Hi all,

I got a bit of extra cash from a load of overtime I did recently and decided to buy a replacement car for our Peugeot 406. I was never keen on that car and its been giving us some problems lately.

I ended up getting an '99 Octavia 1.6 LXi for £580 off of ebay. The car came with tax and mot until August which I thought was a bargain, stupid me.

I knew the car had some scrapes on the left hand side and was happy to get that fixed up, but have encountered a much more worrying problem.

One of my freinds noticed some paint cracking on the passenger side window pillar about 5 cm's up from the wing. As I had already commited to doing a little respraying, i figured it wouldn't hurt to clean that bit of paint work up to.

I took my sander to the paintwork and found it had been filled. On further investigation, I found a fairly straight ding in the pillar about 5mm deep. It looks like someone has driven the car under the back overhang of a truck or something, and its creased the pillar pretty well. One of my work colleagues suggested I drill a very small 2mm hole in the skin and pull it out, but this has now split the skin running parallel with the edge of the window.

Suffice it to say, I am not at all convinced the car would have been safe to drive before i tried to fix the problem, but really I need some advice from people who know this stuff.

Would it be considered safe to have the split in the pillar welded, or is the safety of the car completely compromised? If I have to, I will claim whats left of the tax back and sell the parts off, but it seems a shame to waste a good runner.

Thanks in advance for your advice.

Mike

Edited 24 March, 200917 yr by mikedoubleu
Made my title a little more relevant

Well, the outer skin of the A pillar is just that. The main strength of the A pillar is inside and would take a lot more than a small ding in the skin to cause it any damage. The outer part of the pillar is even available as a spare body part.

I would have left it as you found it, eg. filled as it was not doing it any harm and may have been like it for quiet a few years.

If i was you i would get it welded and not waste a good car. I've repaired plenty of cars and that split is nowt to worry about. Get someone who can weld and make sure that you cover the screen!!!

mannyo, B.DIFFERENT.

Your advice is much appeciated and I feel better about the situation.

Can anybody recommend somewhere to take the car to be welded in the Nottingham area. Welding is one of those things I would love to learn, but I really dont have the money to buy the kit to do it. I do however want to have a go at the filling and painting myself.

Thanks

Mike

If he doesn't reply to this thread, PM Greg123.

where abouts in notts are you?? a mate of mine owns a body shop in warsop, near mansfield. matt owen bodyworks highly recommended

It's a bit of a strong and generalised thread title isn't it?! You could have bought the car from the local paper, or AutoTrader

Buying from eBay doesn't make the circumstances you've encountered any more or less likely.

Steve

I have bought and sold several cars over Ebay. None of them were ever bent and a good deal was always had by all.

Looks like you had some tough luck there.

I bought my first fabia off ebay and got a complete bargain - it sold for £1750 and the only thing it had wrong with it was the famed power steering light problem (PAS angle sensor)

I should probably explain the title a bit.

I was (and still am) quiet happy to buy from ebay, but when I told my wife and friends that I bought the car, they all said "you should never buy a car off ebay"

Re the repair work, it looks like my luck is back in. It turns out that the college I work at are starting a welding course, and have just got a load of new kit in. I spoke to a couple of the teachers and they are more than happy for me to take the car in next week and get the split welded up :-)

Actually, I'll change the title a little so its more relevant.

Thanks again to everyone for their help and advice.

Sorry mi old don't know any where in notts but, do know of two good bodyshops in Sheffield. One of them is called The Bodyshop off rutland road and the other is cozvox at halfway. I would highly recomend The Bodyshop and you want to speak to matt or john. They do a cracking job and cheep to.

I've bought and sold many cars on ebay and apart from a complete lemon, which was partly my fault as I didn't ask the right questions have been very pleased with them all. It's like buying a car from anywhere really, go into the deal with your eyes open, ask the right questions, always take the car for a test drive and give it a good look over before parting with any cash.