Regarding exhausts ... and good service.

I had the back two thirds of my ('97 300 Tdi Disco 5 door) exhaust replaced at Kwik Fit a couple of months ago and was astounded that it only cost 55 quid. I queried the price (as I didn't want it to double when I went back to pay) and the bloke pointed at a poster which said "Thousands of exhausts half price" - mine was one of them, apparently.

28 quid doesn't sound bad! Although, 3 hours work sounds a bit OTT! (Saying that, I reckon it never took less than a whole day for me to change the exhaust on my SIII...... but I didn't have a grinder or cutting torch!)

Judith

I was thinking similar 3 1/3 hours? plus I wonder why a ramp axle stands and a jack or have we discovered David Blunketts day job? Derek

Derek came up with the following;:

We'd dented the exhaust quite badly and bent it enough that it wouldn't come out under normal suspension ... the jack lifted the rear up, with an axle stand, so that it opened the gap up between suspension and axle. The back of the middle section had effectively been swaged onto the rear section and needed cutting (grinder) then burning to get it to release. The rear section was still like new ... ;)

Then the flange from the middle to front section which has studs in it also needed the studs removing, and in the process of this the flange broke, so they pillaged one off another exhaust and 'made it fit'. Cracking job, which I wouldn't have been able to do, even if I'd had the equipment available.

And there was the battery and two motorcycle wheels. ;)

Judith came up with the following;:

Yup. rear bit only in Feb was £27 IIRC.

I only changed the exhaust on our S3 once, which made me use Kwik Fit this year ... ;)

In message , Paul - xxx writes

Glad you are happy.

Genuine landrover exhaust is only 110 quid + vat and fitting. Will last at least 4 years and probably 6, only takes 45 mins to fit all things going well.

Kwik fit exhaust as you have found out is not as well made and will probably die one day outside the two year warranty.

Marc Draper came up with the following;:

All things going well wouldn't have happened, and it was a genuine LR exhaust that broke, not the KF bit. As I said, I couldn't have done it in the school car park (I'm a school caretaker) with my limited tool resources. I don't have burning gear, for instance ... ;) We use the Disco off-road enough to have bent the exhaust quite substantially, which would have made home removal impossible.

The Kwik fit bits are the ones that have lasted ... it was the middle box, genuine LR, that broke, not the bit that KF fitted.

Land rover don't do a "middle box"

It is down pipe/cat then one long single exhaust that comprises of two silencers. It is only the after market manufacturers that split it in to two .

Marc Draper came up with the following;:

When the genuine LR back box went in Feb, Kwik Fit said they should really do the whole exhaust up to the manifold, but if I wanted they'd chop it off in front of the back box and put on an after market silencer. This cost them money, I guess. This time the remaining bit off gen LR silencer went, and they duly fitted another aftermarket set, removing and replacing the still good rear bit. This, I felt, deserved a little praise for work above and beyond what's usual practice. Kwik Fit cannot have made any money on either of the transactions. Especially as they also changed the motorbike wheels/tyres/tubes for nothing other than me giving the lads that did it a drink.

In my book that deserves praise, even if I take the piss for their dancing adverts ... ;)

In message , Paul - xxx writes

I agree it is most unusual to get that sort of treatment from any fast fit centre.

Or perhaps you only ever hear that bad stuff !

Slightly related to 'service', heard this earlier. Manager at a petrol station in Derbyshire was also one of the local Ramblers, on the committee or summat. She made a rather silly mistake of commenting to one Land Rover driver that if it were up to her, she'd have a button under the counter to increase the price for 4x4 drivers. The driver happened to be quite senior in the Health and Safety Executive - called the area manager. Manager of petrol station got a P45 the week afterwards.

It gets better...

Ex Manager then gets a job at a local skool as an administrator. Starts a campaign to ban 'mumtrucks' - told not a good idea in Derbyshire where many skoolkidz are from out of town. Not taking the hint, she decides to have a rant at one parent in a Rav4 - parent is on the board of Guvners...

Another P45 was issued...

There is (limited) justice.

On Wed, 14 Dec 2005 16:53:44 +0000, Mother scribbled the following nonsense:

Ramblers, gotta love 'em!!!

Simon Isaacs muttered summat about:

They drive us up the wall!! You get two breeds those that want to enjoy the countryside, enjoy a walk, and those that want to exercise their right to walk come hell or high water and bugger anyone else. Thankfully we don't get too many oif the latter, but the ones we do, gee wiz, they are some idiots!!! We have had complaints varying from, the path is too muddy, or the sheep have crapped on it....

We had one woman make a formal complaint to the council that we had blocked access to the footpath with a gate!! Not a locked one either but a well hung

12" one. When we pointed this out to the council they insisted that quote "walkers should not have to open gates that are larger than those of a bridle path". They did no more than cut down 10" of hedge next to the gate, and install a stile.

In another instance we had a complaint that we had blocked a foot bridge. It turned out that the peron inquestion took exception to having to lift her pooch over a stile since we had put a piece of fence about two foot high across the bottom to stop lambs getting on the bridge and falling in the brook. The council decided not to persue it on this occasion and took our side. So said person did no more that cut all the fece down with wire cutters. We lost four lambs because of it!

If you ask me, these types do as more harm to the countryside and landowner relations than any other.

On or around Wed, 14 Dec 2005 20:39:35 -0000, "Graham G" enlightened us thusly:

I trust you complained in turn... criminal damage, is that.

bloody rights of way thing is getting ridiculous.

Austin Shackles muttered summat about:

No, just not worth the hassle. Besides, its one of those occasions where even if you got anywhere you know that the resultant hassle and bad feeling would not be worth it. Unfortunately they can make our lives a lot harder than we can theirs.

True but very sad, maybe a wander over to The Avengers Handbook

is in order. Wonder what you can do with lamb carcasses...