Tyre fitter just bent my Sill - badly !
Discussion
As the title, just went to my local independant Tyre fitter for 2 tyres on my old Jeep.....97 Cherokee, nothing expensive, or valuable.
The "schoolboy" in charge of the job, jacked one side of it up on the body of the sill.....which stood the 2 ton weight for a few minutes, before caving in. Not sure which of the 2 big diffs or chassis he missed, or the Jacking points designed to be used one corner at a time. Made a real mess of the whole sill.
Only had an MOT last week, so I have some record/proof of it being of solid construction.....but a) its 20 years old and b) I'm not sure a new car would stand up to this.
They have kept the car, promised to get it repaired....and I have one of their courtesy cars, but none of this is ideal for me or them.
I'll keep you posted !
The "schoolboy" in charge of the job, jacked one side of it up on the body of the sill.....which stood the 2 ton weight for a few minutes, before caving in. Not sure which of the 2 big diffs or chassis he missed, or the Jacking points designed to be used one corner at a time. Made a real mess of the whole sill.
Only had an MOT last week, so I have some record/proof of it being of solid construction.....but a) its 20 years old and b) I'm not sure a new car would stand up to this.
They have kept the car, promised to get it repaired....and I have one of their courtesy cars, but none of this is ideal for me or them.
I'll keep you posted !
well, its usually a good local place, with a very good reputation, I've been going there for 10 years or so.
They do MOT's general repairs, Ive said I want the sill replacing....happy for them (or their welder) to fabricate a replacement panel...but I want metal cut out and welded in, not filler !
Its an old car, probably worth less than a grand.....but invaluable to me over winter !
I'm happy to give them the chance to sort it.
They do MOT's general repairs, Ive said I want the sill replacing....happy for them (or their welder) to fabricate a replacement panel...but I want metal cut out and welded in, not filler !
Its an old car, probably worth less than a grand.....but invaluable to me over winter !
I'm happy to give them the chance to sort it.
Cant believe they do that, I had one ham fisted tosser jack my Fiat Coupe turbo under the passenger floor, I almost slapped him as he started jacking, didnt bother looking for anything like a had point/jacking point or whatever, got a bit arsey and told me not to tell him how to do his job, he could apparently identify the exact position of chassis members, brake lines, fuel pipes etc just by feel or Xray vision, luckily his manager walked past and heard this and sent him away and did it properly himself.
Hol said:
That must have been one heavy front alloy!! 
The Elise has 6 jacking points, two front, two side and two rear; the rear ones are hidden behind the engine under-tray so people tend to spot the four exposed ones and assume they're the correct places to put a two post lift. Unfortunately, the side jacking points are almost exactly on the centre of gravity of the car (for obvious reasons) so if you put the car on on a two-post lift using the front and side points and take a wheel off or even drain the coolant from the radiator, things go a bit pear shaped. rswift said:
Only had an MOT last week, so I have some record/proof of it being of solid construction...
Not quite - you have "record" that there was no serious corrosion visible within 30cm of body-chassis mounts or seatbelt mounts. Not quite the same thing at all.Considering the sill SHOULD be strong enough to not let the seatbelt fixings pull straight out in a hard impact, or keep the front end of a T-boning car out, it most certainly should not just fold substantially when jacked in the wrong place. A seam kink, yes, even a smallish dent, but not the kind of collapse you seem to be describing.
I rather suspect that you're going to get a phone call asking you to come and have a look at what's (not) behind there...
Fair point, but even so I expect to drive it out in the condition I drove it in with....it's the same sort of damage I would expect by grounding over a low curb in a low car etc......by "caving in" I mean the panel has bent inwards and upwards, under the weight of a heavy load lifted incorrectly.....but I'm not expecting it to be plain sailing !
hondansx said:
So they messed up and are fixing it.... i hate to be a PH Pedant but what's the purpose of the thread?
If you hate to be a PH pedant, why be one ? Just an "interesting story of everyday motoring folk", (my opinion) which I consider to be worthy of a mention on a motoring forum where similar things are often discussed for amusement, intrigue or entertainment.I respect your opinion, but have you nothing better to do...I obviously haven't or I wouldn't have posted my tale of woe for today.
Anyway, have a pleasant weekend.
I accidentally did this to my own car once, came out one morning to find a flat wouldnt pump up and I was a bit drowsy and late for work so without thinking threw the jack under the car and starting lifting, was bloody cross when i realised what i had done!
I would however be furrious had it been a garage, make sure you are happy with the repair, on the plus side at least they admitted it was them and they are getting it sorted.
I would however be furrious had it been a garage, make sure you are happy with the repair, on the plus side at least they admitted it was them and they are getting it sorted.
Gassing Station | General Gassing | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff