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  • 1 month later...

Soooooo, DD has been performing well in her daily duties, although I still cringe at how dirty she gets! Anyhoo, the snow arrived today so after clearing a space in the garage got her in to fit the winter Ghetto wheels. Took me ages, quite out of breath at times so seems I still have a way to go on the fitness thing after the heart attack. My mate arrived as I got to fitting the last two wheels so gave me a hand. A lot of faffing about as I have to drive her onto a plank of wood as the trolley jack wont go under otherwise because she's lowered, so reinforcing my idea to get her back on her oem suspension. So, fitted the last wheel (nsr) and then drove her out of the garage.

Disaster! Horrible grinding at the rear! Thinking it may have been the hanbrake/caliper seized, drover back in then faffed aboiut getting her jacked up again. Took the wheel off, and could see a line on the inside edge of the wheel where the paint had ground off. Looked at the rear suspension, and the wheel was grinding off the trailing arm. Might have got away with a wheel spacer, but A: dont have any and B: spacing them out would then probably cause em to rub on the arch (again cos she's lowered). Gutted!

So, had to swap the wheels all back to her dished Cades again. Her tyres on these wheels are needing replaced asap, as the inside edges are wearing out. Again gutted as these are Pirelli pilots or something so decent tyres, but no good if they're on there way out.

 

So now theres snow on the roads here, and DD's on her summer low profile tyres and lowered suspension. Can see me getting stuck very soon! :car6:

 

Plan B is to get the winter tyres taken off those steel rims and put them on her old OEM 14" alloys. Those have rotten tyres on them at the moment and the wheels badly need a refurb, but at leas I know these fit! Trouble is I'm skint at the moment so the saga continues!

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10 minutes ago, KiNK43 said:

Jeez that's an unusual one. Must be a real big offset. How unlucky.

How much of a spacer do you think it will take?

5mm be enough?

Cheap enough to try a set?

Think maybe 5mm, although not sure on how much travel there is in the suspension as didnt take her out on the road so 5mm might do intitially but might run into issues. 10mm I think would clear it, but then the wheels will be directly in line with the arch i think.

Tis weird indeed, as these rims are deffo not deep dished so really surprised that it was against the suspension on the rear. Massive pain in the butt but I'll need to have a look at her old alloys and take it from there. Tyres are like blooming new as well, so even more gutting!

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  • 4 weeks later...

Road trip!! Just got DD ready for a wee trip down to Newcastle. Will be fully laden, 5 up plus lugage so stiffened up the suspension, car washed, tyre pressures done, oil and fluids done! Gayle and her two daughters and sister are off on "Boogie on the Boat" for the weekend so DD is the taxi lol. If you see us out and about, give us a wave! lol seeya.gif1

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Just back, 240 mile round trip and Gayle and Co safely away on a big boat!

Trip didnt go quite to plan! List of issues below!

  • 1:45pm Car loaded, everybody in, reversed up drive and got beached trying to get out bloody drive gates! Exhaust stuck on the wee ridge that DAVEMB2 also has trouble getting over. 1:48pm Plan B: everybody out until I get out drive! The everyone back in and off we go.
  • Stopped 10 miles down the road for macy D's. I'd already set the suspension stiff (10 clicks from stiffest setting and it has 32 clicks from soft to hard) but it even scrapped on a tiny ramp going into the car park so I turned it up to hardest setting to try and minimise suspension drop when everyone got back in.
  • Back on motorway (still scrapped ramp on way out of carpark) and it was party time as they cracked open the alcohol to get in the part mood. Tunes booming, everyone having a great time.......except it was the most uncomfortable bloody ride ever! Was amusing watching them trying to drink their drinks as we bounce over every wee imperfection in the road!
  • Lots of traffic on way down and most of it slow on the non dual carrigway bits (which is most of the way there! The A1 really badly needs upgraded!)
  • Spotted a few gaps in the traffic and went for overtakes. Have to say ole DD impressed! Might only be a 1.6 auto but hit the kick-down and she's past the legal limit in a jiffy and heading northwards (even though we were travelling south!) to an unprintable speed here. Managed to pass 2, sometimes 4 cars in one go. Not bad without vtec!
  • Stopped again half way there for a quick break. When we turned into the car park, I was still travelling pretty quick (junction came quicker than I thought!) tight left turn onto car park and bloody mudflap scraped a little on the road. blush.gif1 Break over then off we go again.
  • Arrived at North Shields at 4:15pm
  • Dropped everyone of and before I hit the road again at 4:30pm I turned the suspension back 10 clicks from hardest setting as I couldn't bear that all the way home!
  • satnav took me a detour out of North Shields as it was gridlocked on the way in for traffic heading out. Not a clue where it took me, was on A roads then B roads but it got me to the A1 pretty quickly so well impressed with that. I would have sat in the traffic for hours otherwise.
  • Drove a bit spiritedly on the way home, averaging 70mph upwards. Some stints at 50mph due to slow traffic (bloody trucks!) but got home just after 6:30pm so just over 2 and a bit hours.

Engine wise, DD drove spot on, really pleased with how she handled 5 passengers and luggage for 4. But ride wise, it has confirmed my decission..........I've had enough of lowered cars so she will be going in to have the coilovers removed and her standard suspension fitted. She's my daily driver and I need her to be practical, and getting stuck on the drive was bad enough, but we were worried in case there were any big speed bumps on way into port (luckily the bumps were small)as that would have meant a long walk for Gayle and Co with their luggage.

 

Fuel wise, full tank when we left, just under half a tank now so not as good as wee Carly was on fuel that's for sure, but then she wasn't really being driven like miss Daisy either so not too bad I guess?

Couple of pics before we left

20200306_123455.jpg

20200306_123516.jpg

 

Sooo......anyone looking for a set of MeisterR Zeta S coilovers with low miles on them?

 

 

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Been onto garage and her winter steels that didn't fit are going in on Monday to have the tyres removed and fitted to her oem 14" alloys. These have been stored outside behind the shed since October 2009 (when I bought Ruby)! They weren't covered or anything so exposed to all the elements. I was expecting them to be corroded to hell, but after getting all the moss and dirt off them, they're in really decent shape! Couple of scuffs here and there but useable for winter. Got photos of them before (eeew yuck!) and after.

20200307_141533.jpg

 

These are still holding air after all these years. D'ya think they'll pass an not? Lol

20200307_141550.jpg

 

After

20200307_141649.jpg

20200307_141602.jpg

 

While cleaning the insides of the rims saw something that I never knew before..

20200307_143124.jpg

The rims are actually Speedlines! Got the "made in itally" stamped on them too. Never knew the ES and some other models wee 14" alloys were actually really decent wheels! Thought it was only the VTi and VTiS that got Speedlines, although these alloys were in the options/accessory brochure when new. Once winters past, going to also get these sent away to be refurbed. Quite chuffed!

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