what a bad night i had yesterday

cruising along the motorway approx 70-80mph and then bang im staring at my bonnnet through a smashed windscreen instead of the road ahead managed to get over to the hard shoulder with out hitting anything. Absolutley shit it. so Lucky as it was 1am so there was no cars around me.

Pics of the damage

bent bonnet


bent bonnet


smashed screen


scuttle pan


dent in roof, sunroof pushed up, at the amount of rust






heard its quite common on mk4s, wish i had now fitted bonnet pins
not quite sure what to do with it, break it or repair it, is it repairable? costs? etc

 

such a shame this happens, its always caused by people not greasing their bonnet catches as when left untouched they stick and dont grab the bonnet properley so all that damage is caused for the sake of ten minutes work, i feel bad for you

you could repair it but realisticly its going to need a new roof skin with all that rust plus obviously screen bonnet etc
i would say if you did the welding and spraying yourself your still going to be looking at nearly a grand there

 

Bad news mate hope you sort it, this happening is always at the back of my mind as iv heard of it b4.

 

like i say mate this WILL NOT happen with a properly maintained bonnet catch

 

On some cars i dont like bonnet pins, it wrecks the bonnet. In years to come it will be hard to find nice clean bonnets.

I have been fitting check straps for ages now. Must of fitted at least 30 or 40 since the start of this year.


saves you alot of heartache or even a life in worst case senarios..













THIS IS NOT AN ADVERT JUST SOME HELPFUL TIPS..

 

My catch is properly maintained, I also have a check strap from okc, it goes round the engine lifting eye and the lever on the underside of the bonnet.

Must be gutting for the op, at least nobody was hurt.

Jano must have posted as I was

 

great minds think alike then

 

hapened to me in a mate,s car once he said take it for a spin as he said he wanted me to see what i thought. he failed to tell me that the car head no bonnet catch as he was fitting a chrome one, came on boost in second then wallop, fucked his scuttle roof screen and bonnet.

 

bet he wished it had been sorted!!!!!

 

yeah i gave him a bollocking for scareing me half to death threw the keys to him and it,s never been mentioned since lol

 

gutted for you mate its going to cost a fair bit too put right only you know if its worth it or not

 

I had this happen on a granada, fucked it good and proper.. bent the roof

 

Thanks for all the comments guys going to probably break it for parts as i cant weld or spray myself and i think its gonna cost too much, one of the rear arches is rotten and needs replacing roof is gone.

Bloody good idea that check strap. wish i had seen that before.

 

You could reshell it into a bonus or cabriolet or a combi?

 

Hey mate gutted for you, there are a few tidy shells for sale atm may be worth a think?

Also are the check straps available to buy???

Ash

 

gutted for ya mate, seen it happen to a rs a few years ago, i bought bonnet pins the next week. hope you get it sorted

 

bad news, feel for you.
that's the one greatest thing about my mk2 fiesta, bonnet opens the other way, pain to work on though.
i did think of fitting hinges on the rear, but seen a few cars with bonnets in the screen so decided against it in the end.

 

i just bought some bonnet pins to fit to mine just incase, yes they look a bit crap but its better than all that damage, feel sorry for the op!

 

if your breaking it can i have your rs seat covers?

 

www.oddkiddcreations.co.uk

 

rofl, vultures at the ready

 

Unlucky fella, but in my eyes it doesnt warrant breaking! Carbon roof skin = Ł500 and can bond yourself. new bonnet = fuck all. new screen = fuck all. only thing you'd need welding on is new scuttle panel. and its so small you could rattle can that yourself to keep costs down

Oh and bonnet pins = Ł5 off ebay

 

good time to start learning to weld.

 

let us know if you decide to keep it, im getting rid of my rs shell soon, feel free to come and have a look at it.

Cheers

 

Happend to my racing car last month,the funny thing was we forgot to put the bonnet pins on i got a cracking start into the first corner,then BANG it was up end of my race

 

Sorry to hear about the bad news mate it would be a shame to brake a nice h plate, wasn't the safety catch working?

 

was just going to mention the check straps from Jano. but hes beat me to it lol

 

them check straps are a clever n simple bit of kit, just looked on OKC quickly but cudnt find any info, how much are they? also, might be a daft question, but when the bonnet is down, dnt they rattle about like a bitch and hang on the turbo n shit?

 

happened to me years ago in a mk4 and always scared of it happening again! Got pins on mine as its a bit track looking but the Oddkidd strap is a good idea!

Got a very tidy mk4 Cabrio going up for sale cheaply in next few days if any good to ya!

 

This normally only happens to cars with front mount intercoolers installed and its due to bad installation or design and someone else is legally liable for it.

In fact, I have never seen it happen to one without a FMIC come to think of it.

 

Can only say how gutted I would be if it was my car.
Very sorry for you mate, hope all works out okay for you in the end :-(

 

Happened to mine years ago with aPace half width cooler and I always greased the catch. It's why I now have bonnet pins as everytime I got to 70mph or so I was watching the bonnet rather than the road.

Whether the catch had wear in it or not I'll never know as I changed the lot as a precaution. And stopped buying white underwear.

 

bummmer

 

Gutted mate.. Looks too nice to break though!

 

Bonnet pins are an acquired taste but the starp thing from Oddkid looks fantastic

Will probably get that once my Escort has enough power to lift a bonnet haha

 

escort mk4`s do it so much as over the years the bonnet has been opened so many time the catch dies lmao

ive had this happen to myself and does make you jump big time when it goes, i like the check strip idea

 

That part is probably true, LOL, but what about the secondary check catch that is there precisely to stop this happening?

 

Stu makes a good point, the secondary catch should catch the bonnet in this situation, ive been on 1 or 2 90+mph excursions only to realise i hadnt shut my bonnet properly and the "Safety" catch has held it fine! I think its a combo of badly adjusted catches and worn ones...

Another case i've seen is a friend in a Mk2 Orion following me on convoy to a show last year and his bonnet suddenly jumped up on the safety catch, i pulled him over and lifted the bonnet to find the massive 30mm nut had come loose and the catch had undone itself from the bonnet, leaving only the secondary safety catch there!

 

Happened to my mates 5 door 1.3 years ago.

 

you can buy the wire stuff to make a checkstrap in loads of places, DIY stores, screwfix etc. I used a wire strap with the loops and a pair of carabinas before, works well.