I have those on the lotus, not impressed to be honest

Less fade definitely than the standard pads but my motor is 2.1t, and they take forever to bed in..

Plus I hate cleaning the crap off the alloys.

Maybe you could have tried yellow stuff? Throws dust everywhere but they're a lot more consistant than the reds.

I have a whole new brake setup waiting to go on, 4 pot calipers etc.

it may be different on ABS cars, but I found the ceramic ones gave nothing nothing nothing, then locked up

Ceramics seem fine on my Jag.

I have a bigger problem.. Basically this is my car...



It's a Jaguar S Type R.

The problem is it's munching the front disks and I get vibration after about 4 months of a new set of OEM disks. This is the 3rd set now.

The problem is I can only source OEM disks, they are 365mm. (Rare size) So I need a new set fitted. I can't find any cross drilled or Jaguar genuine parts. Fed up of replacing them tbh.

Any ideas?

If I do manage to get hold of some decent disks anyone fancy fitting them?

does no one in the uk do an upgrade? the kit I have for the lotus uses subaru discs, have you tried the owners forums too? it was an engineer on the lotus owner forum who put together my upgrade, may give you issues with the mfk tho

Aye I'm a member of Jag Forum UK sadly seems a common issue with these motors chewing front disks.

Not that I know of with regard to a upgrade kit, it's the disk size that's the problem, newer years have 355mm. So 1500 S Type R's made in the UK, possibly 700 of them with 365mm disks, just not worth someones time to build a kit.

Trying to avoid MFK hassle tbh.

I've done pretty much all of my bike repairs, and most of my car repairs, since I moved here in '86.

No problem, but you do need a place to do it.

When I lived near Zurich, I was friends with the local mechanic, helped him out after work, and he let me work on my bike in his shop.

Once I moved down here in '90, I've worked on my bikes at work, or in the garages I've been renting for the past 5 years (had a Ducati motor on my desk for 6 months some years ago).

Meanwhile, I'm in the middle of doing valve/belts/cam timing on my 999R, so if anyone wants to watch, you're welcome to come down next weekend (9th of April). Plus, my friend is bringing me his R90S motor to rebuild, as he has found a crank to replace the broken one, so that should be fun as well.

Tom

Today, after seeing that thread, I have been to that garage to change my 98 bmw 3.18´s radiator.

1. There is no need to take anything/any tool with you.
2. There is an initial charge of 24CHF and for every additinal hour add another 24 CHF
3.You can have a lift as well, but for some very special tool/stuff(no idea what they are) you my be get charged extra, but I am sure you will never need them.
4.They say they provide spare parts with lower prices compared to swiss-standard prices. I have been charged 20CHF of a litre of radiator water/kuhl mittel(not sure about the correct english/german words). Thats for me not a lower price.
5.In case of trouble, you may ask for help but will get charged again.

Anyway, I found it very useful especially for those who like to give at least a try to do the work by him/herself. And again if you manage the laber by yourself its way cheaper compared to geting the same job done in a garage.

Ask me if you like to know more.

ciao.

In my first apartment, when I was young and stupid and fresh from Canada, we changed a VW clutch in the underground garage and our neighbours didn't talk to us for months afterwards. Oops. I had done everything up to rebuilding an engine in Canada in my own space. We also did some simple repairs on the parking lot of our employer, but it was a rather special place in the countryside and we were viewed with a mixture of pity and bemusement by our Swiss co-workers and bosses, as they knew we were running on shoe-string budgets.

In our second apartment, I had the good fortune to have individual garage boxes for our cars with a solid door. I could close the door and merrily do whatever I wanted (with the exception of really, really noisy hammering or welding). I did everything on my cars then; timing belts, brakes etc. All parts came simply from various internet providers or the local dealer. I didn't find the dealer prices to be so bad (and I really have to wonder about someone earlier talking about putting used rotors on - if you're going to all the trouble to take it apart, is it really worth it to save 50 bucks?).

Our current house has a shared underground garage, and I feel more watched. No one has said anything, but I am more aware of what is "acceptable" and what is not. No one cares if you change wheels (i.e. winter to summer), so by extension this means no one cared if I still did routine brake work (as long as I didn't have to open the lines and mess with fluid). Luckily my last car had dead-simple AP calipers and I could change pads and rotors in about 10 minutes per corner.

I stopped doing the "oily stuff", partly because I got tired of toting the waste to the recycler, and partly because I started to get a bit philosophical and decided that I was now in the fortunate financial state to "share the wealth" a bit and support my local garage so that he could also keep in business. Also, my local mechanic is really, really good. He always comes in under the quote, and he's the type of guy who will stop in the middle of explaining what he fixed (complete with old parts) to walk over and wipe a small smudge from the side of the car that he noticed out the corner of his eye. Finally, much as I used to like fixing cars, I no longer like getting coated in grease, or getting rusty flecks in my eyes, or skinning knuckles. These days, I would prefer to spend those hours hiking, biking or snowboarding.

I still do cleaner jobs, such as completely stripping out the interior of a classic and fiddling with its electrics. I still get the odd look, but often it is coming from the middle-aged neighbour who is carrying some garden tools for his wife and probably wishes he could also play with toy cars (I am also middle-aged and also carry tools for my wife ). If it came to doing some major work, and I really, really wanted to do it myself, then I would probably go the Do-It-Yourself garage route.

Thanks Shakey,
that is what I wanted to hear. I can so relate to that "Canadian" spirit. Here you go to Canadian-Tire, Napa or Princess Auto, get the stuff go home and do everything yourself ...

Just out of curiosity, why welding inside the garage boxes would be a problem. I can understand that mig-, tig-, flux-, arc- welding should be done in ventilated areas, but what about oxy-acetylene brazing?

Are apartments with individual garage boxes a common sight, or is this more the exception (say in the greater Zurich area, or Basel)?

I'm originally from Germany, but have been in Canada for years. Back in Germany I used to have mechanics in the family. You could trade a lift over night or weekend for a case of beer. I used to overhaul my cylinder head and block there myself. For such bigger projects... If you get the wrong parts or something unexpected breaks this usually screws your schedule big-time, thats why I would be shy of DIY garages where you pay an hourly rate.

Thanks for the suggestions so far.

Ah, memories of paying for car parts with big stacks of "Canadian Tire" money...

Welding is strictly forbidden in most rental agreements. Even if it weren't, I wouldn't want to deal with problems if the building were damaged from sparks, or even worse a fire.

My observation is that the single, enclosed garage is the exception rather than the rule, and more often in older (60s, 70s) apartment blocks.

As it turns out I may actually end up in the Lausanne area and not in Zurich.

Does anyone know a similar shop to the one maxhd mentioned in that area?
(i.e. similar to http://www.doityourselfgarage.ch/)

Quick question: apart from dirty looks and not talking to me (which they don't anyway) can the neighbours do anything else if they see me fixing the car in the garage or street? 'Cause if that's all they can do, then frak them

I've worked in my parking space, my rented single garages (I have two, but for the bikes and not the cars), at my work (lots of space there, plus I-beams and trees for lifting engines).

I also helped a friend many years ago in his communal garage in Adliswil, so I don't see a problem.

Tom

Lots of Swiss towns have laws against working on cars in the street.
There are also fire regulations against working in communal garages.

Single garages are OK to work in; private parking spaces - probably also OK?

In the street you are only allowed emergency repairs, otherwise you have to tow it to a garage. The police might fine you and have you towed!

In the communual garage your landlord would be telling you very quickly not to work on your car. (There is probably a clause forbidding it in the rental contract, there is in mine). Specifically we are not allowed to do repairs in the washing bay.

I think it very much depends on where you live and what kind of rapairs do you do on your vehicle. We have got a car wash facility with hose and drier fans in our underground garage which some folks use for car repairs. I saw my Italian neighbour working on his Fiat van there with toolbox open and several parts scattered around the place. Although he did not take clutch or entire engine unit apart kind-of-job nonetheless he did pretty greasy joby on the spot. I also wash, vaccum and sometimes touchpaint my bumper there, installed seat covers and done minor bike repairs. I guess the best bet is you need to keep your eyes open and observe what other folks do there and ask how far you can go on with your DIY

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Hi,

I have heard that there is a possibility to rent a garage for carrying out DIY car repairs and said garages also have the respective infrastructure for carrying out routine maintenance.

Can someone help me by giving a recommendation of a place or a keyword in German that I can use to find one?

Thanks for the help.

Google: Do it yourself garage site:ch

Or better still search the forum and find this thread where you can easily find this DIY garage in Zurich.