aro'sport

PS dont buy any wiring kits or adaptors from Halfords ... you can buy the same stuff on Ebay for a fraction of their prices!! HU & speakers should be pretty much reasonable prices ... again ... compare & ask questions! you never know which units have been inflated in price for the 28 Day period cos theyre going on Half Price soon!!

Some amps have inputs via speaker wires as well as Phono cables ... i believe that the quality will not be the same however! Even a cheap aftermarket HU with Pre Outs should be better than most OE units these days ... less than £75 should buy you a unit with pre outs and aux-in ... just over £100 should get you BT as well! If you're gonna spend out on ICE a 1/2 decent HU is the best place to start!! Try asking for honest advice in your local ICE place ... halfords will have an Audio Expert on duty during busier times of the week!

Speak to your local dealer ... apparently its a very common VW group problem ... £37 with the usual 2 yr warranty for the genuine Heater Resistor ... imho its not worth buying a 2nd hand unit for £15-20 as that'll prob blow ... and its easy enough to fit yourself too! : Bayonet fitting in the top of the heater 'Trunking' behind the glove box.

Treble is directional sound ... ie to benefit from tweeters they need to be facing your ears! Thus putting coaxial / 2 or 3 way speakers anywhere that does not face you is not going to help! Set up some half decent tweeters on the A Pillar so that they face the drivers ears and you should be sorted! A small amp might help but try them without first ... treble correcly directed should not need to be that loud ... unless the rest of your system is really loud!! gd luck!

Hi My ( very relevant) story: Recently had the cambelt etc changed ... & had the water pump & thermostat done too ( just in case!!) First time out , after about 3 miles , temp light flashing & guauge showed 110. Heaters on & windows open, helped but not enough! Let it cool & limped down a hill to a petrol station. added water ( some had escaped thru overflow). Still ran hot. Called RAC ... guy spent nearly an hour checking & testing ... kept pointing to Water Pump ... but as we knew it to be New, he carried on checking ... removing Thermostat, taking pipes off ... eventually told me to drive it home & he followed: Temp high despite heater on & windows open ... BUT the temp went down SUDDENLY once or twice then back up. He recommended i get the car to a garage. I rang the mechanic i usually use , who could not attend, but talked me thru various checks ... feeling temp of various pipes / hoses ... taking off heater pipes to see how much water flow ( >>> a dribble ) taking off the THIN pipe to the coolant tank ( >>> Steam) ... ALL pointed to the NEW Water Pump ... fitted by this mechanic !! A week later he arrived & dismantled the Timing Gear again. Took the Water Pump out ... IN TWO PIECES !!! Apparently it's supposed to be Pressed together ( rotor ( Impellor) onto spindle) and this one was no longer together! As recommended, i had ordered a METAL impellor - QH branded ... but Halfords had been sent an alternative brand ( 3 letters ... JBG or something like that!). Took the offending pump back to Halfords & explained the situation ... took the RAC mans report too ... along with the Bill from the mechanic ... and they referred the situation to someone higher up , and informed me the next day that they would cover the bill, in full! WOW ... credit where due!!! So .... fill with water as usual , safely pull off the Heater hoses, one at a time , & briefly run the engine ... if there is no more than a trickle coming to / from the heater ... good chance its the WP !!! Gd Luck Dave

Hi I am in MK , and know alot of places capable of alot of things ...& just done my own Arosa Boot Build ... but can you please better explain what you are looking to do, and out of what materials? What is a Show Cage? What do you mean by a 5Th Wheel ... i only know that as a towing setup for american motorhomes!! 6x9's holes IN the sides or AT the sides? Cheers

Hi I have just gone thru the drama of suspension bits ... and i purchased the following: Front: VKDA35111 x2 - front mounts & bearings - Central Auto Supplies ( local factor) @ 11.25 inc VAT each 1h0412303B Rubber stops ( mine were disintegrated!) N10174002 + N90323704 x4 each ... Bolds & Nuts holding the front leg ..totalled about 16 quid BUT mine were threaded & distorted! Rear: 6x0512131A x2 rubber stops ( mine were disintegrating & broken up!) @ 8.48 + vat each 191512119 x2 ring ( washer - rusty!)@ 1.49 +vat each 6x0512335 x4 rubber donuts for rear shocks ( squashed up!)@79p + vat each 1j0512149 x2 rubber bung - top of rear spring ( might as well!)@2.58 + vat each 357512147 x2 metal cup at top of rear shock ( rusty)@4.16 + vat each The above were for my Sport 16V ... obviously its best to ask your stealer to look up the bits appropriate to the car !! Yes, all of the above does add up !! However in my case they were in need of replacement ... i guess the condition of the rubber bushes etc will reflect on the handling & the longevity of the main suspension components ... if a jobs worth doing .... dib dib dib

Hi I used it years ago on a classic car interior: Plastikote Fabric spray - black - ended up using tins & tins - went from medium brown to chocolate brown to dark-chocolate brown ... a fortune later & no where near BLACK!!! It would have been cheaper to buy s/h black seats! Which i did do eventually! BUT Vinyl PlastiKote - scrubbed door cards & seat plastic sides / backs clean - applied 2 coats - great result ... & still looked great 10 years later too!! Shame the car got burnt out in a garage fire!!! I suppose thats what you get when you have a ( BEIGE!!) car resprayed 'Flame Red' !!!

hi Funny you mention that, as last week i had to open the boot with the battery disconnected, and then when i reconnected it the CL would not work on the boot ... seems u have to turn the key ( mine was difficult to turn as i assume it has hardly ... if ever ... been used before!) from the Vertical position , anti clockwise to the '10 to' position, and then back to the vertical ... that seemed to sort it for me! I dont know if it was fluke or Science that sorted it !! Gd luck

Valid point re horn / ign! With respect, however, i was pointing out that the damage is already done by the time the thief has entered the car !! I was also pointing out that pro car thieves are not the main problem ... a wayward 14 year old will see the physical barrier & will hopefully not bother to damage your car!! They are marketed as 'deterrents' ... and even when the red mist descends due to drink / drugs, a big yellow obvious chunk of metal between said 14 yr old & the steering wheel should be enough to send them looking for an easier TWOC! Conversely, a Good car thief should be able to get around a mechanical device AND the electronic devices ... however i doubt they would use their skills on a relatively cheap everyday car ... now if this were the Ferrari forum i might be in a different mindset!!!( Paranoia!!)

Hi, Firstly, imho the more you can do to encourage the casual car thief / joyrider to steal the car NEXT to yours ... the better!! It is largely true that a serious thief would know what electronic gadgets are on what car & act accordingly, but most car thieves are opportunist, high on something or TWOC'ers, and they will have jemmied the door or broken the glass before finding that they cant start your Pride & Joy !! Thus a GOOD mechanical deterrent is defo worthwhile!! "GOOD" = Thatcham or Sold Secure approved. Thatcham / Sold Secure Approved means that a Professional Car Thief would take a couple of mins to get the lock off your steering wheel ... & apparently a couple of mins ( & the ensueing noise!!) is a long time for a pro ( see 'Gone in 60 seconds' ... ) The Disk Lok would take a Pro armed with a Grinder & hammer etc about 8 mins ( & lots of noise!) the first time & about 5 mins once he has found the weakest link !! YES i spoke to the guy that did 2 tests on Mech Sec for Auto Express Magazine years ago!! In conclusion, if you judge your car to be 'desirable' to Low Life OR if you regularly have to leave the car in a Less Than Desirable location , then a Disk Lok is a great investment for Peace Of Mind!! £ 90 or so in Halfords ... but if you are able to shop in Costco, they usually do them for £50 or so !! As a budget alternative, anything Thatcham or Sold Secure Approved is going to help put off the thieves ... but bear in mind that the Stoplock style which goes diagonally over the centre of the steering wheel is often tight & will often 'beep' the horn accidentally !! Oh & most cars will accept the Small size Disk Lok ... see their website on http://www.disklokuk.co.uk/products.html where you can check on fitments ... and I have just found that you can buy one for £65 delivered too !!!!! I hope that the above is of use ... and if a Mod wishes to move this to somewhere more relevant ... feel free!

2001/51 is when the new regs came in ( Font / sizes & spacing / BS / Postcode ) ... unfortunately it appears that Plod dont always know that ... i've heard of people being pulled & fined despite their car being pre 2001 ! I believe that when the new regs started, the OLD font style / sizes became illegal to sell ... thus if your "Older-than-2001 Officer" plates happen to have the CURRENT std sized/Font digits on them, you're not going to get out of the fine ... but the opposite is also true ... if your plateds are genuinely older than 2001, the font style & size will PROVE that fact ... and thus you wont need the BS & Postcode on it anyway.