Bloody cars....well mine actually. GRRRR

[stevenb]

Typical.
Now I consider myself to be pretty good with cars.
But I thought I'd pop down to the local garage today seeing as I have the day off....as well as tomorrow.
I wanted to get the tracking done.
I noticed of late that soemthing isn't quite right on the nearside front and the handling seems weird.
I checked bearing play....ok...CV boot's ok too.....however I noticed I had excessive play on the steering.
Anyway...back at the garage....matey boy comes back 10 mins later and says I have wear to the ball and knuckle joint on the steering rack. Ouch.

I knew it were'nt gonna be cheap when he said that.
My god I was right.
£250+VAT for a steering rack alone......then the labour with VAT rounds it up to £400 all in......
I could have bought a nice bike for that.

I almost gave up the idea of getting my new headset and forks fitted in a bid to save money.....but I can't go without that. I'd rather ride to work for a week and save £20 in diesel.

Now I'm trying to look around the house for things I can sell on ebay to redeem some much needed funds.....

 

[Melvil]

Oooch. Cars are sometimes nothing but money sinks, eh?

 

[Mr Phoebus]

That's why I've always had a classic Mini. (I've hand built mine)
Reconditioned steering rack for a Mini £19. and a few hours to fit....slight bit of a difference.

 

[stevenb]

Tell me about it......that's why I gave up modifying Japanese sports cars.....I bought myself a tiny Seat Arosa....and I get huge bills. Bang goes the idea of fuel bills balancing out the maintenance.....lol

 

[stevenb]

That's why I've always had a classic Mini. (I've hand built mine)
Reconditioned steering rack for a Mini £19. and a few hours to fit....slight bit of a difference.

Rub it in why don't you....

These VWAG cars are excellent in terms of reliability but they cost an absolute bomb for parts. Wish I'd stuck with my Celica GT4...

 

[bonj2]

Rub it in why don't you....

These VWAG cars are excellent in terms of reliability but they cost an absolute bomb for parts. Wish I'd stuck with my Celica GT4...

you should have! still that would have just cost a bomb in petrol, instead...

 

[stevenb]

Aye...tis true.....cars equal no money.

 

[Brock]

Serves you right.. Take the plates off and shove it over a cliff. I'm sure you don't really need it.

 

[stevenb]

Sadly i do. At the moment my journey to work is only 13.5 miles....but if I get my new job it'll be 19 miles. The roads in Bedfrodshire are shocking. A5, The M1, A505.....all a nightmare and dangerous to cycle on........not that I cycle on the M1...

 

[Monkey Boy]

That's narfing mate. Me power steering was a bit grindy sounding a couple o' years back so I took it to the 'specialist' who indicated that the steering rack would require replacing...."well, you wouldn't want this failing at 70mph Sir". They wanted £1200 for the rack (inc vat), if memory serves, and a couple of hours labour to fit. Balked at the £79/hr +vat labour rate.

Ended up going to my normal backstreet guy.....it didn't even need replacing says he. The specialist could not have given too hoots. Will never go back. Cowboys!!!

 

[stevenb]

Sadly I know mine is the steering rack at fault. It's had 2 different people say the same thing....the first bloke didn't even charge me. I thought it was either a wishbone, bearing, CV boot orsomething....oh well. Best I get it done now or I'll be paying out more for other compenents in the future. The chap in the garage called me earlier and said that the price would be going up £30 due to the steering rack price going from £220 to £250....so after the sympathy he let me off it....so I said I'd stick his details onto the owners club forum.

 

[stevenb]

I had a call to advise that it's not going to be £400 now.
It'll be £335. The steering column isn't going to resolve it.
It's the inner tie rod ends and both sides are going to be done....not just one side. I would have opted for one side only but it's best to have even wear on the steering. The reason it's gonna be as high as £335 is because it now needs 4 wheel alignment.....otherwise it'd have been around £280. Oh well. At least being £65 better off has pleased me a little. :-

 

[simoncc]

The garage is just exploiting the fact that you and most other people don't know how to mend cars. That's what we all do at work. We charge others what we can get away with.

 

[yenrod]

Cars are over-engineered.

 

[stevenb]

The garage is just exploiting the fact that you and most other people don't know how to mend cars. That's what we all do at work. We charge others what we can get away with.

Nah...he knows what I'm talking about. It's the parts that cost a bomb. He's only charging me £45ph labour.
I could have got it down even cheaper by just getting the nearside done....but I thought if I do both sides now then that'll be it for the rest of the cars life.

I'm going to get the money back by saving on other things and selling unwanted gumpf that I have. Managed to save £35 so far......another £300 to go....