dumb question time. cleaning windscreens.

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Real cars have hydraulics
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I'm just hopeless. I went out to the shed to throw the "new" outer 'CV joints into the poogoe 407..... on removing the replacement joints to check, I notice the new boots look to be in a small box for the size of the joint. You guess it, I pull the boot out .... Waaaaayyyy to small. I guess I should be thankful I didn't pull the car to bits first before I realised.... So I lookup the add on ebay, it certainly say the boots do NOT fit a 407 ( ??? why the hell would I even have opened the advert let alone purchased them ).

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Sigh, I'm hoping they changed the advert to remove the HDi 2.0 cars from the list it fits .... and I'm not a complete moron :(

Anyway, I figured I'm move onto trying to clean the inside of the cars. The inside of the windscreens, I now have the CX, 407 and RCZ .... all of them mongrels to try and get to the windscreen on to clean. Access is poor and they taper down to where you can't reach. I did spot some "throwaway windscreen wipes" at the supermarket last time I was there. They sort of work. Has anyone came up with an easy way of cleaning these windscreens you can't readily reach ?
 
I'd never thought of buying a tool...... I might have to give it a try! (its certainly expensive for a small bit of plastic :) ).
 
I'd never thought of buying a tool...... I might have to give it a try! (its certainly expensive for a small bit of plastic :) ).

Nah, just buy yourself a big roll of those towel thingies (paper). Choose one that doesn't leave fluff behind.

Now tear off a length of it and roll it up until you have a slim-ish cylinder, flatten that up and congrats! Now you can reach the unreachable spots on the inside of the 'screen. The more paper you torn off the stiffer your flattened cylinder, the better you can control it.

That tool would immediately find its way to the ground in my hands and then scratch my 'screen, I just know it.
 
I hate shopping.
I’m pretty sure there’s an offcut of 3mm ply in the workshop to shape as a handle and a cotton T-shirt in the rags stash....
 
I'm just hopeless. I went out to the shed to throw the "new" outer 'CV joints into the poogoe 407..... on removing the replacement joints to check, I notice the new boots look to be in a small box for the size of the joint. You guess it, I pull the boot out .... Waaaaayyyy to small. I guess I should be thankful I didn't pull the car to bits first before I realised.... So I lookup the add on ebay, it certainly say the boots do NOT fit a 407 ( ??? why the hell would I even have opened the advert let alone purchased them ).

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Sigh, I'm hoping they changed the advert to remove the HDi 2.0 cars from the list it fits .... and I'm not a complete moron :(

Anyway, I figured I'm move onto trying to clean the inside of the cars. The inside of the windscreens, I now have the CX, 407 and RCZ .... all of them mongrels to try and get to the windscreen on to clean. Access is poor and they taper down to where you can't reach. I did spot some "throwaway windscreen wipes" at the supermarket last time I was there. They sort of work. Has anyone came up with an easy way of cleaning these windscreens you can't readily reach ?
So it was you that left this feedback..?
lzxs3KO.png
 
My solution to cleaning a windscreen is to throw a brick through it and get a replacement fitted the same day by Obriens. I'd probably only clean my windscreen every 5 years anyway, win, win.
 
So it was you that left this feedback..?
lzxs3KO.png

Nah, I didn't return it. I'm not 100% sure I didn't stupidly order the wrong boots. AEI had the right boots (ordered by VIN).

I thought I better get to this this afternoon..... They are remarkably easy to change

--whip the wheel off
--remove driveshaft nut (big 3/4" impact wrench will be ideal).
--look at the lower suspension arm ... scratch your head, decide the entire thing shouldn't explode apart under tension if you unbolt the lower arm to get to the lower ball joint bolts.
-- get to the lower ball joint bolts and swear and curse at bloody poogoe .... they look like Etorx .... WTF would they put Etorx here. I do have a set, but they are only a light weight 3/8ths set. I got lucky though, 2 of the bolts weren't tight, and the other one was loose :confused: very strange given there looks to be locktite on the thread.
-- ratchet strap the brake/suspension assembly up and drop the driveshaft out. Oh, ligarex strapping on the boots... that means someone has been here before (over a decade ago when the car had done less than 40,000kms before we purchased it).
--give the joint a whack with a heavy hammer and pop it off. Though there is grease everywhere and long term evidence of a damaged driveshaft boot .... there is lots of grease inside it still and no evidence of contamination ..... Why are they clattering ??? hhhhhmmmm.....

Well, that's easy... chuck it back together. Does anyone know how those supplied driveshaft clamps work ?? I sure don't (and don't have the tools to tighten them). So I fit ligarex strap to the inner part of the boot and hook the pliers up.... slip the boot on and tighten it.... wow that was easy.... about 3minutes all up.
--fit the replacement joint ... a gentle whack with a heavy hammer and it pops over the snap ring .... gee's, this in going to take less than an hour to change.
--try to get the plastic boot on ..... Nope .... Buggered if I can get it to fit over the joint. Try a dozen different way .... Why can't anything ever be simple :mallet: :mad:

this is just ridiculous ... why so hard ??

So I grabbed the old joint off the car and the new boot out of the box for the other side. And it pops straight on .... couldn't be easier, not sign of the struggles on the car .....

SO I grab the replacement joint for the other side. The boot doesn't fit...... Seriously??? The joint is from a 6spd manual 407 the same as this and the damn thing is bigger. So now I have two sets of boots that don't fit .... AAAAAAARRRRRhhhhhhhhhhhh .... Its only me right? I'm the only one that goes in circles. I'm guessing they increased the size of the outer joints as they were failing to soon (like the joints on this car have). I wonder how I get the right boots for these joiints without the VIN of the car they are from.

I decide to just re-use the old boots from the replacement shafts just so I can get it back together.

This time.
--Do you think I could get the ligarex strapping and pliers in there to tigthen the inside of the boot?? last tiem 30seconds. This time 15 minutes of frustration and 😠 before finally getting the bastard of a thing on and tight.
--Sit the replacement joint back on ..... And the bastard won't go on this time .... no matter how many times I try. FFS? Last time I had this all done in about 3 minutes. There is bloody grease everywhere now. Give in and pull the joint back out. It looks like the snap ring is distorted. Sigh .... pull the snap ring from the parts shaft and finally get it back together.

That lower ball joint .... I'm sure there is a trick to getting it back together (maybe I should read a manual someday :clown: ) it is almost impossible to get back in place with the tension on the lower arm ... hmmmm

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Well I do already have a ratchet strap here ...

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I pulled the suspension back into place from the jacking beam. and lifted the ramps back up so the jack could lift the lower arm into place.



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So I fitted the wheel back on so I could lower the car down and tighten the driveshaft.

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Those tire places are full are full of merde. I replaced the 16" wheels on this car with these as I couldn't get them balanced as there was no center hole. I just gave the back of the wheel center a wack to pop it out ..... The damn things don't come out, they are double sided taped into place. It smashed instantly. Yeah right they balanced these wheels last time they fitted new tires. How did they manage that if the wheel centers don't come out ??

Am I the only one that screws up pretty much everything I touch :rolleyes:
 

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My solution to cleaning a windscreen is to throw a brick through it and get a replacement fitted the same day by Obriens. I'd probably only clean my windscreen every 5 years anyway, win, win.
Shannon’s, new screen every 12 months. I like to wash my car every 12 months whether it needs it or not.
 
What did you smash the wheel caps for? They push out. My Cits have each had four balance jobs this year.

Back of a screwdriver helps.

If yours were taped someone has been sticking them in.
 
What did you smash the wheel caps for? They push out. My Cits have each had four balance jobs this year.

Back of a screwdriver helps.

If yours were taped someone has been sticking them in.

I wasn't rough .... By the looks of them they are decorative. I can't access the driveshaft nut once removed as the hole isn't large enough. A standard wheel center allows access to the hub if you pop the cap out. The only reason I replaced the wheels on this car previously is they couldn't be balanced..... Neither can these ones.... sigh....

I'll have a look at another one. maybe this one has just been taped in as its clips were broken in the past :confused:
 
Magic eraser from Woolworths/ Bunnings clean the grime on the insides of screens well.
 
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