Firstly hello everyone.
We bought a 2010 Patriot 2.0 CRD LTD new and it has had relatively few problems. Its mostly driven by my wife it has done 20k and the nearest it gets to off road is being on our driveway.
Anyway it just failed its first MOT due to excessive play in both lower front balljoints and from what I can gather its not the first :icon_rolleyes:
My first reaction is to go and scream at the dealer but I don't think I would get anywhere and I dont need any more stress.
I would like others opinions on the best course as I dont want the repair to fail someday on the motorway with catastrophic ending.
1. Get new control arms off ebay and fit them myself (easy) and relatively cheap at around £80 a pair but it worries me where they come from ... made in somebodies back room in China from recycled kettles ?
2. Fit new bearings to the existing control arms, £25 each and quoted £100 fitting ( I don't have access to a press to remove and refit.) At least the metal parts would be decent as they would be original but the ball joints of course could be of questionable origin but bought from a local motor factors at least I would have some comeback. I prefer to do my own repairs though as then I know its done right. ( I drive a company car and have first hand experience of the crap work done by dealerships, and have been in many small garages with lump hammers.
3. Buy pattern control arms from local motor factors at £200 each (owch) downside is they might just be from the same back room as the ebay ones but bought locally I might have some comeback.
4. Leave it in a dealership and take out a second mortgage and have a guarantee for what it might be worth .. didnt even bother to price this option.
I suppose I may be worrying too much about fitting "cheap" parts but as an engineer I can't help thinking of that old saying you get what you pay for and I don't want rid of the wife just yet.
I cannot post a link but the parts are Ebay listing 150960575641
Thanks for reading.
We bought a 2010 Patriot 2.0 CRD LTD new and it has had relatively few problems. Its mostly driven by my wife it has done 20k and the nearest it gets to off road is being on our driveway.
Anyway it just failed its first MOT due to excessive play in both lower front balljoints and from what I can gather its not the first :icon_rolleyes:
My first reaction is to go and scream at the dealer but I don't think I would get anywhere and I dont need any more stress.
I would like others opinions on the best course as I dont want the repair to fail someday on the motorway with catastrophic ending.
1. Get new control arms off ebay and fit them myself (easy) and relatively cheap at around £80 a pair but it worries me where they come from ... made in somebodies back room in China from recycled kettles ?
2. Fit new bearings to the existing control arms, £25 each and quoted £100 fitting ( I don't have access to a press to remove and refit.) At least the metal parts would be decent as they would be original but the ball joints of course could be of questionable origin but bought from a local motor factors at least I would have some comeback. I prefer to do my own repairs though as then I know its done right. ( I drive a company car and have first hand experience of the crap work done by dealerships, and have been in many small garages with lump hammers.
3. Buy pattern control arms from local motor factors at £200 each (owch) downside is they might just be from the same back room as the ebay ones but bought locally I might have some comeback.
4. Leave it in a dealership and take out a second mortgage and have a guarantee for what it might be worth .. didnt even bother to price this option.
I suppose I may be worrying too much about fitting "cheap" parts but as an engineer I can't help thinking of that old saying you get what you pay for and I don't want rid of the wife just yet.
I cannot post a link but the parts are Ebay listing 150960575641
Thanks for reading.
