I got a puncture....

When you get a puncture these days, generally its a massive inconvenience but you should have all the tools in your car to get you going. Or at least, thats the theory. If you have a car that is supplied with a spare wheel, Great! Pop that on and away you go! However, more and morw cars are coming with puncture repair kits. There are two main reasons for this. 

1. To save weight in the car so your not lugging around a heavy spare wheel you will potentially never use.

2. To save cost of not having to supply an entire spare wheel that will potentially never get used. 

Below is the reason that you should always tick the option to have a spare wheel in the car. 

The jack barely fit under the car, i had to dig a groove to fit it under there.

Repair kits DO NOT fix this!

Thankfully i never fitted coil-overs or this would be supporting the front of my car!

So yeah, I managed to crack an alloy wheel. Massive rock + narrow road + oncoming traffic. It was either plough into oncoming car, plough into tree lined ditch or drive over large rock and hope i didn't break the car. I chose the rock, and it did. needless to say it could have been worse. 

There will be an upcoming YouTube video of this debacle because I had time to kill while being rescued. 

And that is why you always ask for a spare tyre!

Really, a leaking exhaust?!?!

So, after a frankly ridiculous 5 weeks of not having a car. I finally hear back from the garage to say that it's all done and ready. No apologies for the tardiness of the repair time. But I suppose it's absolutely acceptable to take such a lengthy period of time to do what was essentially,  an MOT.  Anyway, I arrive at the garage to be informed that the car has a clean bill of health and it's sailed through its emissions test. After they fixed a hole in the exhaust. Sadly I had to pay to fix that. It's an aftermarket part and I'm not an unreasonable guy. However. It wasn't until I left the garage I remembered that  the car should have never got a clean bill of health as there was a whopping big flat spot I put on the steel wheel prior to going into the garage!  That's an advisory at least! However they failed to pick up on it. What a joke!  Thankfully yhe summer wheels are back on now and I don't need to worry about them for at least a couple of months....hopefully!

Cars back In the garage!

So,after resolving the issue with the turbo in my seat, I was looking forward to an action packed summer full of road trips and car meets. It seems the car gods are somewhat displeased however. After putting it in for my first MOT. I figured I wouldn't have anything to worry about. Hahaha! Was I wrong! So the tester comes bak to me saying that my car has failed. I'm confused, naturally, after àll,it's a 3 year old car. So I start panicking. It must be something I've done! Is it the brakes? I replaced them a couple of months ago. They seem alright?  Could it be the suspension. I just fitted new anti roll bars and bushes....nope. it's the emissions! Emissions! It's a freaking 3 year old car! How can it be emissions!  They say it's my induction kit and exhaust. So, like a muppet I take them off and retest. The results are worse! So off to another test. They tell me it's the lambda sensors. Then something clicks. The turbo, it's haunting me! So off to seat I go. No way  am I paying to fix something g that should have been rectified months ago! They tell me they're booked till may. So it's sat in their yard waiting until they have a spare 15 minutes. That was a week ago. I'm still waiting.....

Shots of Loch Skene

New brakes on the Ibiza FR!

So I decided to fit new brakes to the FR in the new year. The last time the car was in the garage they gave me a warning that the pads were almost out. I suppose 40,000 miles ain't too bad on the factory pads! After much deliberation I decided to follow MCM's advice. If your going to be doing the work anyway, you might as well upgrade! So that's what I did. I was going to go for full Greenstuff pads and discs but I figured that, in reality I don't need to go that far. so I compromised. I fitted slotted discs on the front and ceramic pads all round. not too sure how much better they are going to be, but I figured I would give it a shot anyway!

While I was shopping around I decided to have a look for some braided brake hoses to fit while I was at it. Sourced myself a set of HEL brake lines in transparent red to go with the callipers. now on paper, switching out the hoses seemed like a reasonably straightforward job, at the front at least, the back however is another story! both the rear lines are either tucked up beside the exhaust or right beside the fuel tank! BE WARNED - this is not a job for the faint of heart. I took almost 5 hours toi get the back hoses fitted due to the sheer lack of access. so if anyone tells you that brake lines are easy to fit. My advice, check your system very carefully first and don't be like me who jumps in feet first and get stuck in the rain and dark trying to clip the hose back into its mounts without being able to actually see what I'm doing! At the end of the day, your brakes are the only thing that will be able to stop you if you get into bother. probably not a component you really want to mess about with if your not 100% confident!

Will let you know how everything works, going for a big drive tomorrow, #shakedowntour!

My turbo blew up!

So, after a mere 36,500 miles and two and a half years of proud ownership. My Seat ibiza fr edition decided that having a turbo was no longer cool! And so it chucked it out (along with the entire contents of my oil pan) straight through the engine. In the middle of nowhere, at half 11 at night....

Stupidly I didn't have roadside assistance because, you know, it's a new car. They're really reliable now! Right? RIGHT?!?

Anyway,I'm in the middle of getting it transported back to civilisation so my garage can (hopefully) fix it under warranty! 

Wish me luck!

New look on the Ibiza fr

So I have been toying with the idea of adding more red onto the car somehow. So I stole an idea from the Mercedes A-c lass and put a red highlight on the car. I found some red carbon fibre wrap online but it wasn't a  great success as the wrap is too thick and doesn't sit well on the car. So I am possibly going to redo it in a slightly darker matt red.  What do you think?