Project Kia Sportage 2.0 CRDi
MOT test & replacing the driver’s door
PART FIVE: Rob Hawkins puts our Kia through its MOT test and then returns to his local bodyshop, who have a driver’s door ready and waiting to paint.
“ The Kia’s MOT is due next week,” remarked editor Knowles. Rob admitted he’d completely forgotten to check, so was relieved of the reminder and quickly booked a slot in with his local garage, MJ Motors, for the very day the old test expired. Fortunately, only a blown numberplate light bulb was identified and is not strictly a failure because one of the two was working, but Rob still changed it.
We had been holding out for several months in the hope that a second-hand driver’s door in Techno Orange would appear for sale on eBay, Gumtree or any of the popular selling sites, but eventually got to the point when we could wait no longer. And even if we had found a colour-matched door, there was no guarantee it wouldn’t need blending-in due to colour fade (exposure to sunlight). So, when we heard that our local bodyshop, Elite Accident Repair Centre, had a driver’s door that was initially meant for a customer, but was now going spare, we jumped at the chance. Elite had paint-repaired the nearside of our Kia in parts two and three of this project series, and we’d arranged to return to them when we were ready to replace the driver’s door.
The replacement driver’s door was originally painted silver and was in good shape overall. A minor dent on the exterior was the only blemish, which was straightforward to fix. It was a door that had been sold by a breaker, so it was supplied stripped, although the window regulator mechanism was still fitted. As we discovered, it’s not too awkward to remove and surely worth selling if you are a breaker, so perhaps it was faulty. Whatever the reason, Gareth at Elite wisely advised us to use everything from our old door because we knew it was working. Apart from the driver’s door mirror, which works perfectly, but is a little wobbly, despite it doesn’t shake when the vehicle is being driven at high speed. We’ll have to replace it.
USEFUL CONTACTS
Elite Accident Repair Centre
01924 443071
eliteaccidentrepaircentre.co.uk
MOT TEST
This month, we’re covering the prepwork for the respray, the stripdown of the driver’s door and applying new paint. Next month, we’ll conclude with fitting and assembly, flatting and polishing the paintwork – and ho
