Car bits

[Vixremento]

Happy Saturday Afternoon Everyone!

Thought I'd just ask for some advice here to see what you all reckon. I need to replace the full exhaust system (it is quite punctured and noisy now on my 2004 Peugeot 206) where Supa Quick told me it would need to be replaced when I changed my brake pads a short while ago. Now they gave me a good price to replace the entire system but the questions I have are as follows:

• Should I consider a stainless steel exhaust (I'd like to keep the car for as long as possible) or would this be silly (it's just a standard 1.6).
• Is Supa Quick going to be okay with this job? The reason I ask is that they were a little dodge when I replaced my brakes (I know very little about cars other than that they had not "manipulated" some wire correctly after replacing the breaks behind one of the rear wheels so it had this knocking sound, the brakes weren't very effective initially however this has improved considerably (two or three days after the new ones were installed) and lastly the brakes "squeek" whenever I use them while cold).
• Should I maybe just take it directly to Peugeot? The chap from supa-quick reckons they (Peugeot) will hammer me for at least R16k for a new standard system - surely that's insane?
• Do you have any preferences or good experiences to share about having your exhausts replaced?

Of course I'll phone a few places this week (Kwik Fit, Noise Boys (a bit far but worth a call I reckon) and Peugeot itself) to get some prices but ideally I'd like to get it done properly the first time so that I don't have to ever take it back for at least the next 10 years (ideally more) for the exhaust again.

[AndyD]

I can't comment on how good Supa Quick are but if you make a lot of short trips in your car (<10km) and you want to keep the car for another 10 years you'd probably be far better with a s/steel exhaust which won't corrode. If nearly all your journeys are long ones then it's a toss up whether the extra expense of stainless would be worth it.

[Vixremento]

I can't comment on how good Supa Quick are but if you make a lot of short trips in your car (<10km) and you want to keep the car for another 10 years you'd probably be far better with a s/steel exhaust which won't corrode. If nearly all your journeys are long ones then it's a toss up whether the extra expense of stainless would be worth it.

Thanks Andy.
It's a little mixed but yeah at the moment I have a lot of shorter trips thrown in. The primary reason for me wanting to go stainless was to have something that would last a lot longer so I'll definitely look into it. Will be interesting to see what these actually cost.

[Justloadit]

I wonder if your car will be here in 10 years time, being at the coast and all.
The way the energy is moving, it simply may just be far too expensive to maintain a 'petrol' based car.
Currently I am reluctant to buy a new car until I see what the future holds.
Another issue is that manufacturers are only required to keep spares for vehicles they manufacture for a period of 10 years. It may be that into the future, you will not be able to get spares, as the parts fail from use and fatigue. Usually what starts going is any rubber seals, brackets, hoses or anything that has rubber in it. The next thing is the drivers seat collapses as it is under stress on a regular basis.Depending on the seat covers, the sun gets to them and they start tearing, and exposing the inner materials.

If the global warming bofs have their way, petrol and diesel will be done away with, and be replaced with another type of fuel.
One of the major problems right now is the engine management systems will not allow a better fuel economy on the vehicle because it simply readjusts the fuel mixture to return a certain amount of carbon monoxide content.

The fact that the brakes do not seem to work on the first few days of replacement, should have been explained to you, as the brake pads have to wear in contour to your disks, and until this process has taken place, the amount of surface area of the brake pad on the disk is small, reducing the stopping power. Next time you get a chance, have a good look at your disk, you will see contours which has been created by the previous brake pads.

What they should have done, is skim the disks before replacing the pads, in order to make it a level surface again. By doing this, it also prolongs the life of the brake pads. Sometimes we think that certain shops are more expensive, and it is simply because they do all the other bits that is supposed to be done. What they should also do, is measure the thickness of the disk to see that the disk is with in the manufacturers specifications, and if not, then they should replace the disk as well.

With respect to the exhaust, it seems the original exhaust lasted 10 years, so theoretically the new exhaust of the same type should last another 10 years.

[Vixremento]

I wonder if
...snip...
With respect to the exhaust, it seems the original exhaust lasted 10 years, so theoretically the new exhaust of the same type should last another 10 years.

All valid points (except that luckily for the rust I don't live at the coast otherwise I agree that trying to keep a car longer than what I've had it for now would probably not be wise).

For the brakes they did skim the disks however I don't believe they checked that the thickness was still within specs so I'll probably have to get them checked when I take it in for it's next service.

You're also right about the exhaust longevity with another 10 years probably being sufficient for the actual realistic life of the car so perhaps stainless would be overkill. I'll see what the pricing differences are before I make the final decision though and then take it from there. It's just that a while ago I wanted to buy a new car and trade this one in however the trade-in value was so bad that I decided to rather keep it as there's nothing wrong with it (well apart from a new exhaust being required now).

Thanks for your input!

[Justloadit]

Buying a new car is like throwing a good chunk of money away.
Buying a 1 year old car or demo is a better value for money.
Not being new, it already has lost the value of 'new'.
If carefully scrutinized, and no problem can be found, then the chances are that any problems from factory would already been cleared, and that it would lost a good number of years.

[Houses4Rent]

I never trade in my old car. I sell it on the private market and get much more for it. I simply wait until I get my price.
I never get a car financed either.