[beardy56]

We had a Golf com in to the garage where I used to work with the car set up like that. the supension had been lowered to the point that I don't think he would get over many sleeping policemen. The tyres we wide to the point of being silly and the angle of the wheels meant that he had a tyre contact area less than most cars doing the Brighton run. I always assumed he had to fit them at such a silly angle as it was the only way to get the tyre under the wheel arch.

 

[Segata]

My Old Man's Kuga gets that, you get nothing and then the turbo finally decides to wake up, I'd personally tune it out but he's aprehensive as it can have an effect on the insurance.
Paddle Boxes have always been fun in traffic, you've got no control of the clutch so you have to feather the throttle to keep bite and sometimes especially if you've been driving something else with a normal manual or its not quite warmed up, it'll engage hard and lurch the car forward if theres just a smidge too much throttle.

As to Camber you go negative for straight stability or positive for fast turns, naturally it would be something that varies by track, my M3 for instance has a very slight Negative camber with it's set upmatched toa CSL as this works best for fast road use.

 

[Fluff]

In the sixties my lowering our for my mk1 cortina ,this was sold as a lot ,were 2 inch alloy blocks and long U bolts for the rear ,to go between the axle and the lead springs .The front was more interesting ,3 hooks with a threaded end and nuts which required you to drill 3 holes in the lower coil spring cup and for the books to be halfway up the springs and to be tightened down with the nuts .It looked great ,unexpectedly strange handling !!!!!

 

[Fluff]

That should read ,leaf spring ,and this was sold as a kit .

 

[Segata]

Yeah height change of leafs is always a bit of an odd one, trucks you add blocks for height (or the back of your old Ford or Vauxhall if you wanted to pretend you were a dragster cruising up and down the seafront or main road).
With the Injury I can't go too low anymore, I did manage with the M3 before I stored it but much lower and I'd have to be lifted in and out and with the size of me that's easier said than done.

 

[Kit Spackman]

Locally there's a kid with a Honda Civic Type R, or so it says on the tailgate. I have my doubts....

This thing has very wide wheels, front and rear, and they all have maybe 10-15 degrees of camber and are lowered so much that the upper half of the rear tyres vanish inside the arches! How it steers I've no idea, but I can get round corners in my Volvo 850 Auto Wagon faster than he can in the Honda.

Oh yes, he's also one of the 'lower the driver's seat so far that you have to look THROUGH the steering wheel' types as well.

 

[Segata]

Oh God that, virtually lay in the back seat so have near bugger all control of the steering, all this I can drive like a bad boy nonsense yet sit in the worst position you can for high speed control.
Admitedly I usually have the seat low but if I didn't I wouldn't fit, I admitidly did have red Badges on my Civic but I didn't Type R badge it (they didn't make one in that shell for a start, the top was the VTi-S packing a detuned B18 from the DC2 'Teg Type R), it was more it just went nicer with its Black and red colours.
Older M Cars you can usually tell from a distance that aren't real due to the rear haunches so that M badge on the 320D isn't fooling anyone.

 

[matthew77]

I understand most M3 cars have 4 exhausts and vents in the front wing which is what I look for. A lot of old 3 Series beemers seem to acquire a M3 badge.

Today I saw an old Astra coupe with a Ford Mustang pony on its grill, I was much happier seeing a Porsche 356 later.

 

[Segata]

I've caught so many kits for the vents to be added afterwards (newer ones you can even do this as a factory order), its only the 46 onwards and even then it's acctually just athestic, you pop out the Gills on my M3 and you will see nothing but the backside of the inner wings, the reason I say rear haunches is the axles are physically wider so the rears always wide so even under body kits it can be a tell tale.
Same can be said of the exhaust, the E9xs were genuine quad pipes being V8 but the 6Cylinders have always been 2 until the backbox and you'll even see track cars converted to a twin or single exit to save weight.

Saying that about the Mustang badge reminded me of some horrors I'd see as a kid, I spent alot of time around the Yarmouth part of Norfolk and there was this one store that sold tons of fake tacky american stick on chrome things and I dunno what caused it but there were so many middle aged blokes who'd plaster their cars in it while going for the usual I wish I was a cowboy get up, thankfully that seems to have died off now so I don't have to violently return my chips anymore now.

 

[beardy56]

Never lowered my MkI Cortina, did add a lot of extra dials and a remote racing gear change. Just a little flick of the wrist or fingers to change gear as opposed to a foot or two of wonder. Did add some wide steel wheels someone had made up which took 185/195 tyres and I had to have inner tubes as well. best bit was that to fit or remove the rear wheel you had to deflate the tyre and have to studs perfectly square. Best bit was under the bonnet, a factory original 1200cc engine but this was avery early production car. At the start of Cortina production Ford didn't have all the Cortina parts available but due to the poor sales of the Classic and capri they needed the Cortina in showrooms. So like all pre airflow cars the dash was designed to take the oval Consul unit, later replaced by a twin dial fiberglass pod over the steering column. Mine also had the drive shaft and diff from the one of the other cars, probably again the Consul, so that the rear wheels sat forward in the wheel arches. But the engine was a different matter, Ford had intended to release a 1200cc Capri with a high compression 'sport' engine, of which a few had made it into production and one was in my car. The bottom end was basically a 1500cc unit with at 1200cc top. This was why when I had to replace the oil pressure switch I nearly lost it in the engine. it also meant that from a standing start thanks to the engine and gear shift and probably the tyres I could stay with most cars up to 2.0 Ltr till at least 50 mph. Great fun an just a pity when the underbody just rotted away.

 

[Kit Spackman]

And another thing...................

Why do car company's advertising agents take pics and make vids of cars for the UK market that show LEFT HAND DRIVE CARS!

For your in formation we drive on the left here and most cars are RIGHT HAND DRIVE!

Recent guilty parties are Audi, Nissan and RANGE ROVER of all people!

It's not difficult to do it properly, if you must use LHD cars in the media for your export customers, just reverse the pics and the vids for the UK adverts. It shows woeful disregard for your potential UK customers if you insist on doing this and certainly would persuade me NOT to take a blind bit of notice of your product.

Not that I could afford a Range Rover Hybrid Velar anyway.......

 

[Gripping Pneus]

That's curious because the parent countries of Nissan and Jaguar/Rover drive on the left (Japan and India).

 

[Segata]

The vast majority don't get a pre-production RHD which the ad Cars often are, there are some exceptions though, and it's also cheaper to do just one ad redubbed for all of Europe which is also kinda stupid as not ever country gets the same option list.
My local dealer hounds me to buy a new one too, despite the fact I clearly don't go for newer cars, next will be an alongside Car if I do go for another, sensible Choices would be something like an old Volvo or a Wagon R but I wouldn't mind something Cold War eastern block to go with the other unreliable nuisance machine.

 

[Segata]

That's curious because the parent countries of Nissan and Jaguar/Rover drive on the left (Japan and India).

The Japanese cars do sometimes appear RHD in the ads (a lot of models are built here even for Japan itself), not seen a mega recent JLR ad but it is odd as they often are RHD when going through production tests.

 

[Kit Spackman]

The Audi vid actually says the spec of the car shown may not be a UK spec, so they've added that bit, why not reverse the print?

Vorsprung durch technik? I don't think so!

 

[Trisha]

A poem wot I wrote

Pull plough, push pen, and onward they go
Malvern or Sherborne, but rarely at Stowe
Family abroad, cut awf from the cord
I pay for your school, but still feel bored

Eton calls on mortar and brick
To deliver a man who's rounded but thick
Climb the tower, kick a ball
We rule Britannia with crown and gall

Seen part one and frightful sequel
No need to imagine we're all now equal
Harrow and Dulwich are much the same
But who's in charge of this silly game?

You might reply with worthy aim
Fine and dandy for a panto dame
Too old to care about this world to bear
The man in charge is green and fair

 

[StuBeeDoo]

Stance. For those who aren't aware, it's an entire sub-culture of motoring enthusiast. They have at least one internet community (stanceworks). It's a long time since I had any experience of MOT testing, but I do wonder how some of these stanced abominations manage to pass the test with their wildly stretched tyres and lack of ground clearance.

Personally, I find these vehicles - and also JDM-modded ones - aesthetically abhorrant. I wonder if they are conceived, and appreciated, during particularly bad acid trips.

 

[gteye]

And another thing...................

Why do car company's advertising agents take pics and make vids of cars for the UK market that show LEFT HAND DRIVE CARS! :angry:

For your in formation we drive on the left here and most cars are RIGHT HAND DRIVE!

Recent guilty parties are Audi, Nissan and RANGE ROVER of all people!

It's not difficult to do it properly, if you must use LHD cars in the media for your export customers, just reverse the pics and the vids for the UK adverts. It shows woeful disregard for your potential UK customers if you insist on doing this and certainly would persuade me NOT to take a blind bit of notice of your product.

Not that I could afford a Range Rover Hybrid Velar anyway.......

Kit, many manufacturers, including Ford, fit their advertising car with a numberplate with symmetrical letters and numbers, such as WHM 818, so that the car can be shown as a RH or LH drive for British and European markets, with a readable numberplate,
Simples!

Geoff

 

[gus3049]

I think you will find that very few car adverts use the actual car shown. I understand that most are done using CGI and the following.

However, as the blackbird has a centre driving position, they could indeed choose which they want in the ad.

 

[Kit Spackman]

In that case it's even easier to produce a RHD version of the vid, they don't even have to build the car!

They just can't be bothered, shows how much they care for their UK customers..............