70 I'M SHOCKED...

It has been a day of good news and bad news.  The good news is that the axle bushes have been replaced - yay!  They were in a really poor condition and fell to bits once removed.  The bad news is that the mechanic fessed up that the knocking is still there - grrr!

The guy admitted that it had them stumped, which led to a brainstorming session. One of them noticed that the shock absorbers, while almost new, looked odd. They checked the part number, and it looks like the car has the wrong-sized unit.

The good news is that the replacement, official shock absorbers, are only £35 a corner. And because he misdiagnosed the problem, if I bought them, he would fit them for free (well, not exactly free; I'm £200 in on labour already, but you get where I'm coming from).

He quipped that the car's parts are cheap; the labour is the killer, as the cars are so small and there is a lot packed in, so everything is an effort to fix.

So, the replacement shocks are ordered. They should be in tomorrow at 09:30 and fitted before lunchtime. Later in the day, we can test if the upgrades have worked with a 250-mile jaunt to Loch Lomond. If there is still a knocking after all this work, I will tear my hair out…or replace my speakers in the next week.