Carole Simpson-Hadley

Well, here's the final update. Needless to say, when dealing with the behemoths, it didn't end well for us! The offending tyre suddenly magically appeared having been all over the shop, or as in the words of the well-known song (well, it was once) from Bob Monkhouse "I've been everywhere, man". It was, indeed, our tyre but still no joy whatsoever from the supplying dealer or Pirelli, who had attached a curt "Nil credit" sticker to our Extra Load rated Premium tyre. The original paperwork from when the tyre originally went back to Pirelli during April (some 18 weeks ago) stated that we could, if we wished, have an independent tyre tester examine the tyre, which was originally our intention. However, having paid £110 for the tyre which had covered 6K miles, with an expected lifespan of roughly 25-30K miles, we were told that a successful appeal would result in credit of 75%. Then the cost of the independent tester works out at in excess of £100. We know when we are beat so we have called the matter to a close, expecting that, after the way the dealer and Pirelli have performed, we should probably end up well-stuffed (much like the proverbial turkey). Needless to say, no more Pirellis for us (on our XK, S-type or runabout Citroen Grand Picasso) and we shall be looking for a new tyre supplier in our area. Now that it's all over we can state that the supplying dealer was ProTyre Chemix near Stourbridge. Heyho, might as well go back to sorting out the contents of the glove box (refer to another thread concerning USB connection for understanding of that!). We'll avoid the obvious "tyred-out" comments; then again............... As always, happy growling

We should agree with your findings, Russ, and Knut Are, you may find this useful. From our neck of the woods, (not Norwegian wood, of course....pun intended), there is an auction house fairly local to us at Leominster which holds regular Modern Classics auctions, and there are often early (up to 2004/5) S-types in the catalogue. Also, Footman James and others were quite happy to quote for both our XK and S as "classics". Add to that, the likes of Classic Car website advertise S-types regularly. Hopefully the "men in suits", or whatever Scandinavian Customs folk wear, would see it the same way. As Russ says, for, say, £4000 you would have a great list from which to choose. Good luck and happy growling at the Customs man

Good luck Knut Are, in the sales pics the car looks good, and certainly a nice colour/trim combination.......always personal preference, but we don't go for black trim. Seems to have all the bells and whistles, the literal translation of the advert says that the car "is an English Lord" and has dual-speed navigation system. Presumably this means you can set it for fast and slow, according to how you feel at the time, or how much snow is about?! We are completely alarmed at the price......crikey, that equates to about £12K Sterling. Aagh, there is a VERY low mileage 2007 S-type R 4.2 Supercharged V8 for sale here at just under £13K. Still, you did say that cars were expensive in Norway; no doubt the ice-cream and muesli are very much cheaper than here in the UK though. If you like the car, we hope your best wife approves. If not, take one of the others. Happy potential growling

Mission accompli! Thank you Peter, we have cleared out the centre locker and discovered the forgotten socket therein, so we are plugged into that now using the adaptor that came with the cam; wire neatly stowed out of sight along the side of the transmission tunnel; meanwhile we have also ordered up one of the cheap as chips devices as noted by Joe........win win and win again. We are attending the local car boot on Sunday armed with the contents of the centre cubby...........not really, but it's amazing what you carry around unwittingly. Anyone collect car park tickets? Now going to examine the possibility of a suitable installation for the XK, although anyone approaching that has to get through the force field. Beam me up Scotty.

Funny you should say that, Ron....................! And what about the handbags?! We do know what the Monty Python crowd have in their respective glove lockers.........

So basically, would you buy a second-hand car from this fellah? Deffo no, might manage a Dinky toy at the car boot though. Does this seller answer to the name of Del boy? We like the idea of a Toyota Jaguar S-type; we are going to look for a Trabant XJS V12 and see what comes up. Good luck with your new car, Gary.....happy growling

Thank you all.........the various methods all have their merits, and are definitely better than the enormous adaptor which came with our dashcam and plugs into the cigar lighter socket. We are going to investigate further and make a decision, particularly like the little outlet thingummydoodah, Joe. Thank you for the photos. Ron, reference the cyclist story......is that a case of "pedal to the metal", or have we misunderstood the lyrics of Mr CW Mccall in Convoy..........never mind, we'll head for bear on I-10 'bout a mile out of Shakeytown, and see what happens. Or as we say in England, making for fuzz on the A46 bout a mile out of Quakeytown (where the oats are made). Hmm. With regard to contents of lockers (how did we get there from USB leads?!), our XK has, in the glove locker, a A4 sheet to display in the windscreen when we attend such as the Breakfast Meet, the centre cubby has a tin of sucky sweets, some £1 coins (just changed for new ones!) for the occasional small change needs, and a small duster. We travel light! With regard to the S - how long have you got??!! We prefer to have the dashcam in a "on when ignition on" and "off when ignition off" situation, and never mind the gravitron etc. Many thanks to all, must go.......HWIOLAAFJAA is having a moment again. (He Who Insists On Looking At Adverts For Jaguars At Auction). Happy growling, smile you're on candid camera

Brilliant, Ron. My partner and I are at present having a fit of the terminal giggles after reading that. We deffo don't want any trouble with the foofy valves on our S; we already have enough foofy valve issues which is why we both sleep with our heads out from under the duvet. Too much information. We do, however, have a good supply of widgets which have been salvaged from the lager cans which populate most public parks. We shall investigate our local Halfords and see what they have to say; we hope that your dashcam installation doesn't get prompted into action via the g-force activator and simply films folk sailing serenely by. With todays ideas of roadcraft from some folk, that doesn't seem too likely. As always, happy growling. Pathe Newsreels here we come

Here's one, probably, for Joe.Dot.Com, although all input welcome. We think there may have been a thread a while back but can't seem to find it. Having been "driven at" one or two times, and various other events which had the potential to become fender benders, we have decided to use a dashcam in our S as a trial. The battery life is next to useless so power take-off wire it has to be. We are using the cigar lighter to usb connection wire, but this, of course, means that the (never used) ashtray remains open as the cigar lighter connector is a bit bulky. Is there any other way of connecting a USB power supply to the camera? Our S is a facelift April '07 2.7D SE. Happy growling in hope

Latest update ......... 2 days after a "snotty" letter to the supplier, well well, we get a call from same saying that the tyre "appears" to have left Pirelli, thence to supplier's depot in Winchester, then to Halifax where it should have gone to Walsall and then on to Stourbridge!!!!!! It is somewhere in between, most likely Halifax, and will be with us "shortly". That's a maybe,then. Needless to say, we have photos of the offending tyre before going off to Pirelli, so let's see. Such fun, as Miranda's mum would have said. Happy grrrrrrring

Here's hoping you reach a decision/solution which is right for you; must say, the white S in the photo does look good....wethinks that's a USA export/import (according to where you are!). One further thing to think about....if you did go down the route of altering the suspension etc in ANY way, you MUST inform your insurance company, otherwise they have an easy excuse to limit, or not pay, any payout. We know of a couple of folk who fell foul of this, so do be aware, and it might result in a premium increase. Again, in any event, enjoy!!

Not to mention crunching the speed bumps. Our '07 S is on 19" alloys with low-profile tyres, and also has the official Jaguar mudflaps fitted. We need to go quite slowly over car-park speed bumps to avoid scraping these. There's a racing S in the Gaydon museum, and this is only fractionally lowered from standard. We'd be careful at least, and although everything is personal preference, our opinion would be to leave well alone as you might end up regretting the mod. Reference the suspension wanders etc etc.........look up Lazlo Woodbine's posts which have dealt with all manner of S-type suspension issues in pretty complete manner. Whatever, enjoy the experience and, as always, happy growling

We should agree with Ron and Stephen. Blimey, a pretty immaculate '03 3.0 V6 S-type went for £800 at a recent Modern Classics auction at Leominster. We feel that once the VISIBLE rust has got that far, who knows what lurks elsewhere. Everybody must have their own opinion, but we should walk away tres rapide (don't know what the Finnish for "very quic)." is. Very important, here, Knut Are, (buck gets ten that isn't your real name?!) to not get a dose of buyer's fever. Good luck anyway and happy future growling

Cruising the Yorkshire Dales eh? Watch out for the Heartbeat Plods crowd (or was that the Moors?!), although we think you'll outrun them, with their 105E Anglias, LD vans and the like. Although we did hear that Greengrass had shoehorned a V-12 in his Austin Commercial. Don't forget to stop at Whitby Head. As always, happy growling

That's a good lead, Joe. Our XK doesn't go out if it's raining, or looks like rain, and definitely not when there's salt about. Our S, however, is out and about most days and, although we don't have any add-on sills etc., the treatment you have mentioned may well be a good investment. Years ago, tried Waxoyl which, as you say, eventually goes off and peels. And as for KuRust...!!!! Nice one. As always, happy growling

And the wood and leather was the important bit, we entirely agree! Can't imagine Churchill with a carbon-fibre desk and an electronic bowler hat? Us traditionalists. Happy growling

Ditto, Leo. My partner had a '65 3.4 manual S-type in the 1970s, silver with red leather. Ditto, wish it had been kept, the IRS was a big step forward from the Mk2. The gearlever began to pop out of the gearbox casing eventually, and, it is recalled, this was fixed (including removing the console etc) with little more than a set of bicycle spanners and a small socket set. Wonder what the fault codes would have made of that. Happy traditional growling!

Aha, Ron. If we are not mistaken, that's a Mk2. Apart from anything else, the S-type never had the thicker bumpers. Nevertheless, a great memory. Trust you doffed your hat. Memories are made of this.

Silly me, spot the deliberate mistake.....but then, most Audis I have seen have had a bump and the "d" has dropped off the badge. Made in Muenchen eh?.......as in muncheun tyres, muncheun other people's road, and muncheun the mobile phone whilst driving. Oops, how non-p.c. are we?! Moving on.........

Oh dear, the Triumph Herald, with the famous jacking-up rear suspension, a sure way to have unplanned visits into the scenery! We believe rust came as a Standard (pun intended....Standard-Triumph) fitting. Happy days

Aah, the well-known German brand must be Au.i (that's 3 letters, as most I've seen have had a bump of some sort. Ooops). That's a pretty impressive thread you have started reference the detailing, well worth the look. We have used the 2 bucket method always since we bought our XK X150 over a year ago, and it does pay off. we use Mequairs products, but may well investigate your Swiss products, just to do a comparison. Whatever, happy growling (as a Jaguar owner), and happy detailing Carole & partner aka significant other

Oh dear, look what you've started, Joe!!!! Must say, you have valid points Joe, and if JLR (or, in our case, Jaguar) don't move with the times then they would be sunk. That said, my partner and I, like Ron, are very much traditionalists and go for the wood veneer everytime. As with everything, it's a matter of personal taste and choice, and there are no rights and wrongs (unless, of course, you're Katie Price and paint your car pink..urrgh!). We don't, either, recall wood veneer being any sort of option for the E-type. With regard to the Mk2 (or MkII, according to your taste), my partner says that the original Mk2 had leather upholstery. In 1967 the 240 and 340 were introduced (basically similar to the Mk2) as a stop-gap pending introduction of the XJ6. In these, the leather was replaced with Ambla, tufted carpets were used, and (the easiest way to recognise them) the bumpers were much thinner and bladed, unlike the Mk2s "fluted" affairs. Also, the foglamps next to the grille became an option and the windtone horns were replaced with ordinary flat horns. Only available in 2.4 or 3.4 form, the 3.8 form being dropped, although a cunning person from Jaguar (in the era) says some did leave the factory with 3.8 units, to special order. The original S-type also had the leather upholstery and, for us old f....s, the wood trim. We think that a current F-type with wood trim would seem a bit odd! Having said all of that, our XK X150 has the aluminium dashboard which, on this occasion, we feel suits the car better, particularly as the paintwork is Lunar Grey and the upholstery light cream. Which brings us full circle. Horses for courses, so we'll accept that Jaguar has to keep up with the modern market whilst at the same time labelling ourselves as traditionalists. No pink Jaguars for us, then! Our cuddly jaguar mascot who resides in the back of the XK, and rejoices in the name of Felixstowe (Felix the cat who stowed away) agrees entirely, so grrr. As always, happy growling whatever trim you have

Well done, Tom..................let the Growling commence. Like Ron above, you will no doubt find that you "apparently" keep running out of milk and need to "just pop to the supermarket, dear", which, in the case of your home area, could, we suppose, be a fair way away. Don't forget to go back for the sugar. Don't forget the photos on theforum here, and glad to learn that your research and doubts about others seem to have come up with the desired result. You do realise that "Growlerectomy" is a procedure (designed to remove the permanent grin) which is not available on the NHS?! Onwards and upwards etc etc

As yet another thread which has started up, reference EGR valves, they are a b.... pain! However, although our amber warning light accompanied by the script "DPF full..see handbook" came up several times a while ago, as we have previously stated, even (twice) after having the O/S EGR valve replaced, since converting to V-Power diesel.....nil problemo. Our normal use does, occasionally, involve a good "blast" for 10 minutes or so, accordingly "QED". Still wouldn't swap the S, naturally we don't have the problem on our XK, although , thinking outside the box, a nice 4.2 Supercharged R V8 would be nice. Wonder if Gaydon would miss their "last off the line" model?! Steve, what you think was backed up by a chance conversation with our Jaguar Indie, so good luck!! As always, happy growling

What you say makes sense. Although premium fuel certainly did it for us. We did find that an easier method of regeneration was to journey at normal speeds but use the manual hold to keep revs up at around 3000 or so for 15 mins. More convenient than the motorway blast, with the same effect. Whichever way you end up going, good luck in removing what can be an annoying issue. Not, however, confined to Jaguar, as some folk seem to want to have you believe. Happy (regeneration free) growling