Rusty Chimaera
Discussion
I posted a topic some time ago regarding rusty front wishbones on a friends Chimaera.
The TVR factory failed to answer ANY phone calls or letters. The TVR dealer offered free new (crap) parts, but no free labour (the expensive bit). Eventually he sent a registered letter, which they answered, offering new parts. They also claimed to have written to him earlier with the same offer, and enclosed said letter. Unfortunatly, they messed up. They dated this letter AFTER he made the original complaint. i.e. they invented this letter they claimed to have sent earlier.
The TVR now has rusting chassis rails. The car has had a proffesional inspection. The company who did this inspection said, " Oh, one of these again." They also said TVR always settle out of court. The car needs "body off" chassis work. The wish bones have been described as a dangerous state that will not last a year. (How did it pass the MOT!!).
Has anyone else taken TVR to court?
Every time the car needs a service, the garage wants the car for 4 days. The garage is 150 mile round trip. The garage then say they need to order parts, and then want the car for another 4 days. 600 miles for a simple service. Does anyone else experience this kind of service?
The TVR factory failed to answer ANY phone calls or letters. The TVR dealer offered free new (crap) parts, but no free labour (the expensive bit). Eventually he sent a registered letter, which they answered, offering new parts. They also claimed to have written to him earlier with the same offer, and enclosed said letter. Unfortunatly, they messed up. They dated this letter AFTER he made the original complaint. i.e. they invented this letter they claimed to have sent earlier.
The TVR now has rusting chassis rails. The car has had a proffesional inspection. The company who did this inspection said, " Oh, one of these again." They also said TVR always settle out of court. The car needs "body off" chassis work. The wish bones have been described as a dangerous state that will not last a year. (How did it pass the MOT!!).
Has anyone else taken TVR to court?
Every time the car needs a service, the garage wants the car for 4 days. The garage is 150 mile round trip. The garage then say they need to order parts, and then want the car for another 4 days. 600 miles for a simple service. Does anyone else experience this kind of service?
mmm wishbones rusting itsnt un common, i had mine off and recoated last year (96) car
the chassis coating isnt great either, i wouldnt have thought body off was really required though how old is the car...
i just had my chassis steam cleaned painted and wax sprayed, the rust was only surface where the coating had come off.
i regularly re paint the bits of the chassis that get bead blasted by the rubbish comming off the wheels.
There is a product called rubbbercoat which i might try on these bits. it covers the metal in rubber it wont trap water behind it as it needs water to cure so will dry out the moisture.
what age is the car
the biggest complaint i see with tvrs is the DEALERS....
a bunch of money grabbing tossers in my opinion
60 quid an hour for a bloody fitter no thanx i'll go to an independant i trust and pay 25 for an engineer..
Graham
>> Edited by Graham on Tuesday 2nd April 16:33
the chassis coating isnt great either, i wouldnt have thought body off was really required though how old is the car...
i just had my chassis steam cleaned painted and wax sprayed, the rust was only surface where the coating had come off.
i regularly re paint the bits of the chassis that get bead blasted by the rubbish comming off the wheels.
There is a product called rubbbercoat which i might try on these bits. it covers the metal in rubber
what age is the car
the biggest complaint i see with tvrs is the DEALERS....
a bunch of money grabbing tossers in my opinion
60 quid an hour for a bloody fitter no thanx i'll go to an independant i trust and pay 25 for an engineer..
Graham
>> Edited by Graham on Tuesday 2nd April 16:33
The 4 day/4 day stuff is certainly something I've experienced at some shops, but not all dealers are the same. Shop around as soon as he can.
Chassis is prone to rust and front wishbones can be thought of as consumables. They are exposed to all the crap on the road and anything kicked up by the tyres, and the powder coating from TVR is pants. The damage (and then rust) is going to start on exposed surfaces and therefore should be accessible for repairs if it isn't left to spread round the back of the chassis tubes. If a dealer flogged him a car with a poor chassis they should at least have warned him.
Chassis is prone to rust and front wishbones can be thought of as consumables. They are exposed to all the crap on the road and anything kicked up by the tyres, and the powder coating from TVR is pants. The damage (and then rust) is going to start on exposed surfaces and therefore should be accessible for repairs if it isn't left to spread round the back of the chassis tubes. If a dealer flogged him a car with a poor chassis they should at least have warned him.
Crawled under mine at the weekend and at the end of the outriggers there were a few flakes of the powder coating coming from the chassis. Gotta get under there sometime and clean it all up.
Gonna maybe go see James in Thrapston and see how easy/difficult it is!! He seems to have been under his since about January!!
Both front wishbones are brand new tho' – fitted by the Moles before I bought it. Lucky me
Mike
Gonna maybe go see James in Thrapston and see how easy/difficult it is!! He seems to have been under his since about January!!
Both front wishbones are brand new tho' – fitted by the Moles before I bought it. Lucky me
Mike
Has anyone who has been to visit the TVR factory asked them the question as to why they choose to powder coat the chassis and wishbones and what other coatings they have considered?
There must be a solution to this out there and one that's not going to add a humungous sum to the price of the car
.... if citroen can sort out rusting on their cars (my 11 year old ZX that lives outside is one good example) I would have thought it wouldn't be too difficult to do within a £36000 budget!!!
MC
There must be a solution to this out there and one that's not going to add a humungous sum to the price of the car
.... if citroen can sort out rusting on their cars (my 11 year old ZX that lives outside is one good example) I would have thought it wouldn't be too difficult to do within a £36000 budget!!! MC
Doing my rears at the moment .
Top rears are £66:62 a pair includes VAT
Bottom rears are £98:35 each including VAT, but this does not include the adjusting screw & bolt/ pickup point to chassis, add another £35 each side.
This is not cheap, but if you have an older Chim / Griff say 92 - 96 then changing them is worth doing, rust does get every where and for a small cost of keeping the car chassis clean & rust free it will keep the car on the road long & the value up. Lets not forget the added Safety factor in knowning that all is well.
Colin L
Top rears are £66:62 a pair includes VAT
Bottom rears are £98:35 each including VAT, but this does not include the adjusting screw & bolt/ pickup point to chassis, add another £35 each side.
This is not cheap, but if you have an older Chim / Griff say 92 - 96 then changing them is worth doing, rust does get every where and for a small cost of keeping the car chassis clean & rust free it will keep the car on the road long & the value up. Lets not forget the added Safety factor in knowning that all is well.
Colin L
quote:
I've just spent one day of Easter weekend on the fronts wishbones. (3years old)
Took the uppers off, very easy and cleaned the rest in situ.
It took me a whole w/end to do mine (slow worker). Never occurred to me to take the top wishbones off... doesn't it mess up the alignment or have you got some equipment to set it up again?
If you take care to measure every thing before you unbolt. Then replace using the same measures, the set up will be almost correct. I am about to have the car set up , corner weights, ride height, angles etc.
Any work on the wishbones should always be followed by a full set up check by a pro.
Any work on the wishbones should always be followed by a full set up check by a pro.
I am doing mine now - just when i would MUCH rather be out driving it instead! If you get new ones make sure they are well protected, I would still be tempted to give them a lick of underseal to protect them from any stones etc.
Oh well, at least I am not the only one underneath my car given all the replies so far.
Chris
P11PLE 1998 Chimaera 450
Oh well, at least I am not the only one underneath my car given all the replies so far.
Chris
P11PLE 1998 Chimaera 450
The old favourite, this topic. Can lead to a lot of sleepless nights as well. Here are some experiences of my time since January!!
My outriggers were pretty bad, with just a few bits of powder holding on for dear life. They were also pretty oily and scummy which was a godsend as it held the rust at bay. Cleaned, brushed and jenolited, they came up reasonably well - back to clean metal about 20 mins after application - although some pitting (nothing disastrous) was apparent. Painted with 3 coats of rust beater and then 5 coats (yes - 5!) of underseal. The top of them is problematic - although if you get some good brushes you can squeeze up both sides to get reasonable coverage. I then used a can of Waxoyl with a WD40 red extendor pipe to squeeze wax through the gap above them. The real nightmare is the diagonal body mounts. These appear go from the inside as much as the outside and are tough to get into. I lagged the inside with Dinitrol for now, but will need to re-visit later with custom built tools. I imagine these could be easily replaced if necesary.
The chassis main rails themselves had a few patches, but I got under and did some real poking and lots of powder coating came away, lots of bubbling as well had to come off. Some parts are pretty inaccesible because of pipes and bodywork, but fortunately these seemed okay. Watch the top of the rails as the rust can work round there and you will need a very small brush and lot of time to touch them up. I did lots of scraping, and used a combination of Jenolite for the main rails where accesible and Kurust where not. Then two coats of rust beater and 3 of Hammerite. This took a long, long time.
Upper wishbones front and rear and lower front were bald and rusty. I asked DG to check them out on purchase and was told that he had seen 'a lot worse'. Leathered the arse out of them with a hammer and concluded they were safe. They then took two coats of Hammerite and another 5 coats of Underseal mixed with a little Waxoyl. They look black, mean and rubbery now, but I left a small 'test' area on them to guage if and when replacement is necessary. Lower rear wishbones looked newer, and needed only some little touching up. The hub carrier was totally bald, but thats thick metal and received the Hammerite treatement.
I then sprayed the lot with Waxoyl. The chassis would now look great to the untrained eye. Going forward, the single biggest thing I can do to keep it sound is to leave it in the garage and not take it out in the rain. I will also get under it every 6 weeks or so, and gauge if anything is rotting again. It's unlikely that I got it all first time around. In a perfect world I would like the body off, the chassis shotblasted, and treated properly. In a perfect world, I would also have the money to do this.
JB
My outriggers were pretty bad, with just a few bits of powder holding on for dear life. They were also pretty oily and scummy which was a godsend as it held the rust at bay. Cleaned, brushed and jenolited, they came up reasonably well - back to clean metal about 20 mins after application - although some pitting (nothing disastrous) was apparent. Painted with 3 coats of rust beater and then 5 coats (yes - 5!) of underseal. The top of them is problematic - although if you get some good brushes you can squeeze up both sides to get reasonable coverage. I then used a can of Waxoyl with a WD40 red extendor pipe to squeeze wax through the gap above them. The real nightmare is the diagonal body mounts. These appear go from the inside as much as the outside and are tough to get into. I lagged the inside with Dinitrol for now, but will need to re-visit later with custom built tools. I imagine these could be easily replaced if necesary.
The chassis main rails themselves had a few patches, but I got under and did some real poking and lots of powder coating came away, lots of bubbling as well had to come off. Some parts are pretty inaccesible because of pipes and bodywork, but fortunately these seemed okay. Watch the top of the rails as the rust can work round there and you will need a very small brush and lot of time to touch them up. I did lots of scraping, and used a combination of Jenolite for the main rails where accesible and Kurust where not. Then two coats of rust beater and 3 of Hammerite. This took a long, long time.
Upper wishbones front and rear and lower front were bald and rusty. I asked DG to check them out on purchase and was told that he had seen 'a lot worse'. Leathered the arse out of them with a hammer and concluded they were safe. They then took two coats of Hammerite and another 5 coats of Underseal mixed with a little Waxoyl. They look black, mean and rubbery now, but I left a small 'test' area on them to guage if and when replacement is necessary. Lower rear wishbones looked newer, and needed only some little touching up. The hub carrier was totally bald, but thats thick metal and received the Hammerite treatement.
I then sprayed the lot with Waxoyl. The chassis would now look great to the untrained eye. Going forward, the single biggest thing I can do to keep it sound is to leave it in the garage and not take it out in the rain. I will also get under it every 6 weeks or so, and gauge if anything is rotting again. It's unlikely that I got it all first time around. In a perfect world I would like the body off, the chassis shotblasted, and treated properly. In a perfect world, I would also have the money to do this.
JB
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