classic1952

4 in stock according to the Caterham online shop!

Are Caterham offering any sort of deal for replacement of diffs on late model (2009) low mileage (3500) cars? Mine clonks and whines like I don't know what.

I have not been directly affected by this but overall I am very disappointed by the quality and price of some of the stuff Caterham churn out. I think they are in danger of a long fall from their overly lofty perch at the top of the leisure/component car tree. Hopefully someone at Caterham reads this forum and does something before it is too late. Another post coins the term Caterham Added Tax in regard to pricing and it is very appropriate. Proper design is fundamental when offering upgrades such as the BMW diff but clearly it was rushed out because the Sierra diffs they sell have become crap. Our perception is that Caterham are the best at what they do but this sort of thing raises serious doubts.

Quoting sforshaw: It might have been but it's been discontinued! Stu. Item 161062207412 on eBay.....

DATATOOL TURN ALERT - INDICATOR CANCELLATION WARNING A cheaper solution?

On this subject, what is the standard gear lever fitment on a 2009 Academy?

It is on its way!

Nothing has landed as yet! Greg

Somehow I have ended up with a spare which you can have. You can collect it from me in north Leeds or I can post it. Believe it or not it is too thick for large letter so it would need to go small parcels at £2.60! Greg

I have an area of gravel rash on my Caterham, just in front of the nearside rear wing, measuring a maximum of 6" by 12". Just wondering if anyone has used a mobile repairer for similar work in my area. I am intending to remove the rear wing and beading etc, rather than entrusting the whole job to a body shop. Any suggestions will be much appreciated.

Quoting the.vet: Yep, I've got cover for screen but I share the above concerns regarding auto glass carrying out the work! I'll contact the insurers and see what they say... Graeme The fitter himself was perfectly OK but they are a company geared to mass produced saloons for which they hold most screens in stock. You need to supervise, take precautions to protect your paintwork, and have at least a crimping tool and connectors readily available. I also contributed decent Allen keys and a few other tools.

Quoting Roger Ford: Have you checked your insurance? Usually screen replacement has low excess (£50 - £60) and doesn't affect NCD or renewal cost. Agreed. I had this last year. The only proviso is that most insurers insist on Autoglass doing the work, and they don't know a Caterham from a Routemaster bus. I had to steer them through the purchase process from Caterham and it took 8 working days to reach the local branch of Autoglass (something to do with their lack of an account with Caterham and using them a debit card, with despatch to a central address). When the fitter arrived I had to show him what to do, and supply my own connectors and crimping pliers for the heated screen wiring. At the end of the day all was OK and my renewal was not affected.

Quoting Paul Deslandes: They fit my '95 S3 ok On my 2009 Academy they are too wide to fit the slot and would sit far too low. A 5mm thick alloy strip, cut and drilled to suit, cured the problem.I looked at inverting the existing channel as packing but that put the captive nuts too high. I also found it necessary to cut down some stainless penny washers to stop the bolts in the chassis pulling through the slots. I have heard similar from several other owners.

It is just a shame the new screen brackets don't fit.

Does anyone know the source vehicle for the handbrake lever on a 2009 Roadsport?

I am changing my 2009 Roadsport to all Yellow and just need a good nosecone to complete. Please contact me if you have one you want to sell, or will swap for my black nosecone.

A further note on Sparco. The wheels are drilled and countersunk to M5 whereas the Momo is M6. Rather than redrilling I am making an adaptor.

Thanks, I will sort it tomorrow.

Yes, sorry about that! I spent the afternoon grappling under the dash and my brain is a bit fried now. Cheers Greg

I have the quick release boss so unfortunately moving the boss is not an option.

I have read other threads about this but since I did not build my car please bear with me. I need to rotate the steering column in relation to the rack to suit my 3 bolt Sparco steering wheel. I know to undo the clamp on the UJ furthest from the rack, but do I need to withdraw the column slightly to rotate it, thereby needing to undo the top clamp behind the pedal box, or is there clearance from the spines allowing me to simply rotate the column once the UJ clamp is undone? I intend to rotate the column 180 degrees as the Sparco bolts are the opposite way up to the Momo. Lastly, any short cuts to achieving exactly 180 degrees rotation!!!???

The original calipers lasted just over a year. The replacements were OK when I bought the car. 6 months later one was leaking. Caterham suplied a replacement free (except postage). That is now leaking. Total mileage in this time 3500. Any main stream manufacturer with a problem like this would be subject to a blanket recall. This is a known problem to numerous owners

The rear calipers of some front wheel drive cars, such as the Golf, are apparently considered ideal for this sort of application and I think they share the bolt spacing, needing only a different thickness spacer. regardless of anything else, how would Caterham's product liability insurers react if one of the current calipers causes a serious accident? They need to find a better answer urgently.

Unfortunately I am the second owner with a 4 year old car. They replaced one caliper for me by refunding the price when I returned the leaking one. I live in Leeds, 100 miles from Caterham Midlands and 200 plus miles from Caterham South, so short of trailering the car to them I will be doing the work myself. I refuse to pay Caterham prices for rubbish so I shall source the replacement locally for around £50. The bigger point here, as per the other thread, is that we pay anything from £20000 upwards for a high performance car with crap recon brakes from a 1980s Sierra. No mainstream manufacturer would get away with this, even on a car at half the price, so why should we accept it on a car that will be driven fairly hard most of the time and is, if anything far more reliant on a braking system that actually works, without being reduced to crawling under the car before every run to check for leaks! Caterham should be sourcing new parts from a more modern car or from one of the aftermarket/performance brake outlets, or make the uprated AP brakes standard fit.

Is it not about time that Caterham moved out of the dark ages and started supplying decent brakes as standard? Anyone spending anything from £20000 upwards on a car should be entitled to expect 100% perfect brakes from the outset, instead of which we are fobbed off with shoddy recons of parts that are 25 years old or more. Decent and safe braking is fundamental to Caterham driving and I for one have lost my confidence in the brakes. If one was to spend half the price of a Caterham on an every day car the brakes would not need attention, other than pads (or shoes) for years after purchase. I have run cars for 150000 miles over 6 years and have never needed anything except pads. Why can't Caterham source their parts from a more modern car, thus offering safety and confidence in the system? Caterham charge £108 for shoddy recons when better ones can be sourced for under £50. It is time we stood up and made our views known.