Carina Gti

May 30, 2007

Hi All

This being my first post thought i'd make it a long one :rolleyes: sorry in advance - almost a year ago purchased a K plate Carina GTI after writing off my clio :wacko: When i bought it i had the cambelt replaced along with discs pads and a wheel bearing cost (£450) Now symptoms for the wheel bearing was a knocking when turning the steering wheel left then right and when pulling off you would get a knocking sound..

Now onto yesterday a very bad day for me :crybaby: past couple of weeks my little baby has not been well at all - she started with the same symptoms again oh not too worry covered by garage. Well its mot time and she needs a service too so nipped the garage and booked her in for service (£90+vat) mot (£40) and for the wheel bearing doing again. Oh n she needs 4 tyres costing £300 so called in at my local motor world and whoopee ordered 4 x alloys Fox R4's with 195/60/15 V tyres for a bargain £320. Ha thought she gonna look good as original alloys are very corroded.

Still something niggled me as she had now started to pull right when acclerating and when you lift off she goes left. Changing gear when going steady meant she went left too. also felt like there was some play in steering wheel as he could just drift left or right and you neede to tweek the steering wheel to correct.

So called at Bentleys Toyota in Warrington and spoke one of the managers i've known years. He got the head mechanic to come out and take a look :thumbsup: his first words "oh its a gti not drove one of these in years defo the in car to get " :toast: next words "oh and its got the superstrut suspension " so quick spin and he said he'd put it on the ramp as he thinks the steering rack loose or the sub frame gone :!Removed!: 20 mins later he's back . . . . . . . . . . . . yep figure of 8's totally shot said its to dangerous to drive :crybaby: brought her home n parked her up - oh the damage is £144.75 + vat per side so . . . gulp there £340 gone and to fit they want £70 +vat per hour for 4 hours :censor: ahhhhhhhhh so getting my garage to do it for hopefully half that!!! Oh well just over £1000 in a day i could .

See told you all it was a long one - good news is i only paid £600 a year ago she was really dirty but has come up lovely couple of scratches etc but no rust as she had 2 previous owners from new. Oh almost forgot got her with 102000K on clock and shes now on 110000k so cant complain too much.

Plenty of plans for her in the future including lowering her - angel eyes - interior light changes.

Cheers for spending the time to read all this your all stars :toast:

Lukesmadhouse