As part of my future restoration project, I’m looking into options for my seriously corroded wishbones. They look to be in fairly bad condition to me, so for peace of mind I’m considering replacing them (£££’s)…
Potential options:
Referb - e.g. Shot Blast - Zinc Coat - POR-15 (possibly too far gone?)
Replace - e.g. Standard Wishbones + POR-15 https://www.eliseparts.com/products/show/73/1525/complete-set-of-8-wishbones/
Upgrade - e.g. CDS Wishbones https://www.eliseparts.com/products/show/73/738/cds-left-front-upper-wishbone/
Any other options and advice please…
I’d be inclined to get a wire brush around them first to remove dirt, loose corrosion, etc. That will allow you to get a better idea of what the underlying metal is like. After that you can then decide whether they will be okay refurbished or whether they need replacing.
If you choose to replace, then either of the options you’ve listed would be fine. Looking at prices, the CDS ones are not really any different in price from OE spec, so might be the better option.
I’m always astonished of the amount of corrosion that can be found on British cars 
My suggestion would be to get them carefully shot blasted and see how bad the pitting is. If it is too bad get better OEM ones (second hand).
That’s what I did with the rear wishbones on my car:
- shot blasted and zinc coated (silver coloured, the original yellow chromate was no longer available)
- 1K Epoxy primer (rattle can)
- 2K satin black coating (rattle can)
The 2K paint has proofed to be very durable and doesn’t chips off lightly. I did use Por15 on other occasions and it is not easy to get a nice surface.
The blasting and coating is not very expensive and you can just give it a try.
Why would you like to strengthen up the wishbones above the OEM design? The ‘soft’ wishbones help to protect the chassis from damage if you hit something with the front wheels.
Klaus
I agree. I think you’ll be pleasantly surprised with how good they’ll come up after shot blasting. Them and everything else for that matter .
Thanks for the advice, I’ll certainly have them blasted and I’m sure they’ll turn out looking nice. However, I still think it’s going to be difficult to confirm exactly how much the corrosion may have compromised their structural integrity. Apparently they can rust from the inside too, so could be significantly thinner/weaker in places!
Maybe I’m just overthinking things… 
Honestly mine were just as bad. I know you’ve already seen it but…
Jonny, your Exige pictures are a true treasure. I just discovered the oil cooler pictures on the link above. As I still need to re-fit the oil cooler on my car thye are really helpful.
Do you remember what size of line fittings you used for the new oil cooler lines?
Cheers Jonny, I’ve lost count of how many hours I’ve spent looking at your spectacular build threads/photos!
Hopefully restoring my wishbones will save £££’s towards other upgrades (GT-Uprights, 4-pots, Spitfire Toe Links etc.).
Must stop researching unnecessary upgrades…
Make sure you post lots of images 
Klaus I’ll get back to you…
I totally forgot to ask Klaus, will check in tomorrow.
A good shot blast should sort them out, if you do go down the route of replacing I have heard that Racefab do some very nice T45 replacement arms for reasonable price
Fingers crossed, although those RaceFab wishbones do look tempting at just over £1100 (incl. powder coating)…
