Another year

briang9 · #1 6th September 2013, 08:18 PM

Didn't go quite so well as previous years with today's MOT, needed new suspension arms, not wholly unexpected as I had been warned at last service they would probably need done soon. Couple of new tyres as well last week and that's it for another year

Think its been said before on here but the car feels much tighter after having the arms replaced

Adrian E · #2 6th September 2013, 08:32 PM

At least we're good to go for another 12 months!

Was it a full set of suspension arms or just a few?

briang9 · #3 6th September 2013, 09:33 PM

Not sure Adrian, I have to admit to going into "cat mode" when suspension components crop up. I had four done today and I think two at the last service, sorry a bit of a "girlie" answer there

But as you say its nice to get another year

David's8 · #4 8th September 2013, 07:45 AM

Between you me and The Laird, we seem to have been good for the suspension arms sellers just lately!! It must be the roads around here.
Glad to hear you have a clean sheet now though.

Adrian E · #5 8th September 2013, 07:49 AM

You should've seen the inside of the wheel I left with refurbishers this week! Take your pick of dinks on the inside of it just from driving through the potholes you can't avoid

Architex_mA8tey · #6 8th September 2013, 08:07 AM

Good point chaps -even 5 years ago you didn't get this much damage to tyres, wheels and suspension arms but new it seems almost ongoing and accepted by all - maybe someone should start a petition to number 10 about the state of our roads and asking for our road tax to be actually spent on our roads!!

notorious · #7 8th September 2013, 08:13 AM

Dezzy · #8 8th September 2013, 09:37 AM

Too busy spending it on illegal wars to have any to put back into the road network.

Major problem around this area it the saving has lead to a lot of patches instead of proper repairs and not so many roads require resurfacing all at the same time, just throwing a barrow of mac into the hole and getting the whacker on it is not working long term. They have even tried to say that in some areas it's traffic calming, but having wheels bouncin over the surface and gravel holes can't be that calming as the best brakes with the best ABS system in the world won't stop you if the wheels are tarmac, hole, gravel, hole, tarmac.

Oh yeah that and obviously we've had "weather" over the last few years and that has really ruined the roads, not the under management or cost saving over the last 15 years just this new fangled weather thing.

Everyone could hold back their Road Fund Licence or TAX as it is not used just for the road network but goes into the pot, on the grounds that we're engaged in an illegal war but not sure it'll help with the state of the roads.

That or i'm going to have to slow down to 50 or something.

Adrian E · #9 8th September 2013, 09:46 AM

I did love the way they renamed the 'road fund licence' to 'vehicle excise duty' to get around all those who argued money collected from vehicle owners should be spent on improving the infrastructure! It is now a tax on owning (not driving, apart from the other taxes on fuel) rather than using a car.

Without the income from VED you could add a fair bit to income tax to make up the shortfall, which is the political dilemma govt always faces over which is deemed more 'acceptable' to taxpayers/less ammunition to the opposition of the day come election time.

Most roads have now been declassified so they are no longer the responsibility of the Highways Agency and instead must be 'maintained' by local authorities, but guess what - their budgets have been slashed massively overall so while central govt can claim they've not changed the money they're paying to local govt to pay for road repairs, they conveniently ignore the fact the money isn't ring fenced and most people would rather any number of other services got the money than having it spent on patching potholes.....it's a circular argument as there's not enough money in the economy to pay for everything without a significant increase in tax, which nobody wants. Whether we get value for money for what does go in is entirely a different matter of course!

Nollywood · #10 8th September 2013, 11:01 AM

I had polyurethane bushes made for my old '98 S8, and never had to worry about arms after that. 6 years on, the arms are still tight, no adviseries on any of the subsequent MOT's.

I couldn't find any polyurethane bushes for the D2 back in 2007, but I would imagine they exist now. I had bushes made for both lower and upper arms, as well as the ARB links, and the sharper handling was very obvious, without being harsh.