Caterham 170 experience

Although fully hardwired on a Friday evening after the first week, the front unit was actually installed in the afternoon of the first day, its USB-C cable dangling straight down and plugged to the adapter in the 12V outlet. Why the rush with all those upgrades within the first week of ownership?  We have a very busy week-end planned, with at least 1500km to drive with the Caterham whatever the weather. As any owner is aware, we are basically invisible on the road, even in firecracker yellow with the LED dipped beams on at al times. People just don't see us coming, we're too low on the road. That's why a dashcam is on my must-have list. One day it could end poorly in spite of the cautious anticipation of everything happening around me. And if it happens, I want it recorded on video.  - But I don't feel that is needed on our regular everyday family cars. Amazon (what a surprise), led me to the GKU D600 dashcam kit. It consists of a front 4K/2.5K headless unit with the S...

TL;DR should pass the yearly inspection, better illumination than the proper LED units The OEM H4 halogen lights are ok but not the best to drive at night. After some research I came across the  Philips Ultinon Pro6000 series of LED products. I got the H4-LED 5800k kit as well as the W5W T10 6000k  kit for the side lights. Removing the headlamps from the bowls is just a matter of removing the two bottom screws on each. The side near the car requires a very short thumb screwdriver, or have a philips bit fitted to a ratchet wrench. That or remove the nosecone altogether. Up to you. (*) Road-legal , maybe, but actually not on the Caterham as the 5.75" lights with their specific E markings are not listed on the Philips documentation (yet).  On the other hand, any classic car with 7" beams like the classic Mini are ok and listed on the spec sheet. But it looks great and works well.  I've since upgraded to a full led kit similar to the one Caterham sells for a ton of ...

It quickly became apparent that the spare wheel would get very dirty and a pain to clean in winter. And no, I won't drive it on salty roads , just rain, and the occasional countryside mud. With 14 inch wheels and 155-65 tyres, the wheel diameter is 55.7 cm. For that size, Amazon has a 13" cover that will fit 55-58cm wheels. The black vinyl does match the boot cover nicely. Fitting it is a quick job. All you need is a 19mm spanner to free the wheel from the car and wheel carrier just enough to slide the bottom of the cover between the tyre and the frame. Then you screw the wheel back to the car, and cover the top. The elastic strap can be tensioned and hidden behind the wheel nicely. Update after a few months : As the bottom of the cover was retaining water, I've cut a small cross in the middle of the bottom surface with an exacto knife, letting it drain by itself. And a few months later  due to the flutter of the flat surface when driving, the central lock bolt ended very ...

I known, we all wish I was kidding. Winter tyres on a Caterham, really?  It happened that on the first actual trip around the east of the country, the exit of a roundabout ended in a tailspin. It was mostly a stright line but the road was damp and the temperature was near freezing. As the Caterham 170  (and 160, 165, SS600) wheels are the same size as the Peugeot 107, Citroën C1 and Toyota Aygo, there are plenty available on marketplace for cheap. Wheel and dimension are specified on the certificate of conformity :     A few days later I got a cleaner pair of rims from somebody else and got the local tyre shop fit a pair of new Snowtrac 5 from Vredestein on the front. I also got some of the fugliest wheel trims cheap money could buy from Amazon.  October update : I got a pair of clean rims for the rear, and will have Snowtrac 5 fitted for this winter. February update : more street cred' with some shiny trims