MGF Repair

[bensewell]

Had a spot of bother on the motorway on Saturday. Some sprocket decided to drift into the middle lane where i was going 40mph in 5th gear low revs trying not to spin anything. So i braked to not hit the other car and ended up doing a bit of a weave had a choice of hitting someone in the left lane with kids or trying to stop. I tried to stop by gearing down and pumping the brake but ended up spinning about a bit more and hit the central reservation at about 10mph. The car was still driveable but i got out quick and abandoned and got to the hard shoulder barrier.

Pics below. It looks OK starts and drives OK. With my very limited knowledge it looks like it needs a bonnet, wing, front panel, head light and probably the front black bar that the bumper screws onto.

Insured for £1500 so i think it will get wrote off but i can probably buy it back for cheap and make it nice again with a bit of patience.

http://bensewell.blogspot.com/2012/02/b ... -snow.html

[richard1951]

They are not happy bunnies on a bit of snow or ice are they even with new goodyear D2 on i was all over the place on saturday so stayed in on sunday, even could not get any grip to set off in the suppermarket car park without wheel spin. tyre are to wide for snow need something thiner like 4 of the spacesavers lol

[bensewell]

pap in the snow but hopefully will get another or fix this one.

[Mykel]

Over here driving on summer tyres in the snow and getting involved in an accident (no matter whose fault) would have meant an 80 Euros fine and 2 penalty points ...

But back to topic - do you have to tell the insurance about the accident? As long as radiator and slam panel aren't involved, you should be able to find the parts necessary for around £350.

[colintf]

sorry to see this news.

If I was running my TF through the winter, it would be on winter tyres.

Good luck

[Bandit]

You chose well, the central barrier is much less likely to complain about you hitting it than occupants of other cars. The drawback of having a low frontal area (and yours is particularly low - ride height re-set recommended) is that the barrier will intrude into the softer part of the bodywork i.e. mostly above the bumper bar, which from what I can see doesn't look to have deformed at all. There may be some damage to the headlamp mounting panel & inner wing that will need more work than just bolting on new panels but at current secondhand values of bodyshell parts an inexpensive repair is still eminently possible & DIYable. Silver isn't one of the more common colours but even if you have to have all the replacement panels painted they can all be done off the car, which keeps the cost minimal. With metallic colours the critical paint layer is the clear coat, so applying the silver basecoat from a can yourself and then having a bodyshop just do the finish coats can achieve a very good end result for not much money.

Fingers crossed your insurers don't dawdle too much on the way to issuing a cheque...

[artful.codger]

They are not happy bunnies on a bit of snow or ice are they even with new goodyear D2 on i was all over the place on saturday so stayed in on sunday, even could not get any grip to set off in the suppermarket car park without wheel spin. tyre are to wide for snow need something thiner like 4 of the spacesavers lol

I fitted 4 195/55x15 winter tyres to mine which give excellent grip in both wet, dry and snowy conditions. I spent all Saturday night shovelling snow at work then had to get home at 8:00am in 4" to 6" of snow.
Car handled impeccably I have to say. At one point I had to stop on a steep slope as the car in front was stuck and there was another car coming the other way, after the road was clear to overtake she simply set off again and I passed the stranded motorist. The cost of fitting the winter tyres was justified to see the look on the stranded drivers face, even more so on the face of his wife!

[Geoff.F]

Is your NCB Protected ?? If you report the accident, even without making a claim, then your Premium increase may cost you more than the car is worth.
If you take the car to a Bodyshop for a Quote to Repair, then they will survey it and tell you the amount of work required to fix it and if there is any expensive structural repairs required. Ask for a personal quote without involving the Insurance otherwise they will load it X3 adding work not required.

As for having winter tyres, as Mykel says, it can be very expensive/illegal to drive on Summer tyres in Europe. The worse part is that many Insurance Companies would consider the car to not be roadworthy and invalidate any claim. It is akin to driving a car with bald tyres in the summer.

Yes my Astra 1.8 and MGF do have Winter Tyres which get well used. Many roads may also require you to carry snow chains or be fined if yiu cause a stoppage. The chains require 15in wheels on the "F".

Geoff F.

[Reckless Rat]

If you make a claim on your insurance they'll just write it off because of the cost (and the difficulty) of obtaining genuine, new replacement panels for an 'F'. Dependant on your ability and assuming (hopefully) that the subframe/front suspension hasn't been displaced (and therefore needs re-jigging) you can probably re-build the car for a few hundred quid, plus painting. If, however you haven't got details of the car that caused you to lose control, or a protected no claims bonus it may just be cheaper in the long run to bite the bullet and sort it yourself.

Did you damage the crash barrier by the way? Beware of a bill from the Highways Agency.

[MGTF_avengers]

WOW....
Glad it didn't take my TF out in the snow...
Had a look at the other pics on your blog, and it's enough to bring tears to a grown man's eyes!!!
I hope your pride and joy gets better soon!