Badly mig welded car/partsparts

[Chris Stevens]

Thing is I don´t actually think it costs the body shop that much more time and materials to do a half decent job. I might not have expected an invisible butt weld but if your going to just patch over a heavily rusted area it doesn´t take very long just to cut out the worst parts - the metal is already thinned and looking for an excuse to be broken off. It doesn't have to be neat - even easier if your in a garage with a lift. Likewise on that floorpan the holes were drilled - someone just couldn´t be bothered or forgot to weld in the cross-member. The whole crossmember can be bought for 75 quid from Moss so its not like it was an unobtainium part that had to be hand made.

No professional is likely to bother doing an MOT repair to the same standard as proper restoration work, as firstly the customer wants the work done as cheaply as possible (resto standard might take 3 times as long), and in many cases by the time of next MOT, the rot will have become a great deal worse, and the car may well be scrapped unless its something like a Beetle, MG, Type 2, or anything else along the same lines.

Repair work on MGs is very time consuming to do properly, and if the customer pays for a cheap job thats exactly what they are going to get. I have done a few, and would say if you are looking at something which is very bad, then restoring it to a good standard isnt likely to be that much cheaper than a new shell, which is obviously a lot less susceptible to rust than a repaired original.

 

[trewjohn2001]

Hi Chris I agree there in some respects. But there is a difference between "Restoration Standard" "MOT Standard" and a plain bodge job.

 

[Chris Stevens]

I would suggest almost all MOT repairs are bodge jobs, as most entail welding patches over badly corroded areas, which inevitably leads to more repair work being needed the next year. The value of many monocoque construction cars often means that properly carried out restoration work isnt economically viable, and I would guess there are an awful lot of bodged up, but shiny wrecks around today.

Sadly the only difference between "restoration" and "MOT" standard work sometimes is only the higher price charged for resto work! I have seen a Type 2 which had £3000 worth of welding work on it in the last year, and had just failed the MOT due to corrosion damage!

In your case I would suggest looking very carefully at the amount of work required, and weigh up the pros and cons of a replacement shell over repairing yours. If you intend to keep the car for any length of time, then it might be well worth looking at a new shell, as while this will cost more money than repair (unless yours is very bad), its probably a better bet for something you want to keep.

 

[trewjohn2001]

Hi Chris,

Well I bought the car from an MGB specialist who "restored it" for me under a rebuild programme.

In hindsight I should have gone for a heritage she'll but I'm slowly working through all the bodged repairs. Apart from the passenger side door bottom rusting through the fresh paint I only have one more patch on the chassis to re-do.

 

[Chris Stevens]

Hi Chris,

Well I bought the car from an MGB specialist who "restored it" for me under a rebuild programme.

In hindsight I should have gone for a heritage she'll but I'm slowly working through all the bodged repairs. Apart from the passenger side door bottom rusting through the fresh paint I only have one more patch on the chassis to re-do.

If thats the case, why not photograph all the bodged repairs, work out a reasonable amount to cover remedial work, and send the MG people an invoice for the money? If they wont play ball suggest court action, which will be for a substantially higher amount, and will of course mean a need for whoever loses to pay for expert witnesses etc etc?

 

[malcolm]

I would just do it properly myself. I had the same issue with my new roof which went on in May. A lot of bodging especially in the comedy gutter mountings. I could have called the roofers back in but they would only have bodged it again so I did it properly myself and am now very pleased with the stuff I have done.

It aggravates me that anyone is prepared to work to that standard. Everyone else working here has tried their best, and a couple were absolutely brilliant way beyond anything I could have expected.

 

[Chris Stevens]

Why should anyone need to pay good money for a proper job, then when its screwed up, have to sort it out at their own expense? Seems to me that sort of thing encourages those doing poor quality work to continue with it, as customers may well bite the bullet and cover rectification themselves?

 

[Brad93]

The welds in the first picture of the roll cage are nothing new and I still see work like that on Facebook. I regularly see work carried out by reputable engine building and car modification companies on vehicles that are even used for professional Motorsports. They have done their own fabrication and welding and it's not much different from that; these people are paying good money and expect a level of safety the welds will not provide.

 

[trewjohn2001]

The welds in the first picture of the roll cage are nothing new and I still see work like that on Facebook. I regularly see work carried out by reputable engine building and car modification companies on vehicles that are even used for professional Motorsports. They have done their own fabrication and welding and it's not much different from that; these people are paying good money and expect a level of safety the welds will not provide.

It's partly my fault for "trusting" the work done. The rust started to appear about a year after the "restoration".

 

[Brad93]

Anyone see custom cages most recent work literally posted by a disgruntled customer this morning?

 

[Jim Davey]

Got a link? Someone did send me a picture this morning on FB messenger quoting some correspondence between disgruntled client and the Custom Cages boss.

 

[steveo3002]

I would suggest almost all MOT repairs are bodge jobs, as most entail welding patches over badly corroded areas, which inevitably leads to more repair work being needed the next year. The value of many monocoque construction cars often means that properly carried out restoration work isnt economically viable, and I would guess there are an awful lot of bodged up, but shiny wrecks around today.

the public just dont want to pay , try explaining the differance to joe public that you can get a plate welded on and shutz'd black for £50 or a new sill welded on and filled and painted to look like new for £500

 

[Jim Davey]

Easy, just explain exactly what you get for £50 vs £500 and let the fools who want a crap job jog on and get it done elsewhere.

 

[daleyd]

Is someone who doesn't have 500 to spend and just wants a job to last a few months a fool? Some massive stereotyping going on here I feel.....

 

[Jim Davey]

No, but they are if they expect the £50 job to be anything more than a band-aid.

 

[Jim Davey]

Is someone who doesn't have 500 to spend and just wants a job to last a few months a fool? Some massive stereotyping going on here I feel.....

Besides, I was answering to the comment people don't want to pay, not people who can't pay. If someone is talked through what they can get for various levels of expenditure and they opt for the lowest quality option they can hardly be surprised if it's not as permanent a repair as on that was done properly but took more time and costed more.

 

[steveo3002]

amount of times i hear that "im never buying another xxxx brand /model , its rubbish i just had to pay £800 for the mot as it needed 4x tyres and brakes all round"

no its not rubbish you should have replaced those parts months ago to be safe and legal

 

[Chris Stevens]

In almost all cases if a car is rotten enough to need a complete new sill, the structure generally will be badly corroded. Patch repairs tend to mean its inevitable further repairs will be needed in the immediate area the next year. People having this type of work carried out though do not understand that, but in terms of economics its probably possible to keep a car on the road for 3-4 years with bodge repairs, which would cost in total about the same as properly fitting one new sill.

 

[colnerov]

amount of times i hear that "im never buying another xxxx brand /model , its rubbish i just had to pay £800 for the mot as it needed 4x tyres and brakes all round"

no its not rubbish you should have replaced those parts months ago to be safe and legal

Absolutely, that's not the cars fault, that's called maintenance.

 

[PhillipM]

Easy, just explain exactly what you get for £50 vs £500 and let the fools who want a crap job jog on and get it done elsewhere.

It's even easier. If they go 'Can you patch me this rusty POS to sneak it through the MOT?' - I explain the difference by going - 'No, F*** off'