Portent

Yes. even with normal alloys I polish mine whenever I wash the car. I didn't used to do that on my golf and the polished alloys on them have fared badly as a result.

Regular cleaning and a regular layer of polish or wax.

Out of those I would go for the first one as I suspect that motor sport items are likely to be rarer. But I prefer a leather knob as alu can get cold in winter.

I'm looking into retro fitting heated elements to my cloth recaros. But I don't want to use an after market kit. So I'm interested in using an OEM loom, relay and switches. So ideally I would like to fit OEM heated pads. I have a few questions: 1) Is it likely to devalue the recaros? I am intending to use original parts to mitigate this, although cloth recaros weren't heated of course. 2) Are the heated pads likely to reduce comfort? The leather seats are obviously slightly thicker and so you don't notice the pad. They are supremely comfy and I don't want to jeopardise that. 3) Does anyone know if the original heated pads are still available new? Failing that, does anyone know which other models are likely to have them? I could of course strip them from some Corrado leather seats but that would be expensive and addalso ruin rare parts. So sourcing them from another common car of the era would be much better. 4) Could the heat affect the cloth in any way? Ie discolour them. I appreciate later cars have heated cloth but I don't want to damage rare seats. 5) Any other reason why it's a bad idea?

I've pm'd you.

I'm looking for a slam panel to fit a late VR6. The paint condition is not important as I'll need to get it sprayed anyway (unless by luck a Storm Grey panel comes up). But it must be free from dents and free from significant rust. I'm in Surrey so I'd prefer it local but I'd consider travelling to collect, or postage of course. Thanks.

Thanks. I'll leave it then. I'm on the look out for a replacement for mine which has a slight dent. But I'll hold on for a late one.

Finished refurbishing my spare passenger and drivers inner handles. They were quite poor condition and had been replaced with much better versions, so I had nothing to lose by giving it a try. So I wet sanded them down lightly with fine paper to take the rough edges off any scratches. Then thoroughly cleaned them. I didn't have any primer so I gave them a coating of diluted pva to increase adhesion. Then several coats of Halfords black vinyl spray. They have come out really well so I will let the paint harden overnight and then fit them in the morning. Very pleased so far. EDITED for the attrocious phone auto complete errors :)

Is there a difference between early and late slam panels?

I took a look at this today and it's not quite as simple as I'd hoped. The cat that was supplied with the car (wasn't fitted) is a lot longer than the decat pipe. So it's not just a swap that's needed. Front view: [ATTACH=CONFIG]58757[/ATTACH] Rear view: [ATTACH=CONFIG]58761[/ATTACH] Decat pipe is longer than supplied cat: [ATTACH=CONFIG]58765[/ATTACH] I'm assuming that the cat was the original cat from the car before the previous owner put on the new Milltek with only a decat pipe. So what are my best options? If I get someone to fit the cat back on then I'd need them to make up a pipe from the cat through to the back box. Would a Milltek sports cat just bolt on? These seem quite expensive (a quick google shows around £300+) Any thoughts appreciated. I just need to get through the MOT in a few weeks :) (and unfortunately I don't know any friendly MOT stations). Also... in the top pic is the big hexagonal nut on the exhaust where the lambda should go? I see it's not there. How will this affect emissions and if I add one back on with the cat then what will that do to the running of the car? I'm liekly to just take it to somewhere like AMD in Woking near me and ask them to do the work and get it through the MOT. But I'd like an idea of options first. Thanks.

Thanks. I added extra screws on the lower part of the pods so something like 6 to 8 screws in total per side. But it does feel a bit of a design flaw with the lower half of the door card no longer supported by the bracket. I assume it degrades audio quality a little.

Yes £12.50 posted for the batter cover sounds good, subject to you taking it off to check the condition. Please pm me paymentg details once you've had a chance to look it over. Thanks.

Right o... I've already fitted the pods but I kept meaning to ask something. With normal OEM pods they are screwed into the door card and then when the card goes back on the door there is a hidden screw inside the speaker hole which secures the pod onto a bracket on the door. I assume this is to help hold the door card on but also to ensure the pod doesn't move and therefore to give a better sound quality. When I fitted the Audioscapes there was no screw hole inside the speaker hole. It also wouldn't fit onto the door unless I removed the bracket on the door. So I removed it. Is this right?

I seem to have started quite a discussion. To clarify, this is for people not going through insurance :)

Nice. I have a real affection for mk1 Sciroccos.

^^ Thanks for the link although it's not bad enough to need any vinyl actually replacing. As I've replaced my interior door handles recently I thought I'd have a practice run on the slightly tired old ones that were now spare. That way I can see the sort of result I will get before touching the door pods. Below is a pic with the left hand side not yet done and the right hand side painted with vinyl paint. Does it look 'ok'? It does seem much better to me although I'm slightly conscious of it being a lot darker and quite shiny which the originals aren't (but I suppose that's the whole point lol). I'm tempted to finish the other side and fit them instead of my 'new' ones. [ATTACH=CONFIG]58721[/ATTACH] EDIT: Yes I know my drive needs a good jetwashing to get rid of the weeds between the blocking... I will be doing that shortly :D

Welcome. I'm not a million miles away in Surrey. Happy to give advice and opinions although I'm not very good mechanically so couldn't replace a proper look by a proper mechanic.

130 mile round trip to get an estimate for some work from a trusted body shop. The car got quite a but of attention while there.

Yes their prices include fitting.

What does the detail spray do and do you apply it after the wax?

Do you know if the battery cover will fit in the Corrado and what condition is it?

She's just annoyed you considered selling. She will be fine when you treat her to something new.

Thanks.

She's a keeper (the car and the wife)!

I've recently started using auto glym super resin polish and have heard good things about their high definition wax. So I've ordered some of the wax too. There will probably be better products around but I'm happy with the super resin and it's a hell if a difference compared to the average polish I used before. Halfords have a buy one get one free deal at the moment. Or pop across to http://www.detailingworld.com if you want to get very serious about cleaning.