[Gwegm]

Had the 36k service done at Hattons in Weston Super Mare. Very happy with them, will go back again for sure. Nice to have a proper Alfa service stamp without having to leave Somerset.

Also got a fiat Tipo as a courtesy car, which was a perfectly adequate, if bland thing to drive but provided a wonderful contrast when I got back in my Giulia. She felt bloody amazing with fresh oil and spark plugs.

 

[Gwegm]

Great to hear mate. Mine is due a 4yr service, how much are they charging for 'the major service'?

Are you sitting down?



523 quid.

 

[Gwegm]

Great to hear mate. Mine is due a 4yr service, how much are they charging for 'the major service'?

Are you sitting down?



523 quid.

Not too bad, was quoted £760 by those robbing dealers in Swindon ...

Well that makes me feel better.
Just one thing to watch out for with Hutton's... Their workshop gets really busy in spring/summer, so you'll have to wait a few weeks for a slot. Wouldn't surprise me if you booked now and didn't get seen until July!

 

[Gwegm]

Today I prevented a bunch of scratches on my Giulia's roof with the following method...

1. Thought about getting a roof rack.
2. Looked the price of roof racks.
3. Stopped thinking about getting a roof rack.

 

[Gwegm]

I have a setting in the menu that allows me to turn the feature on and off, don't all Giulias have it?

Nope, not on 2017 cars 😭

 

[Gwegm]

Topped up the screen washer. Pretty chuffed with myself

 

[Gwegm]

Had a full set of Michelin Pilot sport 4s and a 4 wheel alignment done today.

 

[Gwegm]

I’m about to replace all 4 from RF to non RF. likely I’ll use Blackcircles but wonder if you would recommend who you used?

stuck with run flats myself. Halfords have got an offer on at the moment and I'm in their 'club' which gets me another 5% off as well.

 

[Gwegm]

Standard or zero pressure version?

Standard. All within tolerance so no adjustments required, so no charge.

 

[Gwegm]

Apologies, I meant the tyres.

How do you find them?

Ooohh, you mean run flats? I thought you meant some fancy alignment system 😂

I went with run flats because that's what the car had on it already and I've been happy with that setup. The Michelins feel great, even in the last few days I've put a few hundred miles on them and they're quiet in the motorway, feel surefooted in a downpour and they look good too (they have rim protection which I like the look of). I haven't had the opportunity to really throw the car around much, but it certainly feels more agile than the Sunnys that the previous owner had put on there.

 

[Gwegm]

7h47 num83r p1473 th0u9h

 

[Gwegm]

I just picked up a set of gen wheels from someone local this morning.

View attachment 980103

8.5/10 set up, 6mm all around on the tyres. A little kerbing on the two O/S wheels but for £550 I can't really complain 😊

I'll pop them on the car this afternoon, but I've been looking for a set for a while now- the planets aligned nicely today!

Oooh you jammy git! Looking forward to pics later 😊

 

[Gwegm]

Here they are on the car...

View attachment 980160

I think a colour change as I'm not a fanof the black if I'm honest..

But, for the money paid, I'm clearly not complaining. It was a EBay buy- seller priced them to start at £500, I messaged, said I was local and what was he looking for- when he said £550 I told him I would be straight over 🤣

Bargain of the century!

I'm not ordinarily a fan of black wheels, but against that colour bodywork and along with the other black accents (windows, spoiler, front grille) I think it works.

Mind you, you could drop a grand on refinishing the wheels and still break even 😉

 

[Gwegm]

Whats the boot spring mod if you dont mind me asking?

Park facing uphill, then open the boot and watch the lid flail gracefully back and forth rather than open fully.

Three ways of dealing with it...
1. Zip tie a few of the spring coils together to create additional tension.
2. Buy an upgraded set of springs/bump stops.
3. Park facing downhill

 

[Gwegm]

Windy days aren't your friend either.

I just live with it though. Once you've whacked your head a couple of times you soon learn.

 

[Gwegm]

Have you seen the cost of option two?

but I’ve done the cable tie method four coils on each side

Yeah. But I haven't done the zip tie method because I don't want to add any unnecessary weight.

 

[Gwegm]

Battery upgrade today. Having scoured the forum for recommendations I chose to ignore all of them and went for one of these:

019 Enduroline AGM Start Stop Car Battery 95Ah

Enduroline AGM Car Battery A very high performing car battery range. These car batteries are designed to produce power for the most demanding situation. With high electrical use on most modern cars, you can be sure the Enduroline car battery has the power to keep you on the road.

www.tayna.co.uk

Tayna's own brand. A little bit less money and a year longer guarantee than they're offering on the Varta equivalent.

After a top up charge overnight, installation was a simple straight swap, everything fit perfectly and the tips on the forum about the extra fixing hole to take the longer 95ah battery were spot on.

I didn't bother with using a slave battery or anything, just whacked the new one in and reset the ensuing error lights by spinning the steering from lock to lock.

 

[Gwegm]

Being a 20 year veteran of office jockey life, combined with about 10% of my working time devoted to rep-mobiling my way around the country/world, I have become extremely good at sitting down.

So much so, that it has always irked me that the accelerator pedal and the left foot rest do not quite align in my Giulia. My left heel is slightly further forward than my right, which throws off my finely balanced, expert sitting position.

Not any more... With some jigsaw bodgery, a bit of half inch ply and a cheapo footrest off eBay I have packed up the height of the footrest to my satisfaction and made it look, while not exactly factory, at least not like a lump of ply.

Much more ergonomic. My spine will thank me in later years I'm sure.

 

[Gwegm]

Great minds.. I have just shelled out the princely sum of 26 quid (Ali Express does it again) to get the full triple set of Chinese 'sport' pedals that appear to be identical to yours. I'm sure that fitting the brake pedal is going to be a b*stard, but your plywood mounting of the footrest is a masterstroke. Question is, what is attaching the plywood to the underlying carpet? Is is bitumen leaking out the side there?!?

My brake and accelerator pedals are OEM, goodness know why Alfa didn't make the footrest match

Anyway, the ply is stuck onto the existing plastic bit of the footrest using as many double sided stick foam pads as I could fit on there. The looky likely footrest had its own adhesive backing which is gobbed straight onto the ply.

The black edge on the ply is where I coloured it in with a Sharpie in case it was going to be visible (which is wasn't in the end).

The solution isn't perfect, the footrest, despite cutting a few mil off the left hand edge, is still a bit too wide. So if I lean too heavily on the right hand edge it'll want to peel off the adhesive pads. Some fettling to do I reckon. Or perhaps get myself a 3d printer for Christmas...

 

[Gwegm]

Android auto or the Eng Custom unit seems to have got an update. Can't tell which. Pic on the right is the old version..

View attachment 985009 View attachment 985010

Ooo, you have "coolwalk". Lucky bugger 😊

Any noticeable performance improvements or is it just aesthetic?