rabbitstew

Richer Sounds are very good and price match if you can find cheaper "locally" online. "Locally" is debatable, as I got them to match somewhere quite a long distance away without any problem. I bought my last 2 amps from them plus all my speakers & speaker cabling.

Happy Birthday!

Unless its any high street store, in which case the tv will be set to "shop" mode with the contrast wacked up so high that it looks nothing like you`d actually have it set in your house. Best place would be to go to a specialist AV shop which has rooms setup to mimic exactly what you would have in your living room. Thats one reason why places like AV forums and other online review sites are good as you can see what people think after they have bought the exact tv you are after. Sure, some of the people on AV forums are proper fussy and particular etc... but there are plenty of other reviewers out there which can give you a good idea of any problems people have experienced. I actually got mine in the end from Comet. They came in cheaper than any other the other main stream shops. They even knocked some cash off as i bought the blu ray player in the end and they threw in 2 pairs of the panasonic 3D glasses too which normally retail for about 50quid each. Dont fall for their "we`ll let you have a £100 connecting cable for £40" tricks as you can get perfectly decent cabling online for a fraction of that. Also their extended warranty isnt really worth it. Esp with panasonic tellys. All my family have panasonics now and they some of them are still going strong after 10->15 years.

Another vote from me for the panasonic 50" plasma. They do various models ST30, VT30 etc.. plus other models in 50" so check carefully which one it is. I went for the ST30 after trawling through review after review for months. Have to say im more than pleased with it. The difference over my older 42" Panasonic plasma is incredible. I actually started off looking at the samsung 50" LCD tellys with the mega thing bezel, but after checking the reviews soon decided on the panasonic. Ive plugged mine into the internet, and use an app on my phone to control it. I also went for the panasonic bluray player and the HD picture from that through the telly is awesome. Not one to do things by half I also upgraded my AV amp to a £800 Pioneer one and all the cabling. A great home cinema setup now. Perfect for the size of my living room - we tend to sit about 13ft away from it. Ive wall mounted it - another common mistake people make when wall mounting is to mount it so high you end up with a stiff neck. It needs to be comfortable to watch telly from the sofa! With regards to the 3D side of things. Whilst its a 3D telly I can safely say ive only used the 3D on it twice. Ive got loads of 3D films on my pc which I can stream through the telly but just havent played with the settings enough to use it. I find that if your about 4" from the telly the 3D looks great, but if your sitting miles away, it doesnt. So I still think 3D is more of a gimmic rather than a selling point. But, with nearly all tellys these days being 3D compatible, I see it as a free feature, even if i wont actually use it. Id look at buying via quidco to get some decent cash back too.

Have to say it always makes me laugh at shows when you get some model wearing next to nothing on a stall, looking bored as hell not having a clue what a manifold sprocket is. Likewise, when you see a model with big jugs standing there in a magazine holding the latest boy racer backbox for a Corsa close to her chest. Sure, i guess people notice it and look at the picture, but i really dont think someone will rush out and buy a product cos theres a pic of some bird in a bikini next to it.

Err... i dread to think what my missus would think if she saw me heading out to my car with a tub of Vaseline in my hands....

I usually find my cars mpg drops a bit over winter. As others have said, I tend to have the heating on more, the air con on to demist window, the headlamps on. I may even treat myself to the heated seats first thing in the morning. Ive noticed my mpg drop by about 10%.

+1 Ive changed more brake pads than i can remember and it really is an easy job. If they are brembos then they are even easier.. Remove fluid reservoir cap. Jack up car, remove wheel. On brake caliper there are 2 pins to slide out Remove old pad push pistons back insert new pads insert pins put wheel back on pump brake pedal a few times to settle the pads. Thats it basically! I think a lot of garages like charging a bit for their "own" pads. My mates got a Vectra and he was quoted 150quid front and 150quid back for Vauxhall to supply & fit pads. We got some from local parts place for £15 and fitted them in about 30mins. Big difference in price.

Not sure about the colour...

Welcome!

Welcome!

I did this mod last year and it was really easy to do. Just need abit of patience. The worse bit is cutting the tracks on the board inside the radio. On mine i didnt have to have the volume up loud or insert a cleaning tape!

Is that for the HR ones? If so they have come down in price a lot since I last looked!

Depends on what they do. My missus hit another car in hers, then carried on driving not realising all the coolant had fell out. Result was engine cooked itself and headgasket went. Ive seen "police stop" on tv, and those car theives only tend to stop after the car is physically unable to carry on!

Insurance company will pay the market value of your car. I.e. what it would cost you to go and find an identical car. Personally if someone nicked my car im not sure id actually want it back afterwards, esp not knowing what damage they have caused to the engine etc...

Glad to see im not the only one making this mistake. I tried washing my car Sunday morning and it was a nightmare trying to first rinse the car, then trying to dry it. In the end I gave up on it. Also got some strange looks from my neighbours as i was in my shorts & t-shirt and it was like -2 or something.

Defo shop about. Some insurance companies actually charge MORE if you have a tracker as one member on here found out. Bit like when they charge you more for parking your car in the garage rather than leave it on the street. They assume thieves may cause more damage to the car trying to by-pass the tracker. The only issue I had with insurance companies was some of the "specialised" companies who claim to offer the best prices for such cars actually were worried that I was going from a FWD Golf to a 309bhp RWD car. Some said if my previous car was something like a Subaru WRX then they`d offer me cheaper insurance. The fact I also ride a 140bhp RWD R1 motorbike and have dozens of years experience of high performance cars & motorbikes was irrelevant to them. Needless to say I avoided the specialist insurers and went straight to confused.com

Ive read arguments both ways with this. Some say BMW have set the suspension to work best with runflats and so if you change them the car wont handle as well. Others say the runflats are too firm and changing to non runflats actually improve things. Im not sure what I will do yet when I come to replace the tyres on my 123d coupe. I was looking at winter tyres earlier and only pirelli (i think it was) make runflats in the sizes my car has and they came to £1000 not incl fitting.

Welcome! Make sure you do your research before buying!

Personally i think it isnt really worth much at all. I had a plate which was NI3NJA once on a kawaski NINJA motorbike. Cost me £250 from DVLA. When I sold the bike I had it valued and online places said it was worth about £1000. I kept it on retention for several years whilst they advertised it and noone bought it so I just let the retention lapse and now ive no idea who has the plate. My mate just sold one of his plates on ebay for 80quid, again cost him £250 from DVLA a few years back.

That will be why! I also found that in the cold weather my tyres used to take longer than normal to warm up so the traction light would come on a lot more.

errr... xmas day is about the only day of the year i get anything these days...

Im very hard to buy for because if i want something I just go out & buy it. What i do try and do is restrain myself before xmas and just give the missus a list. So for example last year I got some pliers, welding rods, mole grips, rachet spanners (wicked) etc.. This year im getting a new cordless power drill - although its anoying having to wait as my old one is on deaths door and making DIY jobs hard atm! I also usually get socks, underwear, a few books, bottle of whisky and a terrys orange. And thats more than enough for me! The missus is just has difficult to buy for. This year i went out and spent £400 on a kitchenaid mixer like they have on the TV food programs as I remembered she mentioned earlier in the year she`d like one. Now she tells me I can buy her a £15 hand mixer instead if im struggling to get her anything as its just as good. Sigh!

Welcome!

lol!! Ive seen a couple of black coupe`s in the past around cambridge and an older silver one which heads up the A14 and turns off at St Ives.