Disastra now vintage Roewe

[vulgalour]

Edited again, because it's up for grabs now due to a change of plan. Quick sale needed, as the scrapyard likely beckons for this if not.

 

Mk3 Vauxhall Astra 1.7TD Merit estate (derp corrected, the BX is a 1.9, that's my excuse and I'm sticking to it).

 

Long and short of it is that my brother has an MoT looming in 6 weeks time and he's in panic mode. The Astra broke a spring and while he's been looking at suspension options to fix both spring and improve the driving experience, he's aware that the brakes could do with an overhaul and the exhaust probably needs replacing. These aren't major issues with a car he's been using for over 1,000 miles a week for the past three weeks and that costs him nothing to use. However, he's worked out the following bill that comes to a startling £805 and I can't help but think he's missing a trick somewhere.

 

Full suspension kit £170

Front top mounts pair £40

Front brake discs £40

Front brake pads £20

Front wishbones £60

Track rod ends pair £30

Full exhaust £160

Rear brake shoes £30

Fan switch £15

Reverse light switch £15

Anti roll bar links pair £25

 

Of the above, I think he realistically needs shocks, springs and top mounts, front pads/discs and rear shoes. The other items are possibles but not probables. The exhaust can probably be patched up too, at least well enough for an MoT. I've already offered that we get the BX on the road and he uses that so we can take the Astra off the road and fix it together as a way of saving money short-term as the BX doesn't need £805 spending on it.

 

I don't want to see him part with the Astra, it's done everything he's wanted and needed it to do and up until he got scared about the MoT he was really happy with it as a car. It's certainly one of the best purchases he's ever made and I think he'll struggle to find another car in as good condition body and interior wise that's so tolerant of regular use and abuse. The parts that need replacing have just worn out through lots of mileage, rather than any real inherent fault, so I think it's worth fixing it if it's a car he was up until very recently very happy with.

 

Anyway, the gist of this is, if anyone out there has new or used parts for the above car that will reduce his bill by a few hundred quid please do let me know and I'll pass the info on to him. Hopefully it'll help him out without him having to purchase yet another car and do the insurance dance all over again.

[daverapid]

Whereabouts are you/him?

[vulgalour]

Staveley/Bolsover, just off J30 of the M1... I always forget to add that bit for some reason.

[DVee8]

Is it a 1.7 diesel?

Try Europarts

http://www.eurocarparts.com/car-parts

[plasticvandan]

forgive me if these arent exactly the right part (my knowledge on moderns isnt that good) but a quick search on evilbay for mk3 astra brake discs throws up a complete set of front discs and pads for £19,rather than the £60 in your list,pretty sure the other bits could be found for similarly lower prices too,for example just looked up trackrod ends,they are £4.95 ea rather than £30 a pair,roll bar links are £9 pr rather than £25,fan switch around £9,full zorst system around £50,rather than £160. ETC etc ETC

[Albert Ross]

I don't want to piss on your chips like, but is it actually a Mk3 Astra or a 1.9 Astra? 2 different beasties. A Reg number would help here, so I can lob it into searches at work and get the correct ident for parts and see if we have any obsolete parts that are due scrapping etc.... I got an alternator for my old Mk3 1.7 for a tenner, because it had gone over age....... erm, yeah, right mate, I'll have two....

[richardthestag]

I am wary or buying stuff off the bay unless a reputable trader. most track rod ends, etc etc seem to be made of chinese butter. For some reason uj's seem to be especially shit at lasting more than 500 miles.

[Station]

Buy new spring, exhaust system will cost 50 quid max. You can get it all cheap on eBay, and while motor factor parts aren't as good as GM they're good enough.

[Split_Pin]

I bought a full exhaust for my Corsa from Ebay for 54 quid delivered.

 

Eurocarparts for the brakes. Couldn't he also just replace the broken spring?

 

2nd hand lowering kits are available much cheaper also. The 170 quoted will be for 4 springs and dampers. If you are lowering less than 40mm you should just get away with standard dampers without the rear spring unseating when jacked up.

 

The only things you might need to go to VX for are the bottom arms

[TimothyClaypole]

Just pop to the scrapyard in Barnsley as my old one is still there.

 

The discs and pads were only a few months old at most etc.

[crapcarcollector]

Stop guessing. Take it for an MOT, see what it fails on, make an informed decision

[AnthonyG]

^ is pretty good advice. At the moment all it might need to get a ticket is a spring, the exhaust patching, and maybe the switches, which can be got for a breakers for less than £15. Then, once on the road for another year, invest in sorting the brakes and suspension, probably in that order, albeit both are damn important!

 

PS £30 for a set of rear brake shoes seems pretty steep, are the prices from a VX dealer or Halfords? Try a old school motor factors, if there any round your way. These often have stuff clogging up the back stores they are happy to do a deal on, particularly if the box is so dusty they can't remember why/when they ordered it!

[sierrapaul]

i just payed 22 quid trade from unipart for a front coil spring and the antiroll bar links where 4 quid each.ive got the same car 1.7 loe blow merit estate.best car ive ever had so cheep to run and runs on nearly anything

[vulgalour]

I'm not sure where he's got his prices from, normally he's king of the bargain hunters when it comes to car part prices but lately appears to have lost his mojo.

 

The current plan, as I understand it, is to sort the exhaust, sort the rear brake adjustment and book it in to see what happens. The broken front spring doesn't come unseated when you jack the car up and while the suspension is tired I doubt it'll fail. There doesn't appear to be excessive play in the suspension in any direction and it's not pissing out fluids. I reckon there's a good chance of a pass or a very minor fail and if need be I'll pull the same stunt on him with the Astra as he pulled on me with the Princess to keep the fannying about to an absolute minimum.

[Albert Ross]

A broken spring WILL fail. If it doesn't, don't come boasting on here about it....

I WILL report the tester... Basically the RfR is "Incomplete" and it's not a new thing, rather a new set of words to cover different eventualities. There are also "fractured" and "fatigued" to choose from, amongst others. I say send it in with nothing done to it. If you have reasonable rear effort balance at the minute, just tweak the cable up a tad, to improve parking brake effort. If you go messing too much, you might make it worse, as brake need time to bed in....

[crapcarcollector]

I dont get why its a waste of cash to put it in and see what it fails on?

 

Surely its a waste of cash to put 4 tyres and an exhaust on only to find it needs brakes, suspension and half a dozen things you didn't know about then scrap it. Or at least that was my original impression from the OP.

 

In my eyes, you put it in, get a list to work from, and a retest costs £25 worse case scenario....

 

Still if you'd rather guess at what it might fail on, thats always a fun game. I once had a ford Ka that I thought would fail on everything, it was fucking horrible*. Passed. couldn't believe it.

 

*I believe they are all like that sir....