Volvo 240, Jimny, Corsa: Ever heard of a Toyota Paseo?

[lbpomg95]

Awesome to see a fellow detailer, and one that makes a living from it at that!

May I ask you how you started out, and if you have some tips for those looking to start with detailing for a profit?

I'd like to start with detailing myself, but the most logical starting point for me would be mobile detailing. My starting concept was to look for customers that can offer water and power, so that I could carry my own power washer, and cables to feed the machine. I'd like to start with basic wash & wax, engine detailing, and basic interior cleaning, and go on from there. I would like to start really small with these services, and see if I can create a customer base before I offer any additional services like polishing, etc.

My plan was to start with giving my friends' cars a service, who are petrolheads, and hope to kind of spread the word from there. During this time I wouldn't complete this as an official company, but rather "help" out my friends for a small payment.

Well I'm not sure what it's like in other countries, but a mobile business is the only way to go in Britain unless you've got a large number of low-paid eastern-europeans to turn out ridiculous numbers of low-quality jobs, OR you're at the other end of the scale, doing high-cost extreme-level detailing on high-class cars.

I'm somewhere in the middle, so I wouldn't call what I do 'detailing'. I've seen detailing done and it's a lot more in-depth than what I have the equipment to do. I'd just call it valeting. I eventually hope to do detailing from a workshop, mind.

The first thing you need to decide is what vehicle you're going to work from. You could get a Ford Transit or a Renault Trafic etc. but running costs are high and driving them onto peoples' driveways is awkward, so a Peugeot Partner, Opel Combo or Volkswagen Caddy makes more sense. Though VW cost too much, Fords rust and Peugeots are unreliable. Once you've decided on a van, you need to figure out prices for the van itself, it fuel costs, insurance and tax. A large estate wagon such as a Volvo might be possible if you're not carrying a generator (though that limits your customer base).

Beyond that, you will need water, a pressure-washer (buy a cheap electric one, high-power is not needed), a vacuum cleaner and a generator powerful enough to run those things. Not many customers will allow you to use their water and not all will have electricity available. Find some old 25 litre drums, clean them out and use them to carry water. I can do a 5 hour valet with about 30 litres if I'm creative.

For the job itself, you won't pick up business immediately. Find a part time job (or two) you don't mind doing to tide you over until you get busier.

Then it's a case of deciding what services you'll offer and at what price. Engine detailing is not popular at all. The most popular jobs I do are either a wash and dry of the exterior and a thorough vacuum clean of the interior, or the same but with an exterior polish. Any engine cleaning is generally an added extra on my jobs and care needs to be taken. You need to be really careful with a pressure washer around an engine.

Any other questions, feel free to ask!

As for your original question, the main reason I started doing this is simply how much I hated my last job. Going through the worst two years of your life has a funny way of kick-starting change.

 

[lbpomg95]

New Wheels!

Now if you've been following this thread (yeah, yeah, pretty unlikely), you'll probably be thinking "hang on, hasn't your Corsa already got a set of alloys?"

Yep!

These are for the valeting van.

A closer look reveals a lot of scrapes, but not that bad since they came off a 130,000 mile car that belonged to a boy who'd been banned from driving. Either way, they'll be getting powder coated in gloss black at some point.

So, I took the tyres off...

Then, I had to use a large hammer to get rid of the stupid screw-on tyre valves that the previous owner had over-tightened.

I've no idea what was ever wrong with rubber tyre valves...

Anyway, I then cleaned them. And I didn't do a particularly good job of it since they'll be sandblasted anyway, but I was bored.

For now they're hidden away until I'm happy to spend £200 or so refurbishing them and another £100 on new tyres.

 

[lbpomg95]

So, I went to a Volvo meet yesterday. Perhaps unsurprisingly, I was the youngest there, by about 30 years (aside from one chap in his mid-30's). More surprisingly, my car was the oldest there. By about 20 years. There was one P1 V70 which was about 1998, but other than that, they were all under 8 years old. Ironically, I had parked next to the newest car there, a brand new XC60. It's bizarre how tiny my car looks opposite the XC70 on the left!

While I was jealous of the Polestar V60s that turned up, I was rather turned off by the auto gearboxes. Mine was the only car with a manual gearbox there, and nearly 15 cars came.

Still, it was great fun!

 

[lbpomg95]

So on the way to the Volvo meet, the rusty bracket joining the exhaust's mid-section to the rear silencer sheared. And it sounds glorious. Volume will need to be turned up to hear the comedy gold...

 

[lbpomg95]

This one's a bit of a non-update, and it's nowhere near as entertaining as a broken exhaust, but oh well. So I got some new sidelight bulbs for the van to replace the standard 501 bulbs.

New LED bulbs on the left, old bulb on the right...

This photo doesn't really do justice thanks my crap phone, but you get the idea.

In other news, I got myself some new mats for the van! Little things, right?

Although they are the correct shape, those little holes to fix them to the floor are in the wrong place. That's what happens when you spend £12.30 instead of £40+ for a genuine set.

By the way, that's not dirt on the glove-box and centre-console, it's scratches in the plastic! I wouldn't let my van get mucky!

Since I haven't been busy this week, I also thought I'd use my time today to clean the engine... again.

As a little bonus, I had a particularly awful VW Scirocco to clean yesterday. Want to try and spot the difference?

More to come on the Volvo next week...

 

[Ze Elephant]

As a little bonus, I had a particularly awful VW Scirocco to clean yesterday. Want to try and spot the difference?

I think it's pretty obvious, here.

Here it's lit:

Here it isn't:

In all seriousness, though, that Scirocco looks really good! Looking forward to more updates on the Volvo!

 

[lbpomg95]

So, the 240's had some more work today! A few minor jobs but oh well.

When it was serviced last month, we (me and my friend/technician) found evidence of an oil leak coming from the rocker cover gasket, so that was to be replaced today. My car also has what's called 'engine shake', where the engine quite literally shakes on idle revs. It's nothing particularly worrying, and is somewhat common, and has quite a few potential causes, so I decided to eliminate one of them today as well; the inlet manifold gasket.

It was immediately obvious whoever had last replaced the rocker cover gasket didn't know what they were doing. There was so much RTV sealant used, it was in a real mess.

So, we undid the bolts and removed (with a pry-bar, some choice words and some careful levering) the rocker cover. It's worth noting that the gasket is paper, not rubber on these...

What we found was no less than THREE old gaskets. Each simply (and lazily) stuffed on top of the last. No wonder there was a leak. So, with a mix of brake cleaner, a small steel wire brush and a scraper, we cleaned up the rocker cover....

Followed by the top of the head...

Before taking the nice new gasket...

And fitting it. The rocker cover was put back on with a very small amount of RTV in some of the corners to seal the gasket properly, before the car was taken for a run to make sure the oil leak was not there.

So much tidier!

Next was the inlet manifold gasket. The old one was in a fair state...

Once the manifold was back on, the engine shake was still there, but for the sake of £10.00 of labour and a £6.00 part it's one more thing that's done.

Now the exhaust...

So, last time I drove this car was to a meet with some fellow Volvo owners (in much newer, more expensive cars than mine...), and during the journey, the exhaust bracket sheared from corrosion, as the video a few posts above rather hilariously shows. The noise is awesome but the rattling exhaust isn't.

So, here's a broken joint to a rear silencer...

And here's an empty space where the silencer used to be...

And now the silencer lives in a bag.

As for the sound...





Yeah, that's not getting old anytime soon

The Volvo is going back into hiding for a while now, but as usual, there's more to come.

 

[lbpomg95]

Last time we checked in on the little Corsa, she wasn't looking very well...

As you can see, the passenger side of the front bumper was rather badly cracked, the underguard was half missing and the plastic grille insert sheared so it didn't fit. Stupid nature.

But, I found a donor car!

This, the wonderful pile of junk it is, is a Corsa Exclusiv - a special edition Corsa limited to 500 models in the UK. It possesses my favourite style of front bumper - the facelift style with an integrated Irmscher splitter. With 130,000 miles on its clock, this one was destined for the scrapyard. The previous owner was banned from driving, meaning he gave me a good price for the bumpers, skirts and wheels, which you might remember I previously mentioned are for the valeting van. Yep, I have had these bumpers a while...

This Tuesday, me and my friendly mechanic finally fitted the bumpers. Admittedly, weather was not ideal...

Once in the workshop, we removed the old bumpers...

And so we see the old bumper once removed...

Next to the new bumper it's a stark comparison.

Replacing the bumpers was for the most part a trouble-free job. For the mechanic, of course, not me. I'm a talentless hack who simply watched. But I'm rather happy with the result...

As you can see there's an odd lip at the bottom of the wheel arch in front of the rear wheel. There is supposed to be a sill-cover (side skirt) joined onto it, but they're usually pop-riveted to the sills. Sounds like an awful idea to me, letting water in and accelerating rust, so they're staying off until I get the sills undersealed. An alternative method of attaching the covers will be used in good time, to prevent any paint loss from drilling holes into the sills. There's a good reason that higher trim Corsa Cs rust more than basic models, and it's the sill-covers.

Either way it's been a good week for the Corsa, if you ignore that fact that there's still no lacquer on the roof, and that the driver's door has more dents in it than the UK Conservative party's reputation.

I shall hopefully be giving the poor old thing a good clean this week, after months of neglect.

 

[Bram Turismo]

Well I'm not sure what it's like in other countries, but a mobile business is the only way to go in Britain unless you've got a large number of low-paid eastern-europeans to turn out ridiculous numbers of low-quality jobs, OR you're at the other end of the scale, doing high-cost extreme-level detailing on high-class cars.

I'm somewhere in the middle, so I wouldn't call what I do 'detailing'. I've seen detailing done and it's a lot more in-depth than what I have the equipment to do. I'd just call it valeting. I eventually hope to do detailing from a workshop, mind.

The first thing you need to decide is what vehicle you're going to work from. You could get a Ford Transit or a Renault Trafic etc. but running costs are high and driving them onto peoples' driveways is awkward, so a Peugeot Partner, Opel Combo or Volkswagen Caddy makes more sense. Though VW cost too much, Fords rust and Peugeots are unreliable. Once you've decided on a van, you need to figure out prices for the van itself, it fuel costs, insurance and tax. A large estate wagon such as a Volvo might be possible if you're not carrying a generator (though that limits your customer base).

Beyond that, you will need water, a pressure-washer (buy a cheap electric one, high-power is not needed), a vacuum cleaner and a generator powerful enough to run those things. Not many customers will allow you to use their water and not all will have electricity available. Find some old 25 litre drums, clean them out and use them to carry water. I can do a 5 hour valet with about 30 litres if I'm creative.

For the job itself, you won't pick up business immediately. Find a part time job (or two) you don't mind doing to tide you over until you get busier.

Then it's a case of deciding what services you'll offer and at what price. Engine detailing is not popular at all. The most popular jobs I do are either a wash and dry of the exterior and a thorough vacuum clean of the interior, or the same but with an exterior polish. Any engine cleaning is generally an added extra on my jobs and care needs to be taken. NEVER pressure wash a customer's engine. It might be safe to, but it's not worth any risk.

Any other questions, feel free to ask.

As for your original question, the main reason I started doing this is simply how much I hated my last job. Going through the worst two years of your life has a funny way of kick-starting change.

My idea was to start really, really small. I have a stable job, so I'm looking to doing it during the weekends.
I'm aiming at people that do let me use their water and electricity, and I would also be using my own car. Investing in a car, and large material is something I want to avoid, since I have no customers. If the ball does get to roll somehow, I would invest in it. But I'd like to start really small, with basic tools that despite this still offer a thorough job.

 

[lbpomg95]

My idea was to start really, really small. I have a stable job, so I'm looking to doing it during the weekends.
I'm aiming at people that do let me use their water and electricity, and I would also be using my own car. Investing in a car, and large material is something I want to avoid, since I have no customers. If the ball does get to roll somehow, I would invest in it. But I'd like to start really small, with basic tools that despite this still offer a thorough job.

Well, if you've got room in your car for a half decent electric pressure washer and a vacuum cleaner (however even my Volvo won't fit the pressure washer upright) then it should be relatively easy.

 

[lbpomg95]

Another non-update - I had my Corsa serviced last week - and finally got a photo of the K&N Panel Air Filter!

Wow...

In other news, I cleaned the Corsa for the first time in about 6 months....

And the van...

In other other news, I cleaned a Fiat 500 this week, and the seats? Well....

 

[PASM]

Nice job on those seats. Steam machine?

 

[lbpomg95]

Nope. Damp cloth, shampoo, elbow grease and some choice words.

 

[lbpomg95]

When I say clean enough to eat off of, I normally don't joke...

Meanwhile the Corsa needed some love this valetine's...

 

[lbpomg95]

Yet another pointless non-update, since I have bugger-all to do in this hateful snowy weather, slowly bleeding money as all of my jobs get canceled because I can't even leave my village. Snow can do one. This week has been simply crap. I hate it.

My psychopathic ranting aside, the valeting van had an MOT and Service on Monday this week, when the snow was only a moderate pain in my backside. In true Vauxhall fashion, two coil springs were broken. So, my mechanic replaced them, and it was ludicrously simple. I'm pretty sure even a talentless hack like me could've done it (as long as I stole his spring compressor...).

The springs did stand out ever so slightly once fitted...

So that's 3 springs I've had replaced in 11 months. Good ol' Vauxhall. On the bright side, it was the easiest coil spring job I've ever seen done.

As for the service, all went smoothly, not much to say. The fuel filter housing was so clean that you could see to the bottom through the half-pint of diesel in there. So Fiat made a good engine... it just wasn't good when they fitted it to their own van... or when Suzuki used it...

Since the photos I've shared of previous jobs went down fairly well, I shall share some more.

A fair few months ago, I cleaned a Jaguar E-Type. In the interest of doing a thorough job, I got down on my back and polished the exhaust. Oh-so satisfying...

My friend the mechanic owns a 1996 Peugeot 106. Before you laugh (I would), it's actually in very good condition, as the next photo will show you from when I cleaned the engine...

Before...

And after...

Any plans I had for the Volvo have had to be put on hold, because I am losing money at this rate, thank you Siberian snow. So, it will be a while before any real progress is made on any of my cars, other than trivial things. This has not been a good few weeks. Sorry for my crap mood. I'll try and be more upbeat next time.

 

[lbpomg95]

So two hub caps fell off the valeting van. Good old Vauxhall build quality. I took the remaining two off for symmetry.

I also fitted some blue tint high-beam bulbs (which are crap, will be replacing them soon) and some selective yellow dip-beam bulbs for better visibility in the fog.

 

[lbpomg95]

So the seats in my Corsa are a little... basic. I managed to find some from a higher trim level, but the runners underneath were looking worse for wear...

So, time for a new project! First I used a Dremel rotary tool to sand off the worst of the rust.

And then, two coats of black Hammerite paint later...

At this point the paintbrush fell apart (no joke, it literally did!) so I was left with only one seat finished. Next it was time to clean the seat. My cat did not do much to help.

As I'd already cleaned the seats a few months ago (yep, I've had these seats a while!), it didn't need much.

So with that done it was time to remove the old passenger seat.

Side by side you can see a few subtle differences, like a more retro pattern and better side bolstering.

They also had different plugs so they had to be swapped.

While the seat was out I took the time to vacuum clean underneath...

With the new seat ready it was simply a case of tightening the 4 retaining bolts and plugging in the pretensioner.

It will look much better when I get the chance to get the other seat done as well!

 

[lbpomg95]

So, I've got a small classic car show tomorrow, so the old barge has had a good clean, followed by a coat of Collinite 845.

More to come tomorrow!

 

[lbpomg95]

Micro Motor Show

A woman was advertising on facebook recently, having organised a family fun day to raise awareness for Group B Streptococcus, an infection that claimed the life of her 6-week-old son in 2015. She had asked for local classic car owners to come along and be part of the attraction, so naturally I jumped at the chance! So, yesterday the old barge got a coat of wax, and today I took her to the show! It was only a small event, with around a dozen cars and as many motorcycles (mainly Harley Davidsons), and perhaps not too surprisingly, my car was the newest. It certainly shone like new!

I don't like Volkswagens very much, but that Scirocco was nice. Naturally, the cream-beige Rover P4 (next to the Rolls Royce) took most of the attention with its unique colour and suicide doors. Being sat between an 80-year-old Morris and a Ford Capri, my Volvo didn't get much attention, I'll admit. I wasn't particularly surprised though. Oh well.

Either way, it was nice to get to drive the car, as it's been a while. It was even nicer to give it a properly good clean as well.

So, the boat with wheels will be going back in the garage at some point this week, likely until June when my next motor show is...

 

[lbpomg95]

They've been there for two years but I finally recorded a video of the absurdly out-of-place air horns on my car!

 

[lbpomg95]

So, I got the other seat for my lowly Corsa fitted this week...

Like the other, it had seen better days.

So, I rubbed it down with help from my cat... again...

And painted it.

I then gave it a quick vacuum clean while the cat watched...

And same as last time, removed the old seat, swapped the wiring and put the new one in.

I took it out for a drive, and I noticed the difference right away. The bigger side-bolsters are perfect for me - they hold me in without being too tight or too high (I sat in a 2007 Focus ST once, y'know, the one with a Volvo engine? Yeah, well the side bolsters were so tall I struggled to actually get out of the car...). I found these seats to be reasonably comfortable as well, especially compared to the basic old ones.

So, now I've got two old seats to sell.

 

[lbpomg95]

As some of you might know, I'm a self-employed mobile car valeter, and recently, I was booked to do a day's work on a 1988 Volvo 740 with 201,000 miles on the clock. Oh, what a day!

So, on the exterior, the car was washed off (2 buckets used, both with grit guards, pre-treated with Non-caustic traffic film remover, rinsed with diluted water repellant), treated with tar remover and then clay-detailed, before I put a layer of my favourite polymer polish on.

As you can see, the bumpers were also dressed with Meguiar's Ultimate Black Trim Restorer. The wing mirrors were blasted with a heat-gun before the same dressing was applied.

For the wheels, the owner had mentioned that the Volvo badges on the hub-caps were peeling, and requested that I don't use a pressure-washer on them. Since wheels are a pain to clean without pressure, I removed them with my nylon pry-set and cleaned them separately with tar-remover and then Autosol.

As a result, I could then more effectively clean the wheels. Some minor streaks of break dust didn't quite come out, though. The tyres were dressed with Meguiar's Endurance Tyre Gel. Lovely finish and long-lasting, though I generally don't use any tyre dressing on my own cars.

The engine was also given a thorough clean - no pressure-washer was used. The bonnet insulation was vacuum cleaned and all surfaces were cleaned with a bucket of soapy water and a cloth. The intake manifold was also cleaned with a small steel wire brush.

Finally, the interior was also given a thorough clean, but it was already fairly spotless before I started, so I only bothered taking after-photos. The windows were also cleaned and so were the door shuts and hinges.

All in all, I was very pleased at the final result - it just goes to show the build quality of a car if it can look this good after 200,000 miles.

I wish more people would book me for an 8-hour valet!

 

[lbpomg95]

Another Sunday, another motor show...

 

[lbpomg95]

Project time.

So, my father has been contemplating buying a new car for a fair few months now. I've been doing my bit to tempt him away from Vauxhall. As much as I like mine, the newer models just aren't the same. So, I've been trying to persuade him into a Suzuki Swift. And it worked!

This is a 2016 Suzuki Swift SZ-L - a special edition because it has black wheels, a rear boot spoiler and satellite navigation. It looks rather good, I think, and with the standard 1.2 litre 4-cylinder petrol with 92BHP, it's very cheap to run. Cheaper than his old 1 litre 3-cylinder Corsa which only has the same 58BHP as my Corsa.

So, the old Corsa had to go. Usually, most people trade their car in with the dealership, which I wouldn't recommend. The dealership who sold us the Swift offered £800 for the Corsa - a 2009 car with 71,000 miles on the clock and full service history. Pathetic. So, we said no, naturally. I offered to clean the car up and advertise it on his behalf.

So, the project began. I started on the interior, emptying the entire car and cleaning everything.

To help the car sell, I found a set of fitted mats cheap from Amazon, which really finished the interior off nicely.

Next up was the engine...

Next it was time to start on the exterior. I had all the hub-caps removed to fully clean them as well as the steel wheels underneath.

I did forget to get before photos, but these photos from about 6 months ago give you an idea of how the car looked when I started...

Several hours later...

@Katiegan #FiatPandaphotobomb... again.

Lastly the door shuts (door jams?) had to be cleaned, and I finished off the interior with a water-based non-silicone plastic dressing for a natural, satin shine.

I advertised it on facebook on Wednesday. Within a few hours, a young lady looking for a first car (she'd been sharing her mother's car to that point) called and asked to view it on Friday. She came with her boyfriend who fired a fair few questions at me to try and trip me up. I answered every question without batting an eyelid. They were very impressed with the car, its history, condition, and the price it was up for.

So, with a trade-in offer of £800, our agreed price in the end? £1900. Well over double. For 12 hours cleaning and very little hassle, I can't understand why people would ever trade their cars in. My father's certainly pleased, that's for sure!

 

[lbpomg95]

So, I had my first day off in weeks this Sunday gone! And then like an idiot I decided not to take a day off and cleaned my Dad's new Suzuki Swift instead, since the dealership didn't do a very good job. It was over 25 degrees Celcius. Terrible idea in hindisight. Still, I clay decontaminated it and gave it a coat of Collinite 476S.

A small test of water-beading capabilities.

Now, Collinite 845 and my prefered polymer polish leave both a deeper shine as well as a smoother finish to the touch, but for durability, it looks like neither have anything on Collinite 476S.

As the interior wasn't too bad, that left the engine bay. The dealership used oil-based dressing (tyre-shine, in other words) all over the plastics.

Greasy. Dusty. Horrible.

So, with a small 2 litre hand-cranked pressure-spray bottle of water, a degreaser spray and a hog-hair detailing brush, followed by a toweling down with a large microfibre, I simply cleaned it and buffed it. Nothing more. Sometimes a good old-fashioned clean is enough.

More to come on the Combo van soon...

 

[lbpomg95]

So, I had those Vauxhall Corsa Exclusiv alloys refurbished this month to put on my Combo van.

I'll start from the beginning...

As mentioned in an earlier post, a young lad who'd been banned from driving was selling a Corsa Exclusiv with "runs like a bag of nails" in the advert. Among the bumpers which are on my Corsa and other various parts, I got the set of alloys for £40.

After booking them in for refurbishment on June the 29th, I finally got them back on Monday. The 23rd of July. They usually take just over a week. Oh well. At least they came back looking like this...

So, they'll be going on in a few weeks when I have time to fit them. The old tyres were the wrong size (Combos have a higher profile than Corsas) and had no tread, so I have a new set of Rotalla RH01 tyres. While a cheap Chinese brand, the ratings are very good. Either way I can't complain for £38-ish per tyre.

Now, I've seen a few cars lately with white writing on the sidewalls. On some cars it looks ridiculous, and on others it works well. So, I bought a few cheap white paint marker pens from Amazon to try and colour it in myself.

I'm actually fairly happy with the result! Whatever the case, if they go onto the van and I decide I don't like it, the white paint washes off. If I do like it, I can look for a more permanent solution.

So, hopefully in the next few weeks we'll see these fancy new shoes on the van!

 

[lbpomg95]

Well, the wheels and tyres are booked to be fitted in 3 weeks!

 

[lbpomg95]

Another motor show done...

 

[lbpomg95]

So, a few weeks ago I shared a photo of the newly refurbished alloys and one of the tyres waiting to go on. When I've had the chance over the last couple of weeks, I've painted the other tyres with multiple coats...

Last week I had about fifteen minutes to spare after finishing a job early, so I took the chance to quickly polish up my shameful chrome exhaust tip ready for this week's changes...

Now, because I'm a bit of a pr***, I'm going to make you wait for the photos of the new wheels and show you everything else that was done today first! So, the whole interior was cleared out of all my equipment and given a good clean, since the van hasn't been cleaned at all since March.

While the wheels were being swapped, the passenger-side rear shock-absorber needed replacing as well, thanks to a leak causing my van to pogo like crazy over potholes. The old one had seen better days...

The replacement was an O.E quality KYB part which looked to be made of higher-quality materials than the original!

Onto the exterior, and my latest toy...

...the snow-foam lance. This thing is awesome.

Ha! Didn't think I'd reveal the wheels, did you? Before I show them, one last thing. I pulled up the plastic trims either side of the windscreen after a recommendation - supposedly they hold in a lot of dirt and moisture...

This was after I cleaned out all of the leaves, mud and twigs with a vacuum cleaner, so I'm glad I spent the 5 minutes doing it.

So, the wheels. Remember the old steel wheels?

Behold!

I can't find the words to describe how happy I am with the transformation. I love this. It looks fantastic!

Now, those cheap Rotalla tyres. On the way home, I was stuck behind a VW T5 Transporter doing 40mph, so I didn't get much opportunity to find how good they were through corners, but one thing worth noting is that these are noticeably quieter than the old Evergreen tyres I had on there.

One other thing - while the van was on the ramp, I had Shaun give it a quick safety check as it's been six months since the MOT. All is well, but the silencer will need replacing soon. Well, we all know what that'll mean - stainless steel replacement! Coming soon. Probably.

EDIT: So the company who do stainless steel exhausts quoted £250 just for a backbox. And the van has to be with them for a couple of days. Think I'll just get a standard replacement for £60-ish, thank you.

 

[lbpomg95]

Well, I'm falling into a bit of a depressing rut again. My job's going fine, but something's just missing for me. So I've decided I need something to do to take my mind off things. So, I now own four cars.