Post by coyoteboy on May 4, 2011 21:48:45 GMT
I've had my car SORN'd for nearly 4 years, in that time the sills finally gave up the ghost, the discs have obviously corroded somewhat and 4 captivated spherical bearings on the rear radius arms have developed a hint of play (maybe 0.5mm per bearing).
I have no intention of driving an unsafe car but having recently had my other half "stung" by someone I consider a questionable tester who failed on a heap of items and convinced her to change them when I wasn't around to check it over and question them (having scoped the whole car over the week before) I'm cautious to avoid un-necessary cost.
I've seam welded the sills, inside the rear arches and done some fairly hefty rebuilds of it all so it's more solid than it was before, filled and sprayed so I'm confident that'll pass happily and is safe, however I'm not sure about the arm bearings or the corroded brakes.
I intend to replace the bearings soon but the play is minimal (allows maybe 1mm absolute max of toe movement at the tyre edge) - but I can't find any details of actual limits on a captive spherical bearing. Even if the bearing failed it would be held in by the M12 bolts, unlike a ball joint. Opinions?
The brakes are rusty, lots of surface rust with a bit of minor pitting. I've angle-grinder-with-wire-brushed them so im getting back to bare metal already. The discs were previously nearly new, the rear pads were new. The front pads I've got in were worn to about 2-3mm thickness but I'm loathed to replace them just this second as I'm using them to machine off the rust and don't want to put new pads on to embed with rust particles!
My plan was to take the car for a long run before the test "on the way to the test centre" and try machine off most of the rust, then advise the tester that it's been offroad for a long time and they're not just like that as normal. They brake very well all the same I can confirm, but they won't be able to test it as it's full time 4WD.
cheers for your input!
I have no intention of driving an unsafe car but having recently had my other half "stung" by someone I consider a questionable tester who failed on a heap of items and convinced her to change them when I wasn't around to check it over and question them (having scoped the whole car over the week before) I'm cautious to avoid un-necessary cost.
I've seam welded the sills, inside the rear arches and done some fairly hefty rebuilds of it all so it's more solid than it was before, filled and sprayed so I'm confident that'll pass happily and is safe, however I'm not sure about the arm bearings or the corroded brakes.
I intend to replace the bearings soon but the play is minimal (allows maybe 1mm absolute max of toe movement at the tyre edge) - but I can't find any details of actual limits on a captive spherical bearing. Even if the bearing failed it would be held in by the M12 bolts, unlike a ball joint. Opinions?
The brakes are rusty, lots of surface rust with a bit of minor pitting. I've angle-grinder-with-wire-brushed them so im getting back to bare metal already. The discs were previously nearly new, the rear pads were new. The front pads I've got in were worn to about 2-3mm thickness but I'm loathed to replace them just this second as I'm using them to machine off the rust and don't want to put new pads on to embed with rust particles!
My plan was to take the car for a long run before the test "on the way to the test centre" and try machine off most of the rust, then advise the tester that it's been offroad for a long time and they're not just like that as normal. They brake very well all the same I can confirm, but they won't be able to test it as it's full time 4WD.
cheers for your input!