StuartFZR400

3PFT No longer given by Norwich Union to new customers. I've always just run with 3rd party fire and theft and Norwich Union was always cheapest. For those with Norwich Union, you may know that they stopped insuring you on other vehicles just over a year ago, on 3PFT. So when the time came I wanted to test drive a VR6, I had to up it to Fully Comp - which yearly is twice the price. Only one week later and the renewal is due and it comes through with the Fully Comp. So phone them to put it back down to 3PFT and they say that cannot be done. She states they dont do it anymore, I ask what if I was still on 3PFT and she says that they have to insure you then. So I said, well put me back onto it now, before my renewal date and she says you cannot do this, as it becomes a new policy - BULL ****! Anyhow, toddled off and got a cheap quote with Adrian Flux :)

I often used to do the same, but ever since I had that one weekend bargain, the quotes dont get any cheaper, even with more No Claims :(

Did a quote with Sainsburys online via Confused. I never know where I stand using Confused. Confused often does not recognise my No plate so instead I gave full car details. Sainsburys was second cheapest and it said the vehicle details could be wrong so please check. Phoned them, asked to check the vehicle, she asked for my reg No, then quoted me my insurance an additional 20 quid; she said it was because I'd given her the reg. I asked what the car was on the system before I gave the reg - she would not say. Got very angry, ended the call, checked online and it definately does say a Corrado 16v 1984cc. Now unsure if I should accept the online quote, or instead go for the cheapest Confused quote with someone like Swift, which was ALL online - which I wanted to avoid due to wanting to alter details at a later date. Anyone know if Sainsburys Bank Car Insurance is any good?

We bought one of those Graco all in one systems for the new born. About £155 from mothercare; the pushchair came with a baby section that also pulled out and became a rear-facing baby seat for the car. Fitted into the C in theory, with the belt at full strech to get it in place, however with the dish shaped seats, it was allowed to tilt - not good. With the back of the seat and the seat, the L shape is less than 90 degrees. To make the essential ride more stable, I thought of placing somthing firm under the rear of the curved base to stop all movement. Generally I just borrowed the misus' car. Even with the stand alone baby seats, like the Maxicosi, these often have this curved base - to allow gentle rocking to sleep maybe - and therefore have the same problem. We've since bought a Maxicosi front facing seat for 9 months to 4 years. Was tempted by the Recaro's that go upto 9 or 11 years old, but didn't like them for various reasons. With current laws the maxicosi can be slung at 4 years old and then just buy a booster seat, which will defo' fit in a C. As for this Maxicosi, I doubt very much it will fit nicely into the C, due to the shape; but is very well fixed into the modern Megan.

Totally feel for you. Last year the car started to pick up a few dings - people seem really careless. I try my best to avoid dodgy spaces etc. If Im in the car, I will watch the person parking next to me like a HAWK. Last year the car picked up too many dings, where finally on xmas eve I came back to my lonely car (having only been gone for 2 minutes) to find a huge dent in the wing; hardly a mere scratch; they must have arrived and left in one foul swoop. Decided to get all bodywork fixed at a mere £900 (this is from a car that was practically mint 18 months ago). Now in May and Im getting hacked off again finding lots and lots of small scratches - with the knowledge that my car has only been on my private drive or in the office carpark where some dishonest ****** has leant against the car, or placed thier bag on the bonnet - cant say anything as I know I'll blow my top as everyone in the office will deny it. The joys of owning a car you like !!

Might work ok on larger calipers - so you'll be fine and look smart! , but Id sooner steer clear of painting standard ones unless you only plan to pootle about. Thier ability to disapate the heat is already a bit naff, and painting any bright colour will only contain the heat further and help overheat the poor little feklers. I know Brembo do it, but they tend to have a large surface area that can disapate the heat ok; recon' VW ones may start off life shiney gold but soon become nice and dull; you wont see an F1 car with shiny brakes.

you can see they're handed. Possibly weaker in the wrong direction - due to the LARGE latteral forces. Worth finding out which is correct. Would be nice if they did fit though - good luck !! presume it also has same distance between the piston face and the opposing face - ie enough room to fit in hte disc and pads. Presume it fits nice and closely to the disc too?

More POWER , arf arf arf :lol:

Volksline, Nuneaton, Warwickshire has a 16 pin - ideal for West Midlands owners

hmm.. the force is weak in this one I feel; ability to use the search engine he has not; ovecome his abilities it has. Brill, will scroll through to see who's local in future dilemas. (I really did use the search when I had my problem - just not the right words)

Ben, Those off the TT? or was the word Audi in the link just to throw you off the scent? £75 includes VAT and postage? And this is a reliable source? cheers, ps - anyone know the price of original TT wipers? Only come in pairs too? Presume they fit exactly onto the corrado sprocket just fine?

You're right, there are thousands of reasonable cheap cars that will run well, be it Ibiza's, or Fiesta's - reliable and easy to fix, Golfs will be a known entity to you, Mk3 for 75 quid on autotrader, but a more pokey Diesel for 250. The problem is that you're after the Mk1 (presume GTi), which I tihnk is a great little car, but is now so old you could be buying a bag of rust. Wont find any on autotrader etc as they've either been written off or scrapped by average joe; so that only leaves the enthusiasts. A mint one will cost a fair bit as you know. Finding one that needs soem TLC is bound to be a risk - have you got the money? Found this example Mk1 Gti but its been shunted and has a horrid leak problem - which IMO are a nightmare to fix unless done properly. Another dog. Much better looking IMO. There are loads of Mk2 Gti's about. I had one and barely spent a penny on it. How about a low miler 16v 1994 Corrado? Or has the retro Mk1 bitten you?

I bough new McGuard bolts off ebay, they were for a Merc. The most important thing is they had the correct size thread. They were too long and just needed cutting down. Buy if you're buying a 3rd set, make sure you get the correct ones; so sorry I dont know the correct part number for the VW ones - any chance you can email or phone McGuard?

Best place to buy - GSF are about those prices and trustworthy, and often take returns. Dont go buying a full set until you know which one is faulty, via vagcom. As for how to find those sensors; with the car safely jacked, stick you head in there and look, lol. The rears are easy to see, the wire runs along the rear beam, on top, and seems to go into the back of the hub; you can feel it with your hand. Odd looking thing. Mine is totally stuck on, even with the nut taken out - so presume I need to take the hub off to give it a whack! You just want to clean them - its the face of the thing that needs a clean - some people say they just stuck a jet wash in there hoping everything got blasted out. Not sure about your area. Would be a good idea if we could start a sticky thread where people can state where they have found or own VAG-COM. I know I found a guy in Nuneaton who has it and will choose to either charge a small amount or even plug in for free if you're going to get him to do the work.

ollie not sure if you knew, but you can plug into VAG-COM to see what is at fault. Try to find a local friend/garage that will plug you into this diagnostic check, as VW want too much money for that. I had a flickering light in a rare while that eventually become a constant light, therefore indicating a real fault. VAG-COM gave me the answer and therefore I only need to replace the faulty part - ie the rear sensors. It could be worth cleaning the faces of the actual sensors and ensuring the wire connections are ok too. Go easy on them as they can be delicate. GSF sell new sensors. And yes you need that problem solved before your next MOT.

Yep thats right Dom; the old chrislonghurst version has been printed and added to the car shelf at home. I took a look at the rest of his web a while back, as its slowly been built up; never found the bike suspension an easy one to figure; rake angle and all that.

Where did you go? (cant follow link) What engine work you got done to produce what power? Didnt get seen off by too many other brands? You've got the blue brake fluid, but what other brake mods? Just curious as the standard are so poor on mine for fade. As for the pressures it alll about a bit of experimenting. There are loads of good sites on the web to give an idea of what to do with them. Glad 30/30 worked well for you, but didnt understand the reducing pressure to reduce temp. As for asking for a general pressure to use; we're all different on here; you've got different tyre sizes (even on a 15 rim) on different sized wheels, with different brands. These Rainsports are fine and all, but need that extra pressure just to stop the wall flexing too much. Then you've got tread wear - loads of tread will mean loads of movement + heat. You can play with pressures on track, just changing the rear should make a huge difference as you start to play around with the slip angle. Enjoy!

You shouldn't have any problems running 17's. Im not sure, but I hear the rears can get out of line due to some bushes or somthing. However on the front, if everything is set up and tightened to the correct torque, then there should be no movement - you could try a different shop. But possibly the reason for the wheels moving could be if you're forced to drive over several speed bumps of very very bumpy roads. If the fronts are wearing oddly, tell us how. Are they over worn on the inside edge? This could be either because they have incorrect camber /...... \, or just as likely that they are toed outwards (or toed straight, and under acceleration the wheels toe outwards and scrub the inner edge of the tyre).

cool thats better. you say the switch is inside the handle. Can I take the handle apart? As said, it seems fairly sealed and robust, as the wire just dissapears into the handle. Would it mean needing a NEW handle inclusive of innards (switch)?

IM popping over to Stoneleigh my self. Should be on Sat/Sun/monday I think, although Monday they seem to pack up early.

bushes removed/missing?

When I say swithc, thatsa complete guess. I've got no idea where the switch is. You can have a laugh at my Rolf-Sketch and see if you can point me in the right direction. The actual handle it self is very compact and nothing seems loose. I was afraid of pulling those innards out in fear of breaking that healthy looking wire. You dont mean I should do that right? As for inside the door, as you know, everything is so hard to get at. I cannot remember the layout inside the door exactly, so dont take my sketch literally, but all I could see was (A) the rod to the manual door pin/lock, (B) some kinda large motor - are you saying this is an Actuator? , © a plug - for some reason the wire from the handle goes inside the door all the way down to this plug, and out the other side of it -- is this to let you replace shorter sections of wire (ie if you bought a handle, it would come with the wire and one side of the plug with it)? © the plug looked very clean inside. Suppose I could try contact cleaner in it, once I get some. But any chance of explaining where and WHAT the parts are? If this mechanism (B) is some kind of switch or actuator, Im guessing its very expensive. How do you get at it, to run a multimeter across it?

Yeh, I am fairly certain it must be the electrical switches within the drivers door, or any wiring from there up to the pump. I took the drivers door handle off to find that the sheethed wire ran into the handle and showed no signs of corrosion or fouling - so must be the SWITCH (if there is one / where?). This wire seemed to run down inside the door to a plug; male into female. This then ran out of the door into the unknown – presume back to the pump. Can anyone confirm where the switch/activation is for the central locking on the drivers door? Is it in the door, or is it in the handle, or do the wires carry a signal all the way back to the pump to an switch & actuator? Be great if someone could describe the wiring and switches…! cheers

Will the door hand have clips at both ends to keep it in place then? Just being careful not to break those clips and dent the door i guess... _____-=|__________|=-_____ terrible diag'. lol. Shorting the wires.... yep could well be - its been raining recently. I see no way that the rain is kept out, as the thin strip behind the handle looks all warped out of shape.

1. already got the answer 2. VAG-COM is the way forward, although find a friend (off here) with this system, as VW will want £80 for the privelidge. Alternatively forget about it for now, as long as the front wheels still work and do not lock up (unless an MOT is due soon). The problem could be anything ABS related, but most likely the sensors - these can get dirty and need a clean, but more likely they are old and need replacing - not cheap from either GSF or VAG, so definately get it plugged into VAG-COM. 3. No idea. If you've looked and not found a dead cat stuck in the arch or a big bit of rubber hanging off the tyre, then sorry. But maybe its the ABS sensor hanging off ?? lol