themx5restorer.co.uk are awesome

[Rage Page]

Hey all,

I just thought I should post on here to comment on the quality of work and awesome service Garath and the guys offer at themx5restorer.co.uk.

About a year or so ago I bought a mk1 1.8iS (UK car) for £2500 it was in cracking condition or so I thought. It looks great in white and has some nice additional parts including enkei alloys and a powerflow exhaust. I was very happy with the car coming from my RX-8 and it handles great and sounds great. I realise now looking at some of the prices people are buying mk1's for that I could have gotten a better deal but tbh I don't really look back and feel like I made a mistake.

Unfortunately for me though bad things happened. Rust cropped up on the rear arch on both sides of the car edging its way down to the sills actuallt splitting the metal. Naturally I thought this isn't good so I got it checked out with Garath at themx5restorer as his garage was recommended on the owners club forums and here at PH. He informed me that it had been patched up badly and cheaply in the past. As some of you might know repairing this problem properly can get expensive depending on how bad it is and I knew it was bad. Though for some reason I just love this car to damn much to not do a proper job. I felt like I needed to do the job properly.

Good news is I didn't regret my decision the car looks fantastic better than it did before. I did have some issues with the paint finish where the paint had reacted and come away from the metal work. One call to Garath though and the car was booked in with the paint shop to get the problem sorted. Awesome service! I can't thank these guys enough.

Anyway sorry for the rambling. I just wanted to say that these guys are great and recommend them for any work you need doing on your mx5's.

Edited by Rage Page on Thursday 25th October 12:45

[MX-5 Lazza]

I've been recommending Gareth to everyone since he was working on his driveway. He's a great guy and is passionate about what he does.

[vrsmxtb]

Yep, very good guy, had a thorough look over mine when I bought it to check for any rust issues, and didn't charge a penny as I'd driven about 50 miles to visit.

[NiceCupOfTea]

Is he still using my old black Mk.1 S-Spec as his daily or has he fixed it up and sold it on yet? Nice guy.

[Rage Page]

He is driving a BBR turbo which has been significantly modified. Gave me a lift from the train station when I came to pick up my car and that thing can shift! Completely different beast. Would love a turbo myself.

He has just finished a speedster MX-5 I think there are some pictures up on the website about it. It looks pretty amazing.

[skinny]

i believe he now offers a 3 year warranty on his work too which for rust repairs is pretty much unheard of.

mine will be going over that way soon, having already had it done poorly once (for £800) where the rust came back within a year.

[anonymous-user]

How much does a decent rust repair cost on sills/arches, if £800 was a bad job?!

[Rage Page]

My 5 was in a pretty bad way due to a botched repair in the past so there was a fair bit of work involved and it set me back £1100. They showed me what was left of the sills when they returned the car to me and I was shocked how little metal there was.

[healeyfan]

Totally agree. Hugely enthusiastic about MX5s. They don't have a fancy reception area but then they don't have fancy prices either. Price quoted is price paid. No hidden extras. They seem to put the customer first which is rare these days. Highly recommended.

[Poko]

I'd recommend Garath and Chris for absolutely anything mx5 related. They really know their stuff, have great prices and are incredibly friendly.

Iirc I had my rusty sill done for £250ish a side, but I guess it may depend how bad it is.

[braddo]

Are the 'rusty sills' that seem so common on MX5s limited to the ends of the sills or do repairs sometime involve the entire length of the sill? I see the work on Garlick's new MX5, for example, was only a patch about 30cms long.

[Rage Page]

Depends on how bad the problem is usually.
My car had damaged arches as well as sills so I repair panels were welded in which cover that small area like on Garlicks 5. I have seen some posts on the owners club forums where the sills the entire length of the car have been bad.

[Pete Franklin]

When I got mine done the right sill was just bad at the rear but the left was totally shot all the way along. Was a big job. None of it was visible until the bodyshop started chipping away at it (previous bodge filler lasted suprisingly well). All new metal now though.