Butchered Astra Roof Latches

Today we inspected an Astra Convertible a set of latches that had been completely butchered

 by a so called engineering company in Queensland

The latches had been fitted with bearings that had been replaced by deep groove bearings

 and the silly part about replacing the bearings are split bearings and don't need to be replaced.

The team at ALNO Product Services have fully tested an Astra Convertible Roof that is now 12 years of age and developed a mechanical jig to continuously open and close the roof to test for the weakest point.

This development is to find the weakest point and enhance the life of the roof system the worked for 853.2 hours straight 24 hours a day 7 days a week until failure

The our team then improved roof mechanical structure and started testing again this time extend the life cycle of the roof.

  

This is the type of development our Engineers, Designers and Machinist stand by many in our team had heard the rumours of new bearings being fitted yet we could not believe the moment we saw them, the team spontaneously broke out into laughter.

Deep grooved bearings as the name suggests is that they run at a different speed or RPM (revolutions per minute) in comparison to split bearings, furthermore there is a great amount of force required to turn a deep groove bearing.

All Astra convertible Latches bearings are split bearings just look at yours now

What this does highlight is a number of facts

1. Not only is cheap Chinese aluminium blocks that can be manufactured and fitted in 2 hours yet the team at ALNO Product Services take 8 hours to square up a block and fully recondition a set of latches
2. Split Bearing don't need to be replaced.
3. By just replacing or only replacing the plastic blocks with aluminium will not increase the life cycle of a set of Astra Roof latches.  
4. The Person or Company in Queensland has no idea on what they are doing 

Speaking with the current owner of the car he has got details from the previous owner on who got the work done yet no receipts were issues as they did not want to pay GST

From what we have been told that the current owner has plans to seek damages or a replacement set of latches and as number of other components in the convertible roofs.

What is clear when you buy a set of latches you're not just buy latches you are buying the knowledge that your latches will last