And finally, since it got cold while the car was parked up, I put the winter tyres on.
Four months of good behaviour later, I swapped back to the summer tyres today.
The new software and redesign of this forum seems to have been a disaster and finally killed off regular participation, but I'm still here and still telling the story of my ageing ZS 180.
As I write this, the COVID-19 pandemic is killing thousands across the world and we are on lockdown at home. I can work from home so I don't have any more free time than usual during the week, unfortunately. Or fortunately.
However the weekends are much freer for me to enjoy my sheds and garage!
While swapping the wheels today, I did my customary check of the brakes. This time, all the callipers, discs and pads were fine. Nothing seized. This shouldn't be a surprise for those following here as pretty much everything in the braking system is new.
For a little extra job, I had to re-seal a gap in the bodywork under the fuel filler, which I mentioned on here a number of years ago. A dribble of water was getting into the boot again as the old fix (bodge) was starting to fail.
The main work I did today was new front brake pads. Yes, the old ones were only two years and 6000 miles old - but I've had a niggling worry about poor performance. When hot, the brakes are good, but in normal driving noticeably worse than other cars. The only component left that it could be was the front pads - I'd gone with my usual OEM, MGR branded ones but I wonder if the compound on newer pads is different? I had bought some Mintex pads 8 months ago, at half the price of OEM, and finally fitted them today.
Well, I'm amazed. Obviously I can't run them in yet but incredibly they seem better than the old pads after going just 1 mile around the block!
Of course, it's never plain sailing these days - I did find a problem. A local garage fitted new CV gaiters last year and despite being not even 12 months old, both are perished. Both covered in cracks and one has split and spat grease out. So that'll be next weekend's work: both CV gaiters, and I've decided to do some of the more rotten ARB bushes while I'm in there. I'm going to do the work myself this time - I've never removed a hub so it's something new to try.
I've still not done the cam belts, but bracing myself for that job this summer.