Chassis - Quality - NOT!
Discussion
My car is only 4 years and 1 month old but had a look under it at the weekend (no specific reason), and found that the chassis rails almost every where have the surface coating of paint or what ever other coating peeling away and a light coat of what I hope is only surface rust all over it! IS THIS TYPEICAL - I think I know the Answer even before I ask the question! (it is garaged ever nite now - but not sure of the one previous owner).
4 bloody years old - this is F***in unbeleiveable. Is there away of sorting all this - I really don't want to take tha chassis off a 4 year old car (christ what are some of the 10 year old one like - Death Traps).
And it's not fast enough - don't get me wrong I love it, but struggled to pull over 140 up anadmittedly long 2mile hill round the back of Brands on the m20 at the weekend - I just hope it can do the 167 on the flat.
4 bloody years old - this is F***in unbeleiveable. Is there away of sorting all this - I really don't want to take tha chassis off a 4 year old car (christ what are some of the 10 year old one like - Death Traps).
And it's not fast enough - don't get me wrong I love it, but struggled to pull over 140 up anadmittedly long 2mile hill round the back of Brands on the m20 at the weekend - I just hope it can do the 167 on the flat.
the coating they use is not in my opion suitable. The trouble is is that once a stone chips the coating back to the metail water gets to the surface and the rust will creep all along your chassis bubbling the coating as it goes. Come on TVR about time you galvanised your cars. If morgan can do it then so can TVR!
quote:Unfortunately this does sound to be very normal. I may be picky but if I was buying a TVR from new and spending nearly £40000 on a car I would expect it to withstand normal use without signifiant corrosion problems (on chassis and wishbones) for quite a bit longer than they do. For those of us who buy second hand it's a definite problem that needs regular TLC i.e. annual fettling, to look after before the problem becomes critical.
My car is only 4 years and 1 month old but had a look under it at the weekend (no specific reason), and found that the chassis rails almost every where have the surface coating of paint or what ever other coating peeling away and a light coat of what I hope is only surface rust all over it! IS THIS TYPEICAL - I think I know the Answer even before I ask the question! (it is garaged ever nite now - but not sure of the one previous owner).
4 bloody years old - this is F***in unbeleiveable. Is there away of sorting all this - I really don't want to take tha chassis off a 4 year old car (christ what are some of the 10 year old one like - Death Traps).
It's about time TVR sorted this out. It just seems like they're skimping on quality for what is a relatively easy (and relatively low cost) problem to control. My second car is an 11 year old citroen and has no corrosion on it's chassis or suspension (or anywhere else for that matter), stays outside all year round, drives in all conditions and has zero fettling on the underside.
In the mean time it's out with the wire brush, clean up the tubes, coat with rust treater, paint with suitable paint then liberally apply waxoyl or similar oil based barrier.... repeat each year (Whoop de woo - my favourite job - NOT!!)
MC
quote:
And it's not fast enough - don't get me wrong I love it, but struggled to pull over 140 up anadmittedly long 2mile hill round the back of Brands on the m20 at the weekend - I just hope it can do the 167 on the flat.
I think you'll find the top speed of the 4.0 litre is 157mph, 167mph is given to the 5.0 litre.
Having just spent the last couple of days in my pit finishing off a clean-up of my chassis (5/6 year old Chim) I have to say, yes!
There are some bits I still couldn't get at, mainly the top of the rear suspension mounts where a lot of tubework comes together. Regardless of the chipping problems, most of the damage (on mine at least) stems from either the welds, which almost without exception on mine have corroded (that top suspension mount really is a mess!), and even less forgiveably the cable ties!
Cable ties? Yup, on mine practically every cable tie (and there are a lot of them) has cut through the "paint" to the metal, then trapped salt water and corroded. On removing the ties it looks like they were attached before the chassis coating was dry, as there is a perfect imprint of the tie in the coating in the places where they haven't gone right through.
A couple of quality control tips for TVR: if you must use cable ties (a) wait till the paint dries first and (b) turn them inside out so the smooth side is against the chassis, less chance of them cutting through anyway.
Don't know if this is a general problem, I know my car was rushed out before the traditional Easter Break and maybe corners were cut. (I know this because my factory visit to see the car in build, scheduled for the Thursday before Easter, was spoilt somewhat by arriving to discover I'd passed the car on the M6 going the other way.)
There are some bits I still couldn't get at, mainly the top of the rear suspension mounts where a lot of tubework comes together. Regardless of the chipping problems, most of the damage (on mine at least) stems from either the welds, which almost without exception on mine have corroded (that top suspension mount really is a mess!), and even less forgiveably the cable ties!
Cable ties? Yup, on mine practically every cable tie (and there are a lot of them) has cut through the "paint" to the metal, then trapped salt water and corroded. On removing the ties it looks like they were attached before the chassis coating was dry, as there is a perfect imprint of the tie in the coating in the places where they haven't gone right through.
A couple of quality control tips for TVR: if you must use cable ties (a) wait till the paint dries first and (b) turn them inside out so the smooth side is against the chassis, less chance of them cutting through anyway.
Don't know if this is a general problem, I know my car was rushed out before the traditional Easter Break and maybe corners were cut. (I know this because my factory visit to see the car in build, scheduled for the Thursday before Easter, was spoilt somewhat by arriving to discover I'd passed the car on the M6 going the other way.)
My '92 Griff's chassis has been waxoyled quite frequently and is in pretty good condition - having said that the silver powder coating has come away in several places and it's rusting (I'm aiming to wire brush and hand paint hammerite VERY CAREFULLY over it)
I was advised NOT to powdercoat the chassis on my 'M' as it never gets into the corners properly and also tends to be vunerable to stone chipping.
I wouldn't be surprised by the loss of powder coat on a 4/5yr old car but it always depends on how the car has been used......
I was advised NOT to powdercoat the chassis on my 'M' as it never gets into the corners properly and also tends to be vunerable to stone chipping.
I wouldn't be surprised by the loss of powder coat on a 4/5yr old car but it always depends on how the car has been used......
I've posted my chassis fixing methodology several times on here, so I won't bore you again, but I've got some photos and will put them on my website as soon as I can get Win XP to ftp properly (not a single damn ftp package or ftp in command prompts will finish the upload properly!!).
When I was rooting around a dealer the other day I was massively comforted to see several Chimaera's ranging from 9 - 4 years old, all with a substantial amount of rust on the chassis, and all up for sale at filthy prices!
I am not sure that the £100ish treatments will solve your problem as these generally rely on Waxoyling, or similar, assuming that the chassis is generally sound underneath. What you need to do is remove the rust, apply a sound coating (normally Hammerite), and then get it treated. For a specialist this is likley to be pricey, but its an easy job, enormously satsifying, very, very, messy, and hugely time consuming. Get some old clothes, a portable radio, some ramps / axle stands and get ready to love the underside of your car....
Email me if you want really specific details.
When I was rooting around a dealer the other day I was massively comforted to see several Chimaera's ranging from 9 - 4 years old, all with a substantial amount of rust on the chassis, and all up for sale at filthy prices!
I am not sure that the £100ish treatments will solve your problem as these generally rely on Waxoyling, or similar, assuming that the chassis is generally sound underneath. What you need to do is remove the rust, apply a sound coating (normally Hammerite), and then get it treated. For a specialist this is likley to be pricey, but its an easy job, enormously satsifying, very, very, messy, and hugely time consuming. Get some old clothes, a portable radio, some ramps / axle stands and get ready to love the underside of your car....
Email me if you want really specific details.
Not sure if we're talking about a bit of surface rust or dangerous weakening rot. Has anyone heard of a chassis failing (wishbones aside) due to fatigue induced by rust ? What gauge metal is used in the basic chassis ?
I suspect that most cases are cosmetic and just look a mess which doesn't go down well with the sort of people who love their cars and like them to be perfect (even underneath).
Mine (a 1993 Chimaera) was waxolyed by the previous owner but doesn't look pristine underneath. Probably a quick job, the odd scrape and a brushover but enough to stop the rot (so to speak). A TVR dealer recently said it looked fine. I don't use it in the wet and it's garaged so I reckon it'd be good for another 10 years as it stands and without need for further mullarkey.
Maybe everyones getting a bit excited about nothing here. Just scrape the loose bits off, paint it and the maybe waxoil it. Or just don't bother at all (like a good number of owners - hence the number you see for sale with surface rust)
If there was a real problem with all TVR's surely the company would be in trouble by now (and I'm talking court cases, prosecutions etc)...?
I suspect that most cases are cosmetic and just look a mess which doesn't go down well with the sort of people who love their cars and like them to be perfect (even underneath).
Mine (a 1993 Chimaera) was waxolyed by the previous owner but doesn't look pristine underneath. Probably a quick job, the odd scrape and a brushover but enough to stop the rot (so to speak). A TVR dealer recently said it looked fine. I don't use it in the wet and it's garaged so I reckon it'd be good for another 10 years as it stands and without need for further mullarkey.
Maybe everyones getting a bit excited about nothing here. Just scrape the loose bits off, paint it and the maybe waxoil it. Or just don't bother at all (like a good number of owners - hence the number you see for sale with surface rust)
If there was a real problem with all TVR's surely the company would be in trouble by now (and I'm talking court cases, prosecutions etc)...?
quote:
My car is only 4 years and 1 month old but had a look under it at the weekend (no specific reason), and found that the chassis rails almost every where have the surface coating of paint or what ever other coating peeling away and a light coat of what I hope is only surface rust all over it! ......
4 bloody years old - this is F***in unbeleiveable. Is there away of sorting all this - I really don't want to take tha chassis off a 4 year old car (christ what are some of the 10 year old one like - Death Traps).
Don't assume that the older cars are worse, because chances are they have already been 'loved' by their owners.
It's cars like yours i.e. the 3 - 6 year old models that have the un-addressed problems!
Get your overalls and goggles on, there's only one sure way to treat it and that's with hard work. Ideal job for the winter, if it can wait that long.
Harry
The dealer was TMS. I engineered a collosal argument with the wife so that I could leave her in the Audi and then spent 1/2 an hour on my hands and knees scrabbling around under the various Chim's that are there.
When I bought the Chim, David Gerald insisted that my chassis was 'about 7/10' for a car of its age. Hmmm, hate to see a 2 - or 5 for that matter! Still - they are strong old things and they ALWAYS look worse than they really are.
Waxoyling a chassis where the coating has already broken will slow down the process, but I would always want something between the metal and the air, other than just wax (which gets washed off, erodes etc.)
I've seen a few TVR's now (I have been known to get on my hands and knees if I come across one in a car park...). The best of the lot is a green N reg, that MikeyT owns. The swine. This was obviously stone-chip proofed early in its life and is in mint condition underneath.
When I bought the Chim, David Gerald insisted that my chassis was 'about 7/10' for a car of its age. Hmmm, hate to see a 2 - or 5 for that matter! Still - they are strong old things and they ALWAYS look worse than they really are.
Waxoyling a chassis where the coating has already broken will slow down the process, but I would always want something between the metal and the air, other than just wax (which gets washed off, erodes etc.)
I've seen a few TVR's now (I have been known to get on my hands and knees if I come across one in a car park...). The best of the lot is a green N reg, that MikeyT owns. The swine. This was obviously stone-chip proofed early in its life and is in mint condition underneath.
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