Hello Dell,
thank you for installing the "Waves" software on my machine. I'm assuming it came with something else because there's no other way I'd have installed it.
It destroyed any and all of my USB audio capability, because that, along with the Realtek HD Audio CPU Cycle user - oh, sorry, the useless Audio detector - appears to have been fighting for control of the USB audio. And so *none* of my USB Audio cards were working any more.
If the inbuilt audio was even remotely OK, then I wouldn't be anywhere near as bothered. But it's complete pants, and therefore I got very, very annoyed.
Now removed and things are back - after yet another reinstall of the Terratec drivers - to where they should be.
- Bret
23/08/2016
Samsung A5 "easy mode"
.. in the mean time I also have a Samsung A5, 2016 version. If you're missing the camera - it only has "auto" and "panoramic", try turning easy mode off in the phone's settings. Especially if you've installed another launcher, this may well be on and you may not have noticed.
- Bret
- Bret
been a while...
so it's been a while since I last posted. But there's lots of stuff I really ought to be posting.
Starting with more robocopy stuff: Windows 10 brought with it the /j switch and space support.
So it's now /mir /mt:12 /r:0 /w:0 /j for seriously fast copying. 18g in 01:33 is acceptable :)
- Bret
Starting with more robocopy stuff: Windows 10 brought with it the /j switch and space support.
So it's now /mir /mt:12 /r:0 /w:0 /j for seriously fast copying. 18g in 01:33 is acceptable :)
- Bret
05/09/2014
Windows Phone a year on
Summary: My next phone will be a Windows phone. It works, it looks OK, and the few issues I have (like the WLAN not coming back on again after sharing Internet) are probably dev phone-related... but I'm suprisingly happy now.
pro tip for Norwegian group customers
Quick tip for you: If you're flying to the UK and have to enter passport details, then, after you've logged in with your one-time code, scroll down to the passenger names.
Enter from each passenger name the passport details. Because if you do it the other way - by clicking "enter passport details" at the top, you then get a complete list of all passengers, and ALL information needs to be complete before you can send it.
Which means maybe 20 dates of birth, passport numbers and expiry dates, full names etc.
It's taken me four hours to find this out, I hope you profit sooner!
Enter from each passenger name the passport details. Because if you do it the other way - by clicking "enter passport details" at the top, you then get a complete list of all passengers, and ALL information needs to be complete before you can send it.
Which means maybe 20 dates of birth, passport numbers and expiry dates, full names etc.
It's taken me four hours to find this out, I hope you profit sooner!
14/06/2013
Octavia test drive results...
so, a little comment or three on the Octavia.
Backstory: I used to rent lots of cars through work. I've driven lots of Octavias (they were a favourite in Sweden), including diesels, petrols, and the old auto. I've driven other DSGs, autos, manuals. My daily is an A2, petrol, manual.
The bad bits first:
It is IMPOSSIBLE to get a clean start from hillhold. The only way I've found, (which defeats the object) is foot on the brake again, handbrake, then release, slip into D and go. HH always lets go with a judder. Bleh.
Why is the getaway so slow? If I drop a cog or three, I expect it to be held: no, the DSG "knows better", sees I've pushed the pedal to the floor and instead of letting the torque take over at 2k rpm @ 60km/h, it drops at least one more cog and lets the revs go to 5.5k. Okay, I pushed the pedal. Still, the thinking took half a second. Excess drama which was not required.
Winter in this would be truly awful. Lots of waiting around for ESP to do its stuff and then no absolute certainty of the gear you're in. Maybe "sport" would sort this, but still, I didn't really get the opportunity to test that. Meh.
I understand the power when it's there, but why does it take so long for the 'box to decide what gear to use and then to release the clutch? Unnecessary delay...
Water also drips into the boot when the door is wet. Why? It slides off the curved sides of the glass. Stupid.
Tacho / cruise: why no 5km/h increments as on a Passat? Why no speed limiter bongs, as on said Passat (and that was three, four years ago)?
Why does the BT Audio reset the volume after *every single track*? this must be among the most annoying things ever.
Nav? OK-ish. GRA still doesn't motor-brake - why not? - and engine braking is very difficult.
The OK bits:
- I quite like KESSY, though tis wierd and I wasn't sure if the car locked itself - and one one occasion, it hadn't. Would need to test some more.
- OK seats, pleasantly quiet, decent engine
- decent sound system, though a sub would be good as there's no sub bass or anything under 70Hz or so.
the good bits:
- wow, what a boot!
- Great space in the back.
- the rear screen in the liftback doesn't need a wiper. Woohoo!
- decent automation of wipers and lights.
Overall? I'd be interested, if the hillhold was deleted, I don't need all that power, and I want a slightly more-solid ride (my A2 rides much better over teh bumpy stuff if it's half-laden, as today).
But my wife disliked it. I couldn't drive it smoothly and she's become very accustomed to that, whether she articulates that or not.
So I think I'll be looking at 1.4 Superb Combis from Germany shortly...
the price of the Octy here - without leather, but with Xenon, Columbus, and in Elegance trim, was €32k. An old one would have been - without the Columbus - around 26, IMO.
Backstory: I used to rent lots of cars through work. I've driven lots of Octavias (they were a favourite in Sweden), including diesels, petrols, and the old auto. I've driven other DSGs, autos, manuals. My daily is an A2, petrol, manual.
The bad bits first:
It is IMPOSSIBLE to get a clean start from hillhold. The only way I've found, (which defeats the object) is foot on the brake again, handbrake, then release, slip into D and go. HH always lets go with a judder. Bleh.
Why is the getaway so slow? If I drop a cog or three, I expect it to be held: no, the DSG "knows better", sees I've pushed the pedal to the floor and instead of letting the torque take over at 2k rpm @ 60km/h, it drops at least one more cog and lets the revs go to 5.5k. Okay, I pushed the pedal. Still, the thinking took half a second. Excess drama which was not required.
Winter in this would be truly awful. Lots of waiting around for ESP to do its stuff and then no absolute certainty of the gear you're in. Maybe "sport" would sort this, but still, I didn't really get the opportunity to test that. Meh.
I understand the power when it's there, but why does it take so long for the 'box to decide what gear to use and then to release the clutch? Unnecessary delay...
Water also drips into the boot when the door is wet. Why? It slides off the curved sides of the glass. Stupid.
Tacho / cruise: why no 5km/h increments as on a Passat? Why no speed limiter bongs, as on said Passat (and that was three, four years ago)?
Why does the BT Audio reset the volume after *every single track*? this must be among the most annoying things ever.
Nav? OK-ish. GRA still doesn't motor-brake - why not? - and engine braking is very difficult.
The OK bits:
- I quite like KESSY, though tis wierd and I wasn't sure if the car locked itself - and one one occasion, it hadn't. Would need to test some more.
- OK seats, pleasantly quiet, decent engine
- decent sound system, though a sub would be good as there's no sub bass or anything under 70Hz or so.
the good bits:
- wow, what a boot!
- Great space in the back.
- the rear screen in the liftback doesn't need a wiper. Woohoo!
- decent automation of wipers and lights.
Overall? I'd be interested, if the hillhold was deleted, I don't need all that power, and I want a slightly more-solid ride (my A2 rides much better over teh bumpy stuff if it's half-laden, as today).
But my wife disliked it. I couldn't drive it smoothly and she's become very accustomed to that, whether she articulates that or not.
So I think I'll be looking at 1.4 Superb Combis from Germany shortly...
the price of the Octy here - without leather, but with Xenon, Columbus, and in Elegance trim, was €32k. An old one would have been - without the Columbus - around 26, IMO.
20/03/2013
Why I despise Windows Phone 8.. and what I like about it
Dear Microsoft,
I'd really like to like my new work phone, a Nokia Lumia 820.
Thing is, though, I can't.
I like its size, the mildy oversaturated colours look good and the phone has a nice weighty feel. I really appreciate wireless charging.
Nav is fast.
The ringing is loud
I really like "Alarm 1" as a wakeup tone.
I quite like that "back" means that, and not "ARGH! ESCAPE" like it does on 'droid.
But that's all I do like.
So, let's go through the bugbears:
- I want to be able to hit a message - and I don't care where it's from - and go to the message to see the details. I think I saw this work today for the first time with an SMS, but it wasn't clear and - the annoying part - it brought up the sender's contact card. I want a question: "call this person?" and it should automatically choose the number from which the SMS was sent.
- WHY CAN'T I CHANGE TILE COLOURS?! What the hell? I want lots of different colours for different apps to make a nice homescreen experience. Limit me to three or four, I don't care. Just not one.
- Why can't I continue to swipe from the right, get the start menu, and then the details and then CONTINUE and get back to start?
- Tapping the time does nothing. Why? Whatever happened to "more details" appearing when you tap on the networks and such?
- What is this with the sound for appointments? Where is it? I can't find it. It's fucking annoying. I want to change it and can't. Why? Did I miss something? Any help from readers?
- I can't set up my Google mail. I have two-factor set up. It simply does not work. I can try to add a "different" account, but Google is noticed and that's it.. no dice. I am not turning two-factor off.
- I want / need my calendars synched and *I can't do it*. What's going on here?
- Why do I need yet another email address?
- Why can't I set multiple maps to be downloaded at once? Why is every single country listed seperately? It used to be BeNeLux, for example, and that was exceedingly practical. Now? .. <sigh>. I must go through the list and deal with every single map individually. Thanks, that was excessively time consuming because I want DE, FR, Benelux, UK, SWE, FIN, DK and a bunch of others. Each one needs to be individually started.
- What is this with the 10 reboots when the phone is new? Updates, etc... It was a true "Windows" experience and I didn't really care, but for others? ohboy.
- I think I get a day's worth of battery at the moment with light use. We'll see, I've just updated the "battery" app (again!) and now I can no longer turn the background tasks off.
- Why the fuck does a phone in 2013 not support FLAC? Oh wait, you want me to use your own formats. Thanks, but no thanks, I don't want to re-encode for the phone ... which is what I ended up doing anyway. Meh.
- Why *must* I drop the songs I want to listen to in the "correct" directory and have them listenable from there? Yes, album art is nice, but hell, I wanted to use the phone as an oversized USB stick and it's not possible. Why? What's wrong with the correct USB protocols? Or is this another "Win8 only" thing?
- Why can't I wallpaper the "rest" of my phone, but only the lockscreen?
- Why is speakerphone so quiet if the tones are so loud?
- Why did the protocol for headsets change? This is the biggest disappointment for me and probably the single biggest reason I will be avoiding Nokia formy our handsets in future. I've had an 8110, 6150, 8210, 6230, N95, N900, and my last one was an N9. My daughter currently has a 2310, her second Nokia. My wife has an E63, her fourth or so (was a 3210, then 5110, then E61i). Pretty much always, the gear I've had in the past has worked in the future. This time round? No. Why? The N9 is the pinnacle as far as I'm concerned. Open, functional, seriously customizable (yes, I did download the Qt software and change some translations - it's my phone and I like it that way) and decent battery life. It's currently on 3% after 15 days without a charge, just picking up mails via WLAN and otherwise being ignored.
To clarify a bit: I'm paid to understand how to use my company's software on pretty much any device for which we create it. That means iOS, Android, MacOSX, Linux and many flavours of Windows (I've been using it since 3.1, which is quite some time ago). I've used Nokia for a long time. I'm sad to say I will be discouraging my wife from an 820 - she was considering it - in favour of an S 3 Mini, I think.
It may well be that I will hit the same problems as above on the next phone. I need to go through the N9 and see just how much of this is also valid there. But at least some of this wasn't valid then - and that's a two-year old device. Now, if I can get a new shell for it... (I dropped it. Once. Onto concrete. Shell broken. €200 repair. Nice.)
Unhappy. I will stick with this, I have to.
- Bret
I'd really like to like my new work phone, a Nokia Lumia 820.
Thing is, though, I can't.
I like its size, the mildy oversaturated colours look good and the phone has a nice weighty feel. I really appreciate wireless charging.
Nav is fast.
The ringing is loud
I really like "Alarm 1" as a wakeup tone.
I quite like that "back" means that, and not "ARGH! ESCAPE" like it does on 'droid.
But that's all I do like.
So, let's go through the bugbears:
- I want to be able to hit a message - and I don't care where it's from - and go to the message to see the details. I think I saw this work today for the first time with an SMS, but it wasn't clear and - the annoying part - it brought up the sender's contact card. I want a question: "call this person?" and it should automatically choose the number from which the SMS was sent.
- WHY CAN'T I CHANGE TILE COLOURS?! What the hell? I want lots of different colours for different apps to make a nice homescreen experience. Limit me to three or four, I don't care. Just not one.
- Why can't I continue to swipe from the right, get the start menu, and then the details and then CONTINUE and get back to start?
- Tapping the time does nothing. Why? Whatever happened to "more details" appearing when you tap on the networks and such?
- What is this with the sound for appointments? Where is it? I can't find it. It's fucking annoying. I want to change it and can't. Why? Did I miss something? Any help from readers?
- I can't set up my Google mail. I have two-factor set up. It simply does not work. I can try to add a "different" account, but Google is noticed and that's it.. no dice. I am not turning two-factor off.
- I want / need my calendars synched and *I can't do it*. What's going on here?
- Why do I need yet another email address?
- Why can't I set multiple maps to be downloaded at once? Why is every single country listed seperately? It used to be BeNeLux, for example, and that was exceedingly practical. Now? .. <sigh>. I must go through the list and deal with every single map individually. Thanks, that was excessively time consuming because I want DE, FR, Benelux, UK, SWE, FIN, DK and a bunch of others. Each one needs to be individually started.
- What is this with the 10 reboots when the phone is new? Updates, etc... It was a true "Windows" experience and I didn't really care, but for others? ohboy.
- I think I get a day's worth of battery at the moment with light use. We'll see, I've just updated the "battery" app (again!) and now I can no longer turn the background tasks off.
- Why the fuck does a phone in 2013 not support FLAC? Oh wait, you want me to use your own formats. Thanks, but no thanks, I don't want to re-encode for the phone ... which is what I ended up doing anyway. Meh.
- Why *must* I drop the songs I want to listen to in the "correct" directory and have them listenable from there? Yes, album art is nice, but hell, I wanted to use the phone as an oversized USB stick and it's not possible. Why? What's wrong with the correct USB protocols? Or is this another "Win8 only" thing?
- Why can't I wallpaper the "rest" of my phone, but only the lockscreen?
- Why is speakerphone so quiet if the tones are so loud?
- Why did the protocol for headsets change? This is the biggest disappointment for me and probably the single biggest reason I will be avoiding Nokia for
To clarify a bit: I'm paid to understand how to use my company's software on pretty much any device for which we create it. That means iOS, Android, MacOSX, Linux and many flavours of Windows (I've been using it since 3.1, which is quite some time ago). I've used Nokia for a long time. I'm sad to say I will be discouraging my wife from an 820 - she was considering it - in favour of an S 3 Mini, I think.
It may well be that I will hit the same problems as above on the next phone. I need to go through the N9 and see just how much of this is also valid there. But at least some of this wasn't valid then - and that's a two-year old device. Now, if I can get a new shell for it... (I dropped it. Once. Onto concrete. Shell broken. €200 repair. Nice.)
Unhappy. I will stick with this, I have to.
- Bret
meh, I need the car system to work now...
bought a CD today. (I know, old-fashioned - I don't care). And now I so want the car system working! This is today's pop and it's got a shitload of bass with half-decent dynamics... this could sound monster in there.
Need to wire it all up. And sort some form of adapters out... have an idea for that.
Need to wire it all up. And sort some form of adapters out... have an idea for that.
aargh, been way too long without a post
.. so I'm back. Lots to write about.
First up:
https://www.kansalaisaloite.fi/fi/aloite/192
Equality in marriage for all pairs. 100k signatures inside 24h is a serious acheivement, especially as it's not just a click, but you *must verify your identity*.
And it's not in the major tabloids today. Wonder why? ;)
Second:
Magic writing from Ian, here: http://theredpillroom.blogspot.fi/2013/03/youre-just-going-through-stage.html
Go read. It's worth it.
Back later with some more. Need to think through Xenforo vs IP.Board for an upgrade, ZFS needs more space and I need to get some video and picture editing done...
l8rs
- Bret
First up:
https://www.kansalaisaloite.fi/fi/aloite/192
Equality in marriage for all pairs. 100k signatures inside 24h is a serious acheivement, especially as it's not just a click, but you *must verify your identity*.
And it's not in the major tabloids today. Wonder why? ;)
Second:
Magic writing from Ian, here: http://theredpillroom.blogspot.fi/2013/03/youre-just-going-through-stage.html
Go read. It's worth it.
Back later with some more. Need to think through Xenforo vs IP.Board for an upgrade, ZFS needs more space and I need to get some video and picture editing done...
l8rs
- Bret
26/07/2012
Adsense
you know google has adsense? And they say "Turn blogging into money"?
Well, they won't if you "don't have enough content".
Just sayin'.
- Bret
Well, they won't if you "don't have enough content".
Just sayin'.
- Bret
Ah, and ZFS...
I should write about this, too.
Well, the short version goes: "I lost a disk. And thought I'd lost teh data. I didn't lose data and now I have a backup".
I also just got a 2TB disk as I'd taken the other 2TB out, so I now have 4TB lying around with backups on and another one for the system next time I bring it down. That should take it back to 5TB net; I've probably got 300GB of data from the summer trip, so if I copy that over, I've got minimal space left as of right now.
Other news? the car got a new wheel bearing and now the arguments have started as to whether we need to replace it or not. The car, that is, as the bearing was done in Bonn.
I dare say I'll write some more about some photo stuff sooner or later - in the mean time, I have fewer followers on g+ than before and I don't know why. Maybe I'm no longer in some circles? Don't know, I'll take a look and do some interaction on there and see if I can get my numbers up again.
- Bret
gear
.. since I've been asked several times what gear the summer photos have been made with, I'll write it here and then refer back...
Pentax K5
Sigma 100-300/4
Tamron 17-50/2.8
Pentax D-FA50 Macro /2.8
and maybe the Monopod (Manfrotto 569+234RC2 head) or Tripod (Manfrotto 055DB with 222RC2 head).
Optional have been the Cokin P series holders and 3 stop ND Grad or ND (though the grad hasn't really been used).
- Bret
Pentax K5
Sigma 100-300/4
Tamron 17-50/2.8
Pentax D-FA50 Macro /2.8
and maybe the Monopod (Manfrotto 569+234RC2 head) or Tripod (Manfrotto 055DB with 222RC2 head).
Optional have been the Cokin P series holders and 3 stop ND Grad or ND (though the grad hasn't really been used).
- Bret
08/06/2012
I haz PSU...
Got a Coolermaster GXLite 500W. According to their calcs, 420W should be enough, but it's "only" got 6 SATA plugs. So let's see what happens when I tear the box apart tomorrow. Need to re-tighten the elastic anyway (the disks are *all* suspended) and then I won't put the new 2TB in the array. So it will be just 1 + 1 + 1 + 1 + 1.5, making around 3.7TB net. That's enough to be going on with (it'll be pretty full, mind...)
Deduplication will *not* be turned on this time. Atime will be turned off. The rest? Let's see how the performance goes for the short term. I need stability first and performance second, 60MB/s is fine, thanks.
- Bret
Deduplication will *not* be turned on this time. Atime will be turned off. The rest? Let's see how the performance goes for the short term. I need stability first and performance second, 60MB/s is fine, thanks.
- Bret
07/06/2012
PSU?!
So, the saga of the data that's not elsewhere continues.
I tried probably 15 times to boot the box yesterday, and every single time after ten minutes or so, it would lock up.
Then I set the PnP OS in the BIOS to "NO" and hey presto, it got better.
Removing one of the disks made it even better. So from here, it looks, smells and feels like there's a heat and PSU issue. I moved it back onto the table this morning (it locked up at 05:11) and in the process took down the NTFS disk attached (grr!) so I've started the copy *again*. If this works, then I'm 99% sure I need a new PSU as the old one seems to struggle under load and again under heat. It's pretty boxed-in back there, so I could sort of understand this.
In the mean time, then, I'll try to re-copy the data for the umpteenth time (lost another NTFS disk yesterday, main file table corrupt so Windows 7 says "NO!") and if I get that fixed, I'll be a happy bunny.
Moral? Sort your backups out before it's too late....
- Bret
I tried probably 15 times to boot the box yesterday, and every single time after ten minutes or so, it would lock up.
Then I set the PnP OS in the BIOS to "NO" and hey presto, it got better.
Removing one of the disks made it even better. So from here, it looks, smells and feels like there's a heat and PSU issue. I moved it back onto the table this morning (it locked up at 05:11) and in the process took down the NTFS disk attached (grr!) so I've started the copy *again*. If this works, then I'm 99% sure I need a new PSU as the old one seems to struggle under load and again under heat. It's pretty boxed-in back there, so I could sort of understand this.
In the mean time, then, I'll try to re-copy the data for the umpteenth time (lost another NTFS disk yesterday, main file table corrupt so Windows 7 says "NO!") and if I get that fixed, I'll be a happy bunny.
Moral? Sort your backups out before it's too late....
- Bret
06/06/2012
verkkokauppa.com rocks!
teh 7200.11s in the previous post; they were remanufactured disks. Bought from verkkokauppa.com.
I had no receipt, but the original "packaging" (antistatic bags). I took them back.
No issues. No replacements, but the "money" back and I've added €40 to it and got an HD204UI. Nice. No requirements on their part - and their customer service is really rather good.
Now, if only they could sort the transport out to their store...
- Bret
I had no receipt, but the original "packaging" (antistatic bags). I took them back.
No issues. No replacements, but the "money" back and I've added €40 to it and got an HD204UI. Nice. No requirements on their part - and their customer service is really rather good.
Now, if only they could sort the transport out to their store...
- Bret
CHS0 / DRDY / ATA issues under Ubuntu
I've been messing with Ubuntu for a while now, but I'm slowly hitting a brick wall. I had some major problems yesterday with my server box, where two Seagate 7200.11s appear to have died, and so I'm trying to pull the last of the data off that I'm not 100% sure is elsewhere.
1.2TB of it.
That takes time. Now, the disks were running OK yesterday - but the box locked up as soon as I tried to access the Samba share at one point. At another, it was running fine with 45MB/s transfer rates... and now? Now it's running 15 locally to a disk that's on the SATA bus!
Anyways, I don't care if the 2011 directory is copied safely.
The reason I write this post; I appear to have been having major problems with the SATA bus, and changing the graphics card appears to have helped. I do not understand this 100%, but if it's the cure for the issue, I'm not really bothered.
I'll keep you updated...
the new ZFS, by the way, will have Dedup and atime disabled from the start and will probably have either five disks in a single vdev for around 3.5TB of space or maybe two three-disk vdevs. Haven't decided yet, need to do some research. The box "only" has 8GB of memory and 6 disks (potentially 7), and performance is supposed to be best with only five disks. Performance would be nice, but 60MB/s is enough.
Just hoping the data comes off cleanly and then I can work on getting it back on again.
The 7200.11s were giving me the above SATA issue; one of them would drop off the bus five minutes after boot and the other would give the DRDY error every three seconds or so, reducing speeds to 2MB/s.
If the PATA system disk is dying, that's fair enough, I'll have to replace that, too, but at least that can be something slow and it's not a problem.
- Bret
1.2TB of it.
That takes time. Now, the disks were running OK yesterday - but the box locked up as soon as I tried to access the Samba share at one point. At another, it was running fine with 45MB/s transfer rates... and now? Now it's running 15 locally to a disk that's on the SATA bus!
Anyways, I don't care if the 2011 directory is copied safely.
The reason I write this post; I appear to have been having major problems with the SATA bus, and changing the graphics card appears to have helped. I do not understand this 100%, but if it's the cure for the issue, I'm not really bothered.
I'll keep you updated...
the new ZFS, by the way, will have Dedup and atime disabled from the start and will probably have either five disks in a single vdev for around 3.5TB of space or maybe two three-disk vdevs. Haven't decided yet, need to do some research. The box "only" has 8GB of memory and 6 disks (potentially 7), and performance is supposed to be best with only five disks. Performance would be nice, but 60MB/s is enough.
Just hoping the data comes off cleanly and then I can work on getting it back on again.
The 7200.11s were giving me the above SATA issue; one of them would drop off the bus five minutes after boot and the other would give the DRDY error every three seconds or so, reducing speeds to 2MB/s.
If the PATA system disk is dying, that's fair enough, I'll have to replace that, too, but at least that can be something slow and it's not a problem.
- Bret
27/05/2012
A2: Wobbles
My A2 has been afflicted for a while with the wobbles at various speeds. Some things have helped (it got much worse around last autumn) and others haven't.
One thing which I'd been assured had been done and obviously hadn't is a decent alignment. My wobbles just got a *lot* better. I'll be taking the wheels to be balanced again this week as we're off up north on Saturday.
So: Alignment can help wobbles, no matter whether you believe it or not. Seems counterintuitive, but that doesn't make it any less true ;)
- Bret
One thing which I'd been assured had been done and obviously hadn't is a decent alignment. My wobbles just got a *lot* better. I'll be taking the wheels to be balanced again this week as we're off up north on Saturday.
So: Alignment can help wobbles, no matter whether you believe it or not. Seems counterintuitive, but that doesn't make it any less true ;)
- Bret
22/05/2012
a2 suspension revisited and extended
Following on from this, I'll expand it : http://kivikuvat.blogspot.com/2011/11/post-on-something-completely-different.html
There are multiple options:
- FSDs are soft-ish
- Bilstein B4s are "standard", B6s a tick harder and B8s shorter
- Monroe reflexes are supposed to be the "same tech" as FSDs, but cheaper
- Spidan springs are as "standard"
- Weitec springs are harder
- Eibach / ABT springs are a *tick* harder than standard
Tyre pressures make a huge difference. I was running 2.3 all round on my car and then changed it to 2.7 or so at the back. The crashiness over potholes increased - and massively, too. I drive a set of gravel roads regularly to the stables and the holes don't change *that* much, so I know where they are - and the difference is amazing.
I much prefer the 2.3 setup.
Wheel weights also make a huge difference, so lightweight wheels with low profile 15s, Spidans and FSDs are probably the softest / most effective "magic carpet" combo you will get. B6s will also be not far behind. You will still get roll and nod, but not too much.
FSDs also seem to not be consistent between one batch and another.
From here:
- minimal roll, nod, squat is probably acheived with Koni Yellows, Oz Ultraleggeras in 17x7 with 205/40R17 and Weitec springs.
Alternative? Silverline with the Stainless parts or it will no longer be adjustable after the first winter ;)
- medium comfort with some roll, nod, and squat: 16" 195/45R16 Oz Superturismo, B6, Weitec or ABT / Eibach
- high comfort with some sportiness left: 195/50R15 on, say TD Pro Race or other 6.5 - 7J x15 *light* wheel, B6 or FSD, Eibach, possibly Weitec
- comfort: B4, Spidan, pepperpots with 185/60R15.
Do not forget to check the droplinks and the antirollbar mounts as if they are loose or worn, you will get crappy handling. You should also think about the lower balljoints and therefore wishbones including their rubber mounts if you want to tighten things up. Rear mounts are more difficult to replace but only about €20 each in Germany.
So:
- Replace your droplinks
- replace the ARB mounting points if you haven't already
- Ensure your tyres / wheels are conducive to the ride you're looking for; note also the relative size of teh tyre to the wheel
- a 195 tyre on 7J will be nearly stretched, on 6J it will be much softer as a result.
- Check your wishbone mounts front and rear, they may be OK, maybe not. Replace for optimal results.
Parts list:
8Z0 412 301 - front bump stop (2 pieces)
6Q0 512 131 B - rear bump stop (2 pieces)
6N0 412 249 C - strut bearing (2 pieces)
also recommended to exchange especially in case of high mileage:
8Z0 511 149 A - rear, bottom spring yellow PUR rubber seat (2 pieces)
1J0 512 149 B , rear, top spring black hard-rubber seat (2 pieces)
6N0 413 175 A - dust protection for the front damper piston rod (2 pieces)
1J0 513 425 A - dust protection tube for the rear damper piston rod (2 pieces) -
8Z0 411 315 D - droplink (2 pieces) (REPLACE with MEYLE HD version, but make 100% sure you have the correct tool to tighten them!)
suggested to exchange due to possible rust pitting:
N 019 530 3 - screw (6 pieces)
N 101 064 02 - nut (4 pieces)
N 101 389 02 - screw (4 pieces)
N 102 078 03 - screw (4 pieces)
N 102 613 10 - nut (2 pieces)
N 102 861 10 - nut (2 pieces)
N 104 018 01 - nut (2 pieces)
N 905 173 02 - screw (2 pieces)
N 906 484 02 - screw (4 pieces)
N 909 081 01 - nut (2 pieces)
- Bret
There are multiple options:
- FSDs are soft-ish
- Bilstein B4s are "standard", B6s a tick harder and B8s shorter
- Monroe reflexes are supposed to be the "same tech" as FSDs, but cheaper
- Spidan springs are as "standard"
- Weitec springs are harder
- Eibach / ABT springs are a *tick* harder than standard
Tyre pressures make a huge difference. I was running 2.3 all round on my car and then changed it to 2.7 or so at the back. The crashiness over potholes increased - and massively, too. I drive a set of gravel roads regularly to the stables and the holes don't change *that* much, so I know where they are - and the difference is amazing.
I much prefer the 2.3 setup.
Wheel weights also make a huge difference, so lightweight wheels with low profile 15s, Spidans and FSDs are probably the softest / most effective "magic carpet" combo you will get. B6s will also be not far behind. You will still get roll and nod, but not too much.
FSDs also seem to not be consistent between one batch and another.
From here:
- minimal roll, nod, squat is probably acheived with Koni Yellows, Oz Ultraleggeras in 17x7 with 205/40R17 and Weitec springs.
Alternative? Silverline with the Stainless parts or it will no longer be adjustable after the first winter ;)
- medium comfort with some roll, nod, and squat: 16" 195/45R16 Oz Superturismo, B6, Weitec or ABT / Eibach
- high comfort with some sportiness left: 195/50R15 on, say TD Pro Race or other 6.5 - 7J x15 *light* wheel, B6 or FSD, Eibach, possibly Weitec
- comfort: B4, Spidan, pepperpots with 185/60R15.
Do not forget to check the droplinks and the antirollbar mounts as if they are loose or worn, you will get crappy handling. You should also think about the lower balljoints and therefore wishbones including their rubber mounts if you want to tighten things up. Rear mounts are more difficult to replace but only about €20 each in Germany.
So:
- Replace your droplinks
- replace the ARB mounting points if you haven't already
- Ensure your tyres / wheels are conducive to the ride you're looking for; note also the relative size of teh tyre to the wheel
- a 195 tyre on 7J will be nearly stretched, on 6J it will be much softer as a result.
- Check your wishbone mounts front and rear, they may be OK, maybe not. Replace for optimal results.
Parts list:
8Z0 412 301 - front bump stop (2 pieces)
6Q0 512 131 B - rear bump stop (2 pieces)
6N0 412 249 C - strut bearing (2 pieces)
also recommended to exchange especially in case of high mileage:
8Z0 511 149 A - rear, bottom spring yellow PUR rubber seat (2 pieces)
1J0 512 149 B , rear, top spring black hard-rubber seat (2 pieces)
6N0 413 175 A - dust protection for the front damper piston rod (2 pieces)
1J0 513 425 A - dust protection tube for the rear damper piston rod (2 pieces) -
8Z0 411 315 D - droplink (2 pieces) (REPLACE with MEYLE HD version, but make 100% sure you have the correct tool to tighten them!)
suggested to exchange due to possible rust pitting:
N 019 530 3 - screw (6 pieces)
N 101 064 02 - nut (4 pieces)
N 101 389 02 - screw (4 pieces)
N 102 078 03 - screw (4 pieces)
N 102 613 10 - nut (2 pieces)
N 102 861 10 - nut (2 pieces)
N 104 018 01 - nut (2 pieces)
N 905 173 02 - screw (2 pieces)
N 906 484 02 - screw (4 pieces)
N 909 081 01 - nut (2 pieces)
- Bret
07/05/2012
couple of shots from yesterday...
I was out and about yesterday and have a couple of shots I don't find too shabby...
and then for the afternoon:
There will be more in my g+ stream this week. - Bret
and then for the afternoon:
There will be more in my g+ stream this week. - Bret
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)