Kevin Bacon

Tough one. It's an Auto which is never a good thing in the sports Coupe sector but it has Silver paint, recaros, low mileage and air-con on it's side, so around £4500 I would have thought. K

Sideways as in pulling the wheel toward the door or sideways as in moving the wheel in and out agaisnt the rack? Could be the rear wishbone bushes, they always split when coming to the end of their effective life, circa 80K. If you've got movement against the rack, it's probably an inner tie rod end. K

It might just be a simple geometry issue, it's suprising what effect it has if it's slightly out. Having said that, I'm pretty sure it's the BJs because my old MK2 was the same. The front end would also get very light under acceleration and dead ahead steering was weird. After a few months of that, the BJ had gone completely so that during right handers, the movement of the BJ caused the back to feel like it was stepping out. It wasn't, just felt like it was. Quite scary! I would take it to a local bodyshop to the the alignment done. Most are now equipped with proper 4 wheel laser kit. K

Cheers chaps. Just as when I fitted the front lupo wipers, I wasn't sure at first, but the more I look at them, the better they get. They're ugly things, but VERY effective :lol: Kev

Could be the bearings but I haven't got the familiar groaning noises that go with it..... I've checked the play on the steering and the tiniest movement of the steering wheel is mirrored by the road wheels. I've also had it on the axle stands and there's no tie rod or top mount play at all. So it's gotta be the BJs or possibly wheel bearings. K

Aha, you're quite right. The tyre man just called me to advise I will be getting D2s, not D3s. His supplier gave him some duff info. Am I right in thinking the D2s have a stiffer sidewall than the D1s? I used to have D1s and they had a really soft side wall, causing screeching in the dry at moderate pace. K

The tyre chap seemed to think they exist. I did quadruple check with him that they are definitely 205/50/15 86V. He said they were and not the GSD2s or the MK1 F1s.....but the 3s We shall see on Saturday! Kev

Stealth use G&S ones and so far, no problems. I'd prefer to use VAG too, especially as I get on with the parts people and get inpromptu discounts :lol: Well I've booked my car in for 4 x Goodyear Eagle F1 GDS3 on Saturday and an MOT (only 2 months overdue!) so I might get a pair of BJs for them to throw on too. K

The H&R/Koni combo seems to win many friends. It's the perfect compromise between improved handling and ride comfort, in my opinion. If anyone is considering getting these, I would strongly recommend you spend the extra tenner on adjustable rears, which are ride height and damping adjustable. By ride height adjustable, I mean 4 or 5 fixed heights and is purely to even off the front to rear height bias. It's not a threaded collar! K

It's a 16V inlet pipe, easily distinguishable by the ISV elbow! It's more cosmetic than performance related. it just replaces the standard plastic one. K

I've built up that exact kit but as yet haven't fitted it to the car. It needs a feed from the door switch, the headlight switch and an earth and +12V IIRC. This particular kit also does other spangly stuff but a simple buzzer, at the end of the day, is all that's required. K

1 HP = 1.014 PS K

Yeah the bottom ball joints is where you get your camber from, so after their replacement, yep you would need the camber resetting. If you were considering going to AmD for laser surgery, might be getting both done in one hit? Well, drove mine into work today along the cr@ppy 45 mile single carriageway and it was all over the place. I'm pretty positive it's the ball joints.....they're cheap from G&S. Labour isn't too bad, an hour for both plus camber alignment. K

Mine does exactly the same thing, despite having all 4 springs and dampers done in September and the wishbone bushes. It also doesn't like lorry ruts, swerving unnervingly in and out of them. Well an old MK2 I had used to do exactly that also and it turned out to be a worn offside lower ball joint. You can't really tell it's knackered without levering a bar between the hub and wishbone - or by suffering the symptoms above. So might be worth checking your balls. K

Nah they won't catch on anything, it's just a perception thing. They 'look' a little far out of the arches but that's just my own view. The car I saw them on was dropped 35mm on H&R springs and they didn't foul anything. Kev

Also, check your front tyres aren't wearing in the middle. 36 (factory setting) psi at the front is way too much. It caused my bridgestones to wear in the middle, causing a dead feel on the dead-ahead. I now run mine at 32 and 30. The engine won't run at 99% with just the TPS, using that the ECU makes a best estimate. It needs both the MAF and TPS to run optimally, otherwise why bother with a MAF in the first place? Kev

I think those particular wheels are ET31. I've been out in a VR wearing those wheels and the ride was pretty good. Imo, they stick out too far but they do suit the car from a side-on view though, and more importantly, they are of a similar weight to the speedlines. I think skimming the wheel's hub mating face may have structural integrity implications, best check with a wheel refurbisher to double check. Kev

Yeah the CTR is no looker. But neither is the Evo 5/6/7/8/~ or Subaru but it's not about looks with these cars, it's about what they can do. With a Corrado VR6 (and one of your 6 speed recipes thrown in for good measure), you get the looks to go with the performance. K

All the rubbers other than the rear hanger assembly can be supplied by the fitter as they're a standard type and cost pennies each, but the rear rubber is part of the hanger assembly and it's VAG only. No need to touch that though unless the rubber has snapped. Oh and I'm up for the Magnex also. I can send £295 notes to the supplier with my card. Let me know..... K

According to Top Gear, not one single VTEC engine Honda have ever made has gone wrong :shock: They do have a steering rack issue though, which was apparent on the two I drove last year. It tugs and tramlines too much, making it difficult to drive smoothly at high speeds on bumpy B roads. Honda blamed it on the UK roads, and didn't feel obliged to correcting the problem, despite experts point to the rack. It was because of this I told Holden of Norwich to keep their CTR. And then I bought my VR, which on reflection was the better choice. The Civic is good fun and very quick through the lower gears, but I couldn't live with the overly hard suspension, tramlining, bump steer and the terrible racket inside the cabin. And you think VR6s have a thirst for oil! I was also underwhelmed by the acceleration and just put it down to hype. The alleged kick in the pants at 6K+ rpm wasn't apparent in the two I drove. The engine just got louder and coarser with no appreciable difference in acceleration. The gearshift was about the only redeeming feature. K

And here it is....and as Brian said, it's nice to have uniform blades on the car! Kev

Yeah mine's the same but flat all along and parallel to the seal. I chopped the curved end off the C arm. Didn't get a chance to take a pic over the weekend, hopefully tomorrow! Kev

If you've got a VR6 supercharged, might be better to use the NGK plats or perhaps some S3 jobbies, I think they're same thread size. There are some iridium plugs doing the rounds at the moment which seem to be getting good reviews. I think Nippon-denso make them. Kev

Or fit a bigger diameter pulley K

To clean them, use dilluted washing powder or one of those aerial liqui-tabs. Hell if you're feeling brave, stick it in the washing machine on a 40 deg cycle. I kid you not, I've done it in the past and it came out pure white! The K&N cleaner is cr@p, don't waste your money. When clean and fully dry do a couple of passes with the K&N oil and dab off any excess with Kitchen towel. K