King of the Peak: Sebastien Loeb

Have a look at this from the 2014 Pikes Peak Hillclimb.

Sebastien Loeb destroys the record for this event, full video below from the Redbull Website.

If you think you can drive, watch this, then realise you have nothing on guys like this. But look at the speed he carries round bends with sheer drops and no railings, I'm too chicken for this crap. Not sure I would want to drive those roads anyway, nevermind at speed!

Anyway enough waffle, enjoy the video, driving master at work.

Simple Tip 2 = You NEED palm ratchets!

I've seen Palm Ratchets floating about in cheap tool sections and on Ebay for ages, finally I thought I would give some a try.

I was unsure if they were a silly novelty or something I would acrtually use, but for a whole £9.99 delivered I thought they were worth a shot.

They duly arrived very quickly after ordering in a nice little retail pack as below:

On inspection they are cheaply made, but for the money I wouldn't like to manufacture one, never mind the set of three. The rubber grips feel nice in the hand, and dont slip even when wearing a greasy pair of gloves, and the reverse control knob on the back of each ratchet has groves which help when swapping rotation.

I've used them on a couple of jobs now, from spinning on wheel nuts with less than prefect threads, to undoing rusted up trim retaining screws under wheel arches. First impressions are very good, they certainly make working in tight spaces far easier, even if you need a larger tool to crack / tighten the fixing one of these makes jobs far faster.

Also when fixings are too loose to ratchet the rubber handle is much nicer to grip and easier on the hand after a long day than just holding a bare socket. Sure you are still moving your grip all the time but the larger surface stops your hand cramping up.

In summary I dont know why I didnt get some years ago, bargain tool, well worth it!

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Credit: As this is a quick post I pinched the images from the listing I bought these from rather than snapping my own. Ebay Seller I got mine from's shop = PJS-Discounts11  and the listing for these ratchets = Neilsen-Professional-3pc-Piece-Palm-Ratchet-Set

Colour change on a BRAND NEW PORSCHE :O

Ok so its not as dramatic as it actually sounds as its a removable coating, like a spray on vinyl wrap, called PlastiDip.

For anyone who hasn't come accross PlastiDip its a rubber based paint orginally for industrial purposes than can sprayed onto cars. Video is from a company in the US called Dip Your Car

who have loads of content on their site and many youtube videos about application.

When I finally get some time to do it I have a few dip projects in mind and will write them up when I do. For now have a look at the video, even if you just skip to the finished product it looks impressive.

The fun part about PlastiDip and other similar products is its hugely cheaper than having a wrap done.

Beer Finish Rat Rod Golf! - Budget Street Cred (Season Finale)

I spotted this on youtube, two slightly crazy guys distress and rat rod a very boring old Golf.

Its an interesting approach, makes the wannabe detailer in me cringe a little in places but its worth a watch. Shows what a little creative thinking can do!

Their take on sticker bombing is quite cool too. Enjoy :-)

Always read the fine print - "Insurance: Motor Legal Cover"

I'm sure I'm not alone in this, for years I have been saying "Yes" to the additional "Motor Legal Protection" or "Motor Legal Cover" that insurers offer with your policy.

Previously I have accepted it as being something I may one day need, believing it offered me some sort of additional protection. Now being ancient, sceptical and owning several cars the £27.50 x 3 started to nag on me a little. So I dug out my policy document, read a few articles relating to what its actually for and decided to do something about it.

My initial thoughts were to find an independent company to offer me one policy to cover all my cars. Firstly such companies do exist, charge far less for multi car policies than most insurers seem to charge for one. However the project snowballed and I dug deeper into what Motor Legal Cover really was.

IMPORTANT!: I AM NOT AN INSURANCE ADVISER / BROKER / LAWYER / IFA ETC.

What I am sharing is my experience and I would urge you to look into your own existing policy, take advise and do some research on the subject. I will detail my findings so you can use them as a starting point and as something to consider.

1. Starting Point - My Policy

So here is where my story began, what am I actually getting for my money each year?
The wording of my policy is below, check your policy document for details:

Cover Provided
We will pay the costs of recovering from the party at fault uninsured losses which directly arise from any non - fault road - traffic accident involving your car causing:

• your death or injury;
• damage to your car;
• damage to any property in your car which you are legally responsible for;

        or

• any other uninsured losses you suffer

The most we will pay is £100,000 for any claim or claims arising from one incident.
Subject to the exceptions and conditions of this section of the policy we agree to provide this cover if:

• at the time of the incident, your car is being driven or used by a person identified in, and for the purpose allowed by, your certificate of motor insurance;
• the incident happens within the territorial limits, and after cover started
• any legal proceedings will be carried out within the territorial limits by a court which we agree to; and
• we and your solicitor agree that it is more likely than not that you will be successful with your claim for damages.

Sorry about the boring waffle but its important to read what your policy says, most of us, myself included are terrible at reading the terms of anything we sign up for.

So what does all the above mean? Why am I, and why should you be concerned?

My first worry is the word "Uninsured", so lets start by looking at what my uninsured liabilities may be.

My death or injury, scary stuff, but I have separate life and personal injury insurance? Hmmmm not sure that this part helps me much, especially if I am dead!

Damage to my car, I have fully comprehensive insurance; damage to my car is insured anyway so I claim that direct from my insurer and its up to them to claim from the third party insurance. That or take somebody to court if they are uninsured. Also I have cover including excess and no claims protection against uninsured drivers hitting me so my insurer is going to sue them without me doing anything else.

Damage to any property in your car that you are legally responsible for again my policy in general already covers me for a certain amount of losses to items in the car. Anything of serious value that I am likely to carry around like phones, cameras, laptops is covered by other insurance or my home insurance. In my case I am struggling to see where I would have any uninsured losses that this would help with.

Any other uninsured losses well I'm not self employed, I get sick pay at my full salary rate which my employer is insured for. My excess is covered, my NCB protected, can I claim for a new magic tree?

 In summary I am getting cover for up to £100,000 (Sounds good doesn't it) of legal fees and expenses. But that's only if I have a claim to pursue for an insured loss, as broken down above there is not much I can find to claim for.

2. What happens if you do claim on "Motor Legal Cover"

Next I went looking for what other people had documented as their experience of trying to claim using this section of their policy. What happens when you do? Its quite simple, if you read further down the pages of your policy document you will find a section relating to appointing a solicitor, probably a note from your insurer like the following:

Appointing a solicitor

• We have a chosen panel of law firms to provide legal services. While you are responsible for any costs they charge, your policy will cover them as long as you keep to the policy conditions.
• You have the right to choose a solicitor to safeguard your interests from the time you have the right to make a claim under this policy. This includes the right to choose the solicitor to serve your interest in any enquiry or proceedings or if a conflict of interests arises. 

So that's all very lovely, I have the legal right to pick my own representation and certainly the above example implies they will pass you on to somebody else. If you take a wander round the web you'll find various discussions of peoples experiences of making a claim for losses, or failing too. I'll summarise some examples:

• No Chance: Even though a person has paid for legal cover, their insurer as described has the right to turn down their claim. Some do, it happens. I found a few examples where an insurer turned a motorist down, they subsequently made a claim via a "No win, no fee" company who took it on and won the case.
• No Legal cover: So you phone up to make a claim, the operator asks if you have cover, you say no, they then offer to act as though you did. Hmmmm fishy to say the least, feel free to insert your own conspiracy theories about referral fees from claims management or other such companies here. On other occasions your claim my be so obviously winnable that your insurer may want to cash in. Either way, you have in effect claimed through motor legal cover.
• One of our approved law firms will be in touch: Depending on who you insure with you may get representation from your own insurer. However much of the information I have seen would seem to imply you have been passed on to a claims handling company who specialise in these matters. This in itself is fine, I'm sure many of them are excellent, however you probably have a good case and the chances are you may have been able to get "FREE" representation from them anyway.

So far I am failing to see much benefit in the additional services this "Cover" seems to provide. I'll stop waffling now as I am sure you get the idea, read your own policy in detail. Yes it will be boring and i'm sure the wording is constructed to make your mind wander off, but get a good idea of what you are actually getting for your money.

After you have this information you can make an informed choice about what to do. You can ask the relevant questions of your insurer or broker to ensure you fully understand the policy terms and decided what is best for you.

3. What are the other options?

So having decided that it was all nonsense and a bit of a con, I looked at what I could do to cover myself should I actually ever need the services "Motor Legal Cover" apparently provides.

• Have no Motor Legal Cover: To be honest from my understanding I dont think this is likely to be much of a problem, however I am by nature cautious so what else can be done.
• Use a free service: Yes they do exist, companies that offer to give you exactly what it says, free cover. Quite possibly the same company that could manage your claim via your insurer anyway!                                                                                                                                           freemotorlegal.co.uk                                                                                                                        Is an easy example, but have a google and see what you can find.
• Use a paid for third party service:   There are a range of companies who provide Single / Multi car / Household motor legal cover for small annual fees. If you feel the need for a contracted agreement of some sort this may be a good option to investigate.                                                         driverguardian               memonline .                                                                                                                                                                                                                               A couple of example companies for you to look at, no recommendation as I have never used them but it will give you an idea of whats out there.

4. Am I already covered..................

So now we are probably reaching the most important part of this post, I guess the section title gives it away. I've been paying for years, on 3 seperate policies, additional money for cover that I already had, FREE with my R.A.C. Membership! R.A.C. Members Legal Cover

Yes, thats right, I was paying three times for cover I already had. I felt somewhat silly to say the least.

5.Conclusion

So the real lesson from my experience is not just to read your Motor Legal Cover documents and make sure they are right for you, but to read EVERYTHING you sign up for. Otherwise like me you could end up wasting money on something you may not want / need or be duplicating something you already have.

I am sure its not just me, have a look at allt he various cover you have, the freebies that come with banks accounts, breakdown cover, car / life / house insurance and ensure you are not duplicating things that cost you money.

Please take the time to understand what companies are offering you, and make sure it fits YOUR needs!

Damp Car Issues (Fiesta sunroof drain problems)

So Its the time of year when everything is damp, cold and generally nasty. Here in the U.K., having had the wettest January in history and still more rain falling water ingress is a major problem for cars.

If you have a soft top, leaky sunroof, old motor with seals not as tight as they once were or just don't drive any distance that often your car is probably already a little damp and chilly inside.

My damp disaster this year was caused by several days of heavy rain coinciding with the pipe from my sun roof drain coming adrift. Water was just entering into the car and running down behind the pillar trims to soak the floor. I actually had little puddles in the front and rear passenger foot wells of the Fiesta. Having just spent £1700 on metal work and paint I was distressed to say the least and set about cleaning all this unwanted wetness from the car.

Now everything is fine and dandy again I thought I would share some car drying tips and a few notes on things like De-humidifiers that my research turned up.

Lets start with some basic and free tips for shifting mild damp:

So its possibly the spring and the car is damp from the winter or you left a window open in the rain etc. How to quickly get the car dry:

1. Sunshine: Park in the sunshine with windows alternately open and closed. The heat from the sun will warm up the car causing the moisture to evaporate into the air. Opening the windows lets it out of the car, then closing again to re-heat the interior and repeat. If you are lucky enough to live some where hot and dry this technique is very fast, free and environmentally friendly.
2. Breeze: Air that is dryer than the cars interior will shift moisture, just as warm dry air causes laundry on the line to dry, causes plants to loose water and drys out exposed skin. On a dry day park the car somewhere safe, open windows on opposite sides of the vehicle or all the doors and tailgate if you can, and let the wind do the work. You can look up the physics of this but simply the moving air provides energy to turn some of the water into vapour. Assuming the air outside has a lower relative humidity than the air from the car it will carry water vapour away.
3. Driving: This one is only free if you have a journey to make but by driving with the blowers and if you wish heaters on, and the windows open you can get the effects of drying methods 1 and 2 while in motion. Obviously as the energy and breeze is provided by the car you can do it on dull, still days or in the dark :-).  

The effectiveness of the above methods does depend on the local weather conditions, wont work in pouring rain etc.

What other method can you use to speed things up, the above are free, but now for the ones that cost.
For a car of immense value one would scurry off and hire a humidity controlled garage at considerable expanse. However normal people like us can do the following:

1. Heat it up: Run an extension lead (outdoor type for obvious reasons) to your car and suitably place a fan heater inside. Where possible run after midnight if you have cheaper electricity at this time as I do. Fan heaters can use some serious power so if you electric rates are high bear this in mind. Positioning the heater is key for effectiveness and safety, you need to allow some free air to circulate both to and from the heater for maximum drying performance and to stop the heater turning off every five minutes when the thermal shut off kicks in. I find lowering the front seats right down and placing a plank of hardwood across the two works well. The heater will warm the car causing the air inside to take up more water. Have a window or two open a tiny amount to allow hot moist air to escape. This is effective even in colder weather.
2. De-humidifier: As the name suggests, De-humidifiers remove humidity from the air. For maximum effectiveness in colder climates you need a "Desiccant De-humidifier". These work by passing moist air over a desiccant material so they do not need to cool the air, therefore they work down to around 1 or 2 degrees Celsius. A heater is then used to warm the desiccant and remove the water for storage into the tank, warm dry air is then pumped out into the car. Desiccant De-humidifier's are fairly expensive to buy compared to a fan heater, however they use far less electricity. Mine uses 482 watts on its maximum drying setting, compared to the 3KW that my fan heater uses.

I hope this helps you keep you car dry. As an added bonus dry cars smell better, breed less mould and bacteria, and if you go for the De-humidifier option activly kill bacteria. Many De-humidifers contain ionizers, ionized air can kill even nasty things like Salmonella so are ideal for any Sheldon Cooper type germophobes out there!

Karcher Steam Cleaner - Refurbished SC 1010 £50.99 unboxing

So after seeing some of the eco detailing posts on Detailing World, I wanted to have a go at using a steam cleaner on the car. I've seen many cheap ones on Ebay that people have been very pleased with, but I found the Karcher outlet had these refurbished models for £50.99 (+ £5.95 delivery).

I've always liked Karcher washers and have been very impressed with a Karcher  wet vac I recently purchased so thought I would give the branded one a try, rather than a cheaper Ebay unit.

What always concerned me when buying refurbished product is not knowing what you will get in terms of damage, visible wear to the body etc. Therefore I thought I would share my unboxing and first impressions with others.

Part One - Packaging

So its a refurbished machine and that means no pretty retail packaging:

It comes wrapped in this fairly sturdy branded brown box, no signs of excess trauma from its adventure through the courier network en route to me.

Also when opened the machine and accessories are very securely wrapped in machine folded brown paper rather than lots of polystyrene or blow moulded plastic:

The functional boxing doesn't bother me provided the contents are safe and secure. Also if one is buying a steam cleaner for eco detailing then recyclable rather than disposable packaging would defiantly appeal. One is not going to save the planet if the next years eco detailing is needed to offset the carbon footprint of a pretty coloured box!

Part Two - First Look

So on peeling back the first (of many!) layers of brown paper we get a look at the machine and it looks like new. Be careful when unwrapping as the parts are free in the box so don't get anything caught up in the paper.

Part Three - What's in the box

So all laid out and free from its cardboard cocoon we have:

• 1 Steamer unit with captive hose and mains lead
• Two Extension wands
• 1 Floor Brush with 1 cloth cover
• 1 Bristled hand tool brush with a cloth cover
• 1 Detail brush
• 1 Angled detail nozzle (Attached to trigger assembly)
• Instructions
• 3 De-scaler sticks

Part Four - Close ups

So first impressions were very good but what marks or scratches, if any, give this away as a refurbished unit.

Certainly in my case there was very little indication that the unit was anything other than brand new.

The body of the steamer and the accessories all seem unmarked as shown below:

The only marks I found were some scaly sludge around the water tank inlet and on the base of the tank cap:

 

Some of the sludge may actually be grease from close inspection but these are the only evidence I could find that this wasn't a brand new item.

Part Five - First try

So time to give this a try, I rinsed out the tank and added fresh water. The instructions do say cold but I added warm tap water and the machine hit pressure within about 5 minutes. Book time states approximately 8 minutes from cold to reach pressure.

Usage is very simple, fill up with a litre of water, secure the tank cap and plug in.

The power light and orange heating light will come on, once ready to use the orange light goes out.

I did find that a fair amount of water blows out of the nozzle before it starts to release steam, this may be condensed steam from the cold hose but it quickly clears.

On full power, there are two settings on the trigger, the machine emits a very powerful blast of steam. I ran it along the cooker where a very annoying crevice runs the full width of the unit and the muck was literally blown out the end. First lesson learnt, watch where the fallout will go, as I had to wipe water and grease off the neighbouring washing machine.

Next up I attached the extensions and floor brush and steamed an area of carpet that didn't smell too good. The carpet had been thoroughly Vaxed the day before but contributions from an elderly dog had caused some stink to take up residence in a small area. Not to panic the germophobes out there but it was probably some sort of bacteria.

A couple of minutes running the steamer over the affected area and all smells are now gone. I found this interesting as the carpet had been cleaned with carpet detergent mixed with disinfectant until the water running up the Vax nozzle was clear. The carpet certainly looks rejuvenated by the steam, the pile seems to be refreshed and it looks like new. 

Part Six - Conclusion 

Although I am yet to turn this lose on the car, I am confident that it will be very useful. Certainly based on my experience thus far I would consider another refurbished product from Karcher, and for the money I feel comfortable in recommending this steamer. At around half retail price it is a bargain.