mystery machine

...and before anyone says "Morrison's Car Park", I've found a few places that are tooled-up specifically for this sort of caper http://www.advanced-driving.co.uk/skid-pan-courses/ Looks like "AcciDON’T" have a few facilities in Scotland. I wondered if any of you guys had taken any skid pan training, and was it worth it? I've been driving for 15 years, but I reckon this is one area where a little 'controlled' experience could come in handy As a Scooby driver, I guess ideally I'd want to practise in an AWD vehicle. Also, I learn best by practical means, so some place that offers a good stretch on the pan (steady!) would be best. Cheers

^^^ There really is something drool-worthy about a classic in metallic grey

Ach, you know I'm only kidding Craig - isnae worth riskin' the jile ower a motor Actually, I came hellish close to lamping one of them, but thankfully the wife was there to pacify me - makes a change, eh?

Sorry to hear about the bother, Welsho. But you're lucky she's agreed to pay up. I've had four non-fault claims in less than six years and only one of them was decent enough to own up. But then maybe I shouldn't have assaulted the other three? Kidding

OK, cheers Paul - just promise you won't make me do doughnuts or participate in 'group mooning' or owt like that, eh? (Did I read too much 'Max Power' in the mid-nineties?)

Truth be told, I heard through the jungle drums on Sunday that there had been a "large and noisy (but well-mannered) gathering of Imprezas in the Falkirk Wheel car park". Checked the forum to see if it was a SIDC event... realised that it was... slapped masel in the puss... Ach, I dunno if the likes of me would have had much to contribute to the proceedings, what with my bog standard (not to mention boggin' dirty) wee WRX... Have to say though, never before has the Falkirk Wheel car park been graced with a smarter assortment of motors

Hang on - y'all were in Falkirk at the weekend?

For a second there I thought you'd typed 'weedgies'...

If you are caught driving sans valid tax disc, they are legally entitled to impound your mother and crush your dog.

"When the driver realizes that the tape ahead of him is labeled 'Caution,' he tries to take a detour. He was not very happy..." The same cruel irony that sees a man cracking his nut on a 'Mind Your Head' sign.......

P.S. Anyone remember that time when Craig D claimed to have had his password half-inched? Any chance the 'thief' was actually just Craig while he was on the lash? You know, a bit like Hank in "Me, Masel and Iza"... Ah'm only kiddin' Craig - yer wreck-the-hoose-juice posts are pure entertainment gold, min

How about 'on the pish' and then hit the go-karting? They cannae do you fur that, can they?

That does sound a bit excessive, especially as you seem to have displayed a cordial attitude toward them. They must have been having a quiet night... either that or you just have "wan a' they faces" Funny old lot, the polis. Most of those that I've dealt with were decent enough, save for the odd one or two who seemed willing to ruin their general reputation for the sake of a wee power trip-induced staunner

NOW he tells me

1. If your sidelights won't switch off look for the parking light switch on top of the steering column . 2.Use the search function on the forum before asking the same old question . 3. The best first mod for an impreza is the exhaust (backbox at least) 4. Buy a classic 5. Make sure you get regular quality oil / filter changes every 3 - 4000 miles 6. Always run the car on good quality fuel - V Power/BP Ultimate/Tesco 99 and add octane booster for safety in an unremapped import 7. Avoid "chip"ing an impreza - get it remapped by an expert like AndyForrest (Apexi for classics, ECUtek for newage) 8. Sell the Newage and buy a Classic 9. Always wait till the engine is nice and warm before giving it full pelt and let it cool down befrore switching it off 10. Upgrade your brakes before modding the engine 11. A VTA dumpvalve isnt really a good idea unless your car is getting remapped to compensate for it. It will momentarily make your car run rich as the ecu gives fuel for air which has been dumped and not recirculated. All you are missing is the gay noise. 12. Solid rear droplinks and a decent suspension geometry set-up are probably one of the best sub-£100 modifications you can do to a standard car. 13. new ages will undertseer when at the limit 14. If you have a classic get Strutt Braces. The improvement is outstanding! If you have a new age...no luck! loL! 15. Clean out the boost solenoid once in a while and dont fill engine oil right up to max. 16. Go to the SIDC track days at knockhill, you get free tuition from an instructor if you want (plus ensure you wear Cat boots far better that way!!!!) 17. Love every minute of driving and owning it (it will make handing over the credit card much easier 18. Goto meets/Knockhill/Crail and tell us who you are?We don't bite sometimes 20. Join the SIDC and you'll get discounts on insurance and dealer supplied parts in addition to track days. 19. For some obscure reason there is a lot of mention of goats & homosexuals in here. Do NOT let this put you off our forums. 99% of our members are "normal" but we are all fans of The Hoff. 20. Always prefill the oil filter when doing an oil change 21. Dont believe everything you read on the forums. 22. Send off for a Shell card 23. What ever BHP you get, you will never be happy 24. BLUE is the best colour. 25. Is your car standard? - leave it that way. 26. Watch out for the Impreza's "lift-off" oversteer. It's wicked, particularly on a wet Knockhill! 27. wave to other scoob drivers 28. never buy a set of lexus rear lights[+o(] 29. sidc love some photography of your beloved 30. dont sell your scoob you will regret it and will end up with another 1 31. The best place to hang out on saturday nights is at OSIDC 32. Modding is for MEN 33. Going JDM is for winners..........leave the chocolate UK's to the Willy Wonka lovers! 34.^^Andy speaks the truth, JDM is the way forward!! 35. K.I.S.S. Keep it simple stupid and don't mod what doesn't need modding (dump valves etc) 36.NEVER let the other half known how much youve spent on the car.she will be jelious! 37. Dont go to Halfords for your servicing parts - they are more likely to give you filters for a lada or skoda. 38. the bright button really does just make the clock brighter 39. Never believe anything read on Ebay 40. Never buy a impreza when you get 10 spare ST2 (spaceman) 41. CLASSIC ARE The GREATEST IMPREZA BUILT. 42. Try not run your impreza top end as the boxes dont last long(went through 3 last time) 43. Believe the petrol gauge - yes it does use that much! 44. if you have mudflaps watch when reversing near kirbs or they get caught on wheels and bye bye back bumper 45. Your steering wheel lock isn't broken, you're supposed to have to turn it 180 degrees before it engages. 46. Boost solenoid 'chatter' isn't necessarily indicative of a fault (although the Scoob moguls say it can be eradicated the by above-mentioned cleaning). 47. Uneven tyre wear is common. 48. 10 miles use out of a set of newage shocks isn't unheard of - but if you're still under warranty, they're covered. 49. The rear proximity alarm (on newer Imprezas) tells blatant lies in the rain. 50. Door panels dent quite easily. 51. It's won't stop entertaining you on twisty roads!

I experience a very similar noise in my '06 WRX, between 2-3K rpm. I would describe it as 'chattering' (onomatopoeia, eh?). I had the Subaru dealer take a look and they came to the conclusion that it was indeed 'normal' - they claim to have heard similar from other Imprezas. They stopped short of explaining what is actually causing the noise, mind... (in hindsight I should have asked!) Internet research suggests that what I'm hearing is usually referred to as 'wastegate chatter', although whether the wastegate or the boost solenoid is the source of the noise is often up for debate. I've also read that the direct cause of the problem is gummed-up oil in the wastegate and/or solenoid - often as a result of overfilling (incidentally, the dealer appears to have overfilled mine at the last service - hmmmm). If you do a bit of Googling, you can find advice on how to clean the boost solenoid. I haven't bothered, I've almost gotten used to the chattering now... (annoying as it is)

I've been in the company of much worse after a night oot

Ban expired today?

It's a possibility, Steve - but the car's only done 19K miles. Having said that, seems these motors do have their weak points around the suspension - like many others it's already had to have the rear struts replaced (under warranty). I wouldn't rule anything out as long as this behaviour persists, but increasing the tyre pressures has improved things to a point where - provided it doesn't get worse again - I could happily until the next tyre change and see if that eradicates it completely. Cheers.

Scoobies in general seem to have flimsier bodywork and thinner paint than most other motors, as far as I can tell. E.g. a cat has repeatedly scraped my bonnet and wing, which is a new one for me. Of course, few motors would resist a prang from a towbar, but you might have gotten away with less damage from the other two incidents had you been driving something with stronger panels and thicker paint. The price we pay for unbridled driving pleasure, eh?

+1 It's on a par with kicking their puppy or shaving their pussy (cat).

That's interesting you mention tracking with V-tread tyres - I did wonder ('wander', even ), because I had them on a previous motor a few years back, and if memory serves me right they tracked badly too...I know exactly what you mean about over-inflation causing wear to the centre of the tread, but my feeling is that the outsides were seeing too much of the road - a wee bit compensation is required in this case, I reckon Cheers

In case anyone's interested, I upped my tyre pressure - now 35 PSI front and 33 PSI rear - i.e. a little over manufacturer's spec. Car feels a lot better. I can still feel the steering react to 'lines' in the road surface, on account of the uneven tread wear no doubt, but it doesn't become 'rutted' like it did before. Steering also feels sharp like it used to I'm not sure why the pressures had dropped in such a short space of time since I last checked them, but I suspect that the garage that re-checked the wheel alignment may have let some air out after I mentioned to them that the car was over-reacting to uneven road surfaces - they did say that they'd "checked the tyre pressures"... Anyway, thanks muchly for the tips folks

Enjoy!

Mine isn't appreciably louder than anything else on the road - '06 WRX with standard exhaust. I didn't buy the car for the way it sounds (although I do enjoy the nice thrump of the boxer at high revs).Regardless, I'm on your side with this - loud exhausts are at worst a nuisance, but keying is utterly unacceptable lowlife bawbaggery.