[Garffey]

That's not a bad result for an 14 year-old Vitara, Chris. When I was a nominated tester (in a far away past life) I have seen Suzuki Jimnys at less than 10 years old with the complete rear floor section rusted out!
Couple of new brake pipes, a bit of swearing and a quick bleed (brake fluid, not blood!!!) and your on your way again! 😄

Yeah, you're right Kev not a bad result all told for a 14 year old motor and to be fair still looks as if it's plenty life to live yet!
It's a solid old bus...😉

 

[Garffey]

Took the Vitara back for the brake pipes and m.o.t doing...
A pleasure to just stroll back two miles to home and no rush be at work!... 🤭

 

[Garffey]

Well.... all was not plain sailing yesterday apparently the wheel cylinders didn't want to relinquish their grip on the brake pipe connectors and the body of the wheel cylinders started to crumble, unfortunately the garage couldn't source any yesterday so the Vitara stayed overnight.
It now has an advisory free m.o.t and I just await a phone call to collect.....Oh and see what the 'damage' is! 🤑

 

[Kev5]

Oo-er mate...I hope you've got a decent hammer for that piggy bank!!

(Now let's see -- £1,000 each for very rare wheel cylinders, another £1,000 for labour, £250 for overnight parking charge -- oh and £10 for brake pipe and fluid! )

 

[Garffey]

Oo-er mate...I hope you've got a decent hammer for that piggy bank!!

(Now let's see -- £1,000 each for very rare wheel cylinders, another £1,000 for labour, £250 for overnight parking charge -- oh and £10 for brake pipe and fluid! )

Turned out to be quite a story re:- the wheel cylinders... One boss crumbled and the other snapped off!....The replacement cylinders were ordered, only one arrived!
Eventually after a long phone conversation the other arrived, minus bleed screw!... And also it was a different size to the other!
The supplier hadn't got said bleed screw in stock so couldn't help and suggested the local Suzuki dealer!!
So, more out of interest my mate rang Suzuki... Wheel cylinders were £90+, plus VAT!! (Could get them tomorrow!....Bleed screw was within next 7 days!!)...

I had similar issues when I fitted the front caliper's recently, suppliers couldn't tell me if the bleed screws were included!!......How hard is it???....Or just a photo in the item description would have helped!😖
Anyway another phone call elsewhere finally secured the parts required...
On the upside, everything else to ensure good brakes I was told are perfectly usable, and shoes have plenty life remaining.
Car was finally collected at 4.45pm after an issue with empty cash machines!
Total bill for m.o.t, and an oils service, plus the brake work...

Drum Roll......


£390!! Not far out Kev!...🤣

 

[Kev5]

Turned out to be quite a story re:- the wheel cylinders... One boss crumbled and the other snapped off!....The replacement cylinders were ordered, only one arrived!
Eventually after a long phone conversation the other arrived, minus bleed screw!... And also it was a different size to the other!
The supplier hadn't got said bleed screw in stock so couldn't help and suggested the local Suzuki dealer!!
So, more out of interest my mate rang Suzuki... Wheel cylinders were £90+, plus VAT!! (Could get them tomorrow!....Bleed screw was within next 7 days!!)...

I had similar issues when I fitted the front caliper's recently, suppliers couldn't tell me if the bleed screws were included!!......How hard is it???....Or just a photo in the item description would have helped!😖
Anyway another phone call elsewhere finally secured the parts required...
On the upside, everything else to ensure good brakes I was told are perfectly usable, and shoes have plenty life remaining.
Car was finally collected at 4.45pm after an issue with empty cash machines!
Total bill for m.o.t, and an oils service, plus the brake work...

Drum Roll......


£390!! Not far out Kev!...🤣

Blimey Chris!!
I thought I was only joking!! 😲

In all my years of motoring I have never really understood why there needs to be so many subtle differences between certain generic components, like brake parts. Why don't we have simplicity, say like, 'large, medium and small' which would suffice to cover wheel cylinders for almost every car on the planet! They (and other common parts) don't really need to come in hundreds of slightly different sizes and shapes do they? 🤔

 

[Qu1ckn1ck]

Blimey Chris!!
I thought I was only joking!! 😲

In all my years of motoring I have never really understood why there needs to be so many subtle differences between certain generic components, like brake parts. Why don't we have simplicity, say like, 'large, medium and small' which would suffice to cover wheel cylinders for almost every car on the planet! They (and other common parts) don't really need to come in hundreds of slightly different sizes and shapes do they? 🤔

.. they do if the manufacturer is maximising profits by making his spares unique to his models and ensuring a captive market !

Not sure how true it was but when working for Fords the cynical story was that Fords sold as many cars as possible at barely break-even and then made a killing on selling spares for them.

 

[Garffey]

.. they do if the manufacturer is maximising profits by making his spares unique to his models and ensuring a captive market !

Not sure how true it was but when working for Fords the cynical story was that Fords sold as many cars as possible at barely break-even and then made a killing on selling spares for them.

Your 'spot-on' there Nick....When I worked in a Motorcycle shop someone worked out the cost of individual parts over a complete £750 motorcycle and it was something ridiculous like £5000 pounds or more!

 

[MJL]

After forty years of sports car ownership (and a dozen years as an MX-5 owner) I was feeling I missed small, sporty cars.
Anyway, on Tuesday, I was actually an MX-5 owner for a day... and it felt really good!
I had finally realised that the moves made for the use of electric cars in Australia were inadequate. I thought perhaps an automatic MX-5 might be ideal and after some time I found a dark blue, 2023 model at a dealership near us and... I had already committed to buying it!
The next morning I texted the salesman and explained what I really wanted was a tiny electric car and he was very understanding. He explained that the only Mazda electric car was a midsized SUV!
I have no idea why.

 

[Garffey]

He explained that the only Mazda electric car was a midsized SUV!
I have no idea why.

Glad you were an Mx-5 owner again Martin (Albiet briefly).....Same here in the UK where Mazda are slow to the 'electric party'....And are heavily borrowing Toyota technology for their push to be 'green'....Sadly poor range of the EV's is the most likely reason that they haven't attracted sales like some other manufacturers....I'd think the mid size Ev in Australia akin to being as much good as a chocolate T-pot.... 🤣 🤣

 

[Garffey]

Finally managed to wash the ND!....Its only been about 3 months!

 

[GDCobra]

After forty years of sports car ownership (and a dozen years as an MX-5 owner) I was feeling I missed small, sporty cars.
Anyway, on Tuesday, I was actually an MX-5 owner for a day... and it felt really good!
I had finally realised that the moves made for the use of electric cars in Australia were inadequate. I thought perhaps an automatic MX-5 might be ideal and after some time I found a dark blue, 2023 model at a dealership near us and... I had already committed to buying it!
The next morning I texted the salesman and explained what I really wanted was a tiny electric car and he was very understanding. He explained that the only Mazda electric car was a midsized SUV!
I have no idea why.

I think the problem is that even a small car would need a reasonably large battery capacity to give a decent range and performance, probably around 500KG, that would just kill a car the size of a 5. In an SUV this may not seem like so much of a penalty. So now we have more people pushing larger and heavier cars around which obviously use more energy (simple school kid physics) but we're told that's better for the environment and people believe it because it (currently) works out cheaper than petrol. Of course it isn't if you take the tax away (in the UK at least).