Dan32 Posted August 31, 2006 Report Share Posted August 31, 2006 Oatz, Jimmy P, RS32 and I went up to APS yesterday to watch RS32's new suspension go on and to have a 4 wheel alignment done on mine and Oatz's car. Here is our little diary of the events Early start means bacon sarnie at Jimmy Ps. Mini meet at The Yew Tree Pub where Jimmy put his engine knowledge to the test and diagnosed Oatz's problem straight away, "I think that bit sounds a bit funny." "What the engine?" "Yeah." My car up on the lift. Andy sorted out the slight pull to the left on my car and told us the factory spec can sometimes be a bit misleading to people when setting the car up. My car now runs so much better, especially around right handers as i'm not fighting it. Jimmy thinks he may have found his next engine and in a fit of rage shuts the head of VW technical in the engine bay of his car and then proceeds to lifting another car clean off the ground. Took a lot of calming down The APS300 car running the same setup as RS32 but as a 50mm drop as opposed to his 25mm. Sounds awesome as well. 4.30pm packing up to leave. RS32's car sucking wake down the M25. This set up feels awesome. Looks great as well. And JimmyP takes a great photo as well, unless its a beautiful blonde in a Merc! Overall, I was so impressed by Ed and Andy (Nathan the MKIV specialist wasn't about unfortunately) at APS. They bent over backwards to accomodate us, spent hours talking cars with all of us when I'm sure they had plenty of work to do, supplied a decent cup of coffee, and even took the time to run diagnostics on Oatz and my car for free, highlighting a problem with my car which I have booked in with them to sort out, even though they are 2 hours away from me. Cracking day out Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
khutula Posted August 31, 2006 Report Share Posted August 31, 2006 Looks like a great day out. From posts on here APS certainly seems to be the place to go. Great motion shots of RS32's car Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jimmyp Posted August 31, 2006 Report Share Posted August 31, 2006 Absolutely brilliant Dan, some top photos there mate... I will say the APS boys are just superb and i'm going there within the next two weeks also... So i take it the pic of the blonde didn't came out then Dan??? Probably because i was looking at the other lovely lady on our nearside Also Dan has a really good supply of music in his car Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
khutula Posted August 31, 2006 Report Share Posted August 31, 2006 ABBA? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jimmyp Posted August 31, 2006 Report Share Posted August 31, 2006 [ QUOTE ] Great motion shots of RS32's car [/ QUOTE ] Why thankyou... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rs32 Posted August 31, 2006 Report Share Posted August 31, 2006 There is some more information that needs broadcasting here We all left APS at lunchtime to go find a pub - this involved getting back to the M40 then going south. Unfortunately Oatz and Jimmy decided that the sign marked "London" wasn't quite big enough and they missed the turning, instead going northbound to Birmingham So we picked another town and had lunch there instead. Dan and myself thought this was quite funny, so proceeded to take the pi55 for the rest of the afternoon. Then on the way home I was leading the convoy, and made exactly the same mistake - luckily we managed to get back to the southbound carriageway via the M40 junction 10 services So out of 4 people, 3 with sat-nav, only Dan can claim to know which direction London is Enjoyed the day and great pics from Dan/Jimmy Thanks to the other 3 lads for hanging around until my car was finished and hope everyone got something out of our visit Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jimmyp Posted August 31, 2006 Report Share Posted August 31, 2006 [ QUOTE ] Then on the way home I was leading the convoy, and made exactly the same mistake [/ QUOTE ] Ah yes, well it is easy to do Oatz, i will say your car was running really well and was so smooth but let us no how you get on with the situation... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dan32 Posted August 31, 2006 Author Report Share Posted August 31, 2006 [ QUOTE ] Also Dan has a really good supply of music in his car [/ QUOTE ] Thought this was our little Jimmy. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RedRobin Posted August 31, 2006 Report Share Posted August 31, 2006 Sounds and looks like you had a great day . If Richard had had his stereo maxxed out, the whole of London (and Birmingham) would have heard you coming! . Awesome separated sound delivery with no distortion. Whereabouts is APS? Oxford way? I expect that all any of you will be able to tell me is that it's somewhere between London and Birmingham! I like the look of those bacon sarnies - I now need breakfast! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ritey Posted August 31, 2006 Report Share Posted August 31, 2006 Looks like you guys had a good time, some nice motors there Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Oatz Posted August 31, 2006 Report Share Posted August 31, 2006 If only to reiterate everyone else's words, APS were absolutely top drawer from the moment we arrived, until the moment we were escorted off the premises, the guys at APS couldn’t have been more accommodating if they had tried. Even to the point that Dan and I both had problems actually trying to pay for our alignment, they just didn’t seem to want our money! APS will definitely be getting my future business It was also equally good to be able to put a few names to a few faces over a bite to eat. A great day out. As I left the small Northamptonshire town of Brackley I felt enlightened, it suddenly struck me that I had gleamed two most important learning's from this day. Firstly, to steer well clear of the Infamous Brighton Burger Eating Challenge, (failure is inevitable by the way)..... and secondly, how my impeccable and precessional navigational skills wooed and impressed my fellow tyresmokers... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RedRobin Posted August 31, 2006 Report Share Posted August 31, 2006 Oatz > I've already met Richard, Jimmy and Dapper Dan at Brighton meet - Look forward to meeting you sometime there, or Porchester. APS now def on my list of tuners to seriously consider. Richard introduced me to Ed very very briefly at Castle Combe and he immediately struck me as a particularly nice guy. One of those people you instantly like. Lottie favours APS too. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
swil00 Posted August 31, 2006 Report Share Posted August 31, 2006 Looks like a good day had by all... Those guys down at APS sound superb, Its good to hear that there are still some places that you can be confident in the quality of work that'll be carried out. Really like the look of APS' MKV R. Bit too much of a drop for my liking, but the wheels look amazing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jimmyp Posted August 31, 2006 Report Share Posted August 31, 2006 [ QUOTE ] and secondly, how my impeccable and precessional navigational skills wooed and impressed my fellow tyresmokers... [/ QUOTE ] I think you did extremly well mate tho i quite enjoyed Oatz's magical mystery tour of Northants, the M40, abit of Brackley and Banbury Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LRR Posted August 31, 2006 Report Share Posted August 31, 2006 Jimmy, Is that a super set of pliers in your hand underneath that Audi ? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jimmyp Posted August 31, 2006 Report Share Posted August 31, 2006 [ QUOTE ] Is that a super set of pliers in your hand underneath that Audi ? [/ QUOTE ] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Roy32 Posted August 31, 2006 Report Share Posted August 31, 2006 Looks like you boy's had a great day, look forward to seeing the .:Rs at Porchester Jimmy, hope you had plenty of tomato sauce for the bacon sarnies Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jimmyp Posted August 31, 2006 Report Share Posted August 31, 2006 [ QUOTE ] Jimmy, hope you had plenty of tomato sauce for the bacon sarnies [/ QUOTE ] There was plenty to go round roy... Looking forward to deploying the Heinz at Porchester soon... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rs32 Posted August 31, 2006 Report Share Posted August 31, 2006 "deploy the ketchup" Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lottiefox Posted August 31, 2006 Report Share Posted August 31, 2006 Looks like you had fun there yesterday! I was at APS at 8.00 a.m. yesterday getting my rear clunk checked out - no problems, no charge - and they said they had lots of R32s coming in!! The guys are top notch there, they really know their stuff and take the time to sort things out. The TT won't go anywhere else and they've also recently serviced the MX-5 as Andy is a closet expert on those as well!! The delivery sarnie place is also very good if you get extra hungry whilst waiting! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jimmyp Posted August 31, 2006 Report Share Posted August 31, 2006 [ QUOTE ] The delivery sarnie place is also very good if you get extra hungry whilst waiting! [/ QUOTE ] Think we will have to try that next time we go there... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
khutula Posted September 1, 2006 Report Share Posted September 1, 2006 What problem did APS find with your car Dan? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RedRobin Posted September 1, 2006 Report Share Posted September 1, 2006 [ QUOTE ] What problem did APS find with your car Dan? [/ QUOTE ] ....The engine was all wound up in white ribbon - A mystery how it gone in there! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dan32 Posted September 1, 2006 Author Report Share Posted September 1, 2006 Having removed the ribbon from the engine, the car was throwing up some fault codes. Ed seemed to think it was going to be one or some of the lambda sensors and oddly enough, having replaced the MAF recently and thinking all was well, we drive to APS at 70mph on the dot and I'm still only getting 25mpg whereas RS32 called us to gloat about his 34mpg reading! Going back to APS to get them to have proper look when Andy, their resident MKIV guru, returns from holiday. May also be getting a new ARB as Ed advised me from his experiences of running a MKIV R in a race series (?) that with 25mm rear ARB I should try a 22mm front to take out some of the twitchiness. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Decked Posted September 1, 2006 Report Share Posted September 1, 2006 I'm no expert but wouldn't you want a chunkier ARB on the front??? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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