New Chimera 450 Questions.
Discussion
Hello all,
After a few weeks 'lurking' on here and various other TVR message boards I decided to take the plunge last week and have bought a new 2001 style Chim 450.
I must state ahead of time that I did do this with my eyes wide open and am a long time fan of the cars and I dont expect them to have the build quality of say an Audi or a Merc.
However, since getting the car all of 5 days ago the roof seal has come away from the fabric of the roof itself. There is a very very high pitched whining noise that is constantly there regardless of engine speed, road speed, whether the clutch is in or out, its just always there, both side windows dont seem to create a join with the hard section of the roof or the pram section for that matter.
It hasnt been back in for its 1000 mile check up, only just though as I cant stop driving it! I just wondered if these teething troubles are normal and I am worrying without reason or if these are genuine faults as the last thing I want is to go back at a 1000 miles and be told that its typical when its not.
Thanks in advance for any help you can provide.
Matt.
After a few weeks 'lurking' on here and various other TVR message boards I decided to take the plunge last week and have bought a new 2001 style Chim 450.
I must state ahead of time that I did do this with my eyes wide open and am a long time fan of the cars and I dont expect them to have the build quality of say an Audi or a Merc.
However, since getting the car all of 5 days ago the roof seal has come away from the fabric of the roof itself. There is a very very high pitched whining noise that is constantly there regardless of engine speed, road speed, whether the clutch is in or out, its just always there, both side windows dont seem to create a join with the hard section of the roof or the pram section for that matter.
It hasnt been back in for its 1000 mile check up, only just though as I cant stop driving it! I just wondered if these teething troubles are normal and I am worrying without reason or if these are genuine faults as the last thing I want is to go back at a 1000 miles and be told that its typical when its not.
Thanks in advance for any help you can provide.
Matt.
quote:Simple fix.
...the roof seal has come away from the fabric of the roof itself.
quote:Don't know.
There is a very very high pitched whining noise that is constantly there regardless of engine speed, road speed, whether the clutch is in or out, its just always there
quote:
both side windows dont seem to create a join with the hard section of the roof or the pram section for that matter.
Commont problem - easily adjusted by dealer
It hasnt been back in for its 1000 mile check up, only just though as I cant stop driving it! I just wondered if these teething troubles are normal and I am worrying without reason or if these are genuine faults as the last thing I want is to go back at a 1000 miles and be told that its typical when its not.
Thanks in advance for any help you can provide.
Matt.
""I just wondered if these teething troubles are normal and I am worrying without reason or if these are genuine faults as the last thing I want is to go back at a 1000 miles and be told that its typical when its not. ""
All sounds a bit worrying to me, sounds a bit more than teething troubles for a brand new car costing £38,000 !!!! Both the whinning noise and the roof would worry me greatly as you have probably realised most Chim's become paddling pools at some point but not a brand new one !! the windows height can be adjusted by taking out the speakers and ....... just get the dealer to do it it is a pain in the arse unless you are double jointed !! they all have little problems but these sound a bit more than usuall on a new car just get the dealer to sort it out as soon as possibile.
Anyway an excelent choice enjoy and welcom to the club!!
JNA
98R Chim and 98 Cerbie
All sounds a bit worrying to me, sounds a bit more than teething troubles for a brand new car costing £38,000 !!!! Both the whinning noise and the roof would worry me greatly as you have probably realised most Chim's become paddling pools at some point but not a brand new one !! the windows height can be adjusted by taking out the speakers and ....... just get the dealer to do it it is a pain in the arse unless you are double jointed !! they all have little problems but these sound a bit more than usuall on a new car just get the dealer to sort it out as soon as possibile.
Anyway an excelent choice enjoy and welcom to the club!!
JNA
98R Chim and 98 Cerbie
quote:
the roof seal has come away from the fabric of the roof itself.
As Ted said, this should be an easy fix unless the rubber itself has split. If you take the roof off, look at the rubber end on, and you'll see that it fits into a metal channel along the edge of the roof. It can normally be persuaded back in with the aid of a teaspoon handle (or failing that, the car key).
Mine quite commonly comes adrift when I'm getting the roof in or out of the boot, as I'm too lazy to use the irritating roof bag.
quote:
both side windows dont seem to create a join with the hard section of the roof or the pram section for that matter.
The height can be adjusted, and as I recall, you can get to the screw itself (search the archives), although I seem to recall that you need to be careful not to adjust it too far. I was once told that the fit of the window to the rubber seal up the edge of the folding section can be altered by gently flexing the aluminium A-frame inward a bit. That's probably best left to the dealer though so that if they break it, they can mend it at their expense. :-)
Window and roof fit issues seem to vary widely from car to car, but yours does sound unusually out of whack, especially for a new car!
Good luck.
Thank you all for the advice, it has definately gone some way towards quelling my fears.
OK, so a visit back to the dealer seems to be in order, will give them a call today to see if they can take 10 minutes just to put my mind at rest.
I noticed this morning that when going round tight corners at low speed there is quite a severe clunking/banging sound coming from the back end. Could this be related to the 'whining' noise (sort of sounds like the old BBC close noise) that I am hearing?
Worried from West London
Matt.
Edited by Plotloss on Tuesday 30th October 10:52
OK, so a visit back to the dealer seems to be in order, will give them a call today to see if they can take 10 minutes just to put my mind at rest.
I noticed this morning that when going round tight corners at low speed there is quite a severe clunking/banging sound coming from the back end. Could this be related to the 'whining' noise (sort of sounds like the old BBC close noise) that I am hearing?
Worried from West London
Matt.
Edited by Plotloss on Tuesday 30th October 10:52
Hey, this car is a week old!
Get it back to the dealer NOW and sit in their showroom drinking their coffee until they have put everything right and DO NOT leave until they have taken you on a test drive and cured everything. This car is a lot of money for Christ's sake! Complain and complain heavily. We don't do it enough.
TVR owner one day
Get it back to the dealer NOW and sit in their showroom drinking their coffee until they have put everything right and DO NOT leave until they have taken you on a test drive and cured everything. This car is a lot of money for Christ's sake! Complain and complain heavily. We don't do it enough.
TVR owner one day
Well I have just spoken to the dealer and they are going to give it a quick once over and tell me if the noise is serious or not on Monday next week.
I am quite satisfied with that although I will certaintly be expecting it to come out of its 1000 mile check up with every one of the 10 or so build faults that I have found completely rectified.
It seems that TVR's do have some niggles and thats to be expected with a hand made car but there does also seem to be a bit of abuse of the old 'They all do that sir' going on as well.
Thanks again for all your words.
Matt.
I am quite satisfied with that although I will certaintly be expecting it to come out of its 1000 mile check up with every one of the 10 or so build faults that I have found completely rectified.
It seems that TVR's do have some niggles and thats to be expected with a hand made car but there does also seem to be a bit of abuse of the old 'They all do that sir' going on as well.
Thanks again for all your words.
Matt.
I'm not sure about that. I bought mine out of a dealers stock so if it wasnt caught at the factory I would have expected it to be caught either in PDI or when it was valeted before collection.
Still I can put up with the little foibles because above all else its a car I have lusted after for about 6 years.
Matt.
Still I can put up with the little foibles because above all else its a car I have lusted after for about 6 years.
Matt.
AHHH HHAAAA!!!
Now, I seem to have located the afore mentioned noise.
When the engine gets hot 85 degs plus the noise appears. When I look under the bonnet the noise seems to be coming from the general fan belt area of the engine. It sounds harmonic, like an unoiled component would.
Also something else I have noticed is that when I press the brake I get a squelching noise and it feels like there is air in the system.
Any ideas?
Matt.
Edited by plotloss on Tuesday 30th October 19:27
Now, I seem to have located the afore mentioned noise.
When the engine gets hot 85 degs plus the noise appears. When I look under the bonnet the noise seems to be coming from the general fan belt area of the engine. It sounds harmonic, like an unoiled component would.
Also something else I have noticed is that when I press the brake I get a squelching noise and it feels like there is air in the system.
Any ideas?
Matt.
Edited by plotloss on Tuesday 30th October 19:27
Well its now on the truck on the way to the dealer. I am fortunately going on holiday tommorow for the weekend so they have until Monday to rectify all the problems large and small otherwise I am going to have to take this further as although I expected some grief I didnt expect the car to be unusable when 5 days old.
Perhaps I have just got a bad one, I dont care, they are all faults that should have been caught either by the factory, at PDI or in final quality assurance before collection. They were quick enough to take the money so they can fix it quickly too in my opinion.
Thanks for those who provided help, its nice to know that there is empathy out there.
For those who have similar issues and are awaiting delivery of a new one I will keep you informed of what they tell me and the severity of the problem.
I dont wish that I had bought a Porker or a TT but its starting to feel like a Marcos or a Morgan may have been better choices.
TTFN
Matt.
Perhaps I have just got a bad one, I dont care, they are all faults that should have been caught either by the factory, at PDI or in final quality assurance before collection. They were quick enough to take the money so they can fix it quickly too in my opinion.
Thanks for those who provided help, its nice to know that there is empathy out there.
For those who have similar issues and are awaiting delivery of a new one I will keep you informed of what they tell me and the severity of the problem.
I dont wish that I had bought a Porker or a TT but its starting to feel like a Marcos or a Morgan may have been better choices.
TTFN
Matt.
UH OH.... have followed for last 6 months all the threads and decided bugger it - must have that noise 3 months ago - new Chim 5oo arrives in 10 days - will see it on Monday on my factory tour.
Plotloss - which dealer did you get it from - mine is Mole Valley???
How is it in the wet, I don't want to watch it in the garage for the next 3 months now I am finally going to get my hands on it
Plotloss - which dealer did you get it from - mine is Mole Valley???
How is it in the wet, I don't want to watch it in the garage for the next 3 months now I am finally going to get my hands on it
5lTVR,
I've had my chim for a few months now and have driven it in the rain on a few occasions although I generally don't set out to do it through choice. The first time I did this I was caught out and the back end stepped out on me. I'd say on reflection I brought it upon myself with ham-fisted use of the controls and having driven her in the wet since, she's perfectly safe, but you must be careful with all that torque available.
It's reasonably easy to break the rear tyres loose with only a moderate amount of throttle input (see Peter Humphries excellent posting to the TVR news group for more - titled "Re: my frist I lost it"). If you're an experienced high performance car driver then no problem. If however you're like me and new to this, then driver training is recommended by the more experienced members of the community. I'm in the process of booking a place on Don Palmer's wet weather car handling courses for this exact reason (www.drivingdevelopment.co.uk). One last thing, watch out for leaks, I'm still in the process of sorting mine out from the recent weather.
Steve (Chimaera 5L)
I've had my chim for a few months now and have driven it in the rain on a few occasions although I generally don't set out to do it through choice. The first time I did this I was caught out and the back end stepped out on me. I'd say on reflection I brought it upon myself with ham-fisted use of the controls and having driven her in the wet since, she's perfectly safe, but you must be careful with all that torque available.
It's reasonably easy to break the rear tyres loose with only a moderate amount of throttle input (see Peter Humphries excellent posting to the TVR news group for more - titled "Re: my frist I lost it"). If you're an experienced high performance car driver then no problem. If however you're like me and new to this, then driver training is recommended by the more experienced members of the community. I'm in the process of booking a place on Don Palmer's wet weather car handling courses for this exact reason (www.drivingdevelopment.co.uk). One last thing, watch out for leaks, I'm still in the process of sorting mine out from the recent weather.
Steve (Chimaera 5L)
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