I can't believe that it's
been so long since my last update.
Apart from general
maintenance there have been a couple of replacements required on
the Corolla.
I have changed the rear
brake calipers beacause the handbrake actuator siezes and the
caliper has the be refurbished. In the past on my Corolla
this has been needed every 18 months or so as the car doesn't
get used that frequently. A few years ago I bought a spare
pair of calipers to be refurbished without the need to take the
existing ones off the car. I took the spare calipers to
Bigg Red in Worcester for them to do their stuff. A week
later I picked then up and had them fitted by Hinds Garage in
Barry. I know (and more importantly trust) one of the
mechanics who used to run an E11 Corolla G6R and then an E12
Corolla Compressor which he tuned quite heavily. In April
2016 the newly refurbished calipers where fitted and they have
worked fine ever since, so they have outlasted all the others
I've had previously and are still good.
At the 2017 MOT test (at
Hinds Garage) it was mentioned that there was some rust
appearing on the rear suspension arms (all three on both sides)
and that they would need to be replaced at some time. The
lower rear arms came from my local Toyota dealer and I bought a
pair of Hardrace trailing arms from GT4-Play. All these
were taken to Hinds Garage to be fitted.
At my last MOT test (2018) I
was told that there was some surface rust on the floorpan and
sills of the Corolla and that it should be treated at some
time. Again Hinds Garage came to the rescue and after
disconnecting the rear suspension arms where they attached to
the floor, they completely removed all the old underseal,
removed the surface rust, applied zinc primer everwhere and then
undersealed the whole floorpan. Another great job carried out by
the enthusiastic guys at Hinds.