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General Car Chat / GK's whinging again...
« on: 12 February 2020, 18:50:35 »
I apologise if this is hard to read, I just need a rant. MrsGK has buggered off to the gym because she's sick of me throwing my toys out of the pram and the dog's too deaf to listen...
Took the ex-plod and the vRS for four-wheel alignment. A place that have seen the Omegas before and set them up absolutely spot on to the recommended settings. Rang yesterday and had them both booked in for the morning, intending to drop one or both off and head off to the parents' for a cheeky cuppa.
Apparently they've forgotten how good they were... It started well - MrsGK took the vRS to the door for 8. Youth wipes away his milk moustache and points at the car. "That isn't booked in".
I pull up next to him in Zeke - "that one is booked in, if I get that done I'll see how busy we are for when to do the vRS." "Right" says I. "These are the settings. I accept there was a coffee spilling incident en route, but you can still read them. The ones I have asterisked are absolutely vital". "Yup, that's fine" said the youth,. "It'll be done in about an hour so head up just after 9".
Head back there. Zeke still very much not off the ramp. Stick my head in and find a completely different member of staff under the front end, spanner in hand. Youth nowhere to be seen. Presumably they'd taken him outside and sacrificed him to the gods of Vlogging and Clearasil. "How's it going?" "It's nearly done, people forget how long it takes to adjust these old cars cos there's more joints so it's knocking me back for the day".
Not my problem thinks I, I told them exactly what it was and how awkward I knew it would be. "How close have you got to the settings I gave you?" "..." "..." "...what settings?" "The ones I passed to your young chap, he assured me you'd get it bob on" "I haven't got them, I've just been getting them into the green, the computer tells me it's right".
GK at this point gives the chap a Paddington Bear stare. "I even told him, Omegas are fussy and the manufacturers are way off". "Well, you've spilt coffee all over the list of settings so I couldn't read them anyway".
Now, I know I spot liars for a living, but it wasn't hard to catch him out regarding knowing the settings were there. "Why did you think I bothered scribbling them down then?" "Er, er, he never told me that you wanted them". "No, you're right. I like to write out lists of numbers for fun. Tomorrow I've got a new phone book coming, I can pretend that I'm Carol Vorderman" is what I nearly said. What I actually said was "Let's have a look at how close you are then". "Look, it's green, it's fine". "But I need the camber at 1'10'' "It's close enough, it's green".
Cue apoplexy. "No, fella. Over 3 degrees is not close enough to 1 degree 10. Unless you're trying to drum up business and get me in for front tyres every 2k miles". At which point his attitude became smug... "Well. That's as much adjustment as I can get on the camber. Look, there's no way to adjust it".
"...let me think for a minute... have you undone the bolts on the strut where it meets the hub, and adjusted the wheel from there?"... Smug look wiped off PDQ. "Oh, is that how you do it?" "Yes. Yes it is." He duly sets to and starts actually doing the adjustments.
Now, I not only tell people off and drive like a maniac, I also do a bit of detailing and a bit of mechanicing, mainly for myself and friends. And I bloody well hate it when someone is looking over me and telling me how to do it. But I gave him over an hour to not be an ignoramus, and then he... ignored... a crucial bit of information. And I was polite and friendly throughout. So I don't feel bad about sticking my head him and telling him what to do with the car... because I'm paying good money and I expect it done to the standard I agreed beforehand.
As it happens, he decided 1 degree 30 was as close as he could get it, and I was on the verge ofshouting at him going and telling MrsGK so she could shout at him, she's much scarier than me. So we negotiated a suitably low cost for the work that he had done, on the grounds of it being sufficient to keep the car out of the scenery for the time being. It'll be needing tyres before long at which point I'll go somewhere where the staff are blessed with the power of sight.
I then decided I wasn't going to let him anywhere near the vRS. Took it for a quick tracking check at my favourite tyre fitters (who don't do 4-wheel, sadly) - and they discovered that the front spring was snapped at the very bottom. Need the car for tomorrow and I lack the skills, patience and skills to change the spring on it, because it was designed by an imbecile. So that's in the garage and I'm taking a courtesy car instead... Bloody old cars. Who'd have them?
Took the ex-plod and the vRS for four-wheel alignment. A place that have seen the Omegas before and set them up absolutely spot on to the recommended settings. Rang yesterday and had them both booked in for the morning, intending to drop one or both off and head off to the parents' for a cheeky cuppa.
Apparently they've forgotten how good they were... It started well - MrsGK took the vRS to the door for 8. Youth wipes away his milk moustache and points at the car. "That isn't booked in".
I pull up next to him in Zeke - "that one is booked in, if I get that done I'll see how busy we are for when to do the vRS." "Right" says I. "These are the settings. I accept there was a coffee spilling incident en route, but you can still read them. The ones I have asterisked are absolutely vital". "Yup, that's fine" said the youth,. "It'll be done in about an hour so head up just after 9".
Head back there. Zeke still very much not off the ramp. Stick my head in and find a completely different member of staff under the front end, spanner in hand. Youth nowhere to be seen. Presumably they'd taken him outside and sacrificed him to the gods of Vlogging and Clearasil. "How's it going?" "It's nearly done, people forget how long it takes to adjust these old cars cos there's more joints so it's knocking me back for the day".
Not my problem thinks I, I told them exactly what it was and how awkward I knew it would be. "How close have you got to the settings I gave you?" "..." "..." "...what settings?" "The ones I passed to your young chap, he assured me you'd get it bob on" "I haven't got them, I've just been getting them into the green, the computer tells me it's right".
GK at this point gives the chap a Paddington Bear stare. "I even told him, Omegas are fussy and the manufacturers are way off". "Well, you've spilt coffee all over the list of settings so I couldn't read them anyway".
Now, I know I spot liars for a living, but it wasn't hard to catch him out regarding knowing the settings were there. "Why did you think I bothered scribbling them down then?" "Er, er, he never told me that you wanted them". "No, you're right. I like to write out lists of numbers for fun. Tomorrow I've got a new phone book coming, I can pretend that I'm Carol Vorderman" is what I nearly said. What I actually said was "Let's have a look at how close you are then". "Look, it's green, it's fine". "But I need the camber at 1'10'' "It's close enough, it's green".
Cue apoplexy. "No, fella. Over 3 degrees is not close enough to 1 degree 10. Unless you're trying to drum up business and get me in for front tyres every 2k miles". At which point his attitude became smug... "Well. That's as much adjustment as I can get on the camber. Look, there's no way to adjust it".
"...let me think for a minute... have you undone the bolts on the strut where it meets the hub, and adjusted the wheel from there?"... Smug look wiped off PDQ. "Oh, is that how you do it?" "Yes. Yes it is." He duly sets to and starts actually doing the adjustments.
Now, I not only tell people off and drive like a maniac, I also do a bit of detailing and a bit of mechanicing, mainly for myself and friends. And I bloody well hate it when someone is looking over me and telling me how to do it. But I gave him over an hour to not be an ignoramus, and then he... ignored... a crucial bit of information. And I was polite and friendly throughout. So I don't feel bad about sticking my head him and telling him what to do with the car... because I'm paying good money and I expect it done to the standard I agreed beforehand.
As it happens, he decided 1 degree 30 was as close as he could get it, and I was on the verge of
I then decided I wasn't going to let him anywhere near the vRS. Took it for a quick tracking check at my favourite tyre fitters (who don't do 4-wheel, sadly) - and they discovered that the front spring was snapped at the very bottom. Need the car for tomorrow and I lack the skills, patience and skills to change the spring on it, because it was designed by an imbecile. So that's in the garage and I'm taking a courtesy car instead... Bloody old cars. Who'd have them?
