GR86 What did you do with your GR86 today

Just had a bit of a wipe down and vacuum of my interior, and remembered to adjust the height of the interior mirror whilst I was at it. Top tip, with thanks to @leosayer , @Conscript and @Hachi-roku for the info & prompts!

Now trying to decide whether to brave this b*stard cold wind to do a quick wash (of the car, not me).
 
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I used to think my favourite roads for the 86 were B-roads.. but at the weekend I had occasion to travel along much smaller, mostly single lane, back roads, and despite being partially flooded, the 86 was perfect. So nimble, and any time sight lines allowed, very quick to nip up to speed and back down again for the next corner. Brilliant.
There's lots of roads like that in Kent but they're no fun here mainly because they're also almost always bounded by hedgerows. So you cant really make much progress without slowing to a crawl for a blind bend.
 
Replaced the brake fluid yesterday, with a minor wobble in the middle where I let the res get slightly too low (wasn't far under minimum!) and pulled air in, then had no brakes at all! 😅.
Took another bottle of fluid to bleed it out and a rather patient missus in the drivers seat on the pedal!

Lesson learned, (obviously, duh) don't let the fluid go below the minimum line.
 
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Replaced the brake fluid yesterday, with a minor wobble in the middle where I let the res get slightly too low (wasn't far under minimum!) and pulled air in, then had no brakes at all! 😅.
Took another bottle of fluid to bleed it out and a rather patient missus in the drivers seat on the pedal!

Lesson learned, (obviously, duh) don't let the fluid go below the minimum line.
The ABS went on my old Integra and was pretty good on track so sent it away for refurb, what I stupidly didn't realise was whilst away the entire system of brake fluid would slowly leach out, covering the entire garage floor.

Took hours to clean and hours to bleed after. 😅
 
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I can’t decide either. Always had them on my MR2 since new but never had them fitted to a 5 series and never missed them. Not really sure who they benefit most - me or the car behind?
I would definitely recommend Mud flaps on any car although sometimes they can mess with the lines a little they are well worth it IMO.

I had them fitted from new to my 2008 Leon FR (front and back) and the lower body work behind them has no stone chips after 16years (and this is paint that chips really easily). Guy round the corner has a newer Leon same model, same colour without mud flaps, I don't know the history of the car but the lower rear bumper is absolutely peppered with chips.

PS. OE MR2 Mud flaps are extremely hard to find (I have tried to find some :))
 
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Haven’t driven it since December, but fitted the newly acquired gearknob and boot mat.

Ludicrously expensive, but worth it, probably.

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I would definitely recommend Mud flaps on any car although sometimes they can mess with the lines a little they are well worth it IMO.

I had them fitted from new to my 2008 Leon FR (front and back) and the lower body work behind them has no stone chips after 16years (and this is paint that chips really easily). Guy round the corner has a newer Leon same model, same colour without mud flaps, I don't know the history of the car but the lower rear bumper is absolutely peppered with chips.

PS. OE MR2 Mud flaps are extremely hard to find (I have tried to find some :))
Ordered them today and will be fitting them at the weekend. Planning to use 3m tape instead of drilling - tape has held up well for 10+ years holding wind deflectors on another vehicle so I think should be good to secure the rear mud flaps.
 
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Dropped the GR86 off at Preserve & Protect in Johnstone this morning at 6am. Recommended firm on this forum and Pistonheads. A six bay operation with some tasty vehicles going through their hands on a weekly basis. Mark and his team will do their magic on the underside of the car and hopefully that will provide some better protection than normal against the fairly harsh salted road winters we have in the UK. Collect it again same time next week. If it's going to be a keeper, makes sense for that 10 year period 😁👍
Along with Sonic, I could not recommend this process and company highly enough. As our car is a driver in all weathers I felt it was imperative, as it's going to be a keeper I feel.
 
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Dropped the car off for it's geometry work today, let's see how this all turns out 😁👍
Okay time to report back after a few miles. I don't have the print outs as they were on his phone. Essentially the toe in on the front passenger and rear drivers side were quite a bit out to say the least. Along with increasing the tyre pressures to 34psi all round on the 225 CCS2s - and after a few hundred miles. Eh, what a difference in confidence. I could always 'feel' a difference in hard right and left hand turns on country roads. Now, max confidence and my word I had a bit of a smoker early Sunday AM 😁 Nothing to see here officer, all good 😙🤔😁🤦👍
 
Removed all the tar spots on the flanks and rear using “Gtechniq W7 Tar and Glue Remover” - as recommended by Zoo members - works brilliantly.
It does indeed, I use it around the house for glue residue removal tasks as it’s generally safe for most surfaces. Do not get it anywhere near PPF though, you’ll end up dissolving the coating 😩
 
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Took the car for its first service today, no dramas, in and out in about an hour.

Only thing that has me a little concerned was the tyre wear in the rears, offside had 5mm of tread left, where the near side had worn to 4.3mm. Both of these measurements were consistent across the width of the tyre. Does this sound like a wheel alignment issue ? Fronts where spot on.

Parked next to the dealers '86 demo which had the duck tail spoiler fitted, it does look a bit nicer than stock, but not sure I can get over the "stuck on" look, it would have been much nicer if part of the actual bootlid.
 
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