Tomorrow I get my car back!
Discussion
So the Simpo Aston has been away on another extended holiday... (partly voluntary this time). I've had the car for 16 months but for four of those it's been in a variety of garages from the highly competent to the thunderously incompetent.
Anyway, this time the door mirror mounts were looking tatty and corroded, so I thought I'd get them restored. My friendly local garage was duly asked to remove the units, so that I could get them powder coated at a wheel refurb place (who quoted just £25 + VAT - hooray!). A few days later I get the call that the mirrors are out, so I go over to pick them up and take them to the powder coating guy. Oh. But they are not stripped down to just the mount, they are the whole mirror unit with wires, grommets and all sorts sticking out. Garage says they don't want to risk dismantling it any further in case they break something - first obstacle being the connector with 11 wires in it that's too big to go through the hole... but my car is now in bits so something has to be done. They recommend a respray, and know someone who can do do it...
An hour later I'm in one of those part farmyard/part business complexes, and from nowhere a chap comes out to meet me. I show him the mirrors, he says 'Yep I can do those, no problem'. The only snag is that he wants £250. Oh ha goody, just 10x the original budget. But we are where we are and my car is in bits so we go ahead.
A few days later they're done. and look lovely. I take them back to the garage for refitting. Now the other thing - the dodgy indicator bulb that's been giving warnings on the dash. How much can a new bulb be, £10? They do some poking about and in fact all three bulbs on that side are OK. The fault is in the tail light unit, also known as the goldfish bowl because you can keep fish in them. This is the same unit that Mr Dodgy Dealer replaced for me when he had the car back to fix the gearbox. So I e-mail Dodgy Dealer. No reply, hiding again. Never mind, the Simpo wallet will come to the rescue. At this point I hear a squeak of protest from the direction of said wallet.
There is a chap on eBay who claims to repair these things. I swap messages with Light Repair Man and the unit is soon speeding on its way to him and he says it will be back by the middle of next week. Hurrah! Only £185 instead of £10. Plus two lots of shipping for £95. Actually no it won't be back next week, a London dealer has just dropped 10 units on him and demanded they be done immediately. Simpo trots back to the end of the queue.
On the plus side, I have a courtesy Ford Finesse. It's total crap, but does about 200mpg, so the more I drive it, the more I'm saving towards the repairs. I do three trips to the boat in it - 360 miles! The washer jets don't work, there's a funny noise from the wheels at 70mph and eventually the OSR tyre goes flat overnight, but the great news is that the mileage isn't going on the Aston! And to be fair the Ford Finesse, whilst it only has 10 bhp that I can find, is quieter and more comfortable. And I can get all the boat cushions in to bring them home for the carpet cleaner to clean.
Light Repair Man ships my tail light out on Tuesday by Parcelforce 24. But the tracking number doesn't work - oh splendid they've lost it, that'll be £1,000 for a new unit then... but the next day the number works and I can see it spent the day just sitting in the depot. Eventually it arrives today. I jump in the car (which is now a Corsa because they came and took the Finesse away) and whizz it over to the garage for fitting.
And so I'm due to retrieve my DB9 tomorrow morning - only a month after I took it in for two simple little jobs. I've forgotten what it looks like. I guess it will feel like buying it all over again...!
Anyway, this time the door mirror mounts were looking tatty and corroded, so I thought I'd get them restored. My friendly local garage was duly asked to remove the units, so that I could get them powder coated at a wheel refurb place (who quoted just £25 + VAT - hooray!). A few days later I get the call that the mirrors are out, so I go over to pick them up and take them to the powder coating guy. Oh. But they are not stripped down to just the mount, they are the whole mirror unit with wires, grommets and all sorts sticking out. Garage says they don't want to risk dismantling it any further in case they break something - first obstacle being the connector with 11 wires in it that's too big to go through the hole... but my car is now in bits so something has to be done. They recommend a respray, and know someone who can do do it...
An hour later I'm in one of those part farmyard/part business complexes, and from nowhere a chap comes out to meet me. I show him the mirrors, he says 'Yep I can do those, no problem'. The only snag is that he wants £250. Oh ha goody, just 10x the original budget. But we are where we are and my car is in bits so we go ahead.
A few days later they're done. and look lovely. I take them back to the garage for refitting. Now the other thing - the dodgy indicator bulb that's been giving warnings on the dash. How much can a new bulb be, £10? They do some poking about and in fact all three bulbs on that side are OK. The fault is in the tail light unit, also known as the goldfish bowl because you can keep fish in them. This is the same unit that Mr Dodgy Dealer replaced for me when he had the car back to fix the gearbox. So I e-mail Dodgy Dealer. No reply, hiding again. Never mind, the Simpo wallet will come to the rescue. At this point I hear a squeak of protest from the direction of said wallet.
There is a chap on eBay who claims to repair these things. I swap messages with Light Repair Man and the unit is soon speeding on its way to him and he says it will be back by the middle of next week. Hurrah! Only £185 instead of £10. Plus two lots of shipping for £95. Actually no it won't be back next week, a London dealer has just dropped 10 units on him and demanded they be done immediately. Simpo trots back to the end of the queue.
On the plus side, I have a courtesy Ford Finesse. It's total crap, but does about 200mpg, so the more I drive it, the more I'm saving towards the repairs. I do three trips to the boat in it - 360 miles! The washer jets don't work, there's a funny noise from the wheels at 70mph and eventually the OSR tyre goes flat overnight, but the great news is that the mileage isn't going on the Aston! And to be fair the Ford Finesse, whilst it only has 10 bhp that I can find, is quieter and more comfortable. And I can get all the boat cushions in to bring them home for the carpet cleaner to clean.
Light Repair Man ships my tail light out on Tuesday by Parcelforce 24. But the tracking number doesn't work - oh splendid they've lost it, that'll be £1,000 for a new unit then... but the next day the number works and I can see it spent the day just sitting in the depot. Eventually it arrives today. I jump in the car (which is now a Corsa because they came and took the Finesse away) and whizz it over to the garage for fitting.
And so I'm due to retrieve my DB9 tomorrow morning - only a month after I took it in for two simple little jobs. I've forgotten what it looks like. I guess it will feel like buying it all over again...!
Your Aston Martin ownership experience seems to have been a nightmare, but the good part is you seem to be able to cope with everything and with good humour too.
Good luck tomorrow and hope every part of your car behaves perfectly from now on.
I actually did something with my Vantage today. Not very adventurous, but put the jack pads in position, then just managed to slide the jack under the pads. Oh the car is low. Needed a mirror to locate the jacking points. Raised each wheel and rotated 180°. The 45psi Michelins are now taking the weight on a different portion of tread.
Winter hibernation continues. Brake discs still remain shiny and I added a little more tyre wall polish.
Looking forward to driving. It should tick over 20,000 miles on the odometer this year.
Thanks guys, the plans is that if you punch Fate in the chops enough eventually it gives up and picks on somebody else. 'Blitz Spirit'.
One interesting thing I discovered, from being on the other end of the car ownership spectrum, is having a car so outrageously horrible and worthless that you don't need to bother locking it because nobody would ever want to steal it!
Sometimes people ask me what I do all day. 'Well' say I, 'I have a boat and an Aston Martin...'
One interesting thing I discovered, from being on the other end of the car ownership spectrum, is having a car so outrageously horrible and worthless that you don't need to bother locking it because nobody would ever want to steal it!
Sometimes people ask me what I do all day. 'Well' say I, 'I have a boat and an Aston Martin...'
Edited by Simpo Two on Thursday 23 February 23:03
Hi Simpo
Sorry to hear of your issues. I know it’s late for you on those things as you are all fixed now, but wanted to let you know there are usually lower cost alternatives to most issues if you don’t mind having a go at a bit of DIY. The cars do come apart fairly easily once you know where to push or pull, there’s loads of guides on PH to help. Below are extracted from Neil’s FAQ section and relate to your issues. The last one is a thread I remembered had featured sometime back on a low cost mirror stalk repair.
Sadly, it’s no surprise if your rear LEDs have failed if your lens’ are full of water. Hindsight I know, but it’s best never to let them get to that state, the below guides will offer insight into the available options to prevent it happening again.
Fingers crossed you can now just enjoy your DB9
Changing rear lights on a DB9 or V8V coupe
An easy guide to changing the rear lights:
http://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&a...
Rear lights - how to separate & reseal
Excellent thread from dbs2000 on how to separate, dry out and reseal your rear lights rather than just paying out for new ones.
https://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&...
Front & rear light repair - Vantage, Rapide, DB9
Steve Campbell has been used by quite a few PHers and also does work for a number of the AM specialist garages. A perfectionist and a big saving over buying new. Lights are stripped, repaired and re-sealed. Rears can be polished to pretty much as new, for a small extra charge. Fronts fail on the indicator or DRLs and these can be fixed, saving a fortune over buying new.
Ideal if you don't have the confidence to put your own lights in the oven.
Steve Campbell: campbells.electronicrepair@gmail.com
DB9 Door Cap Removal
For those of you that want to remove / change the door cappings on the DB9, a step by step instruction
https://www.divinatech.com/v/vspfiles/manuals/dbs_...
Headlamp LED Light repairs
IER in Letchworth for Headlamp LED repairs Speak to Matt in the office 01462 671001
http://www.ieruk.com/
DIY mirror stalk repair thread:
https://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&...
Sorry to hear of your issues. I know it’s late for you on those things as you are all fixed now, but wanted to let you know there are usually lower cost alternatives to most issues if you don’t mind having a go at a bit of DIY. The cars do come apart fairly easily once you know where to push or pull, there’s loads of guides on PH to help. Below are extracted from Neil’s FAQ section and relate to your issues. The last one is a thread I remembered had featured sometime back on a low cost mirror stalk repair.
Sadly, it’s no surprise if your rear LEDs have failed if your lens’ are full of water. Hindsight I know, but it’s best never to let them get to that state, the below guides will offer insight into the available options to prevent it happening again.
Fingers crossed you can now just enjoy your DB9
Changing rear lights on a DB9 or V8V coupe
An easy guide to changing the rear lights:
http://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&a...
Rear lights - how to separate & reseal
Excellent thread from dbs2000 on how to separate, dry out and reseal your rear lights rather than just paying out for new ones.
https://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&...
Front & rear light repair - Vantage, Rapide, DB9
Steve Campbell has been used by quite a few PHers and also does work for a number of the AM specialist garages. A perfectionist and a big saving over buying new. Lights are stripped, repaired and re-sealed. Rears can be polished to pretty much as new, for a small extra charge. Fronts fail on the indicator or DRLs and these can be fixed, saving a fortune over buying new.
Ideal if you don't have the confidence to put your own lights in the oven.
Steve Campbell: campbells.electronicrepair@gmail.com
DB9 Door Cap Removal
For those of you that want to remove / change the door cappings on the DB9, a step by step instruction
https://www.divinatech.com/v/vspfiles/manuals/dbs_...
Headlamp LED Light repairs
IER in Letchworth for Headlamp LED repairs Speak to Matt in the office 01462 671001
http://www.ieruk.com/
DIY mirror stalk repair thread:
https://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&...
Calinours said:
Sadly, it’s no surprise if your rear LEDs have failed if your lens’ are full of water. Hindsight I know, but it’s best never to let them get to that state, the below guides will offer insight into the available options to prevent it happening again
Thanks very much for links. Much appreciated but I've been that route before. The original rear light would fail a few seconds after putting the headlights on. I read all the guides, took the it out, dismantled it, dried it out carefully, resealed it and refitted it. It still didn't work. And so for the small amount of labour involved, I'll pay someone else to fix it and refit it. The replacement (s/h) went from apparently working perfectly to 'LEDs gone, needed a new board' in about two weeks.I really don't like taking cars apart. It's funny but whilst I'm dextrous (I make model boats to a high standard) and have a good helping of IQ, cars just don't come apart like they say, still less go back together, still less work afterwards... And the prospect of working outside in the cold and rain just removes what was left of my enthusiasm for the task.
The repair has a lifetime warranty apparently, in which case it was £185 well spent I think. As for mirror mounts, they are different from the ones in the link, being more pyramidal in shape, and we decided that they couldn't be resprayed to a decent standard in situ. But I do appreciate the time you put into finding those links
Edited by Simpo Two on Friday 24th February 09:44
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