Corrosion on 18 month old rear Cross member
Discussion
I was wondering if someone could help me please?
I have a Land Rover Defender 110. During June 2012 I had a new rear cross member fitted by a local 4x4 “Specialist” (this was painted with Hammerite on the outside and undersealed on the inside), I recently noticed some paint blistering on the outside face and decided to investigate. As you will see from the attached photo I am left with large and small corrosion holes and more paint blisters too (not quite sure what’s behind them!
).
To me it looks like this corrosion is a lot more than 18 months old, but I could do with an expert opinion if possible. I obviously don’t live near the sea, my Land Rover is garaged and not off-roaded. I was therefore very surprised to see the this amount of corrosion on a piece of steel that is supposed to be only 18 months old!
Any comments/advice would be very much appreciated.
Thanks.
I have a Land Rover Defender 110. During June 2012 I had a new rear cross member fitted by a local 4x4 “Specialist” (this was painted with Hammerite on the outside and undersealed on the inside), I recently noticed some paint blistering on the outside face and decided to investigate. As you will see from the attached photo I am left with large and small corrosion holes and more paint blisters too (not quite sure what’s behind them!
).To me it looks like this corrosion is a lot more than 18 months old, but I could do with an expert opinion if possible. I obviously don’t live near the sea, my Land Rover is garaged and not off-roaded. I was therefore very surprised to see the this amount of corrosion on a piece of steel that is supposed to be only 18 months old!
Any comments/advice would be very much appreciated.
Thanks.
Why was the old crossmember replaced?
Was it actually replaced - can you find the joins where the new one was welded on - look on the net at the various xmembers to see what the options are.
Sure they didn't just slap a few plates over the bad bits on the old one?
Not caked in mud in the rusted area?
What's the rest of it like?
If they won't play you may need an engineers report to consider legal action.
Was it actually replaced - can you find the joins where the new one was welded on - look on the net at the various xmembers to see what the options are.
Sure they didn't just slap a few plates over the bad bits on the old one?
Not caked in mud in the rusted area?
What's the rest of it like?
If they won't play you may need an engineers report to consider legal action.
Edited by paintman on Friday 10th January 20:34
I would think your first port of call should be the garage that did the work for you.
No way IMHO is that only 18 months old, we have fitted very many new rear cross members and have never seen that in such a short time.
It looks to me as if it had been repaired but a hard one to call as we only have a photo to look at.
Best of luck but I do think you should contact the garage first to give them the chance to investigate.
No way IMHO is that only 18 months old, we have fitted very many new rear cross members and have never seen that in such a short time.
It looks to me as if it had been repaired but a hard one to call as we only have a photo to look at.
Best of luck but I do think you should contact the garage first to give them the chance to investigate.
Hi Sarge,
Many thanks for the info.
The "specialist" garage which fitted it said that it was a new Britpart crossmember and that they would contact their technical department.
They also said it could be "hacked off and another one stuck on". With that quality of workmanship they wont be going anywhere near my 110 again.
Will keep you posted.
Thanks
Many thanks for the info.
The "specialist" garage which fitted it said that it was a new Britpart crossmember and that they would contact their technical department.
They also said it could be "hacked off and another one stuck on". With that quality of workmanship they wont be going anywhere near my 110 again.
Will keep you posted.
Thanks
Hi Paintman,
Thanks for the reply.
The garage that fitted it say it was a Britpart part and are contacting their technical department.
I have a contact who is in the metals testing game, so I'm going to ask for an expert investigation. If I find out the rust is older than 18 months the S**T will hit the fan.
Will keep you posted.
Thanks
Thanks for the reply.
The garage that fitted it say it was a Britpart part and are contacting their technical department.
I have a contact who is in the metals testing game, so I'm going to ask for an expert investigation. If I find out the rust is older than 18 months the S**T will hit the fan.
Will keep you posted.
Thanks
I suppose you could say that you are 'hacking the old one off and sticking a new one on' as that would be a pretty blunt summary of what you are actually doing.....
I've done a lot of welding on my RRC over the past years - I've had it since 1994 & some of the repairs are more than 10 years old - and, so far, I've had nothing come through the repairs which is what makes me think its the old xmember patched & its corroded through in another place. I never patch over rusted metal BTW, I cut back to sound.
I've done a lot of welding on my RRC over the past years - I've had it since 1994 & some of the repairs are more than 10 years old - and, so far, I've had nothing come through the repairs which is what makes me think its the old xmember patched & its corroded through in another place. I never patch over rusted metal BTW, I cut back to sound.
Edited by paintman on Saturday 11th January 19:55
no way that cross member is 18 months old lol. was the landie attached to a ships hull for the last 18 months!
My 20 YEAR OLD defender is showing the same corrosion in the same place as yours (look both sides because it will be there too) and I patched it about a year ago and it isnt showing through as yet.
My 20 YEAR OLD defender is showing the same corrosion in the same place as yours (look both sides because it will be there too) and I patched it about a year ago and it isnt showing through as yet.
mikeh501 said:
no way that cross member is 18 months old...
^This.We have a 52 plate Defender 90 on the fleet. It has needed a bit of tarting up because the cross member was a little rusty, but nithing remotely as nad as that. Either you're using your Landie to launch fishing boats, or that is no way an 18 month old part.
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