QuoteJose Pinto QuoteOve Kvam Yes, we have lots of rain and wind here. I don't mind anymore. After all, we Norwegians decend from arctic explorers. Bring it on! That's the spirit! Here in Porto, pouring rain and strong wind coincide often in the autumn and spring, so the use of umbrella is pointless. We never get extreme temperatures though. We usually don't get extreme
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QuoteJose Pinto QuoteOve Kvam I ordered new winter tires today. This type So you don't get much wind and rain over where you live? I find very unpleasant to ride the bike in the rain. Yes, we have lots of rain and wind here. I don't mind anymore. After all, we Norwegians decend from arctic explorers. Bring it on!
Forum: Community Forum

I ordered new winter tires today. This type
Forum: Community Forum

In Norway, the government is considering revoking the licence plates from affected VWs that do not show up for the official fix. This is funny, because a rather high percentage of these cars have been tampered with to give them more performance and even more pollution....
Forum: Car Talk

QuoteBob in Everett Most likely the governments in each country would not allow the car to be registered without the "improved" emissions control. Even the higher Nox levels are not all that much. Compare to a larger vehicle it is probably less per mile. Compared to modern lorries with AdBlue technology, the NOx levels are actually higher in these VWs.
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QuoteJose Pinto Now they say VW will recall affected cars. If VW offered two choices for the recall, A) put serious emission control in place or B) get the most hp and screw emissions. Which do you think most consumers would choose? I think it would be around 50/50.
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But it makes more sense to measure the mass of diesel and petrol when comparing efficiency, not volume. The energy in one kg of diesel and petrol is rather similar. And what confuses us Europeans, is why you have different rules for pollution for trucks versus normal cars, as I see lots of Americans commuting in trucks. I am not so sure that a diesel engine is more expensive and needs more ma
Forum: Car Talk

I think our 2012 F20 116i is fairly pollution friendly with its turbocharged petrol four. It drinks 5 to 7 liters per 100 km in traffic, and maybe 20 for track driving... We are considering a new 3 cylinder 118i.
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I agree with Jose Pinto. I wish more people would use petrol or electric (or petrol-electric) cars instead of diesel. I am also very confused about the US pickup truck rules.
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I agree. Tests have shown that the M20 runs better with slightly more valve gap than specified by BMW.
Forum: Technical Forum

QuoteJose Pinto The Portuguese Michelin web site suggests the Primacy3. The Pilot Sport 3 is marketed as a more sports oriented, (as the Super sport), the last thing one would expect such product to be slippy when hot The PS3 is more sporty than Primacy3, but not as sporty as PSS. The PS2 was developed into both PS3 and PSS, where PS3 is a bit more of a rain tire, and PSS is a bit more of
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Yes, my experience is also that PS3 seems to have a rubber compound that is happier at lower temperatures, or when it is raining.
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QuoteBob in Everett When you say low temperature, how low do you mean? Below freezing? or less? I am not sure exactly where it starts to struggle, but it is slightly above freezing.
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QuoteBob in Everett That is good to know. I thought about some Pilot Sport 3 tires but since I already had the X ice on a set of wheels for winter, I went for the Pilot Super Sport summer tire. Not sure what they will be like in wet weather. I will find out come October when the rain comes back. Pilot Supersport is an excellent tire, both in the wet and dry. It does however not like low am
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QuoteBob in Everett My snow tires are the Michelin X-ice tread pattern with lots of sipes in them. They seem to do ok on wet pavement and when it is cold here. The temp is pretty cool from November to March so a Summer tire is not likely to do as well. Our pavement gets quite worn and slippery too. Not much agressive driving since the misty rain keeps most roads wet. I am running Michelin X
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QuoteBob in Everett I too have just bought some new tires. I had some 6 year old Michelin all season tires that were nearly to the wear bars. They were not very good in any weather any more but the new set of summer tires are very sticky on dry pavement. Probably not so much on wet. Will have to go back to the snow tires when the rain comes back. Snow tires in the rain? Summer tires are gen
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QuoteJose Pinto There is another Portuguese tire factory, but they have been struggling for a while now, and may be belly-up very soon. So much for Europe de-industrialization. Maybe the market for low end products is on the way down. People prefer premium products. I only buy Michelin tyres.
Forum: Car Talk

You know the definition of an extrovert programmer? That is a programmer who looks at the other person's shoes when talking to somebody. :-) (I am also a software guy)
Forum: Community Forum

The purple oil type you mention, is probably Royal Purple, which is a good brand.
Forum: Technical Forum

The BMW i3 can be driven with only one pedal. You hardly ever have to use the brake pedal, since the car regenerates power when you take your foot off the throttle, and this makes it decelerate very well. Besides, it has no gears or clutch. Let go of the throttle, and the car will stop completely. Step on it, and the car takes off again. The brake pedal is only for emergency braking.
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Quoterkj This was something Ove commented on facebook.... I have to admit, when driving an automatic I use my left foot for the brake Most modern race cars have only two pedals now, and I think most racing drivers use one foot on each. They usually started driving gokarts, where you have to drive like that, as the steering make it impossible to cross your legs over. Rally drivers also use
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I like that kind of math/physics, but I disagree on many of the assumptions. A formula one will perhaps do 5G at high speed, but not at low speed. It lacks downforce. They also assume constant acceleration, while most cars accelerate a lot better at low speeds than high speeds. When I am driving on a twisty road, I don't finish the braking before the corners, and start accelerating afte
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QuoteJose Pinto http://www.avisbestroad.com/uk/the-top-25-roads/ The road in first place is over here near me. The problem with driving in scenic roads is you can either drive or check the scenery. Number 21 is close to me. There are places along the route where you can stop and enjoy the scenery. I have also gone up this road a couple of times on bicycle, where you have more time to se
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QuoteKicks Thanks for the info. Ah the joys of start gas. I can get it in the USA but struggle to find supplier here in OZ. I will look at that and check for any visible leaks and get back to you. Any gas that is flammable will work. Probably even hair spray!
Forum: Technical Forum

There is also one more test that can be done to check that the idle program kick in correctly. My 318i was a manual, where this is very easy, but I guess it can somehow be done with an automatic as well by manually selecting a low gear. The trick is to let the car coast at speed, with the RPM dropping slowly. At high RPM, the econometer should show no fuel consumption (fuel cut). As the RPM
Forum: Technical Forum

QuoteKicks Drove for 80kms. It stalled once when starting from a stop sign after 30 minutes. It does idle slightly rough at times This has really got me confused so any assistance is appreciated. It could be an issue with the idle control valve, but the most common cause of rough idle is air leaks causing the engine to get access to unmetered air. If you have a can of start gas, you could
Forum: Technical Forum

The idle control valve sits between the engine and the firewall, rather high on the intake side. Looks like a small metal cylinder with a cable connection. The most common cause of engine computer power issues is a faulty relay under the cover on top of the firewall. There are usually three relays there. You could try to swap the two equal ones, and see if it makes a difference.
Forum: Technical Forum

Next time this happens, watch the instruments carefully. If the tachometer drops suddenly to zero, you have a power issue to the engine computer. If the econometer goes all the way left, it is the computer that cuts the fuel since it does not think it has any air (air flow meter issue). If it goes to the right, it could be a fuel supply problem. I would also check the throttle switch. Make
Forum: Technical Forum

I like it. But I think they should make it a Compact by cutting off most of the trunk as well.
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QuoteJose Pinto Ove, the carbon assembly and gluing robots are yours as well? Very nice movie! There are lots of ABB robots in the Leipzig factory, but I only work on paint robots.
Forum: Car Talk