23 replies to this topic

[yorkshirechris]

Don't know if this should go in here... but anyway

Underside of the car desperately needs waxoyling. Hasn't been done for well over a year.

I have no jacks, nothing to take off the wheels with, or anything.

Am I best going to the local garage and paying for it waxoyling, or am I advised to buy some jacks, tools, waxoyl and a few hours of my time and to do it myself? Bear in mind I have absolutely NO tools, don't think I've got a single jack at all.

If a garage is the best idea, what would be a reasonable price for Bumble to get the wire brush treatment, a coat of hammerite (or not, depends, would you advise this?) and a good dolloping of waxoyl?

I don't want anything else doing except the underside, unless there's anywhere else I'm advised to do... any ideas?

Cheers

Chris

[MiNi FiZ]

invest in the tools and do it yourself!!!!


im sure you will be needing the tools again in the future so its not like you'll be wasting money

[yorkshirechris]

invest in the tools and do it yourself!!!!


im sure you will be needing the tools again in the future so its not like you'll be wasting money

Mm, i just don't like the idea of having Bumble on 4 jacks whilst he's being painted. Especially when I've never jacked up a car in my life.

[Puddings]

Chris,
if you don't want to do it your self try J C Bates in Brighouse my car always goes there they installed my MED engine and their is always loads of minis in the paint/Work shop

Ignore the Bini on the first page and have a look

Chris

[MiNi FiZ]

jack the front up first then jack the back up after,

all you need is a jack, 2 axle stands and wheel brace. (paint brush and waxoil of course)

but seriously, if you do it yourself you can get it on nice and thick and you will know that its a proper job

Edited by MiNi FiZ, 19 September 2007 - 08:15 PM.

[yorkshirechris]

If I'm going anywhere I'll be going to the local place in Leeds, as it's only 15 mins walk from my house so I can drop off the car & just walk home & walk up to collect it (haven't got another car & can't really get a lift off anyone).

How much is reasonable for a good waxoyling? anyone?

[mike.]

I'd say it'd be way easier if you did it your self to get some ramps. Ramps give way better access to the underside i'v found. Jacks just don't seem to go high enough to get stands under when the stands are at there full height.

A set of ramps will set you back about £30 then all you'd need would be the paint/underseal and some elbow grease.

It can be fun trying to get the car up on the ramps though so be careful.

I'd say it just needs the underside wire brushing, just to get rid of any muck. Then clean up any rust you find and treat it. Then give the whole underside a coat of underseal. Underseal is a bit of a b***h to work with (since its so thick) but it'll do a better job than waxoyl. I reckon wayoyl would just get blasted off pretty easily if you were driving in the wet, where as underseal won't. You'll probably need a litre of underseal at least.

So to do it yourself it'll be £30 for a set of ramps, about £10-£15 for the underseal and a fiver for a couple of wire brushes. So about £50

I say you just go for it and do it yourself. It is quite a big job, it'll take you the best poart of a day to do but it'll be great knowing its been done good and proper.

Good luck

[Teapot]

I say you just go for it and do it yourself. It is quite a big job, it'll take you the best part of a day to do but it'll be great knowing its been done good and proper.

What minimadmike said. I've been fettling and fiddling under Huey for several weeks while he's having a new loom made and it's surprising how many people come up and tell me their mini story and even offer to lend me stuff. I swapped my garden shredder for my neighbour's trolley jack and two axle stands. I dug someone else's weed patch in exchange for lessons in using a multimeter and the loan of a grinding wheel and the offer of some welding kit (no, I'm not about to try). The lock-up is very small and I have no power but I use a cycle torch under the car and I find flashlight photos reveal the rusty truth in a pretty vivid way. If we need to turn the car round I get Mrs Teapot to steer and several of us push. There is no substitute for diy and the more mistakes you make the faster you learn (er, I think that's the way it goes). Good luck!

[mike.]

I know exactly what teapot means. Even if your not mechanically minded and haven't touched a spanner in your life, there is no substitute for doing some proper DIY and giving your mini some TLC. If you have any problems while your at it you can just take a load of pics and whack them in the tech section and somebody will help you sort them out.

Just dropping it off at the garage is cheating, i say you get your hands dirty!

[jonny d]

Good advice there from everyone but as said ramps would be your best bet if your afraid to jack her up and put her on axel stands
could be safer for you as well.

[mike.]

Be very careful with ramps though, make sure they're lined up perfectly and you get someone to hold them in place as your getting up them to stop them sliding.

I ended up getting one person on each ramp as i drove up them as they kept moving.

Once its up on them though its fine, put the handbrake on and get some chocks for the back wheels and you'll be fine.

[yorkshirechris]

Right, got a quote today...

Basically to brush off some existing loose waxoyl, and spray on waxoyl to the whole underside of the floors, subframes, under the arches, and under outer-sills, it's £60. He said it's going to take the best part of 2-3 days if I want to chip off all the existing stuff, and give it a coat of hammerite then waxoyl.

There's some welding outstanding under one of the arches which he's quoted £65 to sort out, it's the one where the petrol tank is.

I think for the sake of spendig £125 as opposed to buying loads of stuff myself, locating some ramps/jacks and buying the stuff I might as well just take it to the garage this time.

I know it sounds a bit of a bodge by just spraying over the existing waxoyl but I know for the fact the floors are solid.

£60 sounds fair enough to me, what do you all think?

[tomdale86]

i feel like i might have neglected my mini - i've only waxoiled the arches and subframes but not anything else nor have i used hammerite! is this a glaring mistake and shall i start again????

[mike.]

If it were mine i'd want to make sure everything was scraped off properly and done right; but for £60 i suppose a quick blast of fresh waxoyl won't hurt.

and tomdale - yes i'd say start again. You need to waxoyl as much of the underside as possible. I'd use underseal where possible though, waxoyls alrite for the harder to reach areas like inside doors and inside arches. But underseal does a much better job of keeping out water.

[Se7enS1ns]

Chris why the chuffing hell are you wasting your time posting up on here and getting a quote, when you know full well all you have to do is ask me and i'll happilly lend you the tools for the job, and even do it for you on my spare days. Plum.