PBC and Paint Protection

Following the car's collection it was scheduled for the PBC. I can report that Caterham will try to charge you for additional work. They attempted to charge me £1200 for 15 hours work - dominated by tasks such as "tidying up wiring" even in areas I was certain the wiring was fine. Other areas they were keen to charge for, is where work had not been completed due to missing items (that Caterham had not delivered), a bit of a nerve! Some negotiation was required to bring this amount down to something more reasonable. There was part of me that was initially outraged, but in reality this work, done by people who work with these cars every day, should give me a better car at the end of the day.

The big concern going to the PBC was the non-fitting nose cone. I have had a brief chat with Caterham about this and apparently they removed some material where the nose goes over the ARB, to allow more space to bend the nose into shape. From the pictures I've seen it looks pretty good.

I had considered fitting paint protection film myself, but after a bit of research and a few horror stories I was convinced otherwise, especially as I struggle to make the screen protectors for a phone sit flat! The compound curves of the nose cone and the rear arches, filled me with dread, so I left this one to the experts. Premier Paint Guard fitted new Suntek PPF C film to the car, which you can hardly see. This is supposedly a new technology and supersedes the 3M film, all I know is it looks pretty good - I will report back later on the job it does protecting stone chips etc.

Paint protection film being installed - nose cone looks good

In other news, I've gone for a personalised plate for a finishing touch!

Stig-like ambitions!

An update - Collection, PBC, other musings

I have been trying (generally unsuccessfully) to ignore the bright yellow car in my garage...

This is because, I had the build completed in the week following the Easter weekend (roughly 1st April) and then the waiting for Caterham to come and collect the car began. The car was collected on the 29th of April. Having put the roof and doors on it, I was amused by how challenging getting in and out of the car became. With that in mind I decided not to drive it up the ramp into the truck, as I didn't want to embarrass myself trying to get out in a restricted space!

Waiting to load on a surprisingly cold morning for the end of April!

The guy collecting the car was very friendly, with stories of recently delivered Caterhams both to my local area and the Cairngorms (made me rather jealous). His words of warning were less encouraging with an estimate of ~85% of cars failing the IVA first time around. Apparently the main reason is the inconsistencies often found in the braking system. There's not a lot anyone can really do about this, the newly assembled brakes need time to bed in and find their balance; realistically that would take 50miles or so.

Ready to go

This week is the week of the PBC, hopefully all goes well. On Saturday the paint protection film is to be installed - I hope to have a few pictures of that. If the PBC is completed this week then the IVA will follow shortly afterward and the car will return!

In the meantime I've been looking at all things Caterham: insurance, Lotus 7 Club membership, tweaks and upgrades and how to fit the number plates. To summarise some of these findings:

Insurance - this is a tricky area if you are 23... Not many insurers will cover Caterhams for a start and then of those that do, many are restricted to 25+ or even 30+. On this note many companies will offer a discount for club membership and it can be pretty substantial. I think the reduction in premium I found paid for the membership; happy days!

Number plates - I did not fancy drilling through the fibreglass to attach the plates, especially with the thought of the plates getting caught on something and damaging the nose. Inspiration came in the form of some 3M strips my Mum was using to attach pictures etc to the wall with. There were two sticky sided strips one for the wall and one for the item to be hung, each had a velcro like surface - but a stronger velcro, akin to the pads on the Momo steering wheel. A little bit of research revealed many forms of these pads and they seem ideal for having the number plate attached so it won't fall off, but will yield if the number plate hits something. It also has the added bonus of making the plate removable for track days.

Speaking of track days, I'm hoping to get the car out on the track at Castle Combe on 19th June for the Under 17 Car Club charity day. I'm also debating the Classic, Kit and Retro Action Day at Castle Combe the following weekend - it is very tempting!!