Lower suspension arms

[Dolce]

Hi all, any advice appreciated

I've been looking at buying an Elan for a while now and have seen one I like. The only thing that is worrying me is on the MOT advisories it says all lower suspension arms (front and back) are 'corroded but not seriously weakened'. The car drives well other than this and I was planning on getting chassis/suspension rust treated after buying.

Can anyone tell me what the lower suspension arms actually are? Are they the main wishbones, just a different name, that would be very expensive if I needed to replace them?

Cheers
Dave

[theelanman]

Can anyone tell me what the lower suspension arms actually are? Are they the main wishbones, just a different name

I would say yes......
and yes they are very expensive if you can find them......
IIRC Stef has a pair of Stainless versions for sale £700 (for the pair)......

[Dolce]

Thanks, a pair of nice stainless ones would be nice.

I need some help here guys with whether I should actually buy this car. What do people think? If I could get away with paying say up to £500 to get all the wishbones rust treated and sealed then I think it could be a good buy. I guess I need to know how far gone they are and if it is financially viable to do this, as the car still passed it's MOT.

If i bought the car and was unlucky, having to fork out thousands for new wishbones, then I feel I would be better off holding out for an S2 with the galvanised ones or an Elan that has had them replaced already. If I could start treating them then I may get many more years out of them.

Help....it's decision time

[dapinky]

As far as the current wishbones are concerned, it is a bit of a grey area when the MOT man states that there is corrosion, but structural integrity is intact....

...current VOSA regulations doesn't allow what I would consider a proper check of the structure, which would require a good poke with a sharp screwsriver (which the current owner probably wouldn't be over keen on either).

Put it this way, the first elan I bought had rear wishbones which had passed an MOT, but when i had a good poke around, i found that one had been 'repaired' with fibreglass and hammerite.

I was lucky to be at the point where the stainless ones were just going into production, so I fitted a pair of them (without any problems since).

When I swapped the 'bones out, the drivers' side one was rusted through extremely badly, but it had been covered over so the damage didn't show....

... that said, i have since seen others which looked really bad (on the car) but once removed, cleaned and rubbed down, only needed minor welding in a couple of places to make them more solid than original. Once painted with POR15, and given a dose of cabity wax, they are fit to serve the owner for many more years to come.

The front lower wishbones (more correctly, Track Control Arms) on my red car were repaired with welded plates before I got the car, and are still going strong (10 years).

As such, repairs are possible, and will last for a long time, if done properly - but replacement is undoubtably better.

A member on here (Jeemy) is currently looking into having a batch of front and rear wishbones produced, and the pjoject is fairly neer completion, so may be a viable option.

Bottom line, is to see just how bad the current ones are - and only a really good examination will tell you the answer.

[Rambo]

I recently braked very hard with my stock OEM brakes and locked the front wheels. The force caused the FNS track control arm to twist and move the wheel at least an inch back into the wheel arch. Quite an expensive repair in terms of buying all the bits for both sides plus labour. Rust NEVER sleeps !!

Caveat Emptor

[Dolce]

Thanks guys, very informative. I'm planning on getting a professional inspection done now before I commit to parting with my hard earned cash