Marc's X7, C3 Aircross, Rants, Raves & Everything Else

[GiveMeABreak]

Now you've totally lost me Robin....

[bobins]

One of these. A very effective hairdryer, amongst other things

Blue hairdryer

[GiveMeABreak]

Of course.... I'm just off to pick them up and anticipating issues wit h the order already...

[myglaren]

Hope that they are OK.
I have a vague recollection of David Hallworth having some problems with Brembo's, just the pads, I think.

[Gibbo2286]

We have this factor locally but I first used them when they had a shop in central Cirencester, seems like a good business, we also have GMF.
https://autopartsanddiagnostics.com/

[NewcastleFalcon]

I have broken a golden rule and been a hypocrite by ordering from, wait for it, Euro Car Parts Yes, I think I may have OD'd on the caffeine when making that decision. Anyway, they are Brembo discs and pads, and they are apparently in stock, so will be off to pick them up in the morning.

What could possibly go wrong?.......

Its done then Marc, should you ever order other parts from ECP, you can shave a further discount by ordering exactly the same parts through their carparts4less wing, even offer the choice of free delivery to your door or collecting from your local ECP store. No different you just save a bit extra cash. This pair of headlights for the Clio were £26 less doing it that way than through the ECP website.

Taken the advice Mick, new headlights ordered, via carparts4less website, available to pick up from my selected local ECP store on Monday morning all being well, and £26 cheaper than ordering the same headlights through the ECP wing of the operation.
REgards Neil

REgards Neil

[GiveMeABreak]

Ok, so I picked them up and they were all in original Brembo packaging with QR codes and holograms for checking authenticity and so I am pleased with that. I will just get my local to fit them now when I can, but pleased to see the coating on them especially between the 'honeycomb' where the 2 sides meet, so I hope these last longer than 13K miles the originals have done!

The prices were only a few pounds more than Mister Auto, but on past experience with ECP I won't have them delivered as every delivery was damaged in previous years, and I only ordered these from ECP as they have a depot in my nearest town, so I could inspect them before accepting them.

I have saved £160 compared to Citroen's OEM parts and as said am not impressed with the state of these original discs after only 13k miles. The average is supposed to be 50-80k miles some say......

[myglaren]

I haven't bought much from them but all have been OK bar a radiator fan for the C5, completely wrong but replaced without question. There are two branches within five miles so not a hassle.
Have bought from their website and saved a few quid, no problem at all with deliveries.

[GiveMeABreak]

So the second service today which although we had only done about 6k miles since the last service was required as it's now annual or 12k miles!

However, I had a chat with my friend about this and he said that because of the lockdown and people driving less (note: all those still working from home time to go back to work ) they were being a bit more lenient about the servicing regime because of the low mileages.

So I had to have the brake fluid changed as that's every 2 years now, but did get the TSB done for the rear brakes sometimes grabbing. They put some plates on the rear axle (brake dust guards) that are supposed to stop dirt and mud / snow / accumulations for getting between the pad and the disc, causing the groaning when releasing the handbrake and driving off. Just managed to get that in before the mileage limit where they would do this.

Another £350 lighter after that.

[Dormouse]

Believe it or not none of the discs would fail only on their appearances - the surfaces would have to be considerably worse to the point where they are "structurally" reduced / worn beyond excess for the test to be stopped at that point. If the brake test readings are within spec and the discs are worn (but not to excess) that is a pass and yours might/probably will not even be advised - for the MOT but not at a brake service. The criteria is "worn to excess". Scary or what!

God help us if we go to 2 year MOT checks!

I have used Mintex and Brembo over the years and not found any real differences between them.

[GiveMeABreak]

I never really took too much notice on the C5s as they were pretty huge discs and hidden away, but the Aircross ones are more visible.

Looks like the rears will need doing within the next 6 months or so, and it turns out these are about £100 + per disc as they contain the ABS ring and bearing in each. The only consolation being that the bearings get changed each time!

[GiveMeABreak]

About time I updated my blog, so a good time to do so as I today took delivery of my ClimAir wind deflectors.

Many will know that I bought a front and rear set for my C5 X7 and I was really impressed with them. So initially I did think about getting a set for the C3 Aircross, but happened upon an OEM Citroen original accessory pack of these front wind deflectors at a knockdown price from a dealer clearance on eBay. Great, or so I thought....

It took me hours to attempt fitting and regardless of following the instructions precisely, these would not fit, no way, not happening. So back they went and that made me question who Citroen got to make these for them and I suspect it may be HEKO, which I would never use. I was a bit fed up and it put me off the idea for months until I revisited the idea again. I knew how good the German ClimAir deflectors were so started looking for a front set of these - and they are still very expensive on ClimAir's UK site, so that sort of put me off again. As of this post they are charging £45.76, Plus VAT, Plus £10 Carriage! so that makes a total of £66.91
These are just for the fronts.

I just happened to be looking on Amazon a few days ago as I had some gift card balance that needed using when I wondered if Amazon are still selling them - and to my surprise they had the exact colour tint I wanted and at a much more acceptable price of £39.73 delivered

So ordered, although initially delivery was August! So I suspected these must be coming directly from Germany. Well I was in no hurry, so went and ordered and even better, they arrived today, so less than a week.

True to form these are a great quality product, well made and will just last forever. Fitted both in under 5 minutes - perfect.

There are 3 mopdels to choose from and basically the difference is the tint. On this occasion I went for the P0024D which is the Sport version and the darkest tint they do. This perfectly matches the black ink of the roof and the mirrors and other trim as well as the darker rear windows. I opted not to go for the rears this time as we rarely have passengers these days.

These are German TUV approved (Technischer Überwachungsverein) who thoroughly test aftermarket products for safety and quality, so you know you are getting a product designed for the vehicle and the job, which won't fall to bits or cause danger to other road users unlike some I've seen like the HEKO ones.

Anyway I have to leave them in place for 24 hours with the windows closed to allow them to bed it, but these babies are solid tight and won't be going anywhere.

If you like having the windows open for fresh air without the wind whistling or the neck ache or rain coming in, these are the must-have deflectors to go for.

[mickthemaverick]

That looks a good deal Marc. Not something I'd use because I never ever drive with the windows open. I raise the sunroof and allow that to draw air through the dash vents with the fan on lowest speed to ensure the inner vent flaps on my car are open. Works fine for me, oh and if it rains I just close the roof and use the aircon!!

[GiveMeABreak]

Yes, I just like to have the window open some times on a nice sunny day without the whistle. I would of opted for the panoramic electric roof if I could of got one with the other option packs I wanted, but wasn't to be despite looking the length and breadth of the dealership network at the time, but I'm happy with her and won't have to worry about the 'lee kee shipyards' scenario.

[GiveMeABreak]

The Aircross will be needing her first MOT sometime in December / Jan and from the last service we had the rear pads were 60% worn. Without needing service to tell me, I can see the rear discs are in pretty poor condition too, but not as bad as the fronts were before recently changing these to Brembo.

So I've been looking to get the rear discs and pads ordered early with the aim of beating any further inflation of the prices that is bound to happen going forward.

As some may have read my previous post regarding the front discs and pads which I ordered from dare I say it Eurocarparts, my thinking here was they they had a decent deal on and as the discs and pads are branded and boxed, nothing should go wrong - and with a local outlet, I could pick them up directly and refuse them if there were any issues. All went well and no complaints.

Searching for the rears today though, ECP had the rear Brembo discs at about £145 each, with a 50% discount . These cost a lot more than the fronts, given that they are also contain the rear hub bearings and ABS ring within the disc.

ECP did not have the rear Brembo pads as an option, so I knocked that on the head this time. Back to the pain of online searching and meticulously trying to match up the exact parts and the multitude of references. I had already determined that I was not going for OEM discs and pads owing to the pitiful poor quality and condition these were in after only 16k miles.

So on my searching I already had entered UK only companies and what do I find in the top listings:

bestpartstore.co.uk
buycarparts.co.uk
onlinecarparts.co.uk
autodoc.co.uk

As some may already know, these are all part of the same Autodoc group, disguising all this in the '.co.uk' suffix to give a misleading impression that these are UK companies which they are NOT. You have to dig into their legal notice to find out they are all registered in Germany, so your parts will be coming from Europe!

Although the prices were cheaper for the discs by about £30 per disc, I was concerned about the potential issues should anything go wrong and of course any return post costs to Germany. So off to Trustpilot for a check on the reviews for all of these and sure enough my concerns were indeed justified:

I always go for the poor and bad reviews first, as this usually tells me all I need to know. This is what the results showed:

Review data below based on Trustpilot's website as of date of this post.

Bestpartstore.co.uk

Onlinecarparts.co.uk

Buycarparts.co.uk

Autodoc.co.uk

So roughly a third of all reviews are rated Poor to Bad for these four companies when the data is combined.

So what did I do? Decided to avoid this lot like the plague as suggested by many reviews and from what I've also heard from friends.

Amazingly I found the discs on Amazon for £113 each including delivery, so I've ordered a set. The only thing is they are temporarily out of stock, so as I'm in no hurry I can afford to wait 3 months or so if necessary. So for a few pounds more than the least expensive price for the Autodoc clan, I can have them delivered to my local post office. Interestingly, they won't deliver to home - probably so as not to give the local postman a hernia, given the weight of these things.

Back to the rear pads, the best deal today was in fact GSF who are usually far more expensive unless they have one of their code deals on - which they did today, so got some Brembo rear pads to go with the discs for £15! I can pick them up from town when I'm next there, so no delivery charges either.

Overall a good day, but it does take a bit of time to get a good result.