Richmond

Well, yes, but I think plastic rivets usually include some arrangement to spread the legs wide (ooo-er) once the shaft is in the hole (sorry, I'm feeling a bit faint) and are usually intended to be more or less permanent. These would be fine for Mr T, I imagine, but what I had in mind are thingies which are just a push fit (or a light-tap-with-a-hammer fit) and rely on the resilience of the plastic to return the legs to a sufficient spread to keep the stud/rivet and the trim in place. Mr T, maybe a bit of foamed adhesive between the trim and the bonnet flange would help.

For a lightweight (I assume) item like this there are two possibilities which might do the trick. 1. Drill and seal holes in the flange and attach with plastic studs if you can find the right size (I mean studs with 2 legs which go through the hole in the trim and the hole in the flange and are resiliently biased outwards to retain them in place). Plastic washers will take up a certain amount of slack if you cannot find the exact length needed. 2. Glue the trim onto the flange. Half the trim on cars is glued on these days anyway. Will the bonnet slam on the trim as it is shut? Bear in mind that Sod's law states clearly that the first time you take it out after fitting the trim: a. you'll get a huge great stone chip on the bonnet about 1 cm away from the trim strip; or b. a stone will hit the trim strip and bounce off and crack the windscreen; or c. both. Why not fit the trim just before you sell the car (and then it won't matter if it does rust around the screws!)?

You need to avoid metal/metal contact if possible, even if one or both are sealed (by paint or sealant). The only way I can think of is to drill a hole, seal the bare metal and attach whatever it is with 'soft' (such as nylon) bolts and washers. Depending on what and where it is, you might be able to use clips of the type sometime used to attach mud flaps to the flange inside the wheel arch, using rubber pads if necessary to avoid metal/metal contact. I'd be very reluctant indeed to drill into a panel, although I bolted a luggage rack to the boot lid of my MGB; no rust problems, but new panels for Bs are very cheap so the risk was small (I never once used the luggage rack). The rack sat on rubber strips above and below the boot lid, which were drawn very tight onto the lid in the region of the holes by the (steel) mounting bolts, presumably providing an effective water seal. You might be able to do something similar. What are you going to attach, as a matter of interest?

I bow to superior knowledge, but it seems incredible that Ford or anyone else could put something finished like that under the bonnet, especially where it can be seen.

I don't have my car in front of me, but I'm pretty sure that there isn't one of those under the bonnet (there may be one with something else attached to it). I hesitate to disagree with Topbloke (he is, after all, a top bloke), but it looks broken, or at least as if it has a bit missing, to me.

That's what they tell you! :lol: Personally, I'm pretty relaxed about scratches and scrapes on wheels and so on. Life's too short to worry about them. They can be repaired or replaced before selling the thing if necessary. So long as the car is mechanically and structurally sound, all's well; the rest is just window dressing. I'm buggered if I'm going to spend a whopping chunk of my hard earned on a car and then worry myself into an early grave about how it looks. It would be different if it was an aesthetically pleasing, mechanically superb machine (Aston Martin, for example), but it isn't. Obvoiusly I wouldn't be saying this if I hadn't scraped the occasional wheel myself.

How come you guys all married women who can't drive? It seems like a bit of a coincidence. "Oh, look, there's a bit of a scrape on the wheel, the wife must have biffed it on the kerb again :( . Obviously it wasn't me, can't possibly have been, I'm much too good a driver." Hmmm. :( My old lady's as good a driver as most people. I bet yours are as well.

In case it helps: A coil went on mine earlier this year (apparently there is a coil for each cylinder, which seems a bit over the top - I'm surprised that all 6 ever work at the same time). It was obvious that the car was missing on one cylinder, but it drove OK. I did about 700 miles on French m'ways at about 85 mph, bit more gear changing than usual and the engine light flashing at me the whole time (the flashing light means a problem, get it looked at, the constant light means stop driving unless you want to replace the cat). Fuel consuption was even higher than usual; presumably a sixth of it was going straight through the engine. The loss of power was only really noticeable on steep hills (the car was fairly well loaded).

I couldn't find any defectors which looked remotely like the Ford template (they're all the same shape more or less), so I made some from a paper backed metallic tape; total pain in the arse, but they worked fine. Someone on this forum suggested sticking the deflectors on to headlamp covers and keeping those for continental travel, which seems like a good wheeze. I don't know how critical the shape of the deflectors is; I assume that the correct shape (or something close) is needed.

A bit harsh, no?

One thing which struck me about the LPG conversion to the Galaxy is that it apparently involves the loss of the spare tyre, which seems a bit of a bummer.

There are lots of threads with discussions of LPG conversions; several users of this forum have had them. A search should find them. Most people seem happy with the conversion (IIRC), unlike John B80, but of course one must beware the zeal of the convert (see loads of threads about the fuel conserving miracle that is a diesel powered Galaxy; frankly I'm surprised that it's worth garages' while to keep diesel pumps, as most diesel owners visit only once or twice a year, and that's usually to put diesel back into the pump). ;)

My experience of clutch failure is that it is gradual, although fairly quick; it slips more and more until it won't transmit the drive at all. On one occasion I had a few days warning, on another only a few miles (neither was a Gal). This problem doesn't sound like a clutch. If Dansik can turn the engine over by manually turning a driven wheel, is it likely to be worn drive shaft splines?

Thanks. That means a lot.

I don't think that what johnB80 said was opinion; anyway, it is what the reader understands by what is written that's important, not the specific words used. If you lead people to think something damaging but which is not true, you might be in difficulty; you cannot hide behind 'ifs' and so on. I'm not suggesting that johnB80 said anything remotely objectionable or untrue. Anyway, who cares? We're not going to be sued. We can put almost anything we want in posts and not carry the can for it. Power (well, a bit) without responsibility; brilliant! B)

Who's Derren Brown?

That sounds like complete balls. If you want to reject the car, keep plugging away.

Well, I hope that Sandicliffe Ford's are at fault, because if not, if I was Sandicliffe Ford, I'd be getting in touch with my, that is Sandicliffe Ford's, solicitors.

Surely it's simply because Ford is a much bigger organisation in UK than is SEAT, therefore Ford sells more cars than does SEAT. I cannot believe that anyone would buy a Shalhambra (or any other MPV) on looks! If you're looking for stylish design you could not be more lost!

The remedy for leakage between tyre and rim used to be an inner tube, but I'm sure that this is frowned upon now, if not illegal. IIRC, I once had a liquid sealant applied aound the bead on the rim before the tyre was replaced (not on the Galaxy), which I think solved the problem. Otherwise, invest in a foot pump and cancel the gym subscription.

Surely the whole point of this forum is to try to help each other with problems (and to have pointless discussions about flag waving, obviously). No problem, no need to post. Telling each other how brilliant our cars are is not especially useful.

I've just discovered that under the Proceeds of Crime Act 2002 advising either party (or anyone else) on copyright infringement may be a criminal offence. My lips are sealed.

The element doesn't leave a pattern on my screen when it's demisting. It's clearly visible in daylight; I find that in fog I start to focus on the element (it appears clearly against the white background), which isn't great.

I imagine that I break the speed limit as much as anyone, possibly more than most (why else do I have a V6?), although I like to think that I only do so where it's 'safe'. I don't do a very high mileage, and (tempting fate) I've never been nicked (except in Canada, oddly, and I've been ticked off by a copper in New Zealand - nothing here). Nevertheless, I don't think that it's anything to boast about. The fact that we all do it (except perhaps John B80) doesn't make it any less dangerous. I can understand why high mileage drivers use various gizmos to avoid being caught (I would), but they should acknowledge that they are doing so to enable themselves to break the law and drive more dangerously than they should without suffering the consequences, not because they're striking a blow for individual liberty, speed cameras are only there to raise money, blah, blah.

FWIW, I find the hfs effective to demist the inside of the screen, whether or not that is it's main purpose.