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Rear Spring isolators/mountings

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Cracked rear spring mounts were identified in the vehicle condition report provided by my local main dealer- who also quoted The parts were cheap enough from ebay. First step is to jack the car and support the rear both sides on axle stands. Remove the rear wheels. If doing only one side then it will be necessary to install spring compressors at this stage- if doing both sides as I was then you can relieve the tension fully on both using a trolley jack. I positioned this under the swinging arm and raise the jack to relieve the tension by compressing the spring slightly. Identify the lower shock absorber mounting bolts shown here. Clean the protruding thread with a wire brush.  Note that the 19mm nut through which the thread protrudes is welded to the arm and does not unscrew. You remove the bolt by unscrewing the 15mm head on the inside of the mount. The bolt should come out relatively easily. Once the bolt is out you can lower the ja...
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The infamous B-Max boot leak

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The B-max is prone to water entry into the boot. Mine had been absolutely fine until I had a bumper repair and then water appeared in the spare wheel well and saturated the boot underfloor carpet/soundproofing. It seems likely the bumper repair has affected something but the bumper itself is now potentially fragile and I doubt if I can remove it to check anything without damaging the paint. I did however strip out the boot contents, floor, and side trims to investigate. Reports online suggest that some holes in the bodywork- usually covered in waterproof tape, can permit water entry. Checking my boot I found the tapes on the left side to be intact and dry- those on the right were detaching. They oozed moisture and leaked water into the boot when it rained. I removed the leaking tapes. This revealed 3 holes, the middle one of which opened to show a foam sponge which was itself wet. Water was entering the boot from the rounded hole towards the bottom. I sealed these holes with Tiger bond...
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Ford B-Max Passenger side door (wing) mirror replacement

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Driver of white road maintenance pick-up truck registration FJ19YDP- you are a bastard and a coward. You smashed my wing mirror whilst I was stationary in a traffic queue and then mounted the kerb to run away and avoid responsibility. I have no words. Owing to the above events I needed a replacement door mirror on the passenger side. I did try just fitting a new cover,  but the forcible fragmentation of the old one also destroyed the mounting lugs so there was no way to fit it. Further the base section had also snapped and this isnt available separately.  A new Ford mirror is astronomically expensive - the whole repair being quoted around £800. My excess is £250 and given the lack of witnesses I had no chance of recovering that uninsured loss. Pattern replacement mirrors are available on ebay around £100-150 and although they are not a perfect replacement, its cheaper than stumping up £250 and the bother of a claim. That, dear reader, is how I ended up here- Im not...
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