Jump to content

BigTartanJudge

Members
 View Profile  See their activity

  • Content Count

    1,813

  • Joined

Posts posted by BigTartanJudge

  1. Posted

    Also, it would seem I am not alone in having this opinion / experience with / about blue_joe having spoken to another forum member who has had a similar experience with parts he bought from him. Can only hope this get sorted now ASAP. Has any other forum members had any sort of problems with blue_joe recently over parts they have bought etc ?

     

    EDIT: The plot thickens, it would appear......I have had a PM from another forum member who bought parts that were not as described and who also confirmed that last time he saw blue_joe's car the wheels I bought were on it and were kerbed then (this is well before I bought them and received them), so he did know about the damage before he sold the wheels to me and then lied about it..........

  2. Posted

    Well here goes, I feel I have been left no choice but to post up on here the situation I have been left in concerning the purchase of a set of "Porsche" twist wheels from blue_joe. They were advertised as having no damage at all. Since I returned from holiday, I have been trying to contact him now for two weeks but have not heard a dickie bird from him.

     

    When he posted up that he was breaking his rado for parts back in end of June, I Pm'ed him to say that I would buy them and he agreed on the sale. I paid for the wheels in three installements which I appreciated blue_joe letting me do. I contacted him after the last payment was made to arrange for the wheels to be packaged up ready for collection by courier. I was told he was away from home working and would be back in two weeks. I waited patiently and eventually after trying to contact him several times after the time he said he would be back home and in a position to get the wheels ready for collection, we arranged for the wheels to be collected. There were "problems" with the corier collection, with the courier blaming blue_joe for missed collections and blue_joe blaming the courier etc. Finally I got the wheels delivered to my local depot and I collected them a day before I was due to leave the UK for my holiday.

     

    On getting the wheels home, I unwrapped them to find that each of the wheels had AT LEAST one or more buckles in the outer rim and a couple of the wheels had kerbing marks. This was clearly not damage that had been caused in transit by the courier and was caused (according to an alloy wheel refurbishment company by the wheels being subject to contact with potholes and / or kerbs). I took pictures of each of the damaged wheels and immediately contacted blue_joe to advise him I was not happy with the condition of the wheels and that they were damaged and had been damaged prior to them having been sent to me. He assured me that the wheels were in perfect condition and not like that when they left him, perhaps they had been damaged in transit ?? (not posible due to the way the wheels were well packaged and protected, and the fact that the courier uses a particular method of transporting them which could not result in any such damage).

     

    He asked me to send the pics of the damage to him which I duly did (have records of these pictures). Over the next week or so I tried to contact him several times and on several occasions he did not get in touch when we had arranged a time to discuss the situatuion. When he finally got back to me he maintained that the wheels had not left his possesion like that but he agreed / promised to pay for the wheels to be repaired, at his cost including getting the wheels picked up and re-delivered back to me after being repaired. I agreed to get quotes for the wheels to be be repaired by several different companies and then get in touch with these details so he could then make payment to me for the repairs and courier charges.

     

    In the very first place, this was not something I really wanted to have to deal with during my holiday and should not have had to either, but having spent that much cash on these wheels I felt I needed the assurance that things would be sorted out when I returned, as these wheels were the finishing touch to the exterior of my rado.I was a little bit happier at this and assumed that things would be sorted when I returned to the UK. However, I was mistaken. The day after I returned to the UK, as agreed, I got quotes for the repairs and started to get in touch with blue_joe to advise him of the costs and to arrange to get things sorted out. I have now been trying to contact him for two weeks, I have sent several texts (every few days) and have called around ten times and left messages for him to get in touch. Each time the phone has just rang out and gone straight to voicemail, with no attempt being made to return my calls or texts. So I have been left with a set of damaged wheels (amongst other issues) which I have paid £1000 for and have now got to find £200 to get repaired BEFORE I can even get them onto my rado !!

     

    I am very disappointed at the lack of communication and contact from blue_joe and am extremely frustrated and annoyed. The fact is that the promise to pay for the repairs has not been honoured. I have no other form of daily transport and I cannot use my rado till these wheels have been repaired as I do not have another spare set, and moreover, I do not see why I should have to pay for the repairs myself as I have paid £1000 for a set of wheels that were not as described (more on this if required later). And in addition I don't need this hassle at the moment when my mum is in hospital having a serious operation, I could really do with without this.......... I can only hope that there is some very good reason for the lack of contact or that blue_joe's conscience gets the better of him and that this situation gets rectified ASAP. I really did not expect for this outcome in the course of this sale, especially as the seller is a long-standing and respected forum member.....

     

    Cheers

  4. Posted

    I am currently looking for a pair of either Corrado or Scirocco RECARO front seat subrames (the height adjustable ones) to fit my front RECARO's into my rado. Needing these ASAP as I can't really fit my new front seats in without them (they will go in but will sit too high as they are currently on MK2 Golf RECARO subframes).

     

    However, I have heard that you can use OEM MK2 Scirocco standard seat subframes to fit RECARO's into your rado, as these subframes are height-adjustable. However, I have also been told that you need to use Scirocco RECARO-specific subframes to fit these to a rado. So who's right about this ?

     

    So the question is, would standard mk2 Scirocco adjustable seat bases be suitable for fitting the RECARO's I have into my rado or is there also a Scirocco RECARO-specific subframe unique for fitting RECARO's ?.......as I think I can get hold of a set of scirocco height adjustable seat bases/ subframes.

     

    Cheers

  9. Posted

    According to the info I've seen, the factory offset for a 1994 MK2 MR2 is ET45, is guessing this is not too bad at ET52 for the BBS LM's. However, I'd be inclined to ask the seller to double-check the centre-bore as I have the centre-bore at 60.1mm.

     

    You said the seller says they are 54.1mm, and you are going to get spigot rings made up, but surely if the centre-bore of the BBS are too small you'll need to get the centres machined larger and not get spigot rings (unless of course it turns out that the centre-bore is 60.1mm like I suspect it may be) ? Just to clarify, spigot rings are used to reduce the diameter of a larger centre-bore in a set of wheels to fit onto another vehicle with a smaller diameter centre-bore.

     

    You could get a set of custom adapters made with the spigot ring (if required) built in (kinda like Henny did with this Borbet C spacers) but if adapters are available off-the-shelf, then I would have thought it would be easier to buy these are then deal; with any centre-bore issues as they present themselves. At the moment, I can't find the website for the German adapters (think they were around EUR 170 plus postage for the set), I will keep looking for it and pass it on if I can. However,I have found the rest of the following info from when I was looking into this previously.

     

    A guy I know got a set of adapters made up by a company in the US, http://motorsport-tech.com/index2.htm. They were apparently very helpfull and will make any adapter you want for around $60USD each. this works out at about £120 for four and once you have paid postage and VAT, it works out at about £200 for the full set. Although this is dearer than a lot of off-the-shelf adapters, it is cheaper than all the quotes I got to make a set of custom-adapters in the UK, which ranged from £250-£400. Turn around from order to delivery is about 10 days tops so all good there. Quality seemed to be fine too, they bolt to hub using original wheel bolts.

     

    The company that seems to be the best in the UK was the contact I made on edition38, called alexluxurywheels. He can custom-make any adapter you rquire, as like the company in the states, but he is more expensive at around £68+VAT+delivery per adapter. He can be found at http://www.luxurywheels.co.uk/Home.html

     

    I also noticed have noticed there is the following company in the states again, http://www.adaptitusa.com, that provides both services. They will custom-make any adapters to your specification but they also do a wide range of off-the-shelf adapters, including it would seem the adapters for converting 5x100PCD to 5x114.3PCD (or to put it another way they call 5x114.3 PCD, 5x4.5" as 114.3mm = 4.5"). They were $44.95 plus postage I think so less than $200 (ex. postage) for the set (about $100). That's a damn good price, even if you have to pay postage of £30 on top of that and £20-ish tax.

     

    Again HTH and will let you know if I find the details oin the german supplier.

  11. Posted

    I wouldn't get them re-drilled mate, although know plenty of people that do this / have had this done with no issues. However, there are defo adapters available off-the-shelf (converts VW mk3/rado 5x100PCD to Toyota / Nissan 5x114.3PCD), albeit poss. not in the UK.

     

    You can get them fom a place in Germany, think they are 20mm thick, or you can get them machined a bit to make them 15mm think giving et25 which would be better for the VR, I can provide details of thse if required. You'll also need to be careful with the centre-bore of these wheels mate, as Toyota centre-bore will be either 54.1mm or 60.1mm as opposed to VW 57.1mm centre-bore. Therefore, you will either need to get 3mm spigot rings (easily got from decent wheel stockists / accessory shops) or get the centre-bores machined out by 3mm through a local metalworkers or engineering shop (not a biggie, I've had this done twice for 2 sets of wheels I purchased, costs about £7.50-£10 per wheel). I'd also be careful with the claimed ET. I don't know of any Toyota that had an offset as large as ET50, what model and year are the wheels from (this will also confirm the centre-bore for you mate ) ?

     

    Alloy adapters are ok as long as the threads are proper helicoiled inserts. I'm not 100 % sure, but there MAY also be a company in the UK that does these, I will check things out and get back to you about this. Bottom line is, for £400 and even with adapters costing £150-£200, your still getting a great deal, and for LM's too !

     

    Cheers and HTH

  12. Posted

    Right, she will hopefully be back on the road Saturday. She has been off the road for a few months while I saved up to get the heater matrix done (yes, guess coulda done it myself but coulda be done with the hassle and wanted it done and outta the way) and then MOT.

     

    She has passed, woo hoo, so roll-on Saturday afternoon. Need to get together the last few bits for her once she back on raod then get her booked in end-July / start August, to get everything fitted in time for ed38 hopefully !

     

    Cheers

  13. Posted

    Goodo, am hopefully fitting one of these kits at the start of next month to fit into my angel-eye units. Was also thinking about spraying the inside of the housing black like JBOB did on his rado to give a meaner look.

     

    Speaking of looms / relays, the HID kit I fitted to my mate's X reg Alfa 156 came supplied with some sort of upgraded loom / relay wiring kit but we never used it in the end and just wired it in directly from the ballasts ?

     

    Will update when kit purchased and fitted,

     

    Cheers

  15. Posted

    Yes, you do need to leave a deposit of some sort, if getting the standard TPO insurance you will need to leave usually £50-£75 as a fuel deposit and £500-£750 as a deposit for potential damage etc. You can pay an extra amount, usually around £10-£12 per day, to reduce the compulsory damage liability waiver from £500-£750 right down to £zero, but you would still have to leave a fuel deposit of some sort (cash, CC or debit-card or cheque - they will cash the cheque and you will receive a refund 7-10 days after you return the car by cheque to your address)

     

    Usually people pay this using a CC where the money is held, i.e. it DOESN'T come off the card but that amount is authorised to be debited from the CC account, therefore you need to have sufficient funds there for it to be held.

     

    Otherwise, you can use a debit card (same principle except the money is actually debited but as soon as car is returned full of fuel and with no additional damage, the full amount is put back onto your card) or leave a full cash deposit.

     

    I don't know of ANY car rental company that allows you to rent a car without leaving some sort of deposit as detailed above.

     

    PS. I work for the largest car rental company in the UK and this is how we operate. I have worked for another company and they worked things the same way, so I would imagine the rest of them do as well.

     

    HTH anyways.

  16. Posted

    Guy I used to work with has had two Alfa's, first a 147 1.8TS and most recently a 156 2.0TS. Both have had no end of problems including gearbox replacement, electrical problems including window and dash-lights failure and most recetly his 156 blew the head-gasket.

     

    That said, yes, the V6 engine does sound quite horny........

  18. Posted

    Sorry to hear about the damage to the rado mate, however, you'll have a problem getting a new rear bumper for it, as there are not available / discontinued / obsolete anymore.

     

    I had a similar claim to you about 10 months ago now and found out after a few months of investigation that they were no longer available. The insurance company sent me a cash-in-lieu payment so I could get a secondhand one and have it stripped, prepped and painted, and keep the difference. The new rear panel is still available AFAIK, at about £450+VAT, rear bumper (not available) £460+VAT, the rear light panel to hold lights is also required at £250+VAT, rear quarter not sure if available, but something stupid like £800+VAT, so quote not bad really.

     

    Good luck with getting claim sorted out, I had a major headache with mine though...........read about it here:

     

    http://www.the-corrado.net/.archive/forum/viewto ... highlight=

  19. Posted

    The wheels don't really have any dish, the spokes are pretty flat at the back so hoped there won't be any probs fitting. Some folk on ed38 are saying they will be fine but others say nay......

     

    If they won't fit then I have a problem, may end up selling them but not before my current wheels are refurbed, therefore the rado will need to sit on the Keskins till I get the others back and decide what to do.

  21. Posted

    Hey all,

     

    Can anyone confirm to me if Keskin KT-1's 7.5x16" ET35 will clear my Brembo 305 mm set-up on my rado ? I hve been getting conflicting information about whether or not they will clear the brakes, either with or without a 10mm (-ish) spacer fitted. No point in keeping these wheels if the brakes won't fit.....

     

    Cheers,

     

    BigTartanJudge

  24. Posted

    think even 5mm spacers and you're pushing your luck tbh... take a wheel off and have a look at how much bolt sticks through the rimto get an idea of how much you have to play with...

     

    Just get a set of longer wheel-bolts if you want to run wheels with spacers, it's not a big deal I thought ?

×
×
  • Create New...