mystery machine

No problem with the amount, just with the difficulty in giving it away

FWIW, I reckon the faulty map that was supplied with some of the hatch STIs has a lot to answer for – doesn't sound like the 2.5 is half as fragile as some people (2.0L owners?) would have us believe...

A bit like asking Colonel Gaddafi to look after yer oil for you!

Cheers Alasdair. I have a Hawk STI and at some point might like to make mods similar to yours. TBH I'd be happy with anything over approx 300lb/ft and 320bhp, but the figures aren't that important to me. Sounds like it's been very worthwhile for you though! You're not worried about running 1.4 bar and 350bhp on one of those 'chocolate' 2.5L engines then?

Appreciate your candidness Dave, and I have £20 waiting right here, but please make it easy for me to part with it and please don't ask me to raise a ticket with admin... I hope to get more than two months out of it, mind you! I'd be right with you if I didn't have an unpluggable puncture in one of my tyres (just when the half-decent weather arrives..... aaaaaaaaaargh!!!)

Seems there's been a conscious effort to alienate non-paying members into becoming paid-up members – exclusion from the buy/sell threads, description changed from 'established user' to 'non-member'. A wee bit cynical IMO, and — I'm slightly ashamed to say — a wee bit 'Scottish' in attitude too (I say that as a Scotsman) Actually, when the membership fee was reduced to £20 I was all-too-happy to join, but that apparently was going to involve raising tickets with the admin, etc. C'mon guys, it's one thing asking me for my money, but don't ask me to have to work to give it to you!!! Don't get me wrong – other than that, SIDC is still a useful source of knowledge and a good place to hang out – but its members — paid up or not — make it what it is as much as any admin or technical effort (not that the latter isn't appreciated).

They can be re-greased, but they'll just keep failing - 'tis a design flaw. If you can afford to, bin them and fit something better (coilies).

All the best and congrats on the nipper! We had a wee girl last summer and she just sleeps any time she's out in the Scoob, and mine's on coilovers with the damping turned up to about 70%!

Nice! What hardware mods had you made prior to the remap?

Correction, "New Life Tyres" in Duddingston do NOT do vulcanised repairs on-site, tyres have to be sent to their facility in the Borders, turnaround is usually a few days. Many other tyre fitters offer a similar service

Loving your Exige, it'll be an Exige or Elise for me after the Scoob if I can manage it

Cheers Neil, RE070 are currently my no. 1 candidate. How do you find them in the warmer dry weather? What did you have on before the RE070s? Some folks don't like their wet performance, but I don't plan on using them much in the wet. Also heard they tramline a bit, but I don't tend to find that much of an issue out of town where I do most of my driving. Cheers

hanks again for all the replies folks Reviving the thread because an unpluggable puncture is forcing me to change my tyres a wee bit sooner than anticipated Considered all sorts of tyres, but it's really frustrating trying to select the most suitable kind – there's almost hee-haw in the way of objective data out there I'm after something that will perform outstandingly in summer/autumn/spring dry conditions, and as good as an average summer tyre on cold dry or cold greasy winter conditions. I seldom use the car in proper wet conditions, and never in snow/slush. Goodyear Eagle F1 – absolutely won't be fitting these, car had them when bought and they were badly 'twisted', apparently as a result of sitting immobile in the cold for long periods. No use to me as the car can sit for weeks in the drive during winter. Also, F1's by all accounts have a comparatively soft sidewall – I'm after a harder sidewall for sharper handling (willing to pay for it with a bit of tramlining, if necessary). Toyo Proxes T1-R - possibly, although from what I can gather from numerous other threads they're probably not much different from the Avon ZZ3's I'm running at the moment. The following I reckon would all be an improvement on the ZZ3s in the dry, outside of winter: — Bridgestone RE070 — Toyo R888 — Yoko Advan A048 ...but will they be any worse than the ZZ3s on cold dry/greasy roads? Anyone any experience with any of the above, or have alternative suggestions? Thanks again

Nae bother mate. Your place sounds quite good, all the places around here talk about sending the tyre away for the best part of a week Cheers

Tyre can't be plugged, couldn't find anywhere in Central Region who do vulc repairs on-site, plenty who can send the tyre away to be repaired though... Having said all that, I've decided that with the cost/hassle of getting a vulc repair done, and the fact I've only about 1mm of tread before I bin the tyres anyway, I might as well just replace them. Spent ages today looking at options for new tyres, just can't decide – pain in the cahoonas

Sounds great... now for the $60M question — where did you get it done?

So what do y'all tend to do when you get a puncture on the outer edge of one of your tyres? Tyres are worn to 3mm, so replacing a single tyre isn't really an option with AWD...

From BBC News: More worryingly - for the oil-dependent at least - a "day of rage" is now being called for in Saudi Arabia itself on 11 March. I didn't know whether to laugh or cry at that! A fecking "day of rage"

I think it is a skin, Davey, but local to the puncture. "New Life Tyres" in East Edinburgh I know do this kind of repair, but it's just too far and too much hassle to get there on a punctured tyre.

Grim reading indeed, Gary.

Sorry to see you go, Gaz – hooses and babies are expensive business though – I'm hanging in there, but only just Let us know how you get on selling the car – would be good to see some solid figures around here instead of the usual speculative chit-chat from certain nae-sayers in other threads...

Cheers – aye, Google threw them up too. They talk about using a vulcanised patch, not sure if that's just the usual patching job or a full 'hot' repair like I'm after... I'll maybe give them a bell the morra. Have you used these guys yourself? Ta.

I have a screw lodged about 15mm from the edge of one of my tyres – as I understand, this is too close to the edge to be plugged – the only method of repair is to have it 'vulcanised'... Can anyone recommend a garage in the Falkirk/Stirling area who will carry out vulcanised tyre repairs? Would rather not have to shell out for four new tyres, if at all possible Cheers

It's been cold and wet here, and miserable with it

They'll look the part – IMO, that spoke design is one of the few new-standard types that suits the car.