During my recent drive to Paris and back, I realised that baby wipes are an excellent way to get rid of dried on dead insects from the windscreen and headlights. Having spent decades being frustrated to find empty water buckets and missing squeegees at European motorway service stations in the summer, this discovery has really delighted me.
What are your motoring top tips?
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Keep a soft 'squeegee' blade (the sort sold for shower tiles and screens are good) and a trigger bottle of plain water with drop of washing up liquid added added in the car.
Good for shifting dust or road spray from side windows or, together with kitchen towel, for shifting bugs etc from front screen.
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Tie wraps are astonishingly useful for all sorts of holding stuff on. Even held an exhaust on after a bracket broke.
Road tar shifts with a bit of white spirit.
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I was with my aunt and uncle in Jockland this week and my car needed a wash so I offered to do his too and asked where his car washing stuff was. He didn't have any.
At his suggestion I went to "Home Bargains" in Lockerbie (never heard of it, but branches everywhere as it turns out).
Came out with some wash and wax, two sponges, a bucket, some glass wipes and a spray bottle of "Astonish" wheel cleaner for about £4.
The wheel cleaner is terrific. Not acidic like wonder wheels. The instructions were to spray on and rinse off (no chance) but spraying, leaving, and washing off with a soapy sponge removed the muck and brake dust of ages from unc's car which had definitely not been washed since last year.
The Astonish wheel cleaner is 99p. Brought some home.
I also left with an elastic luggage net that fits nicely under the MX5 boot lid, for 99p.
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The "B&M" chain of shops (don't know if you have them down there in expensive land) have similar prices.
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I bought a big bottle of that 'Astonish' black plastic and tyre restorer for €1.50 at a cheapie shop when I was in Ireland recently. It really works. I also bought a similar size bottle of 'Astonish' anti-mould cleaner and that works well, too.
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>> The "B&M" chain of shops (don't know if you have them down there in expensive land) have similar prices.
As do the 99p stores.
99pstoresltd.com/car-care
And all the other £1 (or thereabouts) variant stores no doubt. Poundland, Poundworld, etc etc.
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Agree with wet wipes. They're great for removing tar spots too and to wash hands with after filling up at the diesel pumps. Always have a collection of tie wraps should something break plus thin rubber gloves in case a tyre change is required.
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>> plus thin rubber gloves in case a tyre change is required.
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Add a few black rubbish bags. Good for kneeling on, as an apron when lifting spare wheels and wrapping dirty spare wheels.
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Will try to post some more when I remember them :-)
1. Use small sticky pad type thing on dashboard to hold parking tickets
2. Wet wipes [already mentioned] but make sure you seal it properly after each use else it won't remain wet for long.
3. Pen and pad [check the pen frequently to make sure it still works]
4. While parking on roadside without marking for each car, keep enough gap in either front or back enough for you to move out even if car in front/back gets out and a large/long van takes up the space!
5. Park away from entrance at supermarkets.
6. If possible carry baby in car in order to be able to park at parent & child bays.
7. If want to turn left on roundabout and there is long queue, just keep right lane and make full circle on roundabout.
8. If you find main road is choked with traffic due to incident, then chances are side/country roads will be even more choked as most people will try to be more smart. Authorities will try to clear up main roads before bothering about country roads.
9. Keep some plastic bags in car. Can be handy as bin bag as well as carry bag for sudden visit to shops like Lidl where you need to buy carry bags.
10. Keep left on motorway and undertake. You can often go faster than being in lane 3/4.
11. If you want to grab free parking space in a popular tourist spots, then arrive early in the morning.
12. If you have carried passengers at back seat, always check if windows are closed before walking away after parking.
13. If you need to go to toilet, go as soon as possible before it is too late. Driving at that situation can cause serious trouble.
14. Do not accept work related calls while driving. These tend to make you concentrate (on call, not on road) harder compared to family calls.
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Moviligo you make live to complicated for me.Just take it as it comes and relax.
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For all the tongue-in-cheek of most of ml's post,12 is a good call.... something you don't consider if (like us) you rarely if ever use the back seats for anything but shopping.
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>> And all the other £1 (or thereabouts) variant stores no doubt. Poundland, Poundworld, etc etc.
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I thought there was only Waitrose South of Watford, or is it the M4. :-)
And yes we do have Waitrose up here in never to be independent land. While having dinner with about a dozen friends this week the subject of independence came up in conversation. No one knew, (or admitted knowing) anyone in favour, and there were some ferociously "Scottish " people present.
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Old rug in the boot has various uses including traction assistance under a driven wheel in the event of getting caught in a snow or mud rut.
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>> Old rug in the boot has various uses including traction assistance under a driven wheel
>> in the event of getting caught in a snow or mud rut.
Haven't you fitted your winter tyres yet?
;>)
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>> Haven't you fitted your winter tyres yet?
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>> ;>)
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I noticed today that the Edinburgh Costco have plenty of winter tyres in stock, must be because the excellent local drivers didn't need them. They also stock Bridgestone tyres and all their tyre prices seem to have dropped a bit.
Also £50 off 4 Michelins from 10 - 30 June. Pity I don't need any. :-(
Last edited by: Old Navy on Fri 7 Jun 13 at 16:26
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I might, not that £50 is much of a discount on four LEC tyres.
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>> I might, not that £50 is much of a discount on four LEC tyres.
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True, they used to do a buy 3 get one free promotion.
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Useless if you have a three wheeler.....
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Motoring Top Tips - Bromptonaut
