Failed

Just had the annual MOT test and it's failed on "structual rot" as the garage put it.

Apparantly the two metal cross members under neath the seats at the front and rear are badly corroded.
It's strange, as I've only done just over 2K miles since the last MOT and they didnt mention then of any advisories on corrosion or the start of any rot.

Do they normally rot in these areas

Also, they seem to be uncomfortable undertaking a repair in this area - due to the mix of metal, fibreglass and plastic I guess.
So seems I'll have to take it to a specialist (Ren-Tek in Weymouth).

[stephendell]

Might be worth some underseal and another test.

I think some MOT tester's are stricter than others! My car got through the MOT last year without an advisory but failed this year for excessive corrosion around the seatbelt mounting point and sill despite being in an almost identical condition as my car doesn't get used that often and rarely ever gets wet.

4 months later I have a new MOT after rebuilding the sill but it was a BIG job. I will be adding pictures of the work as soon as I get them so others can see what was involved. The guy who did my work reckons most people would run a mile because of the complexity of working with metal, fibreglass and plastic....'not for the faint hearted'!!

Hope your car isn't too badly corroded and can be sorted without too much surgery. Stephen's idea of covering it with underseal seems like a good solution to me.

Got the car back home and have had a good nose around underneath.

There are two pieces of U box section that run across the car from one sill to the other. It's these pieces that seem to be corroded. One end at the front offside is holed straight through to the fibreglass, the other is is just badly corroded. They also failed it for corrosion around the off side seat belt mounting point, which I'm guess is related to the U box section.

Question is, does this corrosion seriously affect the structure condition of the car ?

Whilst covering the area with underseal, I dont really want to mask something that could potentially be unsafe.

Comments ?

By the way, I've booked it into Ren Tek for them to look at - its going to be a 76 mile round trip though

Sounds quite familiar! How big a job depends on how far up the body the rot has got. Mine couldn't have been any worse really and involved cutting away the body panel to sort the problem properly. Best to let the pro's at rentek have a look. Can't tell you how structural it is but my MOT tester friend reckons if there is serious corrosion within 12 inches (if I remember correctly) of the seatbelt mounting point then they will fail it.

I think this is a problem that is probably present in many cars now and the MOT seems to be getting tougher by the day.

This is the only pic I have of the area around my seatbelt anchorage/sill. As you can see, it's pretty rotten and you could actually get your hand up there! Hope yours is easier to sort out than mine has been.

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This is the structure .The outriggers go from the center tunnel to plates that run down the edges .The seat belt mount is a 'nut' welded to the plates .The outrigger at the rear carries the jacking points and these are usually the first thing to rot .It is all very thin section plate so if rot takes hold it's not too long before it is knackered .
The side plates are bonded to the body so repairs will need care
I wouldn't worry overly if the jacking points are shot but if the seat belt mount has gone then I'd certainly not be driving it to far until it was sorted .

Thanks Mellowyellow and Lee.

I'll see what Ren Tek say next Thursday.
Cheers
Paul

[stephendell]

Sounds like you'd better try and get it sorted properly.

Unfortunately many cars have ended up being broken for similar corrosion. Lets hope yours isn't one of them

Why on earth they didn't galvanise the chassis we'll never know

Why on earth they didn't galvanise the chassis we'll never know

The annoying thing is that the Espace was being built in the same assembly area alongside the Alpine`s in Dieppe, and they had a galvanised chassis

You can see them just behind the notice board.

Yes, it is very annoying!

Is that your car John?

Only joking .....

....it's too dirty to be yours

[phildini]

Guys, please also bare in mind that A610 have got a lot more metal to rot than a GTA. I reckon the GTA it's not as complicated as a 610 to fix the rot on.

[BIG_MVS]

I had this issue with my red gta 2 years ago. It was the outriggers or box section leading to the jacking points mine failed on. I had the work carried out by someone who had experience with plastic/fibreglass cars (TVR'S). He told me he just used a bucket of ice cold water(to cool the metal down after each small weld) and alot of patience when doing the welding, simple really.

With the seatbelt anchor points I'm not so sure about, looking at John Folly's it looks like a big job

Well I cant afford not to fix the car - no way I'm scrapping it for that.

Is it a case of just being very careful when welding cars with fibreglass sections or is it really a specialised technique?

The sills look sound, it's just these cross members that have corroded.

It's a case of not setting it on fire
I had a mate of mine do my jacking point .He can weld but it is in no way his profession .Takes time ,care and a bucket of water ...and an extinguisher readily to hand .