General Why cant people be honest! Stilo Wise

[paullawton2007]

After buying my Stilo a few weeks back from a fellow member 428 Mustang doing some research tells me its been in a crash and had a few other problems along the way!

After asking questions about crashes etc its only had a very slight bump(after exlaining i have an 11month baby). to what i find pictures from a well known social networking site of the car front end an sill gone/bent:devil: (pics attached) and the bumper on here (which i was gonna buy back and fit looks nice fitted!)
this would explain why the n/s/f headlight it from another stilo andit pulls to the left an its missing its plastics/airbox/covers etc:idea:. i have been assured with him being a MOT tester and doing the MOT on the car its all been done right but with no proof along with its snapped cam belt!:nono:

any other thoughts? people had problems buying used cars? why cant people just be honest??? im gonna give it to my friend (also an MOT tester/mechanic for his view.

there is a reason for it being in this section any1 know the thread/bolt size of the bolts under the front bottom bumper mine has got none for some strange reason!!!!

Paul

 

[GPz750]

Caveat emptor

 

[richydraper]

so you've bought a car thats been in a crash...heres your silver lining... as long as the subframe isnt bent its not too much of an issue. the sill is damaged but it looks like the skirts hide it quite well. the car has a different headlight on it, so what. its tracking wrong but go get it tracked and see if it will pull in. if you hadnt have found out these issues from social media then would you really care?

mine had been in a front end at somepoint in its life, bonnet was damaged and quite badly reparied the front bumper was replaced (its still unpainted 5 yrs later) the front rad panel is cracked but theres no damage to the chassis legs and mine atleast tracks straight. my latest bill is around £800 in parts but thats for stuff i want to do to it not what it NEEDS.

unfortuneately the more i deal with people the more i hate people and have grown to distrust pretty much everyone. im lucky enough to know what im looking at with vehicles but i understand that a lot of others dont. if something *feels wrong* then it usually is.

having said all of this dont let it get in the way of you enjoying the stilo... yes it might take a bit of money but in the end you'll just end up resenting the ol' gal. and thats the worst thing i can imagine, loathing every penny you have to spend on it and every minute you drive it. chin up kid you havent bought a mint example but look at what you do have! getting you MOT buddy to look it over is a good thing but ask him to pull no punches in letting you know exactly whats wrong with it so you know EXACTLY what your dealing with. and dont forget theres an absolute miriad of knowledge on here to keep you going

 

[paullawton2007]

I know what you mean Richy. its getting tracked and two new tryes on the front.

yours had been in a front end aswel? im not fussed about the front end just as you say the leg etc are straight.

On the funny side my last stilo i smashed the front end and now i have another one which has been!

still love the car just would of been nice to be told. but hey ho the world we live in!

Paul

 

[Clivvy]

that's a real shame mate, but I know what you mean - too many people aren't honest and hide the truth especially when it comes to cars/money.


Hopefully though you will fix it up and it will be fine, sounds like structurally its fine and you have more of a cosmetic issue?


I believe in trusting people, but like Richy I've learned a few lessons over the years and made it my business to know what I'm looking for both with cars and people!! I certainly don't get it right, and often I'm left feeling a bit bemused like you, unfortunately we live in a world where people can be heartlessly selfish.

 

[richydraper]

yeah before i bought it there was tell tale signs of having a bit of a bump. within 2 years the bonnet latticework had become detatched from the skin and at motorway speeds (90% of my driving at the time) you could see it lifting and bouncing around... not a comfortable feeling at all :lol:. the front bumper had been replaced (by an unpainted panel) and there was a huge punture hole in one of the headlights covers. my passenger front wing is creased and it has a dimple where something has nearly punctured it from the inside. my drivers 1/4 panel is damaged from a very gentle sideswipe, my passenger rear 'door card' (but its a 3 door) is smashed, it has a scratched passenger seat back (from what looks like a diamond ring), theres scratches and dents all over the poor girl...

mechanically shes nearly all good, she scraped MOT this year (but has passed for the previous 3 with no advisories) so i have to do rear bushes, front springs, front wishbones, and all round discs/pads before MOT next year... now for the shopping list, if im doing front springs... ill lower it, since im having the back end out to do bushes its no 'extra' work, her oil usage has been a pain since i bought her so ill be taking the head off to do valve guide seals, the clutch is on its way out so that needs to be done (ive done nearly 60k on it so thats not too bad the original was shot when i bought it and i bought it at 65k) whilst im doing head work i'll be replacing the timing belt (but thats about due too). the gearbox output seals leak so i have a pair of them to put in which ill do when the box is out of the old girl. as you can see ive basically got to strip both the rear and front ends out of her. aswell as probably dropping the engine and g/box, just because its probably gonna be easier to do the clutch, box and everything else suspension wise with it out. oh i also need a new rad and my air con pipes repairing... my next exhaust will be a custom stainless variety as its not much more to get a decent quality mild steel replacement. and somewhere in with all of this i want to get my 'spare' ECU repaired as its suffered the dreaded PCM fault.

after ALL this work im hoping i wont have to touch her much for a while . i'd hate to see how much this would cost in a garage im probably gonna take a week of work to get it all done. i can see arguments with the wife and all sorts over this but it needs to be done sooner or later so i might aswell get all the bits together and get it all done in one hit.

maybe this makes you feel a little bit better about yours


<edit>
my advice to you is get it driving straight and stopping well... after that do the bare minimum to get through test... when your done with that worry about cosmetics and other stuff as and when you can find the money, put asmuch as you can away for unexpected bills the one that is most devastating, for a JTD, would probably be MAF failure(a bosch MAF is around £150 iirc and you dont want a 'nadgy wadgy' one because it will give you a massive headache). if you're worried about the timing belt get someone to have a look it will be pretty obvious if its too old or new.

 

[rat20v]

Well my stilo may be written off yet, although the damage is not really that bad, A brick from my chimney fell out and landed on my roof, luckily the roof rail took the brunt but there is still panel damage across the roof, still drives great and i love it but will have to wait and see what insurance says :-(

i am terrible about buying cars (i hate it) it takes me a while to get confidence from a new to me car and i always get paranoid about accident damage

 

[rat20v]

thhe bumper bolts are m6 buddy, but they may be snapped thats why there isn't any