Tag Archives: repair

Now the other boot zip has broken!

My 4-year old Alpinstars finally gave up last October and I had to replace one of the zips.

This time the other (right) one snapped in the same place.

Although the repair I carried out is fine and standing up to abuse well, I find the puller a little small as the force required to zip up motorcycle boots is fairly substantial (well, more than other zip that one has about one’s clothing…)

Many years ago, I was a corporate person (company car, fuel card, healthcare,     … pension…) and in the 80s we were big on time management and all had those fancy leather folders that contained a fraction of what my iPhone contains. I still have the leather folder and it has a rather nice leather puller:

motorcycle boot zip repair

These boots are good for another few years (watch this space)

Smart Repairs to SLK Bumper

I recently had some small scuffs imparted to the rear bumper of my SLK by a nice lady who reversed into it in a car park. I thought I’d try the “Smart Repair” available from a local dealer as opposed to the full-blown insurance repair (about £400!) and at 1pm today, George duly arrived in his white van with all his kit.

Apologies in advance for the photos – it was really bright this morning and he was working so fast that I had to take what I could whilst trying to get around the deep contrast caused by the direct sunlight on a silver car…

Her he is masking the job off:

After rubbing it down:

Five coats of silver paint and one coat of lacquer:

Heat treatment:

Job done!

While George was here, I asked him what I should do about the wheel nuts, which were rusty (and ridiculously expensive to replace)

Before:

After:

Silver engine paint and a funnel made out of an old cornflake packet to stop the overspray. Maybe it won’t last long; we shall see!

90 minutes and £80.

Job done.