The XM is getting uneconomical to run, we just cant keep putting £40-50 a week in for my commute.
So, a friend and I hatched a plan where he would lend me a few quid to get a more economical car.
Some searching, and 2 week chat over email with the seller we agreed to Saturday (just gone) and went to the beach as the car wasnt far away.
A very nice ZX 1.9td! Nice history, well maintained and veg friendly! Had a slight wheel shake, but nothing more than the XM has (needs tracking). Sweet. We leave Heathfield, and head up to Tunbridge Wells to find the M20.
I easily kept up with my mate in his Octavia VRS, he did comment that he was surprised I kept to him, although we didnt go crazy as SWMBO and daughter were in tow
Wheel shake was getting a bit worse, so we pulled over at a services on the m25 (not Cobham, cant remember the name), and I have a quick look. Front wheels were slightly warmer than they should be, I deduced maybe a sticky caliper, and removed the wheel trims to aid cooling. Since I knew where I was by now, I said to my mate to crack on and get home, and I'll potter back so as not to exaggerate the brakes.
*I didnt think to check the wheel nuts...*
Off we trot, and they promptly loose me and I settle in at 55. Shaking suddenly gets ALOT worse. Starting to think ah crap, I pull out of the off lane at J6 into the now inside lane of the m40 and suddenly all hell breaks loose, car jumps up, theres an almighty bang and I see something shoot off to my left, and the front drop. It all goes a bit floaty, and I somehow manage to career it over to the hard shoulder without flipping it or hitting the barrier, find the fugging hazard swich which is behind the steering wheel, not in the airvent that I punched as thats where it is in the xm and not soil myself...
Grabbed my phone and scrambled out to the other side of the crash barrier...
F*ck
f*ck
I call SWMBO and once I stop screaming I inform her of my predicament, and once she stopped screaming my mate put his boot down and did the 10 miles to the next junction, 18 miles back to the last then up behind me rather too quickly. SWMBO had the AA details (we have it with the bank). I'm on my 4th cigarette
Whilst I waited for them, I had a look and deduced that the wheel had fallen off. I took my chances and dived over the barrier, got the spare wheel down, took my anger out on the cable-tied up jack box and ripped 4 of them off in one pull and jacked it up off the disc. Everything was still connected, so I grabbeda bolt from the rear wheel and it fitted and nipped up, so the threads were fine. Thinking about bonging the spare on with 3 bolts from the other wheels, kicking the wing back down and getting the hell out of there were interrupted by the arrival of SWMBO
Then these guys turned up. We wondered why the gantryabove us had suddenly come on
This was at about 7pm, I'd lost the wheel at about half 5. SWMBO had called the AA out,and the wombles were happy that we were safe and being recovered to told us to stay put and await recovery. 2 phone calls later, the recovery had not arrived, ot was getting cold and dark and Eva needed feeding and changing, so my mate gave me his coat from his boot, SWMBO gave me her pack of fags and her phone and they went off to cobham services. I sat down for another hour when the first towtruck arrived!
He agreed with me that it would be find putting the spare on and winching it up so we did so, and I was on the move once more!
Turns out, our cover is only 'to a safe place', although the guy did phone his office and try to get me home, as he said it wasnt far, and lied to his office that he had Eva in the back. No suck luck!
Get to Cobham at about 10.30, and matey unloaded me and bid us farewell. SWMBO gets back on the phone, and we basically had to pay £130 to upgrade our membership to full 'get us home' cover. Another truck was dispatched, and we all sit around feeling very tired. Then we reaslise that my mate has to get a ticket, as he drove in. He goes off and discovers that it's 2 hours or £25 for 24h. He pops off to go for a drive and come back in, and myself and SWMBO sit in the ZX with the engine and heaters on. She pops to mcdonalds for some dinner.
Eventually, I get a call saying "He will be with you in 20 minutes sir, but needs his tacho break". Great! I tell SWMBO and mate to go home, as I know at least that I will get home soon, and sit back for another hour listening to radio 2, when eventually the yellow truck of joy arrives
And I got home at half 2!
The next day, I assessed the damage
Lots of rubber on the door!
Remains of the horrible mudflap
Onto the disc
Pads look good still (I was on the brakes I think, so the pads didnt get chewed up)
Hub looks fine
Lost a wishbone bolt though
Happy that all i need are new discs and wheel bolts I cabletied the caliper up, put the wheel back on and hammered the wing roughly straight
Arch liner is in the boot
I took the drivers wheel off too just to check
The disc holding bolts are broken on this side too
Took the other mud flap off and revealed a mud trap
Other plus points are recently serviced
Cambelt 8k ago, clutch 50k ago, battery 3 days ago!
Nice wired car kit (have heard their rubbish but will have a go!)
So, not quite the start to ownership I wanted, but the seller was mortified when he heard so he paid for the new brake discs and wheel bolts, which I will buy and pick up on Thursday, as ECP is on the way home from where I'm getting the XM MOT'd on thursday.
So, hopefully on thursday night I can fix and test the ZX, then tax it (as it's tax runs out this month too) and sell the XM tax-less (which I didnt really want to do)
Joy!
If you want sedate driving, keep it below 2250 rpm, if you want hooligan fun, get it over 2750 - 2500 is a bit of a grey area as it comes on boost....