I have a Murano. Don't judge me.
However, to the point, it's headlights are curved such that the top quarter is angled back and almost facing up. Consequently in this sun it's become very cloudy and almost yellow, certainly opaque.
I was recently given some (I quote from the label);
"New & Improved Meguiar's PlastX Clear Plastic Cleaner & Polish".
The stuff is brilliant, and not even particularly hard work. The top third of each headlamp was totally foggy to the point one could not pick out the details of reflectors & stuff inside the lens.
It took me about 15 minutes of rubbing each lens and about 1/10th of my 295ml bottle and they're totally clear.
Genius stuff and highly recommended.
p.s. I should probably point out that cleaning cars is not really my thing and perhaps all headlight cleaner/polish performs this well, I wouldn't know. But this stuff is definitely good.
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I’d not seen a Murano for several months then passed one on the AP7 yesterday as it was changeover day for my rental at Alicante airport.
The only reason I remember is because it was one of the few cars I overtook that day in my crappy base model Pug 208, one of the few cars doing sub 120kph. And I thought the Yaris 1.5 was bad.
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It's f.ugly but it's a pretty reasonable and well equipped car, and with a 3.5l V6 it can pick up its skirts and run ok. It's also stunningly good MPG on a run, though truly awful in town.
My main objection to it is mostly the difference between its largish, bulbous outside dimensions and its most certainly smallish internal dimensions.
Last edited by: No FM2R on Mon 26 Oct 20 at 18:13
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To be mildly obtuse, I kind of liked Muranos. Neighbour/friend had one like yours. Replaced it with a Lexus somethingorother. Hybrid thing. He sees it as great sport to creep up behind me and the dog in it on electric power and sound the horn when his front bumper is about six inches behind my knees.
I'd hit him, if he wasn't an ex Marine commando...
;-)
Last edited by: Runfer D'Hills on Mon 26 Oct 20 at 18:41
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Technically the Murano is probably a better car than my Explorer. The Explorer is a bit taller, but other than that they are not so different externally.
However by comparison the Explorer is positively cavernous inside. Loads of space *and* three rows of seats, still has a valid boot. Three zone climate control, opening rear glass, etc. etc. The children love it since they get an entire row of seats each on a long drive. The Explorer is a relaxing and comfortable tank to drive. I love it. Though one shouldn't think about chucking it around corners, it will actually go pretty much anywhere.
Conversely the Murano, with it's much tighter handling and modern running gear is far more precise and thus more tense and intruding. The seats are all bucket-y, so there is only one comfortable position. Slouching not an attractive option. The Murano is 4x4. Dunno why, it'd cry if it got its tyres muddy.
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I do like some of these cars, probably the Explorer, that you cannot get in the U.K.
My friends, who live in the foothills of the Sierras in northern CA have a 2005 Toyota Tundra. Big ‘ol V8 twin cab, cramped in the rear with a suicide door, but with winter tyres it’s almost unstoppable. Keen skiers, they make first tracks after a major dump and often head off pre dawn before the roads are cleared.
The load bay was great for skis, and kayaks and inflatable rafts in summer. They once gave me the keys to it so I headed off solo for 15 days to ski as many resorts around Tahoe as I could manage.
They still have it, but added a 2015 Toyota Sienna to their ‘fleet’. V6, AWD, three rows of seats, room for 4 and space for a garage full of toys. Far more civilised
I wasn’t allowed to take that.
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Keen skiers, they make first tracks after a major dump? A bit personal I thought.
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That matters not if you get in first - although it has to be hard and totally convincing. Let us know how you get on and from which address you are writing from. Presuming of course that you can still write:-)
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>>He sees it as great sport to creep up behind me and the dog in it on electric power and sound the horn when his front bumper is about six inches behind my knees.
I had a work colleague who took great delight in doing similar when I was on my push bike. Lost his sense of humour when I cycled past him in a queue of traffic and slapped his roof with my hand. Reckoned he nearly rammed the car in front as a result. Oh how I wish.
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I used an Ebay kit with several different grades of grit on sanding discs driven by an electric drill. Then there was some cream applied by a drill-driven sponge. The final thing to do was to coat the lenses with a UV barrier varnish since (it was alleged) UV damaged the lenses in the first place.
Only then was I able to appreciate how mediocre were the Jaguar dipped beams when new :(
Any clue as to how Meguiars protect the finished, polished lens?
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As part of my preparations for towing with the Jaguar, I've bought some second-hand headlamps with actual working adjusters. The seller had stored them on a gritty shelf, lenses down, which has left me with some scratches needing to be polished out.
So, accepting a recommendation from a long-serving poster who, AFAIK isn't in the business of generating spurious reviews, I ordered a bottle of the 'new & improved' Meguiar's PlastX from an Ebay seller in Xiamen.
The bottle arrived in short order, but, oh dear, the label didn't have the yellow flash saying 'new & improved' as shown on the Ebay listing photo. Closer inspection showed that the bottle had 2 labels, a 'new & improved' style label and, stuck on top, an original style label. Off it went in its packet to a returns dept in the UK.
Asking the seller what was going on gave me nothing other than a plea to give them a 5-star rating if they processed my refund quickly.
So, fellow forumeers, what gives? Have Meguiar's discovered a tank of old formula PlastX? Has the labelling machine been loaded with the wrong labels?
Please speculate ...
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>>
>> Please speculate ..
>>
Would toothpaste be just as effective?
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>>Would toothpaste be just as effective?
I tried that. It was b***** hard work and didn't do much.
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Hmm, that might have been me. My experience was excellent and remarkably easy. I have since done several of the cars with equally pleasing results.
I did also try it on an old pair of spectacles, just to see. I shan't be trying that again.
Mine came from a retailer here but the label was in English.
In case it helps, photographs of the label taken by me not 2 minutes ago.
8< snip. Links removed at OPs request
Last edited by: VxFan on Wed 23 Dec 20 at 02:42
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>>So, fellow forumeers, what gives?
I am not sure of the economics of this, nor how anyone can make a profit, but in downtown Santiago there are many Chinese importers / Retailers. I know a couple of them quite well.
They sell counterfeit stuff where I can't see any profit in it. They'll sell a 32GB USB stick which when you try to use it will fill up at 2GB. I'd have thought that after making a USB stick, packing it, shipping it and retailing it then for £10 there'd be no profit in it.
Ditto all Apple equipment from cables, chargers to earpods. It's all crap. Spares for cars, bikes and scooters, especially electronic stuff.
But it's not good stuff nicked, it's s*** stuff copied.
I have a little bluetooth receiver designed to be plugged into the phono/input socket of just bout anything in order for my phone to play audio through it. A great little device. I have two; an original one which I paid about £8 for and a Chinese fake for which I paid about £3. They look on first glance identical. The knock-off is cheap s*** and doesn't work very well. But how on earth was it worth it?
Teh only thing they seem to put much care into is the labels. And my Chinese friends tell me that those are often stolen. Or at least purloined from an otherwise legitimate factory.
My long winded point being that these days I assume that anything from China is a knock-off. I just don't always care.
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>My long winded point being that these days I assume that anything from China is a knock-off.
>I just don't always care.
Not just knock-offs, some are positively dangerous.
I received a little LED spot light as an 'equivalent' replacement for an outdoor LED flood that had failed after less than a week. It's been sat on a shelf in the garage for months until I tried to use it last week as a handheld garage light. It tripped the earth leakage breaker immediately when it was switched on. My meter showed that live to earth was only about 5kohm so I dismantled it to see what the problem was*.
Oh my Glub! You should see the standard of construction of this thing. The LED array and its little PCB mounted on a bit of loose aluminium plate that is held against the lamp housing by the pressure of the glass and reflector. All three mains conductors hand soldered (badly) to the PCB. Absolutely no way did this thing pass any electrical safety certification despite the CE marking on the box.
* A stray strand of the earth was touching part of the LED array.
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>> despite the CE marking on the box.
And that annoys me.
Sometimes I don't mind buying a crap old piece of tat. Maybe it's single use or something, whatever.
But I really object to the use of a safety certification badge when it has no right to it. That annoys me a lot more than some copying of someone else's logo or trade name.
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Big clive has some new iffy christmas lights from China. It has a moulded UK three pin plug on it, he pulls the fuse and the whole thing was still live. The fuse was fake, connected to nothing.
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>>Goods from
I found out that a lot more went in to making the boxes than one might imagine.
Welds were checked.
Paint was tested to ensure it was lead free.
Glues were tested to make sure they didn't contain banned substances etc. etc. etc.
Loads of compliance testing was done.
The new managing director wanted to shift production to China. The first batch were excellent, the company's QC was on site checking everything.
The shipments after the QC left site were disastrous.
Not one cabinet was fully painted.
Where they were painted, the metal hadn't been dipped to remove impurities so the paint flaked.
Paint used for doors often didn't match the rest of the unit.
Welds weren't strong enough.
Another business I worked with purchased a consignment of structural steel from China meant for a major high-rise construction project. Another disaster. Despite official certifications as to quality, specifications etc, the stuff was proved to be utter carp suitable only for scrap on arrival.
The Chinese aren't the only ones though: www.theguardian.com/business/2016/apr/08/tata-steel-crisis-senior-staff-suspended-sfo-probe
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Don't know what happened to my post above - some of it seems to have been lost.
Basically...
>>Goods from China.
Worked with a metal box manufacturer who shifted production to China on the say so of a new MD and it went wrong very quickly.
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>Big clive has some new iffy christmas lights from China.
Big Clive in H/W? Big Clive who considers five pints of bitter an aperitif?
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>> >Big clive has some new iffy christmas lights from China.
>>
>> Big Clive in H/W? Big Clive who considers five pints of bitter an aperitif?
>>
www.youtube.com/user/bigclivedotcom
NSFW to the extent that you will waste so much time watching.
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>>
>> "Conformité Européene" Or “China Export”
>>
>> www.ce-marking.org/images/comparison-of-real-and-fake_CE-conformity-marking.gif
...probably "Chile Export quality".....
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Bought a teasmade (SWMBO won't get out of bed in the morning without a cuppa). After fifteen months it started leaking and tripping the electrics. It came with a two year warranty and I got a refund. I found this was quite normal. Bought another. After a year it would switch off early - no tea. Returned to (alleged) manufacturer at their cost. It was promptly returned, but failed again with the same fault. Repaired and it failed again. Replaced with a new one, which so far, still working.
So, for the price of one machine, I'm now on number three, plus all the postage costs the supplier has covered. They can't be making much profit.
The label says: Made in China. I now examine everything I buy and reject anything from China.
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Where can you buy electrical products not made in China?
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osts the supplier has covered. They can't be making much profit.
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>> The label says: Made in China. I now examine everything I buy and reject anything
>> from China.
You have no mobile phone or computer then?
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>> You have no mobile phone or computer then?
Missed edit
Not sure how your post got here through your chinese made router.
Last edited by: VxFan on Mon 21 Dec 20 at 10:44
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At the end of the day its all about price. You pay a proper sum for it, for branded goods, and the quality will be what you require. Chinese or no chinese.
YOu buy cheep you get bird poo, chinese or not.
Last edited by: Zero on Sun 20 Dec 20 at 10:17
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Sometime you have to buy cheep if you’re on a budgiet....
Last edited by: legacylad on Mon 21 Dec 20 at 08:21
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Depends what you perch us.
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...
>>
>> Teh only thing they seem to put much care into is the labels. And my
>> Chinese friends tell me that those are often stolen. Or at least purloined from an
>> otherwise legitimate factory.
>>
>> My long winded point being that these days I assume that anything from China is
>> a knock-off. I just don't always care.
>>
Nevertheless I thought it distinctly odd to cover the label of a higher-value product with the label of a lower-value product. It's contrary to the 'knock-off' ethic.
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Cloudy headlights. - legacylad
