OUR KEV: THE FAULT WE FIXED FOR A FIVER – AND MIGHT HAVE SAVED A LIFE
ISSUE 8 | MAY 2016
£2.50 | WORKSHOPMAGAZINE.CO.UK
INVESTIGATION When write-offs are allowed to return to the road
T I O D N H WE KA
Taking car modification to a whole new level
RATED & RANKED
Listen up: We test ear defenders and hand wash
PLUS: Our experts’ verdicts on electric impact guns
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WINNING ISN’T EVERYTHING The high-flying BTCC team that’s happy to help its rivals
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EDITORIAL
BLACKBALL MEDIA HASLAR MARINE TECHNOLOGY PARK, HASLAR ROAD, GOSPORT, PO12 2AG T: (023) 9252 2434 PRODUCTION EDITOR DAVE BROWN
dave@blackballmedia.co.uk Twitter: @CarDealerDave
FEATURES EDITOR SOPHIE WILLIAMSON-STOTHERT sophie@blackballmedia.co.uk Twitter: @1Sophie_W
CONTENTS. 26
Brakes: What are the benefits of sticking with brand name parts?
16
BTCC: A spirit of co-operation and competition from this year’s most successful team
13
How Kwik Fit put their parts and soul into a special tribute for the Queen’s 90th birthday
SENIOR STAFF WRITER ANDREW EVANS
andrew@blackballmedia.co.uk Twitter: @snavEwerdnA
STAFF WRITER JACK EVANS
46
jack@blackballmedia.co.uk Twitter: @jackrober
JUNIOR STAFF WRITER LAURA THOMSON
laura@blackballmedia.co.uk Twitter: @lauramayrafiki
Our Kev: Why gentlemen (and ladies) should always check their nuts...
HEAD OF DESIGN GRAEME WINDELL
graeme@blackballmedia.co.uk Twitter: @graemewindell
PHOTOGRAPHER JONATHAN FLEETWOOD
SUITS
ADVERTISING
jd@blackballmedia.co.uk Twitter: @jfleetwoodphoto
ADVERTISING EXECUTIVE CLIFF CULVER
cliff@blackballmedia.co.uk Twitter: @CarDealerCliff
FINANCE & ADMINISTRATION finance@blackballmedia.co.uk
CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER JAMES BAGGOTT james@thebaize.com Twitter: @CarDealerEd
MANAGING DIRECTOR ANDY ENTWISTLE andy@blackballmedia.co.uk Twitter: @CarDealerAndy
CONTRIBUTORS Kim Adams, Alex Wells, Jon Reay, John Bowman SUBSCRIPTIONS If you know someone who would like a FREE copy of Workshop Magazine, email the details to subs@workshopmagazine.co.uk and we’ll do the rest. DISTRIBUTION Workshop Magazine is distributed to a database of up to 10,000 service and repair sites, franchised car dealers, independents, car manufacturers and suppliers.
Company No. 6473855 VAT No. 933 8428 05 ISSN No: 1759-5444 Workshop Magazine is published by Blackball Media Ltd (Company No 6473855) and printed by Warners. All rights reserved. Conditions of sale and supply include the fact Workshop shall not, without our consent, be lent, resold, hired out or otherwise disposed of in a mutilated way or in any unauthorised cover by way of trade or affixed to or as any part of a publication or advertising, literary or pictorial matter whatsoever. Workshop Magazine is fully protected by copyright. Nothing may be reproduced wholly or in part without permission.
38 Our panel of expert testers deliver their verdicts on popular electric impact guns
Welcome
22
Afzal Kahn: I’m an attention-to-detail guy
THERE have been some curious noises emanating from the end office here at Workshop Magazine this month as our expert tester Andrew has been blasting loud music at himself on purpose, trialling a range of ear defenders. With hand cleaner being put through its paces too, it’s been an odd month. Our professional testing panel has also expanded, with three new garages in different parts of the UK putting some cordless electric impact wrenches through some hard graft. Jack Evans has been to Bradford to speak to Afzal Kahn, the man behind Kahn Design and creator of some recognisable aftermarket kits for Land Rover models, while Andrew’s taken a trip to Worcestershire to talk to the highly successful Team Dynamics British Touring Car team about how it creates its dominant Civic racers. Following on from last month’s pretty drastic E-Type rebuild, Laura Thomson has been out looking for even
more dilapidated wrecks brought back to glory and with Stuart Ikin’s Healey 3000 she’s found another really impressive restoration. New recruit Jack Healy has been investigating wrecks of another kind, checking into the legal changes around returning accident-damaged cars to the public roads, while Alex Wells is looking at the merits of branded braking components against their cheaper ‘pattern’ alternatives. With Workshop Club still available to join, I’ve been talking to Plan Insurance about another of the benefits that membership brings – it’s another busy issue! As ever, we hope you enjoy it. Please get in touch if there’s something you think we should be investigating.
Dave Brown, Production Editor WorkShopMagazine.co.uk
| 03
NEWS. INVESTIGATION
WRITE-OFFS: SO WHAT ARE THE RIGHTS AND WRONGS OF RETURNING DAMAGED CARS TO THE ROAD ? Last October saw a change in the way the DVSA looks at cars that have been badly damaged. JACK HEALY reports on the shake-up and explains the current regime around write-offs.
I
t doesn’t need us to point out that being the road no longer needs to apply for involved in a road accident is a pretty a Vehicle Identity Check to prove traumatic experience. their vehicle matches the vehicle If it’s a particularly serious accident, a car registration details.’ can be written off by the insurance company, of This has simplified the process course. And there are cases where if someone of written-off vehicles being owns an older vehicle that only sustains relatively brought back on to the road, minor damage, it can be written off if the costs but how exactly are ‘write-offs’ to repair are seen as ‘uneconomical’ by the categorised and which ones are insurance company. deemed roadworthy? From 2003 until October last year, the Some written-off vehicles can’t be Department for Transport enforced the Vehicle brought back on to the roads again, and Identity Check (or VIC test) to help reduce stolen these are known as Category A and Category cars being passed off as being accident or B write-offs. damage-repaired in ‘ringing’ schemes. During the time of VIC testing, During the period where this both A- and B-categorised cars scheme was applicable, cars could be bought back on to the would need to be repaired before Roadworthiness, such as road, providing that they were being taken to a certified Driver properly prepared and had servicing and repairs, is and Vehicle Standards Agency passed an MOT. the responsibility of the (DVSA) workshop to be assessed. Parts can be salvaged from vehicle keeper. The car would then have to pass Category B write-offs that can DVLA an MOT before being allowed to be then be used in other cars, but the SPOKESPERSON VIC-tested. It would then be checked body must be scrapped because of the against the vehicle’s data from the DVLA significant structural damage. to see if all the details were consistent. Category A cars must be completely destroyed, If the all-clear was given from the test then the with no parts salvageable. owner would be allowed to tax the vehicle and it Category C and D write-offs are both able to be would be re-registered by the DVLA. brought back on to the road by the original owner However, because of better car security, or a third party via a car salvage company, but improved technologies and with only 40 ‘ringers’ there is a difference between the two. identified out of 916,000 that were inspected Written-off vehicles identified as Category C under the VIC scheme, according to the are repairable but the costs to restore them to a Environment Agency-recognised vehicle recycling driveable standard are seen to cost more than the and processing facility AFF Vehicle Services, value of the vehicle, with the valuation carried the government deemed the scheme ‘largely out by the insurance company. ineffective’ and the rules were changed. Insurance companies set a repair-to-value ratio, So what happens now? which limits how much they will be willing to A spokesperson for the DVSA said: ‘Since spend on repairs. This is usually set between October 26, 2015, a driver returning a vehicle to 50 and 70 per cent. For example, if a vehicle is
”
04 | WorkShopMagazine.co.uk
valued at £5,000 and the insurers set a repairto-value ratio at 60 per cent, any damage worth £3,000 or more will usually mean the car is written off, as the costs are seen as uneconomical. Under the new government guidelines, these vehicles will need an annotation on the car’s V5C stating that the car was salvaged. Since the VIC scheme was abolished, where you would have to pay £41 for the tests plus travelling costs to a certified test centre, the tests are now discretionary. The process has also been significantly shortened, with it taking less than a week for the form to be sent back to the owner. Category D vehicles are repairable for less than the insurer’s valuation and also less than the repair-to-value ratio, meaning they are deemed economic to restore. As before the abolition of the VIC scheme, Category D vehicles do not require a new V5C form to be put back on the road, with no annotations needed in their logbooks either. Some insurers will only cover cars that have undergone an engineering inspection after the
‘A driver returning a vehicle to the road no longer needs to apply for a Vehicle Identity Check to prove their vehicle matches the vehicle registration details’. DVSA SPOKESPERSON
repairs to make them roadworthy. A spokesperson for the DVLA added: ‘Roadworthiness, such as servicing and repairs, is the responsibility of the vehicle keeper. We at the DVLA also can’t advise on any guidelines on the repairing process of a salvaged vehicle, as this is up to the repair company and the owner to decide how much work is done to the vehicle.’ For a vehicle to be approved, it is recommended that an Individual Vehicle Approval (IVA) test – a scheme run by the government to make sure all vehicles on the road are legal – be undertaken by the owner. The scheme is there to approve vehicles that have been imported from outside the UK market and for vehicles that have been rebuilt, to make sure that the cars on the roads comply with European Union safety standards. If a car is more
than 10 years old, however, an IVA test is not applicable. The tests usually take place at an official DVSA test centre, but private inspections can be arranged at privately owned test facilities. For passenger vehicles, there are two types of IVAs that a car can undergo: a Basic or Normal. Basic IVAs apply to a certain group of vehicles, including rebuilt vehicles, and the test involves comparing the test vehicle with the model in perfect condition, in a process called ‘type approval’. The DVSA examiner will conduct an engineering assessment, which will either be a visual inspection or a series of tests to see if the vehicle conforms to the DVSA regulations. With the visual tests, it may be required for the owner to open certain areas of the car so that there is access to items under scrutiny. However, at no point will the car need to be dismantled for the tests.
Normal IVA tests don’t apply to rebuilt vehicles but are there to approve mass-produced vehicles that have been imported. These vehicles must undertake the Basic IVA as well as structural, environmental and additional security tests to make sure they are legal to drive in the UK. If approved, the presenter will be issued with an Individual Approval Certificate (IAC), which clears the vehicle in both design and construction aspects. This doesn’t clear the vehicle completely, though, as an MOT is still required before a rebuilt vehicle can get back on the road. When all tests have been completed to make sure the vehicle is structurally and functionally sound, then you can register and license the vehicle with the DVLA. IACs can be refused if the vehicle is deemed to be unsafe, and further repairs will have to be completed before the vehicle is retested. WorkShopMagazine.co.uk
| 05
NEWS. | ACCOLADE |
Comline receives Queen’s Award for Enterprise LUTON-based Comline Auto Parts Ltd has received the prestigious Queen’s Award for Enterprise – the UK’s highest accolade for business success. The firm has been recognised specifically for the growth of its export business with the specific award presented being ‘The Queen’s Award for Enterprise: International Trade 2016’. In receiving this honour, Comline has demonstrated significant and sustained growth across international markets. Driven by its core filtration and friction products and up-andcoming product categories such as steering and suspension, Comlinebranded vehicle parts are now being distributed in more than 40 countries throughout Europe, North Africa and selected others across the globe. Regardless of marketplace, the Comline ethos of delivering highquality replacement vehicle parts that offer genuine value for money is consistently finding favour with aftermarket businesses. Divyesh Kamdar, managing director, said: ‘What a moment this is for everyone associated with Comline! ‘We are proud to be a British company and I can think of no greater honour than receiving such an important accolade directly from The Queen.’ He added: ‘Comline continues to enjoy considerable success here in the UK but our export growth over the past four years has been nothing short of staggering. ‘The hard work of our dedicated staff coupled with the efforts of our valued distributors has seen overseas business treble since 2012. ‘To be recognised for this achievement is hugely gratifying and something that Comline will wear as a badge of honour over the coming years.’
Autofarm rescues very rare Touring Carrera from the US The 1973 model is just one of 16 Royal Purple cars built
I
ndependent Porsche specialist Autofarm has continued its knack of uncovering rare Porsches with its latest find, originating all the way from Trinidad. After a colourful ownership history, the last RHD RS 2.7 Touring Carrera produced, chassis 1576 of the 1590 is also just one of 16 Royal Purple cars built, has been brought back to the UK via the US by Autofarm’s Josh Sadler. Sold in the UK in 1973, it was exported to Trinidad in 1978. Having passed through a small number of owners on the island, it was laid up in the late ‘90s and then left to bake in the Caribbean sun for some 14 years after its last owner was tragically murdered in 2002. Autofarm has found an original survivor of the 94 RHD UK Tourings produced – a ‘matching numbers’ RS 2.7 with the added kudos of being
by DAVE BROWN @CarDealerDave the last RHD to leave the factory. With so many RS models ending up in competition, cars with a documented history are extremely rare. And this one has also retained the unique ‘homologation’ technical features of the very last of the RS series, the ‘short’ trailing arms for what became the Turbo suspension geometry, and the stronger Silumin crankcase – the material used on the 1974 3.0 RS and RSRs. ‘The RS 2.7 is now highly revered by collectors and enthusiasts,’ said Sadler, who freighted the 911 back from Florida. ‘Having worked and raced these cars since they were new, we are often contacted about cars. ‘A good contact, Rikard Asbjornsen in the US, alerted us to this car. As is often the case, especially given the circumstances of the
| MAKE A DATE |
Not long until CDX – see you there!
Comline is one of a select group of UK businesses to receive the award
06 | WorkShopMagazine.co.uk
MAKE A date in your diary, if you haven’t already: CDX16, the biggest automotive expo of its type, is taking place at Silverstone on Tuesday, May 24. The event is organised by our sister title, Car Dealer, but there will be plenty to interest service and repair professionals like you, and best of all, it’s free!
It will feature more than 100 motor trade suppliers, making it the biggest motor trade expo in the UK; the naming of the 140 most influential dealers on Twitter; and speeches from leading keynote speakers. It will be a fantastic day and we’ll see you there! n Find out more online: bit.ly/CDX-video n Get free tickets online: bit.ly/CDX-16
former owner’s demise, the family was understandably cautious about inquiries. ‘They actually started to cover the car up with old furniture to conceal it and a number of dogs patrolled the garden. Eventually Rikard was able to agree a deal with the daughter and got the car back to Florida and I acquired it from him there.’ The condition of the car surprised Sadler. ‘It had literally baked in the sun – the fuel tank was completely dry and I’ve never seen that. ‘However, it remains a very good car and very rare in purple. Retaining matching numbers is remarkable and we are already in contact with the original exporter so hope to continue to gather even more details of its fascinating history.’ Sadler is debating whether to sell or restore it. ‘I’ve fallen for the story of this one,’ he said.
NEWS ROUND-UP What’s been making the headlines at workshops around the United Kingdom? OADBY:
Family-run automotive supplier Epic Accessories has started stocking Trico’s new Exact Fit beam wiper blades. The business in Oadby, Leicestershire, which is part of the A1 Motor Stores national network of independent stores, sells exclusively Trico wiper blades including the full Exact Fit range, and owner Samantha Gutteridge said: ‘We have created a new full display area with signage designed by Trico.’
| KUMHO |
GLASGOW:
A mother was left perplexed when Kwik Fit quoted her what she thought was an excessively high £360 to fix a slow puncture and address other issues with her tyres. Teacher Susie Henderson suspected the firm was trying to take advantage of her gender. She got the quote from Kwik Fit in Milngavie – but eventually got things sorted for less than £12 elsewhere. Kwik Fit has denied Henderson’s claims.
WARWICK:
Euro Car Parts has opened a new 10,000 sq ft branch in Warwick as it continues its UK expansion. The Warwick branch employs 20 staff members with more than 100 years’ combined industry experience. Six vans will provide 30-minute deliveries within Warwick, 45-minute deliveries to Leamington, and deliveries to Stratford and Southam within an hour.
BIRMINGHAM:
Seat UK service manager of the year Sam Booth is off on a troubleshooting mission and making way for Shane Prince at the brand’s Crewe workshop. Booth is moving to Volkswagen Van Centre Birmingham, which is also part of the Swansway Group, for six months, where he will be using his skills to put its service department back on the map for excellence and great service.
Exhibition world premiere planned IN ADDITION to its current range of tyres for cars, SUVs, off-road vehicles and trucks, Kumho’s eye-catching stand at the upcoming REIFEN exhibition it Essen, Germany will feature several new products for a variety of tyre segments, including one for electric and hybrid vehicles; all of which are likely to be available to consumers between autumn this year and spring 2017. It will also host the world premiere of the company’s new UHP winter tyre, the WinterCraft WP71. The WinterCraft WP71 is intended for medium to large-sized passenger cars and is notable for the V-shaped lateral grooves running from the centre to the shoulder area of its tread design.
| AUTO WINDSCREENS |
Academy is opened to develop skills AUTO Windscreens has opened a new training and innovation academy in Chesterfield. The centre aims to support younger trainees and already-trained technicians to develop their skills through their NVQ assessments and Institute of the Motor Industry automotive glazing accreditations. Technical and innovation manager Tony Green said: ‘The academy provides a renewed focus on excellence and offers learning in a vibrant, fresh environment.’
| AGREEMENT |
CORNWALL:
Sprys of Launceston has joined Bosch Car Service’s network of independent garages. It will benefit from access to the latest equipment and state-of-the-art training facilities. The team’s background means they have the skills and equipment to offer a high-quality service while working to the highest industry standards on cars of all ages, makes and models.
Just the Italian job as Kwik Fit expands
HERTS:
A ladies’ evening is being held at the Roy Chapman Ltd service centre in Tring to help increase confidence and safety behind the wheel. The event will take place at the dealership in Western Road on May 19 from 7pm to 9pm and will include refreshments. Ex-policeman Daniel Rands, who specialises in insurance fraud investigation, will be talking about ‘crash for cash’ incidents and the benefits of dashcams.
ESSEX:
TDI-Tuning, the Chelmsford-based tuning box design and engineering company, has expanded its customer services team with a new member: apprentice Courtney Drury. It will be 17-year-old Courtney’s first office-based commercial role, and TDI-Tuning says her appointment demonstrates its support for the government’s drive to support young people using apprenticeships.
KWIK FIT has agreed a partnership that will see the brand expand into Italy. Operating more than 600 service centres in the UK and with another 180 in the Netherlands, the group has signed a franchise agreement with CDG-ONE to open around 200 centres in Italy over the next decade. Although the Italian outlets will be franchises, unlike the company-owned model of the UK, they will operate on the same principles. Customers of the network in Italy will benefit from Kwik Fit’s European guarantee, whereby any work carried out by Kwik Fit in one European country is automatically guaranteed in any Kwik Fit across Europe. WorkShopMagazine.co.uk
| 07
FAULT TO FIX FAST AUTOLOGIC ASSIST is the industry’s FIRST and ONLY vehicle connected support service in the WORLD. And now a more convenient way to get from Fault to Fix with
AssistMobile the Autologic mobile app. Autologic Assist resolved over 7,000 faults last week alone! AssistMobile gets you the fastest route to the support you need... ...and we call you!
et the Autologic Advantage
Get the Autologic Advantage on Your Mobile
autologic.com 08 | WorkShopMagazine.co.uk
01865 870050 Quote: WM2000
FAULT FINDER.
CHRIS ROUTLEDGE OF AUTOLOGIC DISCUSSES DIAGNOSTICS
Save time and money if you need to know why you’re losing power
Loss of power on Mercedes – all V6 diesel engines with CDI 4 injection systems
The AssistPlus system quicky diagnoses a fault and tells you how to fix it
E
xperiencing a lack of power from a vehicle’s engine could be a sign of one of many issues. Finding out exactly what is causing the sudden loss of power can be a tedious job. However, using the Autologic AssistPlus system, the answer to the fault and how to fix it could take only minutes – saving you time and money. Here, we look at what to do if you experience a loss of power on a Mercedes with a V6 diesel engine and CDI 4 injection system. To repair the fault, the first step is to carry out a quick test using AssistPlus. You should find a P2510-001 or P2616 (B60) fault code. These codes point to the boost pressure regulator or signal that the exhaust back pressure is too high. It is important, however, to call Assist Technical support if you find different fault codes displayed. There are a number of possible causes for these fault codes appearing. Three likely causes are as follows: (1) the exhaust manifold flange breaking up and damaging the turbo; (2) variable vanes on the turbo seizing up or Y77/1 electronics turbo actuator faulty; (3) oil leakage.
Here’s how we repair each cause… Repair for Cause 1: Exhaust manifold breaking up The first step is to check the exhaust manifold for any damage, especially around the triangular joints, as these can break up and cause damage to the turbo itself. If there is damage to the exhaust manifold, you will need to replace it. It is important to remember that if the exhaust manifold needs replacing, then you must also replace the turbo.
check if there is a fault with the turbo actuator. You can activate it using AssistPlus by going to Y77/1 Activations: SELECT DRIVE>>ENGINE>>ACTUATIONS>> Y77/1. Now carry out the test from hot to cold. If the actuator moves, this would show the wiring and control module must be sending the correct signal to the turbo actuator. If the actuator doesn’t move, you will need to check the supply and signal line from the engine ecu, as per the Mercedes wiring diagrams. If the signal lines and supplies are good, the turbo actuator or the worm gear in the turbo actuator may be worn out. If this has happened, then you will once again need to replace the turbo.
Repair for Cause 3: Oil leakage The fault codes could also be triggered by oil leaking from the orange seal on the turbo intake and falling on to the m55 inlet port shut off motor electrical plug. This causes a short-out in the m55 inlet port shut off motor. To remedy this, you need to replace the orange seal on the turbo intake. Once this is done, you should also replace the m55 inlet port shut off motor and then check all lines and plug connections on this circuit for oil damage.
Symptoms: n Lack of power n Smoking from exhaust n Oil leaks n Whistling noise from the exhaust system n Rattling from engine bay
Fault codes: n P2510 -001. Check component Y77/1 (boost pressure regulator) positioner signals fault n P2510 -001 can also be present with P2616 (B60), which means exhaust back pressure is too high
Fault code causes: n Exhaust manifold flange breaking up and damaging the turbo n Variable vanes on the turbo seizing up or Y77/1 electronics turbo actuator faulty n Oil leakage If the faults are still present after you have taken the steps on the left, please call the Assist Technical helpline for further help on 01865 870050.
Repair for Cause 2: Variable vanes / turbo actuator fault For this cause, the first step is to
WHO IS CHRIS ROUTLEDGE?
‚ Chris is Master Technician at Autologic Diagnostics Ltd. He ll be discussing the most common vehicle faults – plus how to diagnose and fix them, fast – in Workshop Magazine every month. WorkShopMagazine.co.uk
| 09
10 | WorkShopMagazine.co.uk
NEWS.
We’ve got the power! And we need you to take part... We want as many service and repair professionals as possible to get involved in our awards
T
he clock is ticking so, if you haven’t done so already, now is the perfect time to complete our Workshop Power survey. The anonymous poll is designed to give power to the people or, more importantly, to service and repair professionals like you! The Workshop Power survey enables professionals working at the heart of the industry to voice their opinions and have their say on the products and suppliers they work with on a daily basis – and the responses are flooding in. That said, we’d rather be drowning in answers than clutching at straws, so do get involved! The awards follow in the footsteps of the annual Car Dealer Power awards, run by our sister publication Car Dealer, which are now in their
by SOPHIE WILLIAMSON-STOTHERT @1Sophie_W seventh successful year. We know you know the score, but to refresh your memory, all you need to do is type the link below into your web browser, hit enter and you’ll land on the survey webpage where you’ll find lots of questions about suppliers. We want to know which ones are the best and how good they are at helping you out, which parts you use and whom you go to for advice. And don’t be afraid of telling us the truth – if someone has let you down or provided poor service, we want to hear about it.
This is your chance to be critical and honest. Categories include best tech product of the year, recruitment agency of the year, best filter supplier of the year, and garage cleaning product supplier of the year. Once we’ve received all your answers, we’ll use them to generate the data we need to make sense of everyone’s views. And by the end of the process, we should have a good idea of which suppliers are at the top of their game and which ones aren’t. We’ll be sharing our findings to make sure your opinions are heard, so it’s highly likely that the suppliers will take notice of what you say. And we’ll hold a glitzy award night to celebrate the achievements of our winning suppliers, which will take place later this year.
Fill in the survey at bit.ly/workshop-power – it won’t take more than 15 minutes!
WorkShopMagazine.co.uk
| 11
NEWS. | MOT |
Just under half of LCVs fail first test NEARLY half of all LCVs are failing their first MOT test, according to research by Volkswagen. Its commercial vehicles section analysed the latest figures released by the Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency (DVSA), which showed failures continue to be a major problem within the industry. The DVSA said that 49 per cent of all light commercial vehicles across the UK were failing to gain an MOT test pass certificate first time. In most cases, simple things such as faulty bulbs (32.2 per cent) and faulty mirrors, windscreen wipers, washer fluid or illegal number plates (eight per cent) were to blame.
| EDT AUTOMOTIVE |
Detox specialists hit £1m turnover ENGINE detox specialist EDT Automotive has reached a landmark £1m turnover figure since its 2013 launch. The company, based near Ashford in Kent, produces a machine that descales petrol and diesel engines. It uses an environmentally-friendly solution that in 13 minutes can remove up to half a litre of contaminants that don’t come out during an ordinary oil change or flush. Boss David Holmes said: ‘To hit the £1m turnover mark is an important milestone. It exceeds what we thought was an ambitious target when we set up the company.’
| TELEMATICS |
Purchase ‘will give greater capability’ THE RAC has acquired Nebula Systems in a bid to boost its market position as leaders in remote vehicle data analysis. Nebula Systems developed a cloudbased data and diagnostic platform called MECH5, and in combination with the RAC’s Telematics crash detection and reporting system the RAC hopes to offer a complete fleet telematics solution that can not only react to breakdowns but predict them. RAC Telematics managing director Nick Walker said: ‘This is a deal that will give our telematics systems much greater capability.’
12 | WorkShopMagazine.co.uk
Glitzy ceremony held as F1 legend opens workshop Nigel Mansell set out to create something ‘similar to a top-flight motor sport operation’ on Jersey by ANDREW EVANS @snavEwerdnA
M
ore than 100 people attended the official opening of Formula One legend Nigel Mansell’s new Mitsubishi showroom and workshop on Jersey. The champagne reception saw guests, including customers and suppliers, enjoy a jazz band at the unveiling of the extension to the showroom and the new workshop. Mansell Mitsubishi opened in 2014 with Mansell as chairman and his son Leo as managing director, and the dealership has been a great success – it was named Mitsubishi’s New Dealer of the Year at the brand’s annual awards in March this year. The extended showroom now enables the dealership to have up to 40 cars on display at any one time, while the state-of-the-art new workshop includes four bays with all the latest equipment. Leo said: ‘This is a natural progression for us, representing the growth of the business and our commitment to offering customers
p Lance Bradley, managing director of Mitsubishi Motors in the UK, second left, with, from the left, Nigel Mansell, Leo Mansell and Robbie Hannah, general manager at the dealership an excellent service. Tonight is a thank-you to customers and suppliers for their support over the past 18 months.’ Nigel added: ‘It’s excellent working with Mitsubishi. They are a company sharing our belief in relationships. It’s a brand that has a great dynamic with a range that crosses many sectors, and it’s leading the way with its hybrid technology and is clearly going from strength to strength. ‘People have been wowed by what we’ve done to the facility and they didn’t expect it. They’ve been very impressed and pleased with the quality presentation of the build. ‘We’re riding the crest of the wave now and we have the right product, an excellent facility and great support from the manufacturer. With all this, we certainly won’t be resting
on our laurels and we can build on what we’ve achieved.’ Lance Bradley, managing director of Mitsubishi Motors in the UK, joined them for the ribboncutting ceremony and said: ‘What Mansell Mitsubishi has achieved is extraordinary. When you visit the dealership, the main thing that’s obvious is the pride everyone has – you can feel how proud the whole team are in what they do and strive to achieve. ‘The workshop is amazing – Nigel wanted it to be similar to a top-flight motor sport operation.’ He added: ‘So impressive is the facility and customer service that the team are now even seeing owners of non-Mitsubishi vehicles wishing to have their cars looked after by Mansell Mitsubishi.’
| BEHIND THE SCENES |
Check out the very latest features on Trade Plates TV TRADE Plates TV is the new video channel for the automotive industry. This month, the team have been visiting some interesting workshops and trying out a very special modified motor. n Autofarm: Earlier this year, about the same time the company was featured in Workshop Magazine, the Trade Plates video team visited Porsche specialists Autofarm, and now you can find out more about how
the business is run on a day-to-day basis. In a fascinating video, owner Mikey Wastie takes you on a tour of the site and you can see what special cars they have within the walls of the various garages they have at their HQ in Bicester. Go online to: bit.ly/Autofarm n Modified Fiat 126 Abarth on test: Back in 2011, Mike Jordan, BTCC racer, team boss and father to champion Andrew
Jordan, decided to reinvigorate a Fiat 126. He’d wanted to get hold of one as it was the car his wife owned when the couple met. So, he purchased an extremely lowmileage example and gave it some extra power from a 600cc Abarth engine, a loud exhaust and a new paint job. The car, once owned by new Top Gear host Chris Evans, now has a new owner and we were lucky enough to try it out. Go online to: bit.ly/EvansFiat126
| RESCUE |
Engine ‘screaming’ was baby squirrels BABY squirrels were rescued from the engine of a Ford taken to a garage because of mysterious ‘screaming’ noises coming from under the bonnet. The three squirrels, which didn’t have any fur and whose eyes weren’t even open, were carefully removed by a mechanic in Harleysville, Pennsylvania, from a nest that had been built on top of the engine. The car’s owners said the vehicle hadn’t been running as it should. There were a lot of ‘aah’s as the cute baby rodents were lifted to safety into a box – although not so cute was the costly wire damage that the small family had caused and which was subsequently found.
| TOTAL |
Kia renews major deal for five years KIA Motors Corporation and Total have renewed their strategic partnership agreement, with Total staying as Kia Motors Corporation’s preferred aftermarket lubricants supplier for five more years. Total-branded automotive lubricants will be exclusively recommended and available to customers across Kia’s service network of more than 5,500 dealers in around 180 countries, including western European markets. The extension of the initial co-operation, first started in 2011, will extend benefits to all Kia vehicle owners and dealers.
p Check out our behind-the-scenes tour of Autofarm on Trade Plates TV
| SCULPTURE |
| EURO CAR PARTS |
Auto parts used for tribute to Queen’s 90th birthday
Battery sales soar for on/off systems
A SCULPTURE of the Queen made entirely from car parts has been created by Kwik Fit to mark the monarch’s 90th birthday. The 3.5m x 2.5m sculpture honours her contribution to the Second World War effort as a mechanic and driver in the Women’s Auxiliary Territorial Service (ATS), which the then Princess Elizabeth joined in February 1945 as an honorary second subaltern. She was later promoted to the rank of honorary junior commander. A crew of four technicians led by artist David Parfitt worked on the sculpture for more than 280 hours. It comprises more than 800 individual parts, including lights from an Austin K2 truck, which the Queen became familiar with during her time in the ATS, where she learnt to change a wheel and strip and rebuild engines, as well as drive ambulances.
EURO Car Parts has reported a 100 per cent year-on-year increase in the sale of the Absorbent Glass Mat (AGM) and Enhanced Flooded Battery (EFB) types for cars with start-stop systems. Green technologies such as startstop and regenerative braking are now standard on 60 per cent of new cars built in Europe, so it is crucial that replacement batteries can cope with the continuous on/off action. Euro Car Parts claims to have the best AGM and EFB ranges in the UK, including household names and its own premium aftermarket brand. WorkShopMagazine.co.uk
| 13
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NEWS. | BRIDGESTONE |
| BRIGHTON 10K RUN |
Well oil be! Lubricant firm runners boost charity coffers CALLING themselves The Comma Oilers, an international team of 13 runners from Cosan Lubricants raised £2,800 for the automotive industry charity BEN, by completing the Brighton 10K run. Collectively, the team secured £1,380 in individual sponsorship from friends and fellow workers, a sum that was matched by Cosan to achieve the final total.
Fastest out of the trap and first of the team to finish in an impressive time of exactly 44 minutes (the world record is 26 minutes and 17.53 seconds) was Jack Bewsey, son of Cosan sales and marketing director Mike. Rumours that the team enjoyed an unfair performance advantage because they were so well-oiled were dismissed . . .
Government urged to follow Irish lead BRIDGESTONE is calling on the Government to follow Ireland’s lead in implementing mandatory fines on motorists who drive with defective or worn tyres. Only last week, the Irish minister for transport, tourism and sport, Paschal Donohoe, announced the new Fixed Charge Notice offence for motorists, with fines of €80 in effect. While there are penalties in place in the UK for driving on illegal tyres including three points and a maximum £2,500 fine per tyre – it is only seen as a summary offence and not mandatory, with all charges needing legal prosecution. Bridgestone believes that a fixed fine will promote greater awareness of the hazards of driving with tyres that are not roadworthy.
| GSF CAR PARTS |
Speedier service at upgraded store Still standing! The Comma Oilers look surprisingly fresh at the end of their Brighton run
Record-breaking quarter for Swansway Group aftersales Biggest change heralded as the uplift in data quality, led by firm’s hard-working marketing team
T
he first quarter of 2016 has been a record-breaker for Swansway Group aftersales, generating half a million pounds more gross profit than the same period in 2015. The success has been driven by a change in process across the business, including the recently-restructured retailer support centre, which, with only three more staff (now numbering 19), generated £1 million more revenue than in the same period last year. Service bookings were up 54 per cent for the first quarter. Swansway group retailer support manager, James Osypiw, explained: ‘2015 saw many changes; staff were grouped into teams dedicated to specific brands, split into inbound and outbound teams, led respectively
by DAVE BROWN @CarDealerDave by Kerry Horsfield and Simon Williams and our operation became more slick. ‘The biggest change was the uplift in data quality, led by the marketing team. Emailing to the right people at the right time has massively increased our ability to convert email reminders to real-time bookings. We believe this record-breaking first quarter is just a taster of the year to come, as the
improved data quality continues to drive bookings.’ Dealerships across the group have been involved in cleansing and updating the group’s database, with overall data quality now at almost 90 per cent. Swansway aftersales director, Paul Woodhead, added: ‘This first quarter has been a record-breaker for our business. ‘All the processes which we’ve put in place have come to fruition and the excellent results speak for themselves.’
James Osypiw and Paul Woodhead
THE new store and counter at GSF Car Parts’ Birmingham head office is now open to the public, providing motorists locally with improved access to the company’s extensive range of trade-level quality parts and consumables. Having taken four weeks to complete, the upgrade of the Birmingham store was necessitated by ever-growing queues, sometimes spilling out of the front doors. The new store area is more than twice the size, enabling staff to provide even better – and speedier – service to customers.
| APPOINTMENT |
Driveright Data has eyes on expansion DRIVERIGHT Data, a leading independent supplier of global automotive, wheel and tyre data, have appointed a sales manager to South Korea to support their recent global expansion. Ji Hyun Kim will be based in Seoul. Towards the end of 2015, DriveRight Data embarked on a campaign to expand its international presence within emerging markets. Backed by a six-figure investment from Finance Wales in September, the company has already fulfilled plans to establish new business units in the UK and US. WorkShopMagazine.co.uk
| 15
FEATURES.
„ James Rodgers
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HOW TO BUILD A TOURING CAR
COMPETITION AND CO-OPERATION . . .
ANDREW EVANS visits the most successful team in the British Touring Car Championships, and, perhaps surprisingly, finds that winning isn’t everything.
T
hey’re the most successful team on the British Touring Car Championship (BTCC) grid – and have a room full of trophies to prove it. The Team Dynamics crew, based at Pershore in Worcestershire, have been mainstays of the BTCC for more than 20 years, taking driver and constructor titles as an independent team and fully-fledged manufacturer entry, running BMWs, Nissans and Fords. But they’re most famous these days as the factory racing outlet for Honda UK. With the 2016 season well under way, we were invited to have a look round the team’s workshop before the first race of the year, where the new Civic Type R was being readied for the track. We were also given the chance to chat to team manager James Rodgers, Honda technical director Barry Plowman and chief mechanic Jason Cull, the man responsible for three-time champion Matt Neal’s Civic every race weekend. It would appear that winning is not the be all and end all for those involved. ‘It’s all about the people and the control of developing a car at a level of quality that allows you to do something with it,’ explained Rodgers. ‘If you look up and down the paddock there’s a massive disparity in the quality of the cars.’ Team Dynamics maintains its vehicle quality right from the genesis of the vehicle. While other teams may take a finished production vehicle and strip it down, the production process for the Team Dynamics Honda Civic Type R starts with a shell lifted straight from the production line. Even this basic metal shell is over the top for the team’s needs, though. The shell makes its way straight to an acid bath. You’ll commonly see this in a ground-up vehicle restoration process, as a way to strip paint, rust and bad metal and leave a fresh
surface to work from. However, here it is used to thin the metal down in order to make the whole car body lighter. Once out of the corrosive bath, the technicians immediately work on reinforcing the vehicle welds. A car like the Civic is typically spot-welded by robots on a production line, with the panels joined by circular weld points that are usually around a centimetre or two apart. In a collision, these welds can pop apart and effectively unzip under stress, so these spots are joined together to strengthen the welds. As a touring car is largely a silhouette with mandated underpinnings, a large portion of the bodywork underneath – that you’d typically find suspension components hanging off – isn’t strictly necessary and this is cut out of the shell in
Craig Smith is responsible for prepping the Honda cars on every race weekend
order to fit the regulation parts in place. It’s at this point that a full roll cage is fitted into the vehicle and once in place, this becomes the structure of the car – in essence it forms the physical body of the Civic Type R and the metal around the outside is merely cosmetic. At this point the Civic already resembles a racing car, despite being little more than some scaffolding inside the back three-quarters of a metal car shell. While the car is laid bare like this, it’s an ideal time to fit some of the front-to-rear components such as fuel lines and the fuel tank itself, the air jack system, brake lines and the electrics. ‘I’m surprised how unrefined some of the cars are when I look inside them – they do a job, but with some of their solutions you can see they’ve taken the easy option rather than going to the nth degree,’ said Rodgers. ‘It’s all the tiny little bits – it’s not the big bits, it’s not having an extra 30hp that wins you a race, it’s all the tiny little bits combined, the sum total of the parts.’ Plowman added: ‘No, it’s the 30hp extra that wins you the race! It’s when you haven’t got it, then you have to find it!’ When it comes to parts like these, Team Dynamics is a standalone entity, designing and building its parts without any reliance on suppliers. Everything Team Dynamics does starts off on CAD. The team draws and designs everything itself using CAD machines that are the same specification as those you’d find in Formula 1. The team rapid-prototypes components using 3D printing, with two 3D printers for making large and small parts. As finished components are often made from billet aluminium, the team can produce a new part in hours on the 3D printer, try it out on the vehicle to make sure there’s no WorkShopMagazine.co.uk
| 17
FEATURES. issue with clearance and then make the finished production part itself. ‘It’s always easy for someone to say they need more power when generally speaking it’s not the power they need, they need to refine the product a bit more to extract the best performance out of what they’ve got,’ said Rodgers. The front and rear subframes are more generic though, constructed to series specifications. These hold all of the suspension components for each end of the car and, in the case of the front subframe, the engine and gearbox – also built to NGTC (Next-Generation Touring Car) specifications. These are built separately from the rest of the vehicle, to be mounted up at this stage – and they’re so freely interchangeable that swapping the subframes out, even on a finished race car, is only a 40-minute job You’d think we’d want to in the pit lane. win every race by 10 With what is arguably the seconds and have an easy essence of the touring car so life, but we don’t really easily changed, it’s pretty clear want that. that the car can sustain some serious bruising and yet return for the next race. We were a little curious if there’s anything that could kick the Team Dynamics car out. ‘Not really,’ said Plowman. ‘If you had a major accident you might struggle but most things are recoverable. An hour and ten minutes is the shortest time between races, so you could end up in a situation where, if you can’t swap a frame and an engine in an hour, you’re not going to make the next race.’ With all of the mechanical parts in place and ready to go, the driver’s accommodation needs to be put in – it is, after all, a relatively important component of a racing car. This also bears little resemblance to your road-going Civic Type R, with a racing seat, six-point harness and an incredibly complicated electronic dashboard. Team Dynamics’ little touches can be seen working with and what their spares are,’ said Cull. even in the cabin as the doors are double‘It gives them a bit of a reality check and they skinned, above the minimum requirements, for realise that they’re in a good place.’ driver safety. But, as James points out, the team Some might be surprised to learn, given the has the budget to do these things. competitiveness of the championship and some ‘It’s easy to talk about budgets, but that’s televised inter-team spats, that there’s a level of not been gifted to us,’ explained Rodgers. ‘The co-operation between the teams. team’s been around 22 years now and we’ve got ‘Frequently we’ll get asked for things by other a manufacturer package at the moment. We’ve teams to borrow and we’ll loan people things – managed to get that through the last 15 years of there isn’t a problem with that,’ said Rodgers. ‘Not hard graft. The team’s ground on and not given everybody, but we’ve had a team borrow one of up, and while money’s been tight at times, Team our race seats and seat rails this week to try it in Dynamics has made a business out of it and their car. that’s why it’s the most successful team in the ‘It makes no odds to us, so why not try to help paddock. It’s not because of any handouts.’ them? If it helps them out, happy days. We’ve got It’s something the team is keen to impress on to make sure all the teams in the paddock are the new and young team members, too, not to strong, otherwise there isn’t a championship.’ take for granted what their predecessors have He added: ‘You’d think we would want to win striven to achieve and what many of the rival every race by 10 seconds and have an easy life, teams don’t have. but we don’t really want that. We prefer to have a ‘Every now and then if you have a new lad hard battle and win properly! If the quality goes start and he says we don’t have any of “this or down then people start stepping away because it that”, we take him down the paddock and show becomes irrelevant.’ him the lower end of the grid – what they’re
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HISTORY OF TEAM DYNAMICS Team Dynamics’ HQ in Pershore is a hive of activity
Matt Neal and Gordon Shedden
Team Dynamics was founded in 1991, initially competing as Rimstock and entering the British Touring Car Championship in 1992 with the BMW 3 Series. In the 1993 season, the suite of BMWs, driven by Matt Neal, Andy Wallace, Ray Bellm and Alex Portman, the team took the TOCA Challenge for Privateers title, beating their fellow independents in nine of the 17 races that season. Neal, now driving Team Dynamics’ Ford Mondeo, won the Independents title again in 1995 with 14 wins in class in 23 races. In 1999 Neal won the Independents title again, but also became the first Independent driver in the modern touring car era to win a BTCC race outright. It was in 2004 that the team established probably the most famous relationship in BTCC, running two Honda Civic Type Rs previously campaigned by the Honda factory team in the series. Matt Neal and teammate Dan Eaves took four outright race wins and two pole positions, despite the team still being wholly independent. In 2005 the team ran a pair of Honda Integra Type Rs, taking Neal to the overall drivers’ title - for the very first time for an independent driver - and the team captured the Teams Championship too. Both titles were defended in 2006, a season that saw Neal paired with Gordon Shedden for the first time. After six seasons of successfully campaigning Honda models, Team Dynamics received full factory support from Honda UK for the 2010 season, making it a works team for the first time. Neal and Shedden finished second and third overall that year, with Team Dynamics – as Honda Racing Team – winning the manufacturers title. A first triple came in 2011 when Neal won the driver title (with Shedden second), capturing the manufacturers and teams titles for Honda Racing. This was defended in 2012, though the drivers’ crown went to Shedden with Neal in second. Another team/manufacturer double followed in 2013. Unusually the team took on the challenge of racing an estate car in 2014, campaigning the Honda Civic Tourer with Neal and Shedden. Although missing from the title list that year, the drivers took the estate to some memorable victories in the season. Returning to the hatchback in 2015 brought more trophies back to Worcestershire, as Gordon Shedden recaptured the driver crown and the team was once again manufacturer champion.
Mechanics Alex Knight (far left) and Martin Laycock (left) play a vital role in the paddock WorkShopMagazine.co.uk
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We’re looking for the best garages for our RAC Approved Garages Network. We don’t mind if you’re large or small – it’s quality that counts. Gaining approval gives you access to a whole range of RAC products and services including our new RAC MOT Check & Repair Plan and RAC Service Plan. If you’d like to apply, contact us today and you could soon be harnessing the power of RAC Approved Garages Status.
Email: racapprovedgarages@rac.co.uk Visit: rac.co.uk/approvedgarages Quote: WSM02 20 | WorkShopMagazine.co.uk
DEAR RAC.
GARY WRIGHTSON-HEYWORTH FROM THE RAC ANSWERS YOUR QUESTIONS
Q: What’s one of the most common pieces of technical advice given to roadside patrols when dealing with engine management problems? A:
Engine management problems are one of the main breakdown causes our patrols deal with, and sometimes our patrols need some guidance from the RAC technical centre. The modern motor vehicle is loaded with technology that is governed by multiple electronic control units (ECUs) that all talk to each other on a communication network, the most common of which is a Controller Area Network (CAN). These ECUs are constantly informing each other of what is happening in their respective systems so that all of the vehicle systems are working in sync. As the vehicle systems are computer-controlled and work on a network, sometimes simple errors can occur because of a miscommunication on the network or an ECU itself, which can result in a breakdown. Before going in too deep it is always worth trying the most basic of procedures. In many cases, we find that a simple ‘reset’ procedure can cure the symptom. Much like turning your home PC off and on again, it reboots the vehicle and allows all of the ECUs to reboot and communicate with each other properly again. Simply turn the vehicle ignition off and allow the vehicle a minute or so to close down, disconnect the battery and join the negative and positive lead together for 30 seconds. This ensures that any residual voltage in any system is fully dissipated. Now reconnect the battery and recheck the vehicle for any symptoms.
Q: What’s the strangest and simplest reason
you’ve encountered for a vehicle breakdown?
A:
One of our patrols recently attended a roadside breakdown for a premium-brand vehicle with an automatic transmission. It had encountered a very simple fault that could have been solved without the opening of the bonnet. Our patrol went to test-drive the vehicle after repairing the initial fault but the vehicle was now suffering from a loss of drive. He went on to learn that the customer had released the bonnet catch in preparation for our arrival
Where do you usually get your car serviced? (93 per cent response rate)
and although the bonnet had been pushed closed, the microswitch on the bonnet had not been properly disengaged. In other words, as the microswitch hadn’t been reset, the vehicle would not drive with the switch open. Opening and closing the bonnet once again rectified the fault, and the vehicle was then driveable again. This type of fault could have taken hours to diagnose but was a really simple fix in the end.
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GARY WRIGHTSON-HEYWORTH is RAC Networks Manager If you have any questions you’d like to ask the RAC, contact us at dearrac@workshopmagazine.co.uk WorkShopMagazine.co.uk
| 21
FEATURES. HOW I MADE IT
Kahn Automobiles is one of the leading creators of bespoke vehicles in the UK. Turning its attention to vehicles such as the Range Rover and Land Rover Defender, it offers unique and stand-out designs for customers looking for something a little different. In December 2014, owner and founder Afzal Kahn, pictured above, was honoured with a Lifetime Achievement Award at the Used Car Awards organised by our sister publication Car Dealer. Here, he tells JACK EVANS how his business came to be and what’s in store for the future.
pKahn Automobiles has prestige showrooms in Leeds, Chelsea and Bradford. Workshop The business all started with wheels. How has it gone from that to what it is today? It’s something that I always wanted to do but I had to start somewhere. Wheels were the beginning of this business. I had to gradually grow over the years. Wheels were my speciality and my strength, and then over time, when I could afford to do it, I went into the car business. I always wanted, in the back of my mind, to have a Kahn car and I knew what it would look like. For me, the wheels make a huge difference, and that’s where my starting point was.
22 | WorkShopMagazine.co.uk
How did you get into that? In the early days I studied to become an architect, but I pulled out of college to become an entrepreneur – my father was one so I took that route. I guess that when it comes to designing and being creative you’re either born with it or you’re not. Wheels are something that I first sold as a retailer, and when I was working with the suppliers that I was buying the wheels off, I told them what changes to make on their new designs. While I was selling their new designs they were performing really well around the world, to the point where I realised that I was helping others out
but not really being rewarded for it. When I could eventually afford it, I took the route of saying ‘Right, I’ve saved up £500,000 (which was a lot of money at the time) to set up my own business designing, manufacturing and selling wheels.’ My very first wheel that I designed back in 1996, the RSR, was one of the biggest-selling wheels in the UK. That’s what helped me get where I am today. When you first thought of the RSR, did you know that it was going to be a big seller? When I design something I do it for myself, I don’t do it for the market. If I’m in love with it, it’s going
BRITISH IS BEST FOR THE MASTER MODIFIER PICTURES: JONNY FLEETWOOD
Magazine visited its Bradford premises to be successful. That’s what I saw with all my businesses – the Chelsea Truck Company, Project Kahn or even what we’ve recently done with the Aston Martin – and if you look at them all, they’re all based around not what the market wants but what I want and what I want them to be like. When I first did the RSR wheel, I knew it was going to be successful as it was ahead of its time. The design was a typical five-spoke but it had some interesting features that people soon recognised. As soon as we promoted it, the wheel was massive. When you design a car, what is your inspiration?
People often ask me that question and my answer which is based on an Aston Martin chassis, we is that I don’t have an inspiration. Say, for example, used a British car that is well recognised. What is when we take a Range Rover platform, we look at great about the Range Rover is that it’s the Rollsthe car a little differently to everyone else. I can Royce of four-wheel-drives. There isn’t anything almost see what the designer was thinking at the better than that. For me, the Range Rover platform time. The designers with the cars have a lot of was a great idea, and now there’s around 6,000 restrictions and there’s a lot of red tape in what Kahn Range Rovers on the road – it’s been very they do and they’ve got to satisfy a huge successful for us. That’s including the audience, but I take that extra mile conversions we’ve done, too. and make the changes they wanted to. I use the styling cues from the How proud are you to know that manufacturers but make the cars your cars are out on the road? I like to see a little bit longer and wider and I’ve got used to it now! After people buying give them a more aerodynamic a while it happens, but I’m into our brand and and powerful look. That’s kind of overwhelmed and proud. I’m an appreciating what where the design starts from. attention-to-detail guy, I like to see we do. people buying into our brand and Why did you start off with the Range appreciating what we do. Rover? Was it a car you loved? Over time, as the business has grown and I try to keep doing British cars. Some of the cars evolved and more cars have been sold, the more I you see here are Italian – but they’re only as an see myself thinking that I’m doing the right investment. My passion is doing British cars and job here. I know what I’m talking about that’s what I like to focus on. I’d rather try to stick when it comes to designing cars and people to British brands. With my new car the Vengeance, are seeing that.
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FEATURES. HOW I MADE IT We’re very brand-recognised, so people buy our products because of what we are. We’re recognised in the industry as specialists in the design field. You’re expanding into other areas such as clothing, is that right? Designing clothes and fashion is easy – it’s not rocket science. When we design our cars we’ve got to bear in mind that they have to be crash-tested, so there’s a lot of engineering and background work going into making sure that although it may look pretty, it has some strength behind it and it’s roadworthy. In contrast to that, fashion is easy. The reason I’m doing it is that by designing clothing we become more of a lifestyle brand. The whole Katie Price wanted a thing has evolved from pink Range Rover – but ‘It’s not what you wear, it’s that was something I what you drive.’
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didn’t want to make at the time.
The Huntsman six-wheeler seems to be impressing a lot of people. Would you like to tell us more about it? What I’ve done with the Huntsman is challenge myself. From wheels to aerodynamics, I’ve always been challenging myself. Coachbuilding is the ultimate challenge. Back in the 1910s, ’20s and ’30s, coachbuilding was quite common in this country. Using the process to create our Huntsman and Vengeance models has been expensive but it’s something that has been satisfying.
There’s no denying that you’ve been successful and the business has expanded, but how do you manage people’s requests about certain designs? I’m quite straight and frank – if something is crap I’ll tell them that. I’ve had various clients come to me and ask to have something built, but I’m
Simply red: Kahn Design is recognised in the industry as a specialist in its field always quite straightforward with them. If I think you’re about to make a mistake I’ll tell you – it may cost my pockets but I’d rather be honest in the beginning. I had Katie Price come to me to build a pink Range Rover – and that was something I didn’t want to make at the time. But the more I thought about it, I realised that if she had a black one she wouldn’t be who she is. When I sat down with her management and talked through it, they told me that if I just ended up putting a pink stripe on a black car it wouldn’t suit her. The car we ended up with was loud but we managed to make it look more sophisticated for her. But that car was a bit of a challenge for me. When a project comes to me I’ll always be honest about it. If I had the wealth, I’d be making cars and being a carmaker today – creating a vehicle from start to finish. Is carmaking something you can see yourself doing further down the line? Our coachbuilding has been an extremely expensive hobby. But it’s something I can take to
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MILITARY PRECISION WATCHING all of the superhero films that I do, I wanted to create something that was like Iron Man’s cars. That’s where the Huntsman evolved from. When you drive one of the vehicles, it’s like you’re sat in an armoured suit – you’re a superhero. The Defender car, which it’s based upon, lends itself from being a military vehicle. I’m not trying to create a military vehicle here, but at the same time, whatever you do to a vehicle like that is going to make it look in some way like a military car. my grave with me, something that I can be proud of. It’s been recognised and I’ve been respected in the industry for it. Just watch this space.
the project on board. After two years completing the design, engineering and manufacturing, we launched the car.
Are there any projects that you’re working on that If you were going to give someone a piece of you can tell us about? advice when setting up their own business, what I think the most exciting project on from the would you tell them? Huntsman six-wheeler has been the Aston Don’t dream it, just go do it. If you think Martin. I’ve had lots of stress with it, you can do it, then go and achieve it. but the end result pays homage to Aston Martin. If people want to find out about I took design cues off all of their your new projects, where can Don’t dream it, just cars from across the years and put they find you? go do it. If you think them all on one car. That car isn’t You can normally find me on you can do it, a machine any more – it looks like Instagram – you’ll see the odd then go and an animal. That’s what I wanted to day-to-day activities that I’m doing achieve it. create: a car that looked beastly. on there, as well as ongoing projects. I don’t share a lot of secrets on there. How long did the whole process take you? I’m just learning how to use Snapchat, too, I had the idea for that project in 2006. The market but I still don’t quite get why it exists! crashed so I had to park it up. Over the past four or five years, we’ve been firefighting and growing Why not tell us your story in How I Made It? Call the Workshop team on 023 9252 2434 the business, so when I could afford to do it I took
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FEATURES.
IT'S BRAKE TIME!
Do brand-name brake parts offer garages and customers a real advantage over white-box items? ALEX WELLS reports.
H
ave you ever got lucky buying a supermarket white-brand item on a cost-cutting impulse and wondered why you’ve been buying the namebrand version for all those years? Of course, a supermarket’s white brand might not be as nice. You’re taking a chance. Would you take that chance when repairing a customer’s vehicle, though?
Value and reputation Jonathan Allen, Federal-Mogul Motorparts regional marketing manager, said: ‘Whether it’s bread, consumer electronics or clothing, people are often willing to pay a little bit extra on a brand they know and trust to provide a good quality product. Braking is the same, but with added safety. ‘Name-brand products have brand value and reputation to consider, so generally work harder to develop a leading product and maintain their market position. It can also be the case that “white-box” manufacturers are led by price rather than quality, which inevitably means compromises in specification. ‘Brands such as Ferodo are known and trusted by customers. From a garage’s perspective, this makes its ranges easier to sell. This is most prevalent at the premium end of the market, where customers like to know that OE-quality components have been fitted to their vehicles. Braking is often one of the areas where customers are happy to spend that little bit extra for a product they know will provide improved performance, be that through durability, stopping power or superior noise control.
Straight to the bottom line ‘Any time a garage has to spend on troublesome fitment, or redoing a job where a customer has been unsatisfied, is a hit straight to the bottom line. Greater efficiency also provides the time and opportunity for customers to benefit from improved levels of attention to detail and an overall enhanced level of care. ‘Ferodo brake pads are provided with the same fitting accessories as would be found in the OE spare parts sold by the franchised dealer, which makes installation as easy as possible. ‘The product also includes all the antinoise and vibration features that the vehicle
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Brake pads from Comline, Ferodo and Blue Print manufacturer specified for OE fit and subsequent OES parts. This means that customers will not be back in the garage complaining about brake noise.’
High standards Adam Griffiths, UK marketing specialist at Brake Engineering, said: ‘White-box items do not necessarily provide the customer with the same traceability. With a motor factor supplying parts such as branded brake pads through a credible source, the origin can be easily traced. The motor factor has a duty of care to ensure parts supplied to garages are safe and of appropriate quality, especially with regard to safety-critical parts, which is something garages should insist on. ‘Effective time management is essential.
Garages need to be able to trust the products they are using and that confidence comes with successfully using name-brand parts on a consistent basis.’ Griffiths added: ‘Brake Engineering’s pads are manufactured in our own European factories and subjected to rigorous tests and checks before they are released. We believe our products are of the highest quality and our “Original Aftermarket” initiative proudly states that we are an aftermarket brand in complete control of the manufacturing process.’
Selling time In this business you are selling time. Andrew Tsang, sales manager at Apec Braking, commented: ‘The more time you spend trying
MAKE SURE YOU DON’T MISS ANYTHING A BRAKE disc’s ability to dissipate heat quickly and effectively is key to braking performance. Discs must be of the right weight, mass and material with the right vane specifications in order to avoid heat radiating to the ‘top hat’ and avoid the hub bearings overheating. Under normal conditions, the temperature of the brakes will be between 150 and 250 degrees Celsius. However, prolonged or heavy braking applications in quick succession can see the temperature of the brakes exceed 700 degrees. If the weight and quality of the materials have been altered, cheaper or ‘lightweight’ brake discs do not have the same strength or thermal efficiency as the OE. Changes to these specifications can result in overheating and will result in an increased risk of brake fade – loss of friction between disc and pad – and severely reduced brake performance. In addition, the influence of other components on the parts you’re told to replace could hide the root of the problem. Always check all braking parts during repairs to avoid missing anything.
regulations, and provides consistent high braking performance over extended mileages – supported by a two-year or 24,000-mile guarantee. That extra reassurance for your customers is definitely a worthwhile investment.’
Playing with fire
to rectify a badly fitting part, the more it’s costing you. It may have been initially cheaper than its branded equivalent, but any savings are quickly negated by the time lost while you struggle to fit it. There are many “white-box” pads trying to carve their slice of the market. They compete aggressively on price but quality suffers correspondingly. Cheaply produced brake pads may, at best, be only an approximate fit. If they’re undersize, they’re more likely to move around in the caliper and generate squeal. That could prompt a return visit to your workshop from a less-than-satisfied customer.’
Worthwhile investment Noise could be the least of the problems, said Tsang. ‘If the pad doesn’t fit due to cost-cutting
during production, what other economies have been made, and how is its braking performance affected? Low-cost, less effective friction compounds could increase braking distances or decrease pad life. Comparative tests have shown some “white-box” pads have particularly aggressive friction compounds that shorten disc life – again making them more costly over time. ‘Fortunately, there are alternatives available that offer dependable quality and value for money. Apec Braking produces pads in Europe using robotically-controlled manufacturing processes that ensure the standards of precision are always maintained. So you can be sure Apec pads fit first time. You’ll also be fitting a pad that genuinely meets and exceeds R90
Dr Keith Ellis, Comline’s director of braking product development, said: ‘Fitting unbranded white-box parts of unknown origin is like playing with fire. For a garage owner, fitting a white-box product means rolling the dice and taking a chance with their business. ‘Sometimes they will get lucky but eventually that luck will run out and the white-box product will inevitably cause a problem. In the absence of a warranty there is no recourse for the garage owner when a problem does occur, so not only is their reputation tarnished but it is also likely they will be hit with the financial costs to boot. ‘Such items could suffer from a number of problems ranging from brake squeal, judder, excessive wear and poor pedal feel to ineffective hightemperature performance that may ultimately result in fade during highspeed emergency stops. ‘In addition, correct fitment is essential to maximise a garage’s efficiency, productivity and profitability. In short, time spent dealing with an inferior product that doesn’t fit correctly costs garages money.’
Inherent risk Ellis continued: ‘It would be disingenuous to say that every product found within a white box is downright dangerous, but the inherent risk is very real. Garages fitting this unidentified product have no way of knowing whether the part is safe or otherwise. Above all else, it is this game of ‘‘Russian roulette” WorkShopMagazine.co.uk
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FEATURES. that is perhaps the single biggest advocate for fitting name-brand products such as Comline. We have total confidence in our product, and the warranty ensures technicians can fit Comline with equal levels of confidence. Is it possible to fit unbranded, white-box product with this same degree of trust? The simple answer is “no”.’
Critical differences Jon Roughly, global marketing director for the First Line Group, says: ‘When choosing a brand of braking products there are the critical differences that affect performance, fitment and longevity. A less effective compound mix means longer braking distances and possibly harsh braking noises. There will be fewer components in the box, too. This forces garages to reuse older components, which is not advisable. ‘As braking is a safety-critical product, it is up to the garage to meet and exceed these standards in order to provide greater customer care. Ease of fitment is also paramount for garages, as they have to keep to a schedule. ‘Issues cause loss of time and loss of turnover. In order to be successful, it is necessary to offer the installer and motor factor something different with considerable added value, but at a “value-for-money” price.’
Full range Commenting on Borg & Beck’s braking brand and range, Roughly says: ‘Our Becktec Wolverine shimmed brake pads greatly reduce noise within the braking system. A full range of accessories is supplied in line with the OE offering, such as wear leads, fixing bolts, acoustic wear warning indicators, back springs and chamfered edges. These ensure ease of fitment for the garage and there is no risk of a component required to complete the job not being supplied with a Becktec Wolverine shimmed pad. ‘The friction material on the pads is Borg & Beck’s own specification and has been chosen to offer the best possible braking performance and “feeling”. The compound is a copper-free mix, which enhances performance under all driving conditions. Many cheaper pads have high levels of copper in the friction material and this can lead to additional noise.’ Commenting on its discs, Roughly said: ‘Our Becktec-coated discs do not require cleaning or degreasing prior to fitment. The coating improves the heat dissipation within the braking system and offers protection against petrol, oil, brake fluid, anti-freeze, etc, so the disc always looks at its very best. The coating is water-based and protects discs from scratching, corrosion and oxidation. This differentiates them from partially coated, oil-based alternatives.’
Brand value Marco Moretti, aftermarket business unit marketing director at Brembo, said: ‘A known brand always adds value for a product. In fact, the concept is so well-established, there is actually a
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Research and development work is key for brake component manufacturers risk of underestimating brand value, as well as the obligations and responsibilities that a strong brand entails.’ He added: ‘The best brake component manufacturers try to simplify the replacement process. For example, Brembo offers solutions such as integrated bearings kits, shoe kits and the fitting kit for brake discs to help the installer. This saves time for the mechanic so he can dedicate himself more profitably to the maintenance and replacement of the actual components.’
Are you Blue? A spokesman for the Blue Print range of brake parts said: ‘Blue Print supplies an extensive range of over 10,000 braking components, including discs, pads, sensors and more. Fitting kits are available within the range for parts such as brake shoes. Blue Print offers an impressive range of brake discs, including high-carbon discs, which are balanced to minimise noise and vibration in order to ensure comfort. Precision casting and finish provides consistent quality and stable braking performance to guarantee long service life. All discs are tested to perform in accordance with ECE R90 regulations and OE.’
Simple economics Carl Jackson, business development director at IAM TMD Friction, said: ‘Garages want to finish the job quickly and efficiently and get the next car on the ramp. Any delay will hit workshops in the pocket much more than they realise. It’s simple economics. If parts fit perfectly, technicians save time fitting them. Even if this is only a 15-minute time-saving per vehicle, imagine how much that adds up to over the course of a year. ‘If workshops haven’t used a genuine OE manufacturer such as TMD Friction and its Pagid brand, then who will they challenge if parts don’t come up to scratch? Imagine fitting brakes that proved defective when involved in a serious accident. Our Pagid 25/25 warranty means we are so confident of performance we’ll replace for 25 months or 25,000 miles – that’s peace of mind for both garage and customer. Quality-branded parts certainly look much more reassuring when customers see them named on their invoice too. ‘There’s a good reason why TMD Friction spends €25m (circa £19.4m) a year in new product
ECE R90 ALL replacement brake parts in Europe will need to conform with ECE Regulation 90 (ECE R90) from the end of the year. The rule, which only allows performance leeway of ±15 per cent from the OE, has applied to HGVs, buses and trailer brake discs and drums since November 2014. However, from November 2016, it will expand to passenger cars and LCVs. First Line Group’s Jon Roughly said: ‘There is ample scope for varying levels of quality. Even with an R90 certificate, some brake pad designs can cause problems and inconvenience to the installer and end user. With Borg & Beck’s friction formulation, the pad will perform to the highest possible standards under all conditions. ‘With R90 on car brake discs being introduced in November 2016 there is naturally considerable focus on attaining these standards, but the Borg & Beck braking range is ahead of the game as the brake discs are already in the approval process.’ Federal-Mogul Motorpart’s Jonathan Allen added: ‘As an OE supplier, Ferodo’s products have to meet the strict standards set by vehicle manufacturers. These are often much more rigorous than R90 standard, the legal minimum.'
A caliper from Brake Engineering development – we want to ensure that our friction remains as safe and effective as it can be. ‘We also spend tens of thousands of hours testing in our labs, as well as exhaustive road testing. It’s possible to buy some pads for about £3 but what are they made of? How much testing have they had? I think we can all guess, and whoever ends up using cheap friction parts like this takes one hell of a risk. That’s not customer care in any form.’
Risky business Jackson believes white-box items could be risky in a number of ways. ‘Some brands are
actually reboxed brake parts, and these could be made in China or India where it is still legal to manufacture with asbestos and other nasty and harmful materials. ‘This is dangerous for the technicians working on such brakes, and the public may then be exposed to deadly asbestos brake dust.’ Jackson stated: ‘As well as the obvious risk to braking safety, this problem can cause serious health issues. ‘Our friction is manufactured in Europe for cars that are driven in Europe, whereas other brands manufacture in lower-cost countries yet still claim to be OE. We are still waiting to see the list of
which companies they are OE manufacturers for!’ No provenance, no problem? Think again, says Jackson. ‘Some cheaper discs are inferior because of the weight, mass and quality of the materials used in manufacturing, and because of the machining tolerances. ‘In certain circumstances, such as heavy and prolonged braking, disc temperatures can get so high that brake friction is reduced and sometimes lost completely. ‘Overheated discs of poor quality can also lead to disc thickness variation, which can at best mean an expensive return to the garage, and let’s not consider the worst.’ WorkShopMagazine.co.uk
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CLUB.
WHY NOT MAKE A PLAN TO GET A GREAT RATE FOR INSURANCE? DAVE BROWN chats to Grant Georgiades at Plan Insurance Brokers, and finds out why the £100 discount they’re offering to members of Workshop Club is such good news.
W
orkshop Club is really taking off and more and more of our readers are joining up to take advantage of the great range of offers and discounts across the bottom of these pages. We have already looked at the offerings from Lawgistics and Dragon2000 in previous issues – and this month, it’s the turn of Surrey-based Plan Insurance, which is offering Workshop Club members an exclusive £100 discount on their motor trade policy. We recently caught up with the company’s marketing director, Grant Georgiades, who told us: ‘A discount of £100 is certainly worth having! We deal with all the leading insurers and we’ve got some really keen rates coming in from providers who have got a good appetite for workshops. They’re really keen to build their relationships with us and we’ve got access to markets that a lot of brokers don’t have. ‘The reason why these insurers are really keen to deal with us is that we do the right thing when it comes to underwriting the policies and protecting their interests. As a result, they have confidence in us and if we say something is a good risk, they give us a good rate. It all stems
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from being specialists, really. We do commercial motor and that’s all we do.’ One partner Georgiades drew our attention to was a company called Covea. He told us: ‘Covea are huge – probably one of the biggest insurers in Europe – but because they are a French company, they’re not that well-known within the UK motor trade. We’re delighted to have a relationship with Covea, and many of our customers benefit from that.’ If there’s a word that probably sums up the feeling many service and repair professionals have when it comes to sorting out their garage insurance, or changing their provider, it’s ‘hassle’. But with Plan Insurance, life can be made nice and straightforward. Georgiades said: ‘We work with digital documentation and we can give quotes over the phone if needs be. Photographs can be emailed to us of someone’s site and we can look at the security measures in place. ‘Google Maps has made it a lot easier for underwriters. They don’t necessarily have to visit a business and do a full inspection, they can survey the area to a large extent online. The process is easier than it’s ever been. We can
provide a full quote over the phone within 15 minutes to half an hour. If the proposer has their details to hand or has their renewal summary from last year, they can obtain a quote online with us if they want. Alternatively, they can submit their details to us and we can send a quote by return. It’s simpler than ever. ‘There are some really great rates out there so it’s worth looking around.’ Plan Insurance, established 25 years ago by Grant’s father and brother, Peter and Scott Georgiades, is a family business and, as such, is in the running for a family business award this year. The awards are run by Family Business United, a magazine and resource centre and the Plan team will find out if they are successful in early June. The company is so well thought of, it has a 95 per cent rating on Feefo – something Georgiades is understandably proud of. He explained: ‘Motor trade combined policies
One free month of additional support
£100 off your motor trade insurance
Autologic produces a successful fully-integrated vehicle diagnostics support system. AssistPlus is a tablet containing diagnostics software, a PDF viewer, web browser and YouTube application to allow you to investigate vehicles, along with a full vehicle history on the device recorded against VIN. An on-board camera allows you to capture video and stills. Club members signing up to Autologic Assist will receive a month of additional support on top of their first year.
With 25 years of industry experience in the world of commercial vehicle insurance, Plan Insurance Brokers is the expert for the UK’s professional road users. Motor trade insurance is vital to keep your business moving, whether it’s your own vehicles or customers’ cars you’re moving about – even if a customer’s car is involved in a fire or theft while in your care. Club members can receive an exclusive £100 discount on their motor trade insurance through Plan Insurance Brokers.
Discount on software and free health check app Dragon2000’s dealer management system is one of the most versatile and easy-to-use products on the market. The software can help manage supplier and customer details, help you keep on top of your costs and ensure that your business is running as smoothly and as profitably as possible. Workshop Club members are eligible for a 10 per cent discount on their first year of a Dragon2000 software subscription – and they get the free Vehicle Health Check app too.
Dragon2000
TO JOIN GO TO WORKSHOPCLUB.CO.UK OR CALL 023 9252 2434 AND 30 | WorkShopMagazine.co.uk
INDUCTION HEATING TOOL KIT STOCK NO. 80808
are quite complex products to sell as there are so many elements to the cover. To get such a high service rating, our accuracy has to be spot-on.’ Talking to Georgiades, it’s not hard to see why Plan Insurance has built a trusted reputation for providing outstanding customer service and quality cover. And with a £100 discount off your policy with the company, simply by joining Workshop Club, what’s not to like?
10 per cent discount off all products Dickies is one of the UK’s leading suppliers of workwear. Specialising in industrial workwear, including overalls, hi-vis safety clothing, safety footwear, work boots and protective clothing, Dickies can help your business meet HSE requirements for personal protective equipment. You can even add your company logo and website link to your workwear. Workshop Club members are eligible for a 10 per cent discount on any Dickies product.
Family values: From the left, Grant, Peter, Ryan and Scott Georgiades deliver efficient and friendly service to their customers
Free legal advice plus discounted membership As part of your membership, you will have a free telephone consultation with Lawgistics worth £100. You will also be signed up to Lawgistics’ basic membership package worth £95, have 25 per cent discount off Lawgistics products, get access to guidance notes and document templates, and enjoy a discount off membership upgrades – £100 off the Small Business pack and £250 off the Professional Membership pack – to better suit your needs.
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PRODUCTS.
Throw off your chains
Dayco pioneered drive belts that could operate in engine oil (belt-in-oil, or BIO) to replace chains, reducing noise and improving fuel economy and emissions. Alongside OE applications in Ford, PSA and Volkswagen Group vehicles, Dayco now offers a range of aftermarket BIO belts and kits to entirely substitute a chain-driven system.
Good vibrations
This specially designed tool assists in the removal of stubborn injectors. Used in conjunction with any suitable injector puller or slide hammer, the main body can be rotated to four positions on the horizontal and four positions at an angle. The fully adjustable clamp can be used with or without the tension springs provided and the tool can be attached and locked in place with the two adjustable locking handles. It can also be used whilst the injector is under hydraulic or mechanical tension or before tension is applied.
New for you Grease is the word
FUCHS’ dual-handled Reiner Grease Gun is now available as part of a starter kit, with two 500g RENOLIT MP Plus grease cartridges, making it a cost-effective option for lubrication. The gun produces up to 5800psi of pressure and a special vacuum principle ensures that cartridges are fully emptied, whether or not they are frequently removed from the gun.
One sump or two
First Line has introduced a premium quality range of sumps and sump plugs, manufactured from aluminium or steel to original equipment (OE) specification. The range already consists of 10 part numbers, which cater for the most common vehicles. The use of aluminium or steel is dependent on the OE fitment, with all steel sumps having a powder coating, which provides the extra resistance needed against corrosion and ensures the longevity of the component.
Clearing the air
Fortron’s new portable ozone generator cleans out a whiffy air-conditioning system without having to resort to strong solvents or sanitising liquids. Using electricity to generate ozone from the oxygen in the air, the generator will kill bacteria and fungi throughout the car that cause the typical airconditioning smell.
PRODUCT TESTS
EAR DEFENDERS: P34
HAND CLEANERS: P36 OUR EXPERTS TEST ELECTRIC IMPACT GUNS P38 WorkShopMagazine.co.uk
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PRODUCTS. TEST 7
Ear defenders ANDREW EVANS normally enjoys a bit of peace and quiet but tolerated a tinnitus-inducing racket for this test.
A
lot of jobs in the workshop produce a lot of noise, and if you want to stop your ears from ringing and prevent your hearing from being permanently damaged, you’ll need a good set of ear defenders. Loud noises damage delicate hair cells in the cochlea of your inner ear and over time the cumulative devastation wrought on these cells reduces your ability to hear soft and higherpitched noises. Preventing this damage is important to your long-term health. We’ve been testing out a range of over-ear muff-type ear defenders from a selection of protective equipment manufacturers to assess how they perform.
Howard Leight Clarity C1
Sealey SSP18
uvex K3
How much: £10.79 Where from: arco.co.uk
How much: £2.99 Where from: screwfix.co.uk
How much: £19.03 Where from: uvex-safety.co.uk
From all of the sets of ear defenders here, the Clarity has the lowest SNR rating, at 25dB. However, we found it to be firmly in the middle group at the constant pitches and volumes we were using in our tests. The performance in the 200Hz test – roughly where the human voice sits – was a little poorer than in higher and lower pitch tests.
Cheap to buy, these ear defenders also look and feel cheap. They’re not really in the same class as any of the other sets here, but then with an SNR rating of 27dB they’re far better than nothing at all. If you’re looking at long-term exposure to damaging sounds, something else would be better – particularly as they aren’t so comfy to wear for long – but for short bursts they’re good value rather than going unprotected.
For the very best protection, you’ll want these uvex K3s (pictured above). They look the business, with big, chunky cups, and are perfectly comfortable to wear for prolonged periods. At the key 200-2000Hz range, where the majority of workshop noises will occur, they’re the best at drowning out the environment, dragging noises that would be at the level of a rock concert down to a conversation.
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HOW WE TESTED THEM THE fundamental function of ear defenders is to keep noise from damaging your hearing. Noise is measured using a logarithmic scale measured in decibels (dB), where every 10dB represents a 10-fold increase in sound pressure – so 100dB is 100 times louder than 80dB, for example. We used a variety of test signals to test how much the ear defenders were able to reduce noise at different frequencies.
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Stanley SY345C How much: £9.99 Where from: its.co.uk The Stanley defenders are firmly in the lower three here and they’re not made with the obvious quality of the better units. Performance is reasonable across the range but you’ll notice a world of difference between these and some of our higher-rated sets. They’re curiously good at very high-pitched sounds, but at pitches likely to be beyond what you’ll routinely encounter.
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Howard Leight Leightning L3
Howard Leight Sync
Howard Leight Leightning L1
How much: £18.29 Where from: arco.co.uk
How much: £29.99 Where from: amazon.co.uk
How much: £12.29 Where from: arco.co.uk
The L3 Leightning ear defenders are a really solid piece of kit and well worth the recommended rating we’ve given them here. With the highest official SNR rating of any of the defenders here at 34dB, we found them excellent at just about every pitch we tried. The only chink in the armour was the extremely highpitched 10kHz tone, but this is beyond what you’re likely to encounter in the workplace.
We found the Sync to be pretty much on a par with the Leightning L1 unit for keeping noises out, though better at 200Hz it was a little poorer at 2,000Hz – nearer the sort of pitches you might experience from an angle grinder or other power tool. However the Sync carries with it a neat option to plug in your own external sound source – like an MP3 player – and listen to music in addition to masking background sound. It’s a little pricey though.
The Leightning L1 was in the bottom three across our tests, but of those three it’s the best-constructed and the most comfortable to wear for long periods. It didn’t do particularly badly in any area. The 30dB SNR rating looks a little optimistic at some of the pitches and volumes we were testing, but it certainly outranks two of the three sets with lower tested ratings.
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PRODUCTS. TEST 8
Hand cleaner Never let it be said that ANDREW EVANS is a man who isn’t willing to get his hands dirty..
D
irty hands are a fact of life in a workshop, particularly if you’ve skipped the disposable gloves reviewed in Workshop Issue 5 – or you’re just doing a quick job and don’t feel it’s necessary to rubber up. While getting your hands dirty is par for the course, they don’t have to stay that way – your lunch won’t necessarily taste quite as good with bits of brake dust or old oil from the bottom of a sump in it. There are plenty of products out there to get the muck off your hands and down the sink where it belongs and we’ve been literally wringing our hands to test them.
HOW WE TESTED THEM There’s only one real way to test out hand cleaner: get your hands dirty, then try to clean them! We’ve been assessing how quickly and easily the various solutions dispense with typical under-bonnet grime, simply by having a tinker under some of Workshop’s older cars (see the ‘Our Fleet’ section for more) and going for a good scrub. How the products feel and the effects on your skin and the environment are important too.
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Swarfega Original Classic
Sealey Beaded Hand Gel
How much: £2.75/500ml Where from: tool-net.co.uk
How much: £4.95/500ml Where from: sealey.co.uk
Original and Classic it may be, but it’s no longer the best. The good news first: it still smells like Swarfega, which is such a gloriously characterful odour that it’s worth having around just to occasionally make your hands smell of it. However, it only really deals with superficial muck rather than any ingrained stuff and feels unpleasantly oily while you’re using it. The lack of any dispenser harms it too, having to screw off a lid with your oily hands.
You might be immediately put off by the ‘beaded’ part of the name, and indeed the Sealey Beaded Hand Gel uses those polymer beads. However, it does do a solid job cleaning everything off your hands in one go. Like the Manista gel, it doesn’t rinse away all that quickly, particularly with cold water. Having to scoop it out of a pot isn’t ideal either – the bright colour makes it quickly look like a pot of butter full of toast crumbs.
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Carplan, The Really Good Stuff
Swarfega Heavy
Swarfega Orange
How much: £5.99/500ml Where from: tetrosyl.com
How much: £2.99/500ml Where from: screwfix.co.uk
How much: £3.99/450ml Where from: screwfix.co.uk
While there’s little doubting that The Really Good Stuff does a pretty fine job of shifting a wide range of dirt, there’s a slightly odd artificial smell to it that makes it a little less satisfying that some of the other products here. It’s decently abrasive, which is the name of the game, but it accomplishes it with those environmentally-questionable polybeads. It’s quite pricey compared to the others here, but the dispensing pump is pretty sparing.
Amazingly, the Swarfega Heavy smells even more like Swarfega than the Classic does – it takes you right back to the 1970s. It’s much more effective on more baked-on muck too, but it uses those dreaded polymer chips to achieve the effect. Like the Classic, you just scoop this out of a tub, which isn’t ideal when it comes to unscrewing an awkward lid with your dirtied hands.
Out of the array of Swarfega products on offer here, the Orange has to be our favourite. Avoiding the polybeads for a more environmentally-friendly solution based on cornflour, the Orange works well but you might need a couple of applications to get older dirt out of the way. The pump dispenses just the right amount of gel for one wash and it both feels and smells great afterwards.
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Comma Manista
Swarfega Power
Swarfega Lemon
How much: £12.99/3 litres Where from: wilcodirect.co.uk
How much: £3.73/450ml Where from: toolstation.com
How much: £5.68/1 litre Where from: amazon.co.uk
The Manista gel comes in an absolutely massive container with an equally huge pump dispenser you can screw into place. It can dispense a colossal amount of the gel at once, which is quite a bit of overkill. When it comes to cleaning, it does a good job even with the more stubborn filth, using the abrasive polybeads, but it doesn’t seem to wash off quite so easily in cold water. There’s a bit of an artificial scent to it, but your hands will feel fresh enough.
The Swarfega Power seems to be in essence Swarfega Orange without the orange smell. Coming in an identical container with an identical pump, you get the right amount of Power for a single wash, but as with the Orange you might need a couple of goes if you’ve been getting your hands dirty all day. The smell is a little less satisfying, but it feels no different.
Although you don’t get a pump dispenser on the Swarfega Lemon, it comes in a squeezy bottle so you can squirt out as much or as little as you like – though we can imagine that bottle’s going to get pretty filthy quite quickly. The ‘Lemon’ branding is evident in the smell before you use it, but it disappears once you wash it off, leaving an odd smell that isn’t much of anything. In terms of cleaning it’s a good product, and doesn’t use polymer beads to achieve the clean.
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WorkShopMagazine.co.uk
| 37
PRODUCTS. TEST DRIVE
Garage test: Electric impact guns Meet Duane, Luke and Craig – our panel of expert testers who deliver their verdicts on four popular electric impact drivers...
Sealey CP3005 Price: £349.95 From: sealey.co.uk
Duane A very good gun with a long battery life which kept the same amount of power
level until it was just about flat. If I had to be critical, its size and weight go against it – although it’s not huge and doesn’t weigh a massive amount, over a full day, you know you’ve been lifting it. In some of the smaller areas of work, its size goes against it, as you have to revert to smaller hand-held tools – it’s not the end of the world though. It’s probably better-suited to jobs that are not in or around an engine bay – more for the tyre fitter than technician.
Luke This was brilliant. The ergonomics and the build of it were the best and I quite liked the little LEDs on the bottom that tell you how charged it is. It seemed to do everything I wanted it to do – it undid some of the things the others wouldn’t do even when not fullycharged. It’s heavy, but it backs it up with being able to undo everything.
Craig We found the Sealey great. With 650Nm of torque on it, it takes off everything that an air-powered gun would. The balance of it is really nice too – it’s a good gun. It could do with something to drop the power down a bit. If you’re doing something up it’s full whack straight off, and if you don’t stop right away I can imagine someone ripping something to bits.
HHHHH
Clarke CIR450C
Price: £119.98 From: machinemart.co.uk
Duane The 450 is just too heavy for what it is capable of doing. Considering the
grunt it is supposed to have, it struggled to remove some wheel nuts. It may work better in different areas but for us, it couldn’t meet our basic requirements.
Luke This could do quite a bit, but it’s quite heavy. It seemed more up to doing some hefty stuff, though it still couldn’t do some of the bolts that the Sealey one could do and it’s quite a bit heavier, too. It’s got quite a vicious kick to it.
Craig This is a lot better than the lower-powered gun. It’s good for quick jobs, but it
can also deal with things like wheel nuts as well. It’s a lot closer to an air gun than the other one and we used it a lot more for general jobs. Like the lower-powered gun, the switches are a bit notchy compared to the others.
HHHHH
38 | WorkShopMagazine.co.uk
Duane Kerr-Gilbert Halfords Autocentre
Luke Elkin Brookspeed
Craig Rose Bob Rose Motor Vehicle Repairs
Halfords Autocentres has more than 300 UK autocentres across the UK, dealing with MOTs, car servicing, brakes, repairs and tyres.
Brookspeed is an independent garage specialising in VW, Audi and Porsche, and also the name behind several British GT and FIA GT race cars.
An independent garage running for nearly 40 years, Bob Rose is a family firm in Redcar and deals with anything and everything.
How Duane rated them: 1st Makita; 2nd Sealey; 3rd Clarke (220); 4th Clarke (450)
How Luke rated them: 1st Sealey; 2nd Makita; 3rd Clarke (450); 4th Clarke (220)
How Craig rated them: 1st Makita; 2nd Sealey; 3rd Clarke (450); 4th Clarke (220)
Clarke CIR220
Price: £89.98 From: machinemart.co.uk
Duane Out of the two Clarkes, the 220 came out on top. The battery was quick
to charge and it’s light enough to use over a prolonged period, while not too big to become cumbersome. It may sound petty but a rubber plug as opposed to the brittle plastic ones would be more suited to the workshop environment.
Luke It struggled to undo some of the wheelnuts on the cars we have in, even with a full charge on it. It’s not really suited to a professional garage, but it depends what you’re going to use it for really. If it’s everyday things that aren’t that tight, you’d probably go for a smaller gun or just do it manually.
Craig It was quite a good gun actually. Not really any good for doing things like
wheel nuts or things like that – it’s a little underpowered for that kind of job, but it’d be good for little jobs. It’s more a sort of hobbyist’s gun than anything – it’d be good for someone doing something at home, but if it was me I’d probably get the compressor out and use an airgun! The switchgear was a little awkward too - you couldn’t really tell where it was, whether it was in forward or reverse.
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Makita DTW281RMJ Price: £308.26 From: powertoolsuk.co.uk
Duane An amazing piece of kit. Very powerful with optional speed settings, and a
light as an added bonus. Its size gives it great flexibility – and considering its size, it’s superior to the Sealey. Makita is a name in the trade that screams reliability too.
Luke This didn’t seem to be quite as bullish as I wanted it to be. For the average nuts and bolts you get on a car, I’d probably pick the Makita up just because it’s easy to use and nice and light, but if you were going for a tough bolt you probably wouldn’t expect that to undo it – even fully charged, it didn’t undo some of the things the Sealey did. It might be better as a 3/8 drive rather than a 1/2 inch.
Craig We ended up using this more than our own air guns! It was really good to use, getting into tight places easily. You can step the torque down really easily.
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| 39
MY PROJECT CAR.
LAURA THOMSON FINDS OUT HOW A LITTLE WARRIOR DESTINED FOR THE SCRAPYARD WAS REVIVED
When all looked lost, there was hope for this little Healey
W
hen Stuart Ikin took on a 1957 Healey 3000 two years ago, he didn’t quite appreciate the scale of the restoration he had ahead of him. ‘I was looking for a project, so I looked round and thought I’d start off with something reasonable,’ the 62-year-old laughed. ‘Reasonable’ was probably not the best word to describe the 2.6-litre model that Ikin found near his garage in Bidford-on-Avon, Warwickshire. Having stood for 47 years under a sheet outside, the car was in a derelict state. ‘I should have walked away from it really, but I’m glad I didn’t,’ Ikin reminisced. Ikin, who has run Stuart Ikin Motor Services since 1977, began the project from the base and worked his way up, starting with a new chassis. At first glance, the car’s original foundations appeared to be in a reasonable condition. However, on closer inspection – inserting a borescope into a small hole cut into the chassis – Ikin found that moisture had got inside. Aware of the notoriety of Healey chassis for flexing and causing problems such as door gaps, Ikin decided to cut his losses and source a new one. The next problem he faced was the car’s bodywork. Because the Healey had stood outside for so long, the majority of the panels had rotted. The only salvageable item was the bonnet, which Ikin believes was kept inside. As a result, he found himself building almost an entirely new body. ‘I’d never really done any bodywork, it isn’t really my thing,’ he admitted. ‘It’s very lengthy, you just have to be very particular about what you’re doing – you don’t weld anything together until you’ve checked it and you’ve double-checked it again to make sure it’s right. It’s such a big job to change anything.’ Ikin has recently received the engine back after having it re-bored and all the machine work done. ‘The engine is a total rebuild,’ he commented. ‘In fact, the whole car is.’ He continued: ‘The actual running gear of the car has been the least trouble, because it’s only got 22 or 23,000 miles on the clock. These cars suffer very badly with wear in the steering boxes when they’ve done a few miles, but this one quite literally is as good as new. ‘Of course bushes have obviously perished and everything has got rust on it, but they’re all fairly heavy major components and if you take the back axle out and strip it apart, it’s virtually as good as new, same with the gearbox.’
The Healey’s chassis was rotten and the engine needed a complete rebuild
With the second anniversary of having bought the car approaching, Ikin reflects on how far it has progressed. ‘When I bought it, I thought I’d probably have it on the road in two or three years. ‘The bodywork was always going to be the big job for me, and now that’s done we’re getting on to what I know, which is putting the wiring loom in, sorting the brakes out, all the running gear, the engine, the gearbox, axles and so on. I think it will come together fairly quickly, so I would expect another 12 to 18 months probably.’ Amongst the remaining jobs is the fabrication of the seats and interior, and repainting the car to its original Colorado red and black colour scheme. What does Ikin plan to do once he finishes the project? ‘I’ll probably use it for a summer and then somebody very wealthy will come along and offer me an absolute fortune for it and I’ll move on to another project,’ he laughed.
DO YOU HAVE A PET PROJECT? LET US KNOW! We‘re looking for the cars that mechanics are doing up in their spare time. Email editorial@blackballmedia.co.uk and we‘ll do the rest.
40 | WorkShopMagazine.co.uk
”
I should have walked away from it really, but I’m glad I didn’t
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| 41
FOCUS ON
HOW TO MAKE MONEY FROM TRICO WIPER BLADES
”
TRICO T: 01495 767700 W: TRICO.EU.COM THE great British motorist has a lot to think about when it comes to running a car. Tax, insurance, servicing, even keeping it clean … the list goes on. But how many car owners out there ever give a second thought to their wiper blades, the humble strips of rubber that are so crucial in wet weather? The answer is, not that many. In fact, UK drivers have a pretty dismal record in that area, replacing the all-important blades every four years on average. In Germany, for example, they are changed every 18 months to two years, and manufacturers recommend they are changed every 12 months. The team at Trico are determined to change all that – and they’re joining forces with workshops to improve the situation. The result will be a win-win – extra profit for workshops and enhanced safety for the nation’s drivers. The route into this extra line of income is simply to become a Trico stockist – and offer free wiper blade checks and free fitting to your customers. Workshop Magazine recently caught up with Sam Robinson, Product & Brand Manager at Trico, who told us: ‘We want to get involved with workshops who are thinking of offering wiper checks. They can provide an extra profit opportunity and garages can make more money in this area, without a doubt.’ He added: ‘We recently launched a new two-tier display rack and also a wall rack for garages. We’ve also just launched a wiper failure symptom sheet,
42 | WorkShopMagazine.co.uk
A wiper blade deteriorates bit by bit over time and people don’t acknowledge or recognise how much they do deteriorate.
an A3 poster to go on the wall. This is designed to be used in a waiting room or MOT viewing area. ‘The poster points out a range of symptoms drivers can experience when their wipers are starting to fail and offers them a free check on-site. Another poster we do offers free fitting. ‘We did some research and found that 78 per cent of workshops that sell and stock wiper blades fit them for free. That is a massive advantage over high street chains that can charge up to £2.99. However, only 16 per cent of those garages actually advertise the fact that they offer free fitting. In other words, we’ve got all these workshops offering something above and beyond what the typical high street retailer offers, but very few of them are shouting about it. Our large poster tells a workshop’s customers: We stock and fit Trico wiper blades AND offer free fitting.’ So why do we care so little about our wiper blades when they have such a crucial role to play? ‘Wiper blades are on the MOT, of course, but they’re not a definitive failure,’ explained Robinson.
‘If the battery goes, your car won’t start; if a bulb goes, you can’t see where you are going. ‘A wiper blade deteriorates bit by bit over time and people don’t acknowledge or recognise how much they do deteriorate. ‘Very rarely, a wiper blade can fall apart, but it’s unsafe a long time before that. That’s why garages need to carry out checks on behalf of the end user, and pointing out areas where there might be streaking, or patches the blade isn’t even touching.’ Robinson summed up the problem by saying: ‘People don’t think about wiper blades until they’re prompted really. Having faulty wiper blades is as bad as driving without headlights. If you can’t see where you’re going, it’s a massive issue.’ Trust can play a crucial role when it comes to dealing with wiper blade issues for customers.
A Trico display will certainly catch your customers’ eyes
If your customers trust you, and have been bringing their cars to you for servicing and repair work for a long time, they will trust your advice on wiper blades, which will help the process run more smoothly. So what else is involved if you decide to become a Trico stockist? ‘Depending on what suits a workshop, we can offer one wall rack of multiclip blades, with 14 part numbers on it, and that will cover 96 per cent of all cars that come in,’ said Robinson. ‘Or we offer a direct-fit programme. It’s not suitable for workshops to stock in most cases, because it’s about 130 part numbers, but the way factors are delivering now, three or four times a day into a garage, it’s something to remember when you’re phoning up to order your service pack. Once the blades have been delivered, they can be changed quickly and easily in a
matter of seconds, straight out of the package and without any loose clips or adaptors.’ When we last spoke to Sam Robinson, Trico was on the verge of launching a new website – which is now up and running and has been incredibly well-received, with each Trico stockist having his or her own log-in. Said Robinson: ‘Stockists can print off their own signs and request specific point-of-sale materials or information from us; or pass on any feedback they have received in the field. They can download all of the latest press releases and product information and get all the latest news.’ And although Trico has been around for almost 100 years, it’s not a company to rest on its laurels. ‘We have just launched a range of windscreen washer pumps,’ Robinson told us. ‘And wiper motors are now available as well. As an original equipment supplier we sell complete wiper systems including motors, arms and linkages – so it makes complete sense to bring this expertise and these products to the aftermarket too. That 100-year history is something of which everyone at Trico is understandably proud. Robinson emphasised: ‘We supplied wiper blades for the Ford Model T and we have been supplying wiper blades to manufacturers ever since. We continue to partner with many of the world’s leading manufacturers and that speaks volumes about our credentials and the quality of our work.’
FORGING AHEAD WITH INNOVATIVE SOLUTIONS TRICO has designed, developed and delivered advanced wiper technologies for automotive manufacturers and drivers worldwide since 1917. And the company continues to forge ahead with innovative solutions to meet the needs of tomorrow’s vehicles and drivers. With more than 200 engineers around the globe dedicated to wiper system development, TRICO are a leading OE and OES supplier with a ‘first in industry’ reputation. Developments and technologies used for Original Equipment are then transferred to the aftermarket. This results in innovative product ranges suce as Trico ICE; the world’s first beam blade designed specifically to cope with extreme winter weather conditions, or more recently Trico FORCE; a multi-clip wiper blade solution designed to perform at high speeds under extreme wind & rain conditions. One thing’s for certain; when it comes to wiper blades, TRICO is the clear and obvious choice.
WorkShopMagazine.co.uk
| 43
OUR FLEET.
Mazda MX-5 Buzzing, a dead battery, squeals and smoke were just the start of things – and that was on top of the annoying rattle. But all’s well that ends well...
L
et no man say that cars don’t have personalities... Last time we featured the Merlot here it was a tale of preventative maintenance,
and since then he developed a buzz at certain parts of the rev range. A little concerned that it might be related to the clutch change last year, I’d been avoiding using him over the winter, but with a little spell of annual leave on the books I thought it would be a good time to investigate it. Sadly, the underuse had meant all the electricity had escaped from the battery and that led to the inevitable trek to get a new one – as no matter what battery you first buy it never fits. Having procured a like-for-like replacement, I quickly found another problem of not using the car. When fired into life, Pato let forth an unholy squeal along with clouds of thick, acrid smoke from underneath the bonnet. That brought the entire Workshop team running into the car park equipped with fire extinguishers... Luckily, both the squeal and the smoke abated after a couple of minutes of running – it was probably just an
auxiliary belt slipping and the associated rubbery smoke. A quick fuel run revealed no immediate issues save for a little dive under braking because of a light caliper bind, but otherwise the MX-5 wasn’t really troubled by the long period of standing still. In fact, it took a couple of miles to remind me why I hadn’t been driving him – the rattle. I took the decision to risk the long drive home, as the buzz only seemed to happen at certain engine speeds and could easily be avoided on a run but, sure enough, the root of the problem decided to reveal itself as, with only a few seconds’ notice and at speed, the heat shield of the catalytic convertor fell off – fortunately, just as I’d pulled over.
With the problem now gone, Pato was back to his old self. So, after far too many weeks of standing still, our 20-year-old motor had made himself the centre of attention, then shed his own faulty parts and resumed normal duties without any further complaint. All cars have a personality. Fortunately, ours has the personality of a late middle-aged tomcat.
Model: Mazda MX-5 Merlot Owned by: Mrs Andrew Evans Bought for: £1,500 Mileage: 110,000 Money spent this month: £95 Highlight this month: Remembering how nice it is to drive a car with no electronic aids or beeps
Subaru Impreza STI Fixing the front windows’ shudder leads to an annoying revelation SINCE I’ve managed to fill two columns so far about how blissfully easy the ’preza will be to take apart with my bare hands, I thought it was probably time to shut up and get on with it. So, having borrowed Workshop Magazine’s condemned-warehouse-slashluxury-garage for a few hours this month, it was time to get to work. Aim number one was to stop the front windows from flopping around quite so much – Imprezas’ door glass is frameless, and after nine years of use, mine had started to shudder like Hyacinth Bucket visiting a sink estate. Easy enough
fix, says the internet: tighten the bolts that keep two supporting pads tense against the glass. Job done. As I now had two naked doors and an afternoon to kill, I gave in to temptation and punted £20 on some Halfords-grade sound-deadening material too. Applying that did mean peeling away the bizarre plastic sheeting Subaru sticks on the inside of the doors, but it quickly became apparent that it should’ve been binned years ago regardless. Turns out that instead of actually waterproofing anything, it had spent nearly a decade channelling
Our cars... We love cars here at Workshop and here’s proof. We’ve written about them and everything... 44 | WorkShopMagazine.co.uk
VW TYPE 3 FASTBACK
VW TRANSPORTER
PEUGEOT 306
SUBARU IMPREZA STI
by Rebecca Chaplin Head of editorial video, @BelieveBecca
by Cliff Culver Advertising executive, @CarDealerCliff
by Jonathan Fleetwood Photographer, @Jfleetwoodphoto
by Jon Reay Multimedia manager, @JonReay
This month Becca has been bringing the Type 3 back to a safer standard with new brakes and some questionable rust removed.
Cliff’s van has easily dealt with one road cycling trip and two surf trips since last month. Service, MOT and tax are now all due.
With a heavy heart I've decided to sell my 306. Read next month about its German replacement – with unofficial M badging.
A few hours spent prising off interior trim reveals some nasty surprises in the Subaru… Read more about it above.
Mini Cooper GTT
VW Type 3 Fastback
A battle of wits and nerves takes place with a malfunctioning alarm
It’s brake time – didn’t they last well?
IT’S been a quiet month for HCZ. Well, that was at least until its aftermarket alarm system decided to malfunction (again), waking up the entire village at 2am. You see, when my little Cooper is hibernating, the Clifford alarm stays on high alert, and no matter how many solar panel chargers I hook it up to, it drains the battery. Before I relive the rage, I will add that this is entirely my fault for not unhooking the battery in the first place... To warn me (and my neighbours) of a dying battery, the Clifford screeches far beyond socially acceptable levels – and somewhat inconveniently offers no simple way of disabling it. On this occasion, using the key to unlock the door manually (in my pyjamas) – which didn’t stop the alarm – and popping the bonnet, I unhooked the battery. This did absolutely nothing, leaving me with no choice but to cut the siren. If you hadn’t guessed, that didn’t help either – the siren has its own battery, you see, which enabled it to continue deafening me. I
felt like Phoebe in Friends when she’s woken from a deep sleep by her noisy fire alarm. And yes, I was ready to take a hammer to it. That was the final straw: I dropped the siren into a bucket of water and listened as the pitch slowly and satisfyingly lowered, and the deafening howl faded away. Thankfully, I did manage to get some sleep. However, I now have to repair my irritating alarm system – and by ‘repair’, I mean remove – and buy another battery. On a plus note, HCZ did get a muchneeded wash, which, in all honesty, wasn’t particularly satisfying either. Hopefully we’ll have more luck next month.
droplets of rain and condensation straight into the back of the speakers. Yeah, thanks for that. So, aside from being on the lookout for some new, iron oxide-free speakers, there’s little to report. Next month’s project is to give the rear anti-roll bar a little TLC with the wet and dry paper. I might even be tempted to spray it some lurid colour so everyone knows how cool I am. Probably not though, eh…
MG METRO TURBO
Model: Cooper GTT Owned by: Sophie W-S Engine: 1.6-litre, 4-cylinder Bought for: £5,500 Mileage: 132,000 Money spent this month: £0 (so far) Highlight this month: Killing the siren in rage
Model: Subaru Impreza WRX STI Owned by: Jon Reay Engine: 2.5-litre turbocharged petrol Bought for: £9,000 Mileage: 66,500 Highlight this month: Feeling like I’ve actually fixed something for a change
BMW 330D TOURING
MINI COOPER GTT
I’M fairly lucky that I’ve managed to get a T3 with a lot of original parts. The car geek in me feels very proud that it still has the original engine cover and boot lining. I’m also fairly pleased that all the glass is stamped with the car’s registration and VW logo, although a bit nervous about 44-year-old glass shattering in my face. My only solace is in the words of my partner and mechanic-in-residence: ‘As it’s that old, it’s far more likely it would break in chunks.’ Great. That’s exactly what I want falling on my legs at 60mph. In the four weeks since I’ve bought the car, the main priority has been getting the brakes changed. And as you can see in the photo, when I removed the rear drums from the car they were looking pretty original, too. The drums were beyond salvaging, though, with a chunk out of one and big ridges on the other. And the shoes, well, there weren’t any left. Despite having to mess around with the manual brake shoe adjusters, which needed to go from opposing limits, it was a fairly smooth job. Luckily, the front discs are fine, so the only other job that needed to be done was welding a repair on the front bumpstop supports. Annoyingly, these are known for rusting out, but it was a fairly quick job to sort. Next stop is its MOT later this week. I’ll let you know what happens…
Model: Volkswagen Type 3 Fastback Owned by: Rebecca Chaplin Engine: 1.6-litre Bought for: £3,500 Mileage: 89,200 Highlight this month: Feeling very proud when I swapped my brake drums unaided (but carefully checked after…)
MAZDA MX-5
PEUGEOT 205 GTI 1.9
by Christian Tilbury Staff writer, @Christilbury1
by Jack Evans Staff writer, @jackrober
by Sophie Williamson-Stothert Features editor, @1Sophie_W
by Andrew Evans Senior staff writer, @snavEwerdnA
by James Baggott Managing director, @CarDealerEd
Lopsided Metro is hiding in shame under its fitted cover, while a spares cull helps free up funds to cure the suspension woes.
Belfort hasn’t had a huge amount of use, but a solar charger means he’s not losing electricity any more. A service is on the horizon.
I’ve learnt my lesson. Don’t buy a car with an aftermarket alarm – more hassle than they’re worth. I’m happy to go back to basics.
After a few weeks of standing still, the Five is alive again with the help of a new battery... good news!
It could be time to find the 205 a cover. The fact it hasn’t moved for many months means it’s gathering more dust than mileage. Sadly. WorkShopMagazine.co.uk
| 45
OUR KEV.
OUR MAN ON THE INSIDE SPILLS THE BEANS ON THE GARAGE BUSINESS...
Check your wheelnuts – you can’t always count on them...
G
entlemen, check your nuts! No, this isn’t an awareness campaign for male cancer (though, as I mention it, it’s never a bad idea to have a quick squidge of your undercarriage), as I’d also advise ladies to check their nuts as well. And here’s why… Last week, a young chap came into our garage to get a pair of front tyres fitted to his newly acquired cheap runabout. The car in question was a 2003 MG ZS, and if you can get over the Rover 45 in fishnet tights image and find one that’s had a modified head gasket fitted, there aren’t many cars about that can provide such an entertaining drive for so little outlay – in this case, a mere six hundred quid. Sensibly, the owner decided that, as he’d bought the car for pressing on a bit as a weekend toy, it would be a good idea to replace the knackered budget tyres on the front with something a little more grippy, so he came to us for a pair of mid-range new tyres to help him pick his way through the twisty lanes. It came as quite a shock to us, then, that when we popped off the MG’s centre caps, both front wheels were held in place by only three wheel nuts, rather than the customary four. Further inspection revealed that the same issue affected the rear axle – of the 16 wheel nuts traditionally fitted to an MG ZS, only 12 were present. You don’t need me to tell you that this is actually quite dangerous… What’s more alarming is this. According to the paperwork in the glovebox, the last time the MG had been for new tyres was in 2012, a whole four years ago. It was then sold, later that year, by a trader about 50 miles away, and was run for three-and-a-half years by the guy our customer bought it off. It’s fair to assume, then, that for that extended period, the previous keeper had been driving around with only three wheel nuts (per tyre) on his wagon. Technically, the missing nuts would have been an instant MoT fail. But it isn’t in the testers’ handbook to inspect behind hubcaps or wheel trims, so if they’re fitted over the nuts, the nuts don’t always get checked. It’s something we do as a
matter of course – every car that comes into our workshop is given a full safety inspection regardless of what it’s been brought in for, because as a respectable garage, we feel we have a duty to keep our customers safe and inform them if there’s an actual or imminent problem with their car, even if they then choose to not get it fixed. It’s a duty, really, because we’re car experts, and the vast majority of our customers aren’t. Our customer was crestfallen when we broke the news, as he was in a bit of a hurry and wheel nuts aren’t always something we carry in stock. Luckily for him, we had a Rover 45 parked round the back, that the owner had asked us to dispose of after deciding the required head gasket repair was more than the car’s value. We’d kept hold of it as one of the apprentices had decided he wanted to fix it up in his spare time and sell it on. We do that quite a bit, as it’s a good incentive for the lads to learn their trade and make a bit of beer money, but that’s a subject for a different column. Our apprentice will now need to add four wheel nuts to his parts list (and yes, we have told him) as by nicking the ones off the 45, we were able to get our loyal customer back on the road, and we only charged him a fiver for the nuts. Think about it – five quid to mend a potentially lifethreatening problem. Whether the case of the missing wheel nuts was the responsibility of the last but one owner (who may well have lost the locking wheel nut key and asked the tyre fitters to drill them off), or the tyre fitters themselves, for not telling him, or even the trader who sold the car, who in my view should have thoroughly inspected the car even if it was only a cheap PXer is uncertain. But whichever way, it’s a bloody poor show, as it puts lives at risk. Next time you buy a ‘brand new used car’ (Bruce Springsteen fans will know what I’m getting at there), check it out carefully. If you don’t check your nuts, it could lead to hospitalisation or even death – and yes, that applies to your dangly bits as well.
WHO IS OUR KEV? If we told you, we‘d have to kill you... What we can say is he‘s been around for longer than he cares to remember and has a fund of stories to tell...
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As a respectable garage, we feel we have a duty to keep our customers safe and inform them if there’s an actual or imminent problem with their car, even if they then choose to not get it fixed
Braking Innovation Past / Present / Future As the UK’s leading brake brand, Pagid has been the preferred OE partner for automotive brands for over 50 years. With in-house research and development, European manufacturing and proven braking performance; Pagid remains the original choice, now and for the future.
View more Pagid OE approvals at www.pagid.com/oeapprovals
PagidUK
@PagidUK
@PagidUK
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Introducing the RMI Academy of Automotive Skills A brand new, state of the art training facility, opening in May. Focusing on new MOT tester and qualifying training, the new centre will contain a fully equipped workshop, classrooms and exam rooms, and will be open to all garages in the motor trade.
RMI Member Introductory Price
Courses Available at Launch
Non-RMI Member Introductory Price
New MOT Tester Training
£495
£895
IMI LVI Assessment
£300
£450
IMI LVI Training and Assessment
£600
£995
MOT Manager
£275
£495
Call now to find out more or book a course: 0845 305 4230 www.RMItrainingAcademy.co.uk
48 | WorkShopMagazine.co.uk
www.IndependentGarageAssociation.co.uk