Alloy Damage!

Kolo, like all Audi A2's, doesn't really suit a bodykit. Plus, I don't actually like them, on any car. Yes SouferKa, as a SportKa, could be argued has one, but it's a factory fit and an integral design by Ford. But yes, bar a Lancia Intergrale, I don't like them.

So, like many A2 owners, the only way to lift our A2 away from other A2s, is to fit a nice set of alloys. So, my choice, a set of 17'' Audi Allroad (on Toyo Proxes Wet-Weathers). It's harder for us A2OC guys too, as we know the limits in wheel dimensions and offsets the A2 can roll on without damaging the car and if any left, the manufacturers warranty. Plus, the car was only available in a small range of body colours (met black, denim blue met, met silver of course, red, and as part of the weird looking run out 'color' model: neon blue, bright red and mustard yellow, all with black body trim). So wheels are really the only way to go.

It's odd for non A2 fans to get it; to customise such an anodyne car as an Audi, but as mentioned before, an A2 is not a normal Deutsch-mobil, it's got character, and as an owner, you want to make your version an individual version.

So, as S L comes back for her daily commute to work to report alloy damage. She might as well have broken my right leg. In truth, it didn't get me as much as I thought, and she thought, it would. I think it's one of those things that was going to happen, plus I'd already clipped the same wheel months earlier, to which I kicked myself in the nuts for already. Maybe if it was a different wheel? Anyway, it wasn't her fault. No, no, it wasn't. A similar thing happened when I was in the car too. Just passed the new St Mirren's stadium, the road narrows before a T-junction. taxis, coming the other way, run wide and force cars coming the other way onto the pavement. I say taxis, because they don't give two hoots about others at this junction, it's shocking. Plus there has been a number of taxi v taxi accidents there, hee hee.

So it all got me thinking....

....I've seen these wheel-proctors advertised in the back of Topgear magazine, £28.99 plus £6.95 P&P for 4 17'' grey rim protectors. A bit steep for four plastic rims only 80mm thick. You could, if you so inclined, make these a statement in their own right and get them in red, or gold, or make your wheels look smaller and get them in black. Hmm, I'll just get the grey I think. Maybe another time, I'll vote red.

But then, if I add £26.99 for the Sportka's 16"s, which doesn't increase the P&P, it might just save SL and I a £60+ trip to the wheel repairers. And it is also of note, every time the wheels get damaged, the more likely they are to corrode, even if they get repaired and, at rim, get weaker as well.

But won't these graze the wheels themselves? In the video, they do line the wheel with masking tape, but that can't stay under the protector, can it? Maybe a call is needed.

The wheelprotectors, or as they're actually called; wheelsprotector, do have guarantee against future wheel scuffing, but lets not try that one out, 'ey.

But really, £30+ is a lot of money to spend per car, even if it is preventative. But it might just prove worth it as the stadium corner is a part of the Paisley commuter rat-run and thus, it might not be the last time we're forced to kerb either of the cars. I might, as a result of getting these things, park closer than 40cm from the kerb. I'll keep you posted.

Bumper & mechanical damage

Weeks after Kolo was completely fixed; after everything was as good as new, I hit debris on the road. Mud to be precise. So what's the damage, well it hit just below where the intercooler is housed, dislodging a pipe. Bugger. The pipe now hangs clear of the lower aero undertray and swings 6inches lower than anything else on the car. Power is not effected and no warning lights show on the dash, in fact, it's like nothing happened at all. But being that low, it's going to get knocked off, being just inches off the ground. It's all shiny metal looking, that must mean it's important, doesn't it. Doesn't it?