Experiences at Dickson

[ae8zn6]

Hey guys,

Its finally about that time and my car is nearing its trip to Dickson. I swung by the other day to get an idea of how long the inspections take etc, but when I mentioned my car was covered by engineering the guy I was talking to seemed to hear "I just ran over your dog/cat and/or firstborn" So I didn't really ask most of the stuff I wanted to.

I know Im likely to get a bit of a biased view here, but I was just wondering what experience you guys have had at Dickson and I would also like to know anything they seemed particularly anal about so that I can make a good impression from the start.

Cheers Guys

-Robbo

[sanchez]

i remember when i took my car in there. As long as your car looks like it's in good nick, you should be ok. If they do tell you that something is wrong or needs to be changed, take it with a positive attitude because after all, they are just doing their job.

[ae8zn6]

OK sweet, its not like Ive been cutting corners or anything, maybe that guy had just had some bad experiences or something. Just got to finalise the car and book some appointments then

[jamekins]

I had not problems taking my sprinter through a couple of years ago. They picked me up on a few genuine problems like steering play and brake bias in the rear but all the engineered stuff went through ok. I think it depends on who you get cause I've heard tales about people being knocked back for the stupidest things by some blokes there.

[shortround]

I'm taking my car and engineering report to dickson on Monday! I'll let you know how it goes.

[ae8zn6]

Nice, I take it your no longer in Melbourne then <---

PS are you the real shortround? "Dr Jones! Dr Jones!"

[shortround]

well the inspection went as I expected! I was knocked back on:

* Too much play in the steering rack
* Tyres just scrub on swaybar at full lock
* handbrake too weak (disc brake rear end with new discs and pads. Pads have not bedded in yet and was not properly adjusted)
* Too low. The exhaust and traction brackets were less than 100mm from the ground.

So nothing too major. I'll fix these up and try again in a couple of weeks. The guys that did the inspection were fair and reasonable, and I'll be booking the car in at the same time/day in the hope to get them again.

I come and go between Melbourne and Canberra. I might be moving back to Canberra full time soon depending on work?

[takai]

Yeah, Dickson are fairly reasonable with most things. They passed my car no problems despite it having no interior, half cage, coilovers, traction brackets, NC RCAs and a brake conversion, as well as the 4AG with quads.