What's Your Pet Hate/s

Of all the equipment and accessories available to us we often find many good ideas seem like a good idea at the time, but when we use them we find they don't do what they say on the tin, so whats your pet hates with motor vehicle related equipment?

Two of mine are Scotchlocks and tyre inflating sealers in cans instead of a spare wheel.

Scotchlocks came out many years ago, they made wiring simple for amateurs or keen DIY'ers, no cutting of cables, no buying the correct connectors and associated crimping tools, juts identify a cable and whack a Scotchlock on to connect an accessory.
With a Scotchlock it splits a vehicles wiring insulation and compresses onto the conductor core, a few years down the line dirt and wet get into the split insulation and corrode the cable, electrolytic reaction between the actual metal crimp of the Scotchlock and the dissimilar copper core forms, and major problems.

I have lost count of the numerous times i have been asked to look at an electrical fault on a vehicle, which according to the owner will only take a few minutes, only to end up rewiring something like a towbar electrics, and all because of Scotchlocks.


Tyre sealants are becoming popular with a range of vehicles, mainly sporting models in a range, but now filtering down to many other vehicles, so why the issues? Tyre sealers can only be used where a vehicle has a hole across 90% of the tread width, the hole is 6mm diameter or less, and is not on the edge of the tread or in the sidewall of the tyre. Likewise sealants cannot be used if the tyre has a gash, cut, or hole in the tread which exceeds 6mm in diameter.

Manufacturers tell us its to not provide a spare wheel which reduces weight, Bull****, its all about money. Imagine a vehicle manufacturer pays £50 for a nice alloy wheel, and another £50 for a tyre to fit that wheel; they sell them to you at much more than that, more like £300 upwards for the two; and they make 1000 cars per day, they save £100,000 per day in costs of the spare wheel and tyres alone so more profit for them as don't reduce the price of their vehicles.

Give me a spare wheel anytime, no issues with guessing if it will work, no issues with gashed or split tyres, and i am safe in the knowledge that i can fit my spare, travel at road speeds of 70MPH on motorways and not at 50 MPH as many sealants are limited to, and no issues with your locat tyre centre charging you an additional hours labour to clean this rubbish out of your tyre before they can repair it.

Fitting the spare wheel underneath the vehicle, great when you have a flat or blow out when in the ruts.....NOT, what a waste of time, put them on the bonnet or rear door!

Jas

Central locking. Is there a vehicle anywhere over 10 years old that has reliable central locking? I think not! Most of us know that Land Rover systems play up, but 'er indoors has a Honda Civic, one door has packed up A neighbour has a Renault, his tailgate packed up. Need I go on?

Electric windows work on 20+ year old motors, so why not central locking?

Central Locking not my favourite subject, why can more manufacturers not make cars simpler and practical rather than more complicated. Where are the practical 4x4's other than landrover defender. Talking to a friend recently who works as a mechanic hates being called a technician he say's that due to common rail diesels that most diesels are proving less reliable than petrol engine vehicles. Also why with some cars e.g Renault Laguna you have to take the bumper off to change a bulb so most people have to take it to a main dealer to change a light bulb so what is the point of carrying bulbs around as spares. Anyway enough ranting going to have fun day in garden and washing some of the grime and mud of the car, and see if our rugby team can actually score some tries

On the issue of bulbs, many modern cars are so compacted that you often have to remove the battery to change a bulb, so an additional £50 labour for many.

Tom Mc wrote:

Central locking. Is there a vehicle anywhere over 10 years old that has reliable central locking? I think not! Most of us know that Land Rover systems play up, but 'er indoors has a Honda Civic, one door has packed up A neighbour has a Renault, his tailgate packed up. Need I go on?

Electric windows work on 20+ year old motors, so why not central locking?

My Isuzu tfs69 4x4 doublecab (3.1td) - 12 years old , central locking and electric windows are fine, ok it'll need new shocks for the mot but heck you gotta keep the spares companies going

ok we won't mention the electrics on the 8 year old vaux astra................

but just got a new switch for the electric mirrors on the Iveco and they still work after 250k klicks and 21 years and thats italian electrics

rich

Chequer plate accessories.........

Depends what circumstances I'd say. They definitely suit the TombRaider Land Rover, but would look hideous on a Series I for instance.

Tom Mc wrote:

Central locking. Is there a vehicle anywhere over 10 years old that has reliable central locking? I think not! Most of us know that Land Rover systems play up, but 'er indoors has a Honda Civic, one door has packed up A neighbour has a Renault, his tailgate packed up. Need I go on?

Electric windows work on 20+ year old motors, so why not central locking?

The central locking works fine on my 2 Frontera's one's 17 years old and the other is 15 years old you've just brought the wrong vehicles.
And don't get me started on Disco's I don't know anyone who hasn't had problems with their central locking or immobilisers.

[quote="wideformat4x4"]

Tom Mc wrote:

The central locking works fine on my 2 Frontera's one's 17 years old and the other is 15 years old you've just brought the wrong vehicles.

Isuzu again........

My D1 central locking works fine 24 years young.

roamingman wrote:

My D1 central locking works fine 24 years young.

Are you using the fob ? or key ?

Fob,

Tom Mc wrote:

Depends what circumstances I'd say. They definitely suit the TombRaider Land Rover, but would look hideous on a Series I for instance.

This & Lara Croft = Sexy Cool

roamingman wrote:

Fob,

Wow very impressed both D1 and later D2 my father in law had both had problems with the fob and immobiliser.
He had so much trouble he wouldn't have another LR of any denomination, which annoyed the mother in law as she has alway wanted a Gay Lander but has had to make do with a Rav 4

Jas wrote:

Tom Mc wrote:

Depends what circumstances I'd say. They definitely suit the TombRaider Land Rover, but would look hideous on a Series I for instance.

This & Lara Croft = Sexy Cool

Nice, I want that one, I would even think about getting rid of both Frontera's for that

wideformat4x4 wrote:

Jas wrote:

Tom Mc wrote:

Depends what circumstances I'd say. They definitely suit the TombRaider Land Rover, but would look hideous on a Series I for instance.

This & Lara Croft = Sexy Cool

Nice, I want that one, I would even think about getting rid of both Frontera's for that

What ... the Landy or Lara Croft?

Decisions decisions!

Lara

Jas wrote:

Lara

Think you'll find that's one bouncing smiliey too many, there's only two air bags in that vehicle!

Tom Mc wrote:

Jas wrote:

Lara

Think you'll find that's one bouncing smiliey too many, there's only two air bags in that vehicle!

Is all you need

Landy