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New tyres - Total Transformation!

Have had my R19 16V for 3 months now and not spent a single penny on it apart from a tenner on two centre caps.

But having decided it's a keeper after 3000 trouble-free miles - have treated it to four brand new Toyo PX4's(bargain at £120), laser tracking and all new exhaust rubbers -- the car was fun to drive already but it's superb now, has the proverbial handling like its on rails, I reckon the Pirelli P6000s on it must have been over a decade old, they dont wear out it seems, just go old, hard and perish which must impact on the handling. not having the exhaust knocking on the axle is a revelation too and i appreciate what a quiet and refined car a factory standard R19 16V is!

thinking of biting the bullet and getting my rust-free bonnet fitted and whole of the offside painted along with the rear spoiler to bring the cosmetics up to scratch, but can i justify spending £400 on the old R19? but then i would have to get new side window scrapers as the bubbling rubber would look so obvious against new paint and irritate me, then the wheels would need powder-coating... maybe i should stick with the shabby look. At least with the way it looks now i never clean it as bad bits dont show up with a few months of road grime covering it...
 
Yeah you're right about the P6000s - I had a set on my ph2 chamade for about 3 years and they still looked more or less new when I sold it!
 
I could scrape the money together and forgo a crap holiday in cyprus, but it's the fact that I would never recoup the money when I sold it that bugs me - and the novelty will wear off and I will want a 5 GT Turbo or a 944 - at least when I had Clio Williamses I wouldn't think twice about getting the wheels refurbished or the rear arches sorted as I knew I could flog the car for £3K+ (I don't sell crap ones by the way, only minters). But I think a huge part of the appeal of my R19 is that it's such a cheap car and drives far more nicely and is so much more pokey than its lowly price tag would suggest. I was expecting it to be a bag of sh!t but what was described as a misfire transpired was just a very low tank of fuel - so as soon as I put £30 of new fuel in it, it has been a paragon of reliability.

I would recommend the Toyos, I like the tread pattern, got them off Ebay with free delivery, and I think in real everyday driving they're just as good as Yoko's. I'm not maligning the good old P6000s at all, the fact that they don't wear is a boon to most people, I've actually just bought a set of four for my 240 GLT (that's an 80s Volvo folks - ouch!), which were double the price of the Toyos. But with the speeds that my R19 makes me travel at, I wanted something grippy and for that price I don't care if they only last 5000 miles.
 
Yeah, new tyres always make a difference. Had a set of Coopers on my truck, they did 65,000 miles over two years. By the time they were down to their limits I couldn't use more than half throttle and even less than that in the wet. When it rained the diff would lock up at any junction regardless.
Had a new set of Bridgestones fitted a couple months back and the difference is phenominal. It's a lot more noticeable on a three ton truck trying to put 200bhp and 240lbft onto the street...

--Phil
 
Maybe I should post "before" and "after" pix of my R19 and you guys can decide at the end if it was money well spent!

I think I shall get the bodywork done, trying to get a more reasonable quote, trouble is you get what you pay for. What's made my mind up was that I parked my ph2 next to my friend's Focus ST170 at the pub tonight and walking back to them I realised how much more flair the design of the 19 had - it's still an attractive car and distinctive. It looks sexier than the Ford and yet he paid 25x more for his Focus!

So it's not a ph1 but it's only had 3 owners, last one for 10 yrs and has total service history, i love the colour combo too, Brooklands Green with black leather, so as far as 19's go it's pretty special in my book and warrants some TLC.
 
A clean car with shiney wheels and windows is a must especially when it can deliver so many 'smiles per gallon'. If your not sure about the wheel refurb you could always get a cheap second set to leave on it when you sell and keep your best set for future use.

I picked up 5 phase one speedlines for £65 and had them refurbed 'for best'. The car's original wheels are always there if I need them. (I am tempted to have them done and put them on my Clio though)
 
Oil level gauge?!

Thanks for the tip, I got the car up on a ramp and me and mechanic had a good poke around before I even ordered the tyres and the sills were fine thankfully - pleasantly surprised, just a bit or perished underseal which I will get sorted.

I can get the wheels professionally shotblasted and powder-coated for £120 through the trade - but that's low down on my wish-list at the mo. so i am kicking myself now as should have had it done while the tyres were off to fit the new ones - what a plonker!

So why doesn't my oil level gauge work or light up when I start up - any clues?? The pressure gauge works fine? Any hint gratefully received.
 
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