The Kalos arrived and apparently the lack of speed and the aeroplane noise were not present today! The MIL light was saying MAP sensor, I cleared the code and it has not returned. A blat along an A road showed just what a foul vehicle it is, but did not show the driving fault she described, driving around town did: The brake pedal travel reduced , the car was braking itself and if you tried to go faster a horrible droning judder arose. Interestingly the car still drove quite straight, light braking made it pull to the good side, hard braking was ok. So the actual fault was a stuck LH front brake, which seemed to be purely down to very worn discs and pads which allowed the piston to get to the very end of its travel and tilt slightly (due to poor caliper design) New discs and pads, the piston went back in almost like new with a straight push and bob's etc. I also had to get it an MoT, all the fail points were basically related to the previous lack of servicing. Which is something I noticed many years ago: cheap make cars (and motorbikes) are bought by people that have no interest in them, nor any intention or wish to maintain them. There must be exceptions, but in general better quality owners buy better make cars.
Daewoo Kalos: the answer
Apr 16, 2013
13 Replies
A great example of why remote diagnosis is so bloody difficult...
What gets me is that several 'friends' had looked at it but not even nearly found the fault, they were all looking under the bonnet.
Did they bother driving it, or just take the "symptoms" at face value?
I guess they were 'kwik-fit' trained.
Yeah but, if you ask an infinite number of monkeys with typewriters, one of them is bound to come up with the right answer. ;-)
Tim
Can't have been. They always say you need new discs regardless. Even for a blowing exhaust.
Can't have been. They always say you need new discs regardless. Even for a blowing exhaust.
Don't forget the shock absorbers. If you don't buy new ones they won't be able to guarantee the exhaust.
Central Tyres refused to fit a stainless exhaust they didn't supply. I'm sure they fit tyres to wheels they haven't supplied.
I expect KF would have the same policy.
I'm surprised they can do any work on cars at all, after all they haven't supplied them.
That's a false analogy. The correct analogy is whether CT are prepared to fit tyres supplied by another company.
As they probably don't make much money from fitting and there's always the chance of breaking the exhaust, it seems a sensible commercial decision not to fit an exhaust from another supplier.
No complaints about my local Charlie Brown - just swapped over 4 tyres from old to new wheels, balanced etc while I waited for £50.
Local independent wanted 'at least' £70 if I agreed to dispose of the old tyres, and come back in a few days to see if they were busy, but even then wasn't sure if it'd be worth his while.
I've used the local Halfords MOT place for 4 years now. They've never fixed anything, and have always charged me internet - not ssign-on-the-wall - rate. £30-odd I think.
I'd rather support the independents but they don't always make it easy.
Rob
That sounds like my own observation that, one day, every e-mail message sent will be received. The problem is, that we won't know which day it is.
If you have no complaints about Charlie Brown then you're staggeringly complacent or have never watched them in operation. I used them once for a replacement exhaust. They fitted it incorrectly then tried to use the radiator as a fulcrum while trying to lever the exhaust into the correct position.
They damaged the rad, took me years to get the damage paid for.
Eventually the place closed down - endless complaints to Trading Standards.
I still remember them breaking the bell housing on my dads Marina (OK,= =
you could argue that was doing the world a favour) whilst changing the =
clutch slave cylinder by heating up the bell housing with a gas axe so =
that they could slide it out the wrong way.
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