Discussion
blaze_away said:
m4tti said:
I like the way they've done a couple of test fires with the rattle can on the disk edge, before hitting the caliper and its bolts. Kind of like external loc-tite 
I actually think its just 'spray through' onto the disk where they spayed the caliper, shockingly bad workmanship, whoever did should be thoroughly ashamed of themselves.m4tti said:
So they sprayed four calipers for £299 + vat...
Thats like the old trick adverts selling 100 cigarette lighters for £25 and they send you a box with 100 matches in it.
Have you taken this up with the owner of Central.
Thats like the old trick adverts selling 100 cigarette lighters for £25 and they send you a box with 100 matches in it.
Have you taken this up with the owner of Central.
I questioned it. I only realised they were pained in situ when I took the car to David Geralds, and the car was on the ramps - the mechanic spotted that the inner callipers weren't painted.
I kept screen grabs of all the work I had done, and this is one of them:
It seems that, after I emailed them querying why the callipers weren't removed as advertised, they just changed the text on their website - it now reads:
"Brake caliper faces painted with heat resistant paint, comes in various colors (price for 4"
But I am assuming I breaking some rules now, so won't be surprised if this post gets deleted.
To be clear, I am happy with the leather retrim. Just not much else...
I do strongly believe that they really need to re-assess their pricing policy on the (semi) calliper painting, £40 seems about the right ball park.
Edited by chris watton on Monday 29th September 17:04
Zippee said:
Believe me mate there is worse out there than Central (Adrian is a top lad though). Shame I didn't get to meet you at Neil Garner, hard to know anyone once out their cars 
I know, and I did get quite a few emails for and against before deciding. I have never spent that much money before in a single shout to get the car, I thought, as good as it aesthetically could be - I saved up for that from January to May this year.Perhaps we should all have some kind of special hat with our PH names on, when doing meets..
Edited by chris watton on Monday 29th September 19:06
portzi said:
They are advertising full chassis rebuilds, interior retrim and full respray for £10, 000, does this sound too go to be true?
Not sure about chassis or re-spray, but I have no real complaints regarding the leather re-trim. I know there have been a few who have had re-sprays and have been happy with the result.ptholt said:
As someone else who was in Central at the same time as your Tam (if you look back a few pages) after a while of looking around at my car, cleaning it and noticing various "features" of the work carried out, I will not be making a 300 mile round trip to use Central again, a shame as I really liked Adrian to talk to, but the now bedded in hardened paint finish is someway short of what I was expecting in terms of quality, match, depth and overall finish.
If I am honest, I didn't really want to take my Tam back for the third time - I was even contemplating cutting my losses and getting someone like Dave the Trimmer to rectify what needed to be done. (The problems were known the second time it went back, but not rectified)But, my wife said it is better to see if they can come good.....
I thought it best to post a couple of pics of the work without comment, so people can judge for themselves...
Edited by chris watton on Monday 29th September 22:33
ptholt said:
sadly i don't think so, I had the newer style faired in lights (mk4) and a front end paint, after 20 years it was quite heavily marked with the normal stone chips etc and one corner of the font bumper needed filling/flatting/painted as was caught on a high kerb.
the lights inside (behind the clear plastic) werent finished to the same standard as some of the other paint work and have lots of bits of debris, dust and look poor on close inspection, but the worst area by far is between wheel arch and door where I have two big thick heavy paint runs of 2-4 inches in length where the swage line is, here paint has accumulated, settled and been left to dry there, due to the dark colour its not instantly noticeable but once close up when cleaning it stands out to me like a mile, because of it sitting in the line I doubt whether you would be able to get it out without taking the rest of that curved area outside of the swage down to much..
I know when it was done they apparently had to do it twice as had problems matching the paint (i didnt think mine was that different tbh) but either way I would have thought anyone working the body would have noticed the above during final polish.
the lights inside (behind the clear plastic) werent finished to the same standard as some of the other paint work and have lots of bits of debris, dust and look poor on close inspection, but the worst area by far is between wheel arch and door where I have two big thick heavy paint runs of 2-4 inches in length where the swage line is, here paint has accumulated, settled and been left to dry there, due to the dark colour its not instantly noticeable but once close up when cleaning it stands out to me like a mile, because of it sitting in the line I doubt whether you would be able to get it out without taking the rest of that curved area outside of the swage down to much..
I know when it was done they apparently had to do it twice as had problems matching the paint (i didnt think mine was that different tbh) but either way I would have thought anyone working the body would have noticed the above during final polish.
When you first see the car after it has been done, it is hard not to get over-excited, as it does look much better than when you took it in - but then again, for the price, it should.
It's only when you start to live with the car, clean it and give it a good look over you realise it isn't as good as you first thought - speaker wires not connected, sat-nav not working, tension wire completely missing from the new rear hood - when driving in torrential rain and the wind screen wiper comes off, flailing about on the windscreen - this was just the start for me. I think the worst is the callipers though, paying almost £360 (That is well over a weeks wages for my wife)! for something I could have done a much neater job myself with a £20 tin of calliper paint. AIUI, they are just going to 'scrape the paint off the calliper seals' this time.
I had the car serviced, too. It ran worse when I got it back (but in fairness, this could just be coincidence) - But you cannot help think that, if some of the more expensive work is such a let down, how well was the car serviced? This is why I took the Tam to Dom's, in part to get everything checked out. I am not saying it wasn't serviced properly, but you naturally have reservations, based on what you have seen of the rest of the work.
Right, am back home with my Tam.
The rear screen now has the wire and looks better, and the windscreen trim is a thousand times better. The windscreen was re-seated and tested, I was told..!
Back where she belongs, ready for a lot of mollycoddling, and needs another good wash:
Finally, look at that fat arse - Oversize mampy!
Regarding the callipers, I was told that it's too much hassle to take them off, as they would need bleeding (! - £360!). I will get these done properly next year, as, and you can call me Mr Picky if you like, I think the car deserves better.
And so my chapter at Central comes to an end.
The rear screen now has the wire and looks better, and the windscreen trim is a thousand times better. The windscreen was re-seated and tested, I was told..!
Back where she belongs, ready for a lot of mollycoddling, and needs another good wash:
Finally, look at that fat arse - Oversize mampy!
Regarding the callipers, I was told that it's too much hassle to take them off, as they would need bleeding (! - £360!). I will get these done properly next year, as, and you can call me Mr Picky if you like, I think the car deserves better.
And so my chapter at Central comes to an end.
Edited by chris watton on Friday 3rd October 14:22
TVR4US said:
After they serviced my Tvr I had to take it to Powers to get it to run properly again, 12k service, and never even changed the antifreeze.
I did the exact same thing!Not sure where I stand legally on the ill-fitting windscreen, as the leather has only just started to react to the moisture (or is it the glue reacting..), and me having to pay someone else to rectify the problems (windscreen removed, top dash re-trimmed and windscreen put back and sealed properly).
I simply do not trust the previous trimmers to have my car again, not when they've had no less than 4 separate opportunities to fix the problem before.
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