Deanoecosse

Hi, I've not towed a caravan but I have towed a large twin axle flat bed trailer with a Mazda MX5 on it. My Mk2 Galaxy 2.3 has -50mm GMax springs & 18" wheels fitted and towed over 300 miles without a single problem.

Hi, I've replied to your PM, but for the benefit of others, no I didn't change the drop links on mine and I've had no problems whatsoever. I guess if your drop links are ok when you check them, then just leave them as they are.

sorry I've not been on the site for a while and didnt see the post asking where I got the springs. I've also had a few people email me to ask some details, so here's where I got my springs (same place a few folk on the site have got theirs): Carisma Style http://www.carismastyle.co.uk/cgi-bin/ac_c...FORD!GALAXY part number is: 30FO34L No special tools, just your regular spring compressors to remove the old springs and fit the new ones to the shocks, although I just put the car into my local garage to do the work and it only took a couple of hours. I've now done about 6,000 with the springs fitted and the car still drives aswell as it did on the day they were fitted, no problems at all with drop links or bushes. The springs have also settled a bit more now and the car is sitting slightly lower than it did in the original pics. In my opinion, its the best money that you can spend on a Galaxy/Alhambra/Sharan because it makes such a big difference to the way the car drives & it gets rid of that horrible Land Rover look with huge gaps in the arches for not much money.

You'll get it from the Mintex website. Its a bit of a faff about but you'll get into a part where you get a part number and a picture of the pads

Certainly sounds like you've been given different springs. The GMAX's I bought from Carisma a couple of months ago were red and had Gmax stamped onto the spring, plus the big giveaway is that they came in a GMAX box! I'd be phoning Carisma to complain that you didnt get what you paid for. Yeah they may fit the Galaxy but are possibly an inferior make, different rating or non progressive unlike the Gmax-I' ve certainy never heard of Mountney making suspension parts although I did have one of their steering wheels years ago. You ordered GMax so it should be GMAx that you get, its a bit like ordering a Tag Heur watch and the shop sending you a Casio instead, yeah they both fit your wrist and tell the time but its not what you paid for.

looks great Joey, but you really need to get a set of lowered springs on it

Hi, I fitted 18"'s to mine a couple of weeks ago and lowered it 50mm on Gmax springs. Like a few others on here, I kept the standard shocks and it hasn't caused any problems. The handling is transformed, no more roly poly stuff round the corners and the ride isnt affected at all. As you say, its a big ol' gap in the wheel arch and it does need dropped by the 50mm. With the -50mm springs it still leaves enough room in the wheel arch to avoid tyres rubbing if your carrying heavy loads. The pic below shows mine with the -50mm springs fitted and as you can see there is still a decent gap in the arch so if you only dropped it -35mm I think it wouldnt be enough.

or how about these, 18" Audi A8 replicas with GMax lowering springs.

Na, not yet Tim but the Excel will hopefully make it onto DW as soon as I get the fuel pump replaced so I can drive it out the garage to get it detailed. It should come up lovely as its single stage bright red paint and its fairly easy to correct the swirls in it. Will be doing it by PC rather than my rotary to keep the heat down on the GRP bodywork. The car hasnt moved for 8 months so is a bit dusty and neglected looking but it will look all the better in the "after correction" photos.

I'm sure that site I sent a link to has those units aswell (it was the outer one in the rear wing that I replaced on mine.) but I think they are a little more expensive. When I was getting prices from breakers they were a gtood bit more expensive than buying brand new from that site and Frauds was well over

I'm sure that site I sent a link to has those units aswell (it was the outer one in the rear wing that I replaced on mine.) but I think they are a little more expensive. When I was getting prices from breakers they were a gtood bit more expensive than buying brand new from that site and Frauds was well over

The problem with them is most people choose to fit them in the middle of the roof, then when the screen is down it obscures your view from your rear view mirror

I replaced mine a couple of months back. Took about 20 minutes or so and a wee bit fiddly getting into a couple of the screws. Good oem quality from this supplier. There's a "how to" guide on here somewhere. http://www.allpartssouthwest.com/acatalog/...2000___294.html

I've just seen a list of the new VED rates after the budget yesterday (pic attached). It doesnt look that great for us people carrier drivers and a lot of other "normal" cars. Unfortunately it looks like we're gonna be digging a fair bit deaper for our Road Tax now. Does anyone have a list of what VED bands each Galaxy model is in? From what I recall my current tax costing (2.3 petrol) I'll be paying

That's where you're wrong ...... the standard Ford head unit is 1.75 DIN and the Navi is double DIN so you have to change the surround. The connector is different so you need to buy the adapter and there is also the matter of connecting the GALA cable. As far as looking down to read the map, you don't have to as all the directions are fed to the FIS between the tacho and speedo plus verbal instructions. Oh and the FIS ....... has to be Ghia spec. pheewwww, better off with a Tom Tom or Nav Man then as I said! Much less hassle

yeah but your missing the obvious here mumof4, we are MEN, we dont do Atlas's, we leave that for the women so that we can shout at them when they give us wrong directions!

I've seen them advertised on ebay before but always thought, "whats the point" when you can get something better from the likes of Tom Tom, Navman etc that sits up on your dash (in a safer, easier to read position than down in the dash), can be taken from car to car and when you sell your car you dont need to leave your sat Nav in it. Not 100% sure about the wiring but I would think you could just plug & play with the Navigation unit. Its double din sized the same as the standard Ford headunit and if the kit on ebay has the antenna & wiring for it I'd be pretty certain that you will be able to just slot it into your car.

Well thats one way to lower the Galaxy I suppose, but fitting shorter springs would have been easier!

If you change to 18"'s with a wider tyre, you'll get even more s**t sticking to that blanket.

Tim, its the convertible that I've got. Always loved them when I was a kid and vowed to have one of my own one day. Obviously with the cars all around 30 years old now, rust is a real problem. Even from new they were bad for the old tin worm, although I seem to have a really good one with mainly cosmetic tidying needed. However, I stripped the hood, door, bonnet, bootlid, interior trim etc 7 years ago but then my son came along and the TR7 was put on the back burner "just for a year or so". But then I bought a Lotus Excel as a weekend toy that I could play with till the TR7 was back on the road. I only intended keeping the Lotus for a year before selling, but almost 4 and a half years later, the Lotus is still in my garage as its just so damn good that I cant bring myself to sell it and free up some time to sort out the TR7. My wife keeps joking that my son will be old enough to drive before the TR7 is finished, so I've got just over 9 years to get my finger out!

Let me know how you get on if you try the Deo-ox as I was thinking about getting some for my Triumph TR7 resto that I've had languishing in my garage for the last 7 years, my 4+7 year old kids prevent me spending any time on it.

Tim, the wetsanding by hand of your stone chips isnt as daunting as it sounds or looks. Theres a few good threads on Detailing World showing the process. As long as you have the correct paint (I always get mine from the dealer rather than Halfrauds) and take your time you can get an almost invisible chip fix. Your other products are good-SRP-great hand polish and good for masking light swirls (even better & less pain if you get your hands on a PC) and the Colly is unbeatable for durability and looks great aswell. Its always my winter wax of choice. Waiting to see if I can blag a sample of the new Auto Glym wax via the trade. As for uploading photos, yeah on Detailing World you will need a Photobucket account but on this site its a doddle, you just browse to the location of your pic using the "browse" button in the attachment box at the bottom of your post and click "Upload". Did it myself for the 1st time today.

Did you notice much difference with the new suspension over the original. I find the original on the SE to be quite good for a car of its size and much better than the Gal i used to own. Adrian, I've noticed no reduction in ride quality over the standard springs, infact the ride is so much better now that its lowered and on the progressive springs, no more rolling round corners. If I recall tho, I think the Seat Se had lowered springs as standard anyway (-30mm possibly) so yours would have been pretty good to begin with. In my opinion, Ford should have fitted the Galaxy as standard with lowered springs as it transforms the car and makes it a much better drive.