What I Did To My Saab Today.

[mikeloadsasaabs]

I think you are lucky to be anywhere near a Saab dealer in Austria.  There weren't that many even when the cars were in production.

Glad to hear that my brake shim/sticky pad suggestion has helped.

They keep moving them even now, there was one in Salzburg which lived in three different places at various times. I think the one I've just been to has been Saab for a long time, so they still have the expertise. The minister at the local evangelical church has six Saabs ATM .....

Yes, thanks Mark, they do very rarely give the odd squeal but they are silent almost all of the time now. I was a little worried that the brake feel might be affected, and they might just feel a tad spongy, but no problems in that respect.

[mikeloadsasaabs]

Bought a headlight refurb kit a few weeks ago, and finally got round to polishing my lamps. As you can see in the "before" shots they were a bit rough!





But they came up reasonably well:





TBH the refurb kit was expensive (€26) for what it was -  4 small sheets of each of 2000, 3000, and 5000 grade wet and dry, a small pad for using with the wet & dry, a tube of polishing cream, some finishing lacquer and 3 cloths. After finishing the first light (the one in the photos), I wasn't very impressed with the result, so I rushed off to the local DIY superstore to get some 1200 grade. Unfortunately, the finest they had was 800, so I gambled on that having tried it on an unimportant part of the lamp first. It worked out fine, getting rid of the deep pitting and imperfections collected over 225,000 miles. I used a cork sanding block to get some pressure with the cloth and polishing cream. As you can see, it's not perfect, but pretty good.

I also took out the plugs for inspection, as I'm still slightly concerned about the possibility of head gasket failure that I mentioned in another thread (oil leaks, and burning water), but nothing untoward there so I need to continue to ponder on that one.

[Norfolk Jim]

I'd be pleased with that result. I should think the headlamps felt like new again!!

[mikeloadsasaabs]

They look better than they are Jim, but they're 95% of the way there. For the time I spent and the effort I was prepared to put in (i.e. a couple of hours, no more), they came up well. Not sure whether the lighting is improved, haven't been any distance at night yet!

[collywobble]

Bit the bullet this weekend as the MOT is coming up and both headlights were in poor condition. Decided to do one at a time and SWMBO was very sceptical of the method recommended on here and kept suggesting using Brasso or Duraglit!

The hardest part was removing the sidelight as never having had to replace an indicator bulb in nearly 8 years of ownership I had never removed the sidelight  It is far easier with two of you, one to press the catch down and the other to pull on the indicator light. I used 400, then 800 then 1200 grit wet & dry, and then polished with G3 rubbing compound before finishing off with a plastics polish sold for polishing light aircraft windscreens.  SWMBO was very impressed but did tell me that after I had used the 400 grit she did think that I had b******d up the headlight!

I have bought some Meguairs Plastx RX which I understand leaves a protective coating on the headlight to slow down the oxidation process.  When googling headlamo restoration I came across an expensive American product called Pittmans sold by Amazon and on ebay. The information on it on ebay was NEVER use wet & dry or any abrasive product to restore your headlamps.  They only got 3.2 out of 6 from the reviewers on Amazon. Would be interested if anyone on here has tried it or heard of it.

[sgould]

Today SWMBO took her car to the boys at the handwash to get most of the crud off the car.

Then we changed the wheels back to the summer ones, and after that I have been claying it and polishing it ready for Saturday.  It will probably take another day to finish it and give it a second polish.

The car is a 2011 9-3 Aero Carlsson and I have been asked to drive it in the parade after the memorial service for Erik Carlsson on Saturday afternoon.

I have just finished the polishing and it's now ********* raining.... 

[mikeloadsasaabs]

I have just finished the polishing and it's now ********* raining.... 

Don't park it under any trees either - sap and birds 

[Audax]

Don't park it under any trees either - sap and birds 

Tell me about it, I don't wash cars very often as I'm lazy and don't see the point. Since spring has sprung I've had to pay to get it cleaned twice as I couldn't see out the windows as our workplace moved to some very upmarket offices with lots of tree coverage in the car park.

[sgould]

We have problems with our neighbours.  Our road has trees. The tree outside their house is infested with the aphids that excrete the "tree sap".  So they park outside our house when they can, because the tree outside our house does not seem to attract the aphids.

I can recommend leaving your car covered in aphid excreta, also known as "honeydew" if you are going camping.  Leave your car near your tent and most of the wasps and other insects will alight on your car and not you.

[Audax]

Today I got the tracking done. Car no longer pulls all over the place (had some suspension work done recently by someone with no tracking kit) but when driving the wheel is not straight and I didn't have time to take it back. Although, how you can screw something up this simple I don't know, another garage off my list and I'll have to find someone else to do the tracking.

[Kev_Mc]

On my new to me 9-3 2.0LPT - have sent my SID off this morning to be refurbished and have booked in the car for new disks / pads / oil change at the end of the week.

[Kev_Mc]

On my new to me 9-3 2.0LPT - have sent my SID off this morning to be refurbished and have booked in the car for new disks / pads / oil change at the end of the week.

Sent my SID yesterday, only just found out the service I used is 2-4 days. I thought it was next day 

Whole point was to get it to saab-display-repairs in South Wales today, so they could get it back to me later in the week. Intend using the car to go to Preston with work next week - looks like I'll be going without a SID 

[Audax]

Whole point was to get it to saab-display-repairs in South Wales today, so they could get it back to me later in the week. Intend using the car to go to Preston with work next week - looks like I'll be going without a SID 

If that is Damone I used to find the SID would turn up next day anyway, although I did used to send 3 at a time as we'd keep them in stock as exchange units. Anyway, I'm sure you know already but if you don't have a SID fitted you will get no indicator noise and the horn won't work!

[Kev_Mc]

Anyway, I'm sure you know already but if you don't have a SID fitted you will get no indicator noise and the horn won't work!

It is odd indicating without the click - found myself looking at my cars reflection in the car in front to see if the indicators were actually flashing - which they were!

Ordered a replacement aerial from eBay - that's come already. Hopefully won't be too much trouble to replace the one on the car which has been snapped off. Motor still works, so that's promising.

[Audax]

It is odd indicating without the click - found myself looking at my cars reflection in the car in front to see if the indicators were actually flashing - which they were!

One of the most alarming things I ever had was in one of my 9000's, I don't really use the horn on my car, it happens very very rarely. One day I was driving down a country road doing 50-60 and a car pulls up to the exit at a garden centre, the driver looks left down the road and not towards me coming from his right. He started to pull out without looking right and with oncoming traffic from the other direction, I had the kids in the car and they were about 1 and 3  years old, I leant on the horn and hit full throttle into oncoming traffic to go around him as if I'd have braked full on I'd still have hit him. Of course the horn makes *no* sound at all! Thankfully I missed him by a few cm and the oncoming car by several lengths but It wasn't far off from either broadsiding him or hitting oncoming cars head on!

What had happened was the clock spring in the steering column had died so the horn wouldn't work. Every month or so now I test the horn for when I need it!