Wipers are £1.75 +vat here Barrie, and I could have probably got you a discount on that too.
OK, not Bosch, but at that sort of money, you could have almost 3 sets of mine for the same price as your Bosch ones.
Around the corner as well. Tee hee.
She’ll be fine Barrie if you’re getting that MPG on a regular basis, I’d say mine’s around that on longer jaunts and some around 37mpg ish.
Talking of MOT’s I panicked one year, two days to the MOT confident it would pass I hadn’t checked the wiper blades passenger side had split and not wiping the screen properly. Halfords are costly even with the discount so good old Amazon to the rescue with Prime del. Same as yours Bosch
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Do you know, here was me thinking I’d got a bargain! It’s probably the most Ive paid for wipers too
normally ASDA’s finest
I pass your spot several times a week and I never thought about wipers. Oh well, I get what you say though, the Bosch ones probably won’t last more than three times longer than the Beacon Works ones!
Barrie
Hiya Mick, must have been typing at the same time as you its just one if those things I guess, I like to have things right or as near as I can get and MOT time I always flap and then heave a sigh of relief afterwards.
Barrie
I’m sure it will pass Barrie as you seem to look after your car well. I know what you mean though when mine went in during April I thought they would probably find something as its 16 years old albeit very low mileage. It passed with no advisories so I was really pleased.
What I tend to do on the day is keep looking at the government MOT car history site and input my reg as the updates are live so you should see it when keyed in by the garage. I was probably looking at it 4 times an hour on MOT day! .
By 11:30am the new MOT details were there so I could relax - with the car being so old and a pass with no advisories I felt a bit smug actually.
Good luck for next week anyway.
Hi Andrew, that’s great news on your car I tend to wait with mine at the testing station. It’s a bit like an expectant father pacing the boards, awaiting news!
TBH, between the previous mk3, the mk1 supercharged and several others, I’ve never even had advisories ( which I want to avoid) like you, it’s a nice feeling when they go through unblemished. This one hasn’t been for a MOT in my short ownership so I feel that I don’t know the car that well? There’s nothing that I’ve picked up on though, that hasn’t been addressed so will wait and see.
Barrie
I tend to use apps to check MOT details. The one I have on my phone is Vehicle Smart, which shows passes without advisories in Green,
passes with advisories in Orange, and fails in Red. My cheapie Golf actually came to me with the most recent 2 MOT’s as Greens. I decided
to keep that going, so have taken to paying my garage the £50 to do a full pre-MOT check a few weeks before the real MOT. The required work
can then be done prior to the real MOT. Result…, nice ‘Green’ MOT…, all looks great for pro-active me, and also for someone else down the line.
Shall also be applying same methodology to MX5 next time round.
That’s very interesting, I remember when pre MOT’s were a “thing” I honestly thought ( don’t know why) that they had somehow stopped? I don’t have an app for tracking stuff like this but I do use the Gov.uk MOT history checker.
Barrie
Well, garage squeezed me in this afternoon for the MOT, it failed
nearside rear parking brake inneffective, the off side must have been doing all the work as it held nicely on a hill start etc. Tester commented that it was a nice car and noted the stuff I’d done to the suspension etc. It’s classed as a major fault though, unfortunately. Not today but will have a look tomorrow, they said they would fit me in for the retest ASAP. Totally my fault but I didn’t check each individual actuator, cable was adjusted (front) and as said, was holding fine but only on the offside fully, as it turns out. My emmisions worries were of no consequence whatsoever, all fine on that front. Hopefully a bit of spannering in the morning will sort it no advisories, so the underside surface rust now eradicated (or at least held at bay
)
Barrie
Glad you don’t have any problems with your emissions,how about the cars though?
You’ve got to smile! It isn’t until you re read something that you realise what you’ve said
Anyway Dave, thank you for asking!
Barrie
I had problems yesterday, think it was the baked beans for breakfast and homemade leek & potato soup for lunch.
I think your problem could be a sticky caliper Barrie, the car I’m not sure about.
Go on, pile it on, anybody else?
TBH, not looked yet but caliper is fine, pedal braking efficiency was OK, so must be either an over stretched cable or the pivot itself on the actuator, then again might be neither of those! Will report back when I’ve had chance to look and hopefully with a MOT
Barrie
So, spent a couple of hours faffing about this morning, investigating the handbrake problem. As suspected, the pivot pin for the actuator was sticking and the cable is not in the best condition. I’ve freed the pivot, that’s now working fine, however, the cable is partially seized so I’ve ordered both rear cables which I will fit next week when they arrive. I can then get the retest completed and I’m good to go Basically, the spring on the pivot pin isn’t strong enough to pull the inner cable and return the pivot to its off (free)position. I can activate the handbrake fine, but it won’t free off as the cable is not sliding freely enough in its sleeve
I have not enjoyed this morning at all, outside under the car on axle stands in the very cold climate
Barrie
Barrie, I feel for you, but when spring comes next year and your out in car - roof down - wind in the hair ( I don’t have much left!!) it will all be a distant memory and you will be loving every minute of the car.
Enjoy.
John
Both rear handbrake cables arrived from mx5Parts. In advance of this, I stripped out the old ones in the morning. Car as high as I could get it at the back on adjustable axle stands. Still not ideal but did the job. If anyone has done this job, they will know how difficult it is to get at the two rear cables where they join the front single cable. Calipers end is straightforward with wheels off. The PPF and the propshaft do a damn good job of obscuring the target area! The forked spring clips that retain the cables as they go through a bracket on the underside of the transmission tunnel, are (or one is at least) invisible so quite an accomplishment to remove. Car booked in for Wednesday PM for retest. The old cable on the nearside was fubar’d, other side was fine but didn’t want to be repeating the job further down the line. It was the nylon/Teflon coating on the inner cable that had bunched up, stopping the smooth action of the cable. All good now though, hope the tester thinks the same.
Barrie
Happy to report, the car passed the retest no problem!
Barrie
Good news Barrie and peace of mind for another year.
Cheers Andrew, yes, just a shame as I had no idea the n/side handbrake was faulty? Anyway, no advisory items which is what I hoped for, just a major fault!!!
Barrie
I had no doubt that it would pass knowing your standard of details. Perfect result
John