've spotted, there could be more. EDIT: This thread has 130+ views

The more I'm using it, i am leaning towards this it makes things feel quite lopsided too

Don't suppose there's a mobile version available or on the way is there? It works quite nicely on my laptop but it's clunky & stuttery on an iPad. Haven't tried it on my phone as of yet

I'm possibly just missing it, but I can't for the life of me find where to join/sign up for Gold Membership on the home page now. I managed to get to it but clicking in your (Steve's) sig, but couldn't see anything on the actual home page. No so much a problem, but perhaps the "new content" and "logout" buttons could do with being captioned/named rather than just an icon. It was really only through habit that I clicked on the new content, but it took curiosity of the [-> button for me to find out that it was to log out. Other than that, as I said in another thread. I likes it a lot :D

Very nice Didn't particularly have anything to complain about with the old interface, but the new one is noooiiiiiice and a really great way to refresh the forum. EDIT: If I was to pick a couple of possible foibles with the new one... The "New Content" and "Logout" buttons in the top right could be better marked/annotated. Only curiosity led me to find out what [-> button does

Very bottom left corner "Mark Community Read"

I'm wondering where all of this promised snow is too!! It's been positively summerish around here, bar the gale force winds of the past couple of days! I've done about 1800 miles since I had them fitted and I have to say they're a massive difference over what was taken off. This driving has been a good mix of town driving, longish local running about & a several 100 mile motorway runs (Sunderland -> Pontefract) over Christmas. Braking is sharper, steering is more positive, they're not squealing on moderately fast roundabouts and they're generally a lot quieter running. That being said, I'm saying they're a country mile better than well worn tyres. Whether they're better like for like, I couldn't tell you as I can't remember just how good the Pirelli's were when I first had them fitted about 3ish years ago Either way, I'm very happy with them thus far.

I'd suggest getting a hairdryer and gently heating the sticky stuff and you should just be able to roll you finger over/around it and ball it all off. Clean it with some alcohol based glass cleaner afterwards rather than T-Cut. Another alternative is getting hold of something like Autoglym Intensive Tar Remover, stick a bit on a cloth/microfibre towel and it should get rid of it all with minimal work and leave you a nice clean, grease free surface for the new badge. This method should be easier/quicker but it might mean buying the product if you don't already have some in the cupboard.

This is not meant to sound condescending but, if you could get into the car could you not climb over the back into the boot to retrieve the jump leads? The battery on my 2001 RX had to be replaced either last winter or winter before. It needed jumping on 2 occasions. I'd accidently left the interior/map light on over night on both occasions. First time I jumped it from my RX8 and second time it required a garage call out with a booster pack as neither the RX8 nor my brothers Astra had enough oomph to get it to even turn over. At which point I decided it would be wise to just replace the battery as, having never been replaced in my ownership, it was at the very least coming onto 6 years old.

If you're going the whole hog of swapping the Lexus, why not go for something 4WD like a Subaru Legacy? Otherwise. Cheap as chips Yaris for a winter car! Other half has one on pretty budget (ie. carcraft fitted when car was bought) tyres and it didn't get stuck once last winter.

Might be worth trying with a bit of weight in the boot/over the rear wheels to try and give you a bit better chance of traction. Something like a couple of paving slabs. The crs you mentioned passing you are, most likely, fwd & front engined. Just about every rwd saloon is relatively light over the driven wheels so they will literally be gliding on the surface and struggling for purchase.

I'd imagine someone with welding skills should be able to make you a frame and attach the gubbins to it. So if you know, or know of, any local handymen/workshop types you might get lucky.