Barry

I would want to change it every 80k or 3 years, whichever comes sooner. The mitsubishi timing belts are perfectly fine. When it comes to spurious belts, gates is the only brand I trust. Chinese belts may be fine, they may not but usually you get what you pay for. An extra 50 dhs for a quality belt is nothing compared to maybe 1500 dhs for head rebuild if a cheap unknown brand fails. Cost just depends on which garage you choose but again, you get the quality of work you pay for. A more expensive garage is more likely to clean things and put them back together properly whereas a cheap garage is more likely to just stick silicon on everything to hold it together.

Sorry, it's still early for me.

CV boot is in the picture below. Give it a squeeze and you'll know if there's water in it. Youre welcome to come and use one of the lifts here any time if you ever want to take a look below.

When the weather dries up, give the underside a good power wash to get all the silt/mud off and check water hasn't got into the cv boots. Also check the dipstick for signs of water. Don't worry about sensors, if you had a problem you would know by now. As a general rule, I would advise against driving through anything deeper than the top of the bottom part of the tyre unless you have a 4x4. If you're really worried about corrosion etc you can waxoyl the underside of the car but in this climate and for the minimal rain we get, it's not really worth the hassle.

I fixed a few flood damaged cars last year from the greens/dip area where it was bad. One thing I noticed about the insurance guys is that they tend to look for the water level mark inside the car where it reached its highest point. If the floor got wet, they'll fix it but if the water came up to the dash they'll write it off. I'm not saying this is the case with all cars or insurance companies, it's just an observation I've made. Especially as a lot of European cars have computers mounted in footwells etc For anyone buying an American car, I'd always recommend putting the vin number into carfax. It only costs 30 dollars and will give you the full history of the car including if it has been flooded. Flood damaged cars can be fine but manifest symptoms as time goes on as corrosion begins to spread in electrical parts. I recently looked at an American import Range Rover that had been flood damaged around 3 years ago. It was previously fine but the ECU started to throw up checksum errors as the EPROM contacts were corroded and shorting out.

I saw this on a 6G72 a couple of weeks ago. The spark was jumping down down the insulator and had etched a black track down it. I wanted to show you a pic but I've thrown the plugs.

With the recent rain there is no doubt that some people will have had their cars flooded but what should you do? Here are some simple things you can do to lessen the consequences The most important thing is not to start the car. Water may have contaminated the engine and transmission oil and fuel and if you start the engine, this water will be circulated around and cause all sorts of damage. Another possible consequence of starting a flooded engine is hydrolocking. This is when the cylinders fill with water. Water doesn't compress like air so when you turn the engine, the water can't compress so the extra strain goes on the connecting rods which can bend or snap and in turn punch a hole in the block. This is why a mechanic will first remove the spark plugs and turn the engine by hand to see what is going on. If possible, remove the positive battery lead. Touch the lead to the negative terminal on the battery. This will discharge all the capacitors and help to minimise damage to electronic components. The next step is to get the car out of the water and start the drying process as soon as possible. If you can, open a window while waiting for recovery and put some towels or old blankets or sheets on the floor. Once the car gets wet, mouldy starts to set in immediately so this is why you need to get the car dried quickly. Not only does mould smell bad but it is very bad for your lungs. There are many ways to dry your car including dehumidifiers but the best is to get the seats, carpets and sound deadening out and into the sun to dry. Flood water is nasty stuff, not just because it's wet but because it contains mud and silt which can get into components and grind away at them. It is important to ensure that not only has the car been dried but that mud has been washed from underside components like suspension, bushings, driveshafts, cv joints etc. Despite what many people say, all flood damage is repairable but sometimes it comes down to the repair costs costing much more than the car is worth. This is something your insurance will advise you on. Finally, prevention is better than the cure. If you know from the weather forecast that it is going to rain heavily, park your car on high ground or a well drained area so the water won't get to it.

My dad always beat it into us when we were kids, wear your seatbelt. And like @GregBhoy he wouldn't drive until we were belted up. When I first got my license, I had to drive my brother everywhere. He would try to show off by not wearing it because my dad wasn't there. We had many long standoffs just sitting in car parks, him refusing to put his belt on and me refusing to drive until he did. Seat belts have saved my life on more than one occasion, twice in rollovers, once in a head on crash, a few times I tried to find a way into fields without using a gate, one time I decided to find out how far a lamp post was buried into the ground, you get the idea. Wear your seatbelt, lambast anyone who doesn't. Re: Drink driving, what was the punishment before? I had always assumed it was a ban.

An actual crack crack or crazing? A handy tip for stopping a crack is to drill a hole in each end of it. Itll look crap but it was cracked anyway and at least it will stop it from growing.

Honestly, I don't think the fines are big enough to be a deterrent but I would love to see them well enforced, especially the seatbelt one. It only takes one person in a car not wearing their seatbelt to kill everyone else.

Would have been 57 today

The bare transfers are good to around 300 degrees Celsius. Then you have the option of lacquering over the top which will give it the same durability as a painted surface.

Sorry I've lost his number but is shop is near Ascon building near Azhr Al Madina in Al Quoz 4

Hahaha no. This is one for someone else. The older I get the lazier I become.

This is a pretty cool innovation from Ford. I think all cars should come with these as standard.

It's not just wheels. You can dip whatever you want, dash parts or grilles with carbon effect etc. Not even just car parts. I've seen people dipping Xbox controllers, mobile phones, anything you can think of.

Good business opportunity for someone. I haven't noticed anyone doing it in UAE yet. Easy too. All you need is a big printer and a big bucket of water.

Anyone?

Try Italiantech in Al Quoz 4. Speak to Sanju and tell him Barry from Location Garage sent you.

I really love Pink Floyd. I have all their studio albums and many of my teenage years were spent listening to them and 'expanding my mind'. Not so much of a Syd Barrett fan though but I appreciate the influence he had on the band. Songs like set the controls for the heart of the sun and see Emily play are classics but I prefer the later stuff. Dark side of the moon, wish you were here and the wall are three of my go to albums when I just want to get away from it all and relax.

http://blackflag.jalopnik.com/pink-floyd-s-drummer-crashed-his-mclaren-f1-gtr-1793420790 I love Pink Floyd. Drummer Nick Mason is a massive petrolhead and owns all sorts of machinery. Sadly, he has crashed his F1 but thankfully, he is ok.

Don't worry if I'm not online for a few days. I'm just going to pour bleach in my eyes. Nissan President. All kinds of JDM VIP cool. Basically a LWB Infiniti Q45. Comes with a 4.5 V8

Subaru Sambar. 660 CCs of JDM Kei goodness. The big thing with these is modifying them to look like mini VW buses.

Toyota Century, the thinking mans Rolls Royce. The only Toyota V12 mass produced car. Favorite of Yakuza gangsters.

So with all the luxury manufacturers jumping on the SUV/softroader bandwagon, what do we make of the new Maserati Levante? Personally, I think it looks like a Hyundai Tucson and will probably have the same off-road capabilities.