Citroen XM Forum

Tyre fitters the same.. " can you jack it by the subframe please " ive two heads... "eh? Thats the jacking point " .. I dont care.. if you bend that YOU dont have the job or consequences of repairing it when it gets damaged!!! So they use the jacking point.. aaaaaaaaarrrgghhhhhhhhh....

Exactly Paul, they're the worst, and don't have to deal with the consequences of their carelessness / roughness like you said.

Its got to the point where I will only go to one trusted small place for tyres now, and he knows I'm precious about the XMs.

I arrive at the place, throw the car to max height as I stop, while its rising I lift a length of wood out of the boot, grab one of their trolley jacks from the workshop and start positioning it and the wood under the front subframe. As I do that the young lads who work for him are usually looking at me oddly and often one will scramble out with a jack and position it under the side (just the sill, not even the jacking point sometimes! ), at which point Sean (the owner), will say to them 'No, no, leave him, he likes to jack it up himself'.

And this is with a place I've been going to for over a decade, I hate to think what happens to any XM unfortunate enough to end up at some dump like Kwikfit where the owner isn't there to supervise everything they do on it.

Looks like KBAN is coming along nicely Ray

Externally all that car needed was the sunroof re sealing in a less visible manner, and the bonnet re painting....God knows how it got that piece of missing paint on it. I notice from the pics its picked up a slight ding in the rear quarter, Im sure it didnt have that when I machined it...they always seems to get dented on the rear quarters....god knows why. Mine had a dent there, and I managed to 98% tap it out from behind. Its certainly not as visible as it used to me. It always used to bug me that did.

Anyway....with the snow foam set up I presume your into the detailing side of things if so, once the exterior and interior are how you like them, I found it very rewarding stripping the arch liners out and cleaning and painting up everything behind them. It just felt better knowing that everything was spic and span behind them

Also the engine bay stuff we briefly discussed...it really isn't that big of a job, just one of those plod along jobs that sees itself done within a couple of weeks. Alloy wheel paint and some satin black....some high temp ally paint for round the back where the turbo sits and a set of artists brushes and its steady away to a pristine engine bay again If you fancied it that is

Vince I had a MINI Cooper S for a couple of years, that's when I started to use the 'proper' stuff for cleaning the cars, I picked up a few tips from deatailing world, but by no stretch of the imagination would I call myself a detailer nor would my work come anywhere near as good as yours! I think it's more OCD! But I will certainly take on board the advice you've given.

I think the dent on K-BAN was documented in her early days, Paul managed to knock most of it out. The bonnet certainly is a mystery! I also read that Charles had painted over this blemish, but sadly it's come back. She's also received a scrape to the near side front bumper too.

Did you ever get round to working your magic on CEO when she was in Will's custody?

....and the sun roof needs re-sealing...

I only use one local tyre fitter too. I do let them jack it, but as they're also used by the Westons for their tyre work they know all about where to jack most Citroens, and when they don't they ask.

The last straw with the other indy fitter we had (shortly after they were taken over by Quickfit) was when they picked up the Wartburg I had by the sills, not the chassis as instructed, then when the monkey found some of the valves were bolt in ones he though his tools at my car! luckily the manager saw this and went out to send him out the back somewhere before doinf the job himself.

Vince wrote:Looks like KBAN is coming along nicely Ray

Externally all that car needed was the sunroof re sealing in a less visible manner, and the bonnet re painting....God knows how it got that piece of missing paint on it. I notice from the pics its picked up a slight ding in the rear quarter, Im sure it didnt have that when I machined it...they always seems to get dented on the rear quarters....god knows why. Mine had a dent there, and I managed to 98% tap it out from behind. Its certainly not as visible as it used to me. It always used to bug me that did.

Anyway....with the snow foam set up I presume your into the detailing side of things if so, once the exterior and interior are how you like them, I found it very rewarding stripping the arch liners out and cleaning and painting up everything behind them. It just felt better knowing that everything was spic and span behind them

Also the engine bay stuff we briefly discussed...it really isn't that big of a job, just one of those plod along jobs that sees itself done within a couple of weeks. Alloy wheel paint and some satin black....some high temp ally paint for round the back where the turbo sits and a set of artists brushes and its steady away to a pristine engine bay again If you fancied it that is

That dent has always been there. It was there when I had her .. so its not new.

the glass roof panel needs removing and completely sealing properly. . Dieselman has done this on one of his cars and has documented it on here...

The chip on the bonnet.. well its been a few years but I cant remeber if I was there when I first had her or not..

I did the sunroof reseal using Wills how to guide. It is easy to do, but use plenty of sealant. I think one corner of mine didn't and let a tiny amount of seepage in. Didn't ever get like it was though.

You'll have to let me know Mike about that tyre fitter.
Otherwise I'm going to drop off the wheels minus the car, to a local place. I did take my grey XM to Malvern tyres once and asked them to jack up on the subframe. They did.. But I was present and did not leave the car alone!

I just take my wheels in minus the car, when i took the Activa in for rubber they slipped the jack under the cill and i stopped them, i jacked off the subframe and he gave me a funny look, i dont know why of all the things to jack from why you would pick some non structural tin foil bit of the body.

D

This picture made me smile this morning, I can't believe how well K-BAN has cleaned up.