Muggles and a 'hideous lack of maintenance...'

Muggles and a 'hideous lack of maintenance...'

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Ray Luxury-Yacht

Original Poster:

8,910 posts

215 months

Saturday 20th December 2014
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By muggles, I mean your average Joe or Joe-ess who uses their car as an 'automotive white-good' and wouldn't recognise a problem even if it smacked them in the face?

What hideous and dangerous results have you seen?

A mate of mine runs a small local garage, and he has a 'shelf of shame' where he keeps parts that he's removed from cars which frankly beggar belief - and the owner has been driving the car around on our roads, totally oblivious.

There are many examples - but to pick one that I really like, is a front disc / caliper shocker...

The owner had carried on driving the car after the front discs had worn to a ridiculously thin state - and the pads had worn through to the metal. Eventually, the disc had worn through to a point where it was so thin, it snapped away from it's mounting. So basically the bit of the disc that was bolted to the hub stayed there, and the rotor part itself became detached and stopped rotating - starting a new life basically being held in thin air by the caliper's pads.

As if this wasn't bad enough - he still didn't notice, so after a while the disc became rusted solidly to the pads, in the caliper.

When it came in for an MOT - and failed spectacularly, the owner just shrugged and said 'yeah, the brakes haven't felt that great for a while, I must admit...' yikes So, the trophy is a rusty caliper with a rusty disc rotor basically welded inside it. Shocker!

I could cite other examples of girlfriends I have had, where upon closer inspection of their cars after starting a relationship with them, have revealed similar deadly examples of non-maintenance. From tyres down to the metal cords, through to rusty brake lines leaking fluid, a complete lack of illumination at the back of the car with ALL the bulbs failed, to ball-joints and wheel bearings absolutely hanging. It's scary really, that we have to share the roads with such thick fktards is it not?!


Anyone else seen such terrifying neglect on daily driving vehicles?


ging84

8,827 posts

145 months

Saturday 20th December 2014
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it's not really that big a deal to a lot of people who just potter about in a car.
I very much doubt even the most extreme example of lack of maintenance you could come up with on a modern car, would result in a car still being as safe or more likely far safer than something like a morris minor from the 50s

I doubt anyone on here will be complaining about classic cars being unsafe, but i bet there will be people queuing up to say that a car with a single failing brake is so dangerous that the owner should be locked up with the kiddy fiddlers

JimmyConwayNW

3,056 posts

124 months

Saturday 20th December 2014
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See it repeatedly.

Had a car traded in where both front pads friction material had completely worn and the pads were just metal on metal hitting the discs.

It's not exclusive however I find picasso type cars to be most likely to have completely bald tyres and be in really bad condition.

Rick101

6,959 posts

149 months

Saturday 20th December 2014
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A friend telling me about his RWD car.

Flew straight through it's MOT, nothing wrong at all, just the two back tyres which were down to the cords but he changed them so it's didn't show up on the record and it just flew straight through with nothing wrong.

I regularly see poorly maintained vehicles on my long commute and give them a very wide berth. IMO there should be a police crackdown on them. They are obvious to spot even at speed. Broken suspension, overloaded, lights out, underinflated tyres and my two biggest bugbears...NS mirror folded in and masses of black smoke from exhaust from lack of servicing.

Edited by Rick101 on Saturday 20th December 08:22

ezi

1,734 posts

185 months

Saturday 20th December 2014
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www.reddit.com/r/justrolledintotheshop

Thousands of pictures of the kind of thing you describe, it's horrifying knowing they are on the road.

Steve H

5,224 posts

194 months

Saturday 20th December 2014
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It isn't just Muggles, at least it's not just the ones who you would assume are Muggles.

I was instructing at Silverstone earlier in the year and jumped into a 911 for a one hour booking, went out of the first lap and it didn't feel right. The owner hadn't noticed anything was wrong and had already been lapping happily but the way it turned and even how it accelerated on the straights just wasn't happy.

I pulled him in after one lap and we took a proper look over the car. In fairness to him it wasn't obvious until it was jacked up but the rear tyres were down to the threads in places on the inside edges redcard.

Nice guy and I think he was more shocked than me when he saw the state of the tyres; I was mostly surprised that he thought the car should drive as badly as that eek.

Zoobeef

6,004 posts

157 months

Saturday 20th December 2014
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I had a vehicle which had been rebuilt at the factory, had an out inspection, a receipt inspection in England, an inspection at a midway station and a inspection at my place before bringing the vehicle online.
Not only are the inspection standards alot higher than a normal MOT it also has a decelerometer brake test at each point and passed those.
Yet I happened to notice (4 months down the line) that one of the calipers had their brake pads in the wrong way, friction linings facing the pistons. They were nearly worn through the backing plates and at the friction material.

Rincewind209

288 posts

116 months

Saturday 20th December 2014
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The problem is that modern cars can shrug off neglect quite well. But anything over 30 years old really needs tlc. I still remember the first time I tried a classic mini. About 12 years ago, I offered to park it,as there was no spaces available when a friend brought it round one Christmas. Only drove it 100 metres or so. The brakes were so ineffective I was genuinely afraid. The car was a drums all round model but my friend assured me they were in tip top shape and had only recently been checked all over ready for its Mot. His weekly checklist on the car was very extensive. Quite put me to shame.

steveo3002

10,493 posts

173 months

Saturday 20th December 2014
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g/f has a "friend" on that facebook always gloating about her grubby kids and what a great mummy she is , posted one day that the brake pad had fell out and everyone was saying ffs dont drive it , off she went and drove it like it

Edited by steveo3002 on Saturday 20th December 09:25

Jimmyarm

1,962 posts

177 months

Saturday 20th December 2014
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A couple of years ago the garage I was working at did a 'Groupon' offer on a small service.

This really bought them out of the woodwork.

The worst was a year old white 320d. The offer was for boggo 10w/40 semi oil, if the car needed something else then there was a modest extra charge, the lady wasn't interested at all despite my best efforts to explain that if there were any engine issues her shiney BMW warranty might be affected.


This was just a small issue in comparison to one of her rear tyres, it was so worn down on the inner edge I could fit my hand in between what was left of the tread and the carcass ! When talking to her about it there was just a nonchalant 'oh yes I know about that'.

Two kid seats in the back too =(

Mike_Mac

664 posts

199 months

Saturday 20th December 2014
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A long time back I car-shared to work each day with a group of workmates. One day we all piled in to one bloke's Ford Granada and set off. The initial driving was on motorway/dual-carriageway and I was reading, so not paying much attention... until we came off onto urban streets and a screeching noise became apparent.

I asked the bloke what was up, and he said 'it's been like that for a while - not had time to get it looked at'. I wasn't happy, asked him to stop, and got out to have a look around. All four pads were down to the metal and the discs, as a result, were knackered too!

He still wasn't concerned - 'it still stops doesn't it?', but funnily enough the other two guys in the car didn't see it that way either, so off we went to the nearest motor factors for new pads/discs all-round, which we fitted for him that day!

Even after all that he wasn't particularly bothered.

eltax91

9,842 posts

205 months

Saturday 20th December 2014
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Agree about it not always being the muggles. A mate of mine, a bit of a petrol head, had his daily hack leon fail an MOT. It's the car he runs his kids around in.

He was going on holiday so I said I would have a go at replacing the failed items, rear springs, front shock and brake pads.

He dropped the car down, with the fail sheet. Upon getting stuck in, I discovere the shock was misting oil but not terrible. The rear springs were both broken in half, not just a nibble at the end, but several coils up. He said he thought it was sitting low!

Then came the discs and pads on all 4 corners. They were all cutting a groove so badly into the discs that once removed I held the disc vertical and both pads would hold into the grove themselves!

Then the last gem. The rear drivers door wouldn't open, at all. Turns out the catch was knackered. It had happened about a month after the last mot and he had been either leaning over or dropping the kid in through the bloody window!

I asked him what he thought he would do in an accident and he just said 'I'd never considered it'

Wowsers

T0MMY

1,558 posts

175 months

Saturday 20th December 2014
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Zoobeef said:
...They were nearly worn through the backing plates and at the friction material.
Just give it a bit more time then and they'll be finelaugh

dtmpower

3,972 posts

244 months

Saturday 20th December 2014
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My neighbour had a Mondeo that started to make a graunching noise from the rear brake. The alloy was tarnished with more brake dust than the rest. It went on for months. I even told him I could hear it as he went down the road. He ignored me and finally a few months later the disk collapsed with rust, split in two and fell out.....

Next thing I know he's bought a new car.....

LimaDelta

6,507 posts

217 months

Saturday 20th December 2014
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What the fk is a "Muggle?"

Slidingpillar

761 posts

135 months

Saturday 20th December 2014
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A non-magical human being... Read the Harry Potter books for a full explanation.

dvs_dave

8,581 posts

224 months

Saturday 20th December 2014
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Some truly shocking things here in Illinois. No MOT equivalent, just emissions testing. It's not uncommon to see vehicles with completely broken suspension and a wheel hanging off, unrepaired accident damage, completely rusted through sills, major wheel alignment issues that mean you can see the vehicle is clearly crabbing, the list goes on. Beggars belief....

mph1977

12,467 posts

167 months

Saturday 20th December 2014
quotequote all
LimaDelta said:
What the fk is a "Muggle?"
as a previous poster replied , it;s a term invented by JK Rowling in the harry Potter books; in that setting it refers to 'normal' people who aren't aware of the wizarding world ...

Dr Jekyll

23,820 posts

260 months

Saturday 20th December 2014
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I saw an old Honda driving through town with the offside rear wheel completely locked. I don't know how far the driver managed to get, but he wasn't limping along he was keeping up with the traffic so I don't know if he even knew his wheel wasn't revolving.

There was also the time I saw someone reverse into a side road as if trying to turn round, except that he kept going in reverse. From my vantage point I saw him reverse round the next bend, stop at a set of light controlled road works, then continue when the lights changed, still in reverse, until I lost sight of him half a mile down the road.

Not exactly ignorance of maintenance, but another time I was waiting at a roundabout when a car in front of me started to move off then apparently stalled part way across. The driver promptly climbed out of his window, opened the bonnet, made a quick adjustment, then climbed back in through the window and drove off. All in a manner that suggested he had plenty of practice at this.

LimaDelta

6,507 posts

217 months

Saturday 20th December 2014
quotequote all
Slidingpillar said:
A non-magical human being... Read the Harry Potter books for a full explanation.
I'd rather not thanks. As you were...