What did you do to your X350/X358 today?
#1402
I managed to curb my front left rim 2 weeks ago.....aaaarrrgh..........was so p!ssed off with myself!
The curse of the tyre selection of the prior owner - fitted 245/40 R19 instead of 255, so the tyre side wall offers little protection or prewarning to a curb encounter and I will be changing those out as soon as I can wear those b@stards out or justify the expense.
So tracked down some suitable alloy wheel rim filler and an appropriate wheel paint and took on that job this weekend. Deflated and popped the front of the casing off its bead with a block of wood and a club hammer to give better access to the edge of the rim.
Filler worked as hoped and sanded back nicely. A bit of etch primer and high build undercoat in the damaged area and a going over the rim with a scotchbrite pad and after preheating the rim for over an hour with a fan heater and a packing blanket as a shroud (winter here). Applied two coats of the top coat and the rim came up a treat.
While I had the front up, I removed the rotted tie rod ball joint dust boots along with the top A arm dust boots, cleaned them out, checking and greasing everything before fitting the new dust boots.
Front sway bar link boots still OK for the time being.
I will take a look at the rear end boots in the next few weeks to see if any of those also need replacing.
I bought a kit of replacement boots a while back to do all front and rear joints, so have everything on hand for when I had the opportunity to do them.
Boot retention rings were the biggest hassle of the job to get off and back on and in the appropriate channels, but persistence won the day.
The curse of the tyre selection of the prior owner - fitted 245/40 R19 instead of 255, so the tyre side wall offers little protection or prewarning to a curb encounter and I will be changing those out as soon as I can wear those b@stards out or justify the expense.
So tracked down some suitable alloy wheel rim filler and an appropriate wheel paint and took on that job this weekend. Deflated and popped the front of the casing off its bead with a block of wood and a club hammer to give better access to the edge of the rim.
Filler worked as hoped and sanded back nicely. A bit of etch primer and high build undercoat in the damaged area and a going over the rim with a scotchbrite pad and after preheating the rim for over an hour with a fan heater and a packing blanket as a shroud (winter here). Applied two coats of the top coat and the rim came up a treat.
While I had the front up, I removed the rotted tie rod ball joint dust boots along with the top A arm dust boots, cleaned them out, checking and greasing everything before fitting the new dust boots.
Front sway bar link boots still OK for the time being.
I will take a look at the rear end boots in the next few weeks to see if any of those also need replacing.
I bought a kit of replacement boots a while back to do all front and rear joints, so have everything on hand for when I had the opportunity to do them.
Boot retention rings were the biggest hassle of the job to get off and back on and in the appropriate channels, but persistence won the day.
Last edited by h2o2steam; 07-07-2024 at 09:02 PM. Reason: Added photo
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Thermite (07-07-2024)
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quaker13
XK / XKR ( X150 )
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01-18-2012 02:04 PM
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