YOU are not alone. Many people say the Magna/Verada was a good car, but they had an image of it being boring. If Mitsubishi had somehow been able to race it against the Falcon or Commodore it might well have been able to change its reputation.

TYRE makers generally guarantee their tyres for six years against manufacturing faults, which gives you a measure of the life as they see it. There is no sign that will tell you that a tyre is too old to be safely used, apart from cracking in the sidewall. Perhaps you could have a local tyre dealer take a look at them and give you an idea of their condition.

I'M AFRAID there is no special tool that will do the job. You need to take off the top half of the inlet manifold to get at the rear plugs, but leave the throttle body hanging on the hoses so you don't have to bleed the system when you put it back together. The whole job takes an expert about an hour.