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SportKa - gone for good


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My mate had a hire one of these, it spun the wheels in the wet ridiculously easily, but he could also have a lead foot, and over inflated tyres can behave like you describe.

 

However, these bastards rust as bad as anything sporting an internal combustion engine ever, so be prepared for the worst.

 

I have thought these may make a cheapie teardrop trailer/caravan with a bit of grinder savagery if lumbered with one :-D

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As you know the car, may I ask if the 20K miles is correct?  Mind boggling to have all this at that milage.  

 

The service book, MOT history and immaculate interior all seem to support the low mileage! Thing is though it could have been 20k very hard miles on the school run and around Tesco's carpark, you just never know.

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It says here it's still valid but im sure I read something last week saying that it would be made invalid. I can't remember where I read it though

 

https://www.gov.uk/getting-an-mot/after-the-test

 

That's interesting, it's changed (7 Dec is the update marker) since I last looked after reading about it in Car Maniacs mag which to be fair, is usually free of the normal car-mag bullshit/hearsay. So what I posted earlier may be wrong. if so, thanks for that, I stand corrected & am happy to be as the invalidating of the old test (assuming there's no actual dangerous faults) is just another example of anti-old car propaganda. 

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I was under the impression that if it fails a test then it's not road worthy

 

Go back to Hirst's previous post.

 

The rules haven't changed at all, just the fuzz having info at their fingertips (magic 'puters - which they never had in the paper world of the olden days) to beat their cash-cow over the head with.

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The results are in, and it's very much a case of good news and bad news.

 

Bad news: that rust is a fail.

 

Good news: that's it. Other than that rear arch the tester reckoned it was remarkably clean.

 

He reckons the reason it wasn't picked up on before is because the bodykit was hiding the rust, and now it is visible he would have to fail it come test time. Confident there is nothing mechanically or structurally wrong with the car I had a look at the tyres. The fronts are Continental Sport Contacts which are (according to Google) factory fit and only a few months old and bob on 29 psi (which is what Google says it should be). This leaves the Marangoni Zetas at the back. They are running 22psi - and Google says 26! Now properly inflated things seem to have improved a bit and it doesn't want to aquaplane into the scenery quite so much. Still, I think it is worth trying some Contis on the back, so at least I have a matching set.

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I mustardmit having correct PSi in tyres can turn a shonky handling heap of shit into something mildly driveable, the work Corsa of doom had TP all over the place, one front had 48 PSi in, and one rear down to 19, somebody clearly was a mong when it came to tyres on it, leveled em all out at 32, and it made a major difference, as it actually made the back end of the car feel like it was attached to the bodyshell. 

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Reminds me of the 620ti I bought for £100 about 8 years ago.

I was giving a mate a lift in the rain along a winding road I know very well.

Holy crap! I wasn't expecting great handling but this was bloody lethal, virtually uncontrollable.

When I checked the front tyres, one was about 12psi and the other was 58!

 

It wasn't too bad after that. A week or so later HGF sent it over the bridge.

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I never managed to figure out why, but Mrs Rocket's Ka was the only vehicle that both of us spun while entering roundabouts or slightly damp corners on a semi-regular* basis. My guess was that her car had been badly repaired in the past. They're not all as bad as that surely?

Vagueness at the front will be the lower arm bushes, of which yours has had an advisory for previously. 

 

My mums 03 Ka was prone to swapping ends.  Sometimes it would grip great and other times you'd get a lurid slide with relatively little provocation.

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My wife had a SportKa for her daily driver for a few years and the handling was always pin-sharp, except when the tyre pressure dropped a bit, and it wandered a bit on bumpy roads. My guess is the low weight, combined with wide low profile tyres was the cause.

 

It handled better on the Continentals that it came with than the Pirellis we replaced them with too.

 

That one is in way better condition than my wife's was when she got rid of it at six years old and with about 24k on the clock. The body kit on these things hides many horrors until it's too late.

 

As has been said though, keep it roadworthy and hang onto it for a few years and it could be rare and OMGOSFenough to be worth a bit, whilst providing entertaining and relatively frugal transport.

 

Good wee cars that seem to have been assembled in a salt mine by workers with an allergy to rustproofing products. Even the youngest Kas are only knocking on for a decade old now so they're a serious anomaly in modern motor manufacturing, with the way they rust out like a '70s Datsun.

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No I'm sure King (black) Meiler tyres would be worse. Fashioned from a blend of Teflon and old fucked tyre carcasses.

 

I'd keep it on the road if only for it having 12 months test. There's a place near me buys old KA up and sprays them pink to sell to 17 year old chavs. They must be troweling the filler on them before the paint job.

 

As people have said I wouldn't fancy a bang in it though being that behind the plastic it's got as much structural integrity as Weetabix.

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A trip to the shops this morning confirms that a boot full off shopping has improved back end grip greatly. As in it now has some. Time to look into new tyres on't back then. And a paving slab/dead hooker for the boot.

 

Body shop was closed Saturday morning so will pop in tomorrow afternoon for them to poke around and price up weldage. Outcome of which will decide long term fate of Ka of Dissapointments.

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No I'm sure King (black) Meiler tyres would be worse. Fashioned from a blend of Teflon and old fucked tyre carcasses.

I though King Meilers were supposed to be alright, German company so you'd assume high standards.

I've had good experiences with Kingpin remould tyres, they aren't as good as expensive brands but a lot better than some of the Chinese tyres that are made from actual Teflon.

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  • 1 month later...

Are the shock's okay? Things that cause loss of traction are shite tyres, dodgy road surface, OMG Dr1ft HYDRAULIC HANDBRAKE, rx7's and loss of contact with the road surface. If you're rear wheel is bouncing like a page three model at a baby oil convention then it could cause loss of traction under certain circumstances. 

Either that or it's been in a massive crash. Could you spring for a 4 wheel alignment?

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  • 1 month later...

New set of Toyos this week at best part of two-hundred-and-fifty-sodding-quid. This has improved things a lot, but it still looks like the lower wishbone bushes are on way out. Not bad enough to fail MOT (yet) but will need doing sooner rather than later. Unfortunately, SportKa has special super duper wishbones which are apparently only available from Ford at £££££££. Spoke to them just now and looking at £250 the pair so once fitting and tracking is added on it's best part of £400 and that is before I deal with the rust issues.

 

I think I may polish this up nice and off load it as I just don't want to invest that sort of cash in this car at all.

 

All modernz are shit.

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