Hi guys. Bit of a long story so I’ll try keep it brief
Young family, purchased our first motorhome Feb 2020. It’s a 2005 Kentucky camp estro 4 on a Ford. We shopped around a purchased from a big dealer in Hull. Happy to pay the extra for some reassurance. We saved hard and I sold my motorbike to pay for it
on collection I thought it looked a little dull. I thought it needs a good detail and wax and it would come up, and that a big dealer just wouldn’t do that on something they’d consider cheap
2 hour drive home. With that and the light of the next day I had some problems. The brakes were awful. I’m an ex military driver and did close protection driving for higher ranks plus off road driving. Plus I have every license going, and previously drove artics after I left the army, so I know what I’m doing. Other issues were the aircon didn’t work. The reverse light didn’t work (not bulb, it’s a gearbox sensor) two doors inside dropped. The tv arial wires are exposed. Turns out this also leaks when it rains. The barrel for the lock on the garage door falls out with the key. The leisure battery which should be new doesn’t hold voltage. The sensors for the fresh and waste water are not working. We cleaned out the fresh tank with sone puriclean and loads of brown water came out so it hadn’t been done in a while. The tv arial is so stiff to wind up and down the handle can’t cope with it and falls off. The ladder on the back outside is loose and can be pulled away from the vehicle. The outside awning light doesn’t work. Some of the blinds won’t go down. Coolant level was vbery
First time we used it a seal let us down on top of the water tank and it leaked fresh water everywhere.
Second time the coolant hose split and we lost it all but limped to safety.
It was supposed to be fully serviced and motd by a garage next door to them. It failed it’s mot I found online and then passed the same day with all the faults fixed? I have no receipt for the service or hab check despite asking many times. Worth noting in the paperwork and engineer wrote reverse lights not working, highlighted it and then obviously just left it.
initially they were ok response wise. We’d settled on them sending me a £50 cheque for the aircon regas, a starter for the awning light and a new barrel for the lock on the garage. I thought I’d accept the other faults as just part and parcel of buying an old vehicle.
So lockdown happened. We’d used it twice. I thought now is a good time to look at the paint. By the way the metal cab is immaculate, it’s just the fibreglass of the body we’re talking about.
I noticed up close there’s lots of little black/grey lines. Me and my wife just thought it’s years of little scratches, branches running down it and so on.
after a good wash I started on a small area with some t cut. Oh no! It made the marks worse. So I tried another small area with jif. This improved it I’d say about 30/40%. I did the area to the right of the door, top to bottom and then have it a coat of wax. It looked ok! The marks still visible. I looked at how long that took me and the size of the vehicle and thought maybe this is a job for a professional.
I contacted 5 places, 3 didn’t even reply. One replied and said they can’t help with no other info. Then finally a nice guy emailed back with loads of detail and info.
He explained that it’s actually the fibres showing through. It’s rare and years of sun has done it. He can’t clean it and nothing can be done other than a respray!
At first the dealer were ok ish at replying. Replies now were non existent. I did eventually get a reply from them. They at first blamed it on the pandemic? Then said bring it up and we will look. It’s a 4/5 hour round trip so I just wanted to speak to a manager first. But I’ve not heard from them now in a couple of months.
I’ve now started emailed body shops. We paid just under £20k and thought the prices have now gone up, so it’s probably worth more now in good condition. So it’s prob worth keeping and just seeing how much it will cost to do the work. No one will reply! A place in Newark did, and said they couldn’t quote me on the job? I’ve tried big companies and smaller ones. I guess they could be off work but I get the impression no one wants to get involved.
I though about wrapping or partial wrapping. These grey marks are in the sort of middle portion of the sides and the whole of the back. But it looks like your hiding something and it needs pulling off every 3 years I think.
Anyone else had this? We don’t know what to do! It’s a good motorhome, it’s dry and other than some niggles it’s a good bit of kit. It can’t surely be scrap?
I’ve attached a very close up pic of one of the worse parts. And a pic of the whole thing
cheers, andy
Young family, purchased our first motorhome Feb 2020. It’s a 2005 Kentucky camp estro 4 on a Ford. We shopped around a purchased from a big dealer in Hull. Happy to pay the extra for some reassurance. We saved hard and I sold my motorbike to pay for it
on collection I thought it looked a little dull. I thought it needs a good detail and wax and it would come up, and that a big dealer just wouldn’t do that on something they’d consider cheap
2 hour drive home. With that and the light of the next day I had some problems. The brakes were awful. I’m an ex military driver and did close protection driving for higher ranks plus off road driving. Plus I have every license going, and previously drove artics after I left the army, so I know what I’m doing. Other issues were the aircon didn’t work. The reverse light didn’t work (not bulb, it’s a gearbox sensor) two doors inside dropped. The tv arial wires are exposed. Turns out this also leaks when it rains. The barrel for the lock on the garage door falls out with the key. The leisure battery which should be new doesn’t hold voltage. The sensors for the fresh and waste water are not working. We cleaned out the fresh tank with sone puriclean and loads of brown water came out so it hadn’t been done in a while. The tv arial is so stiff to wind up and down the handle can’t cope with it and falls off. The ladder on the back outside is loose and can be pulled away from the vehicle. The outside awning light doesn’t work. Some of the blinds won’t go down. Coolant level was vbery
First time we used it a seal let us down on top of the water tank and it leaked fresh water everywhere.
Second time the coolant hose split and we lost it all but limped to safety.
It was supposed to be fully serviced and motd by a garage next door to them. It failed it’s mot I found online and then passed the same day with all the faults fixed? I have no receipt for the service or hab check despite asking many times. Worth noting in the paperwork and engineer wrote reverse lights not working, highlighted it and then obviously just left it.
initially they were ok response wise. We’d settled on them sending me a £50 cheque for the aircon regas, a starter for the awning light and a new barrel for the lock on the garage. I thought I’d accept the other faults as just part and parcel of buying an old vehicle.
So lockdown happened. We’d used it twice. I thought now is a good time to look at the paint. By the way the metal cab is immaculate, it’s just the fibreglass of the body we’re talking about.
I noticed up close there’s lots of little black/grey lines. Me and my wife just thought it’s years of little scratches, branches running down it and so on.
after a good wash I started on a small area with some t cut. Oh no! It made the marks worse. So I tried another small area with jif. This improved it I’d say about 30/40%. I did the area to the right of the door, top to bottom and then have it a coat of wax. It looked ok! The marks still visible. I looked at how long that took me and the size of the vehicle and thought maybe this is a job for a professional.
I contacted 5 places, 3 didn’t even reply. One replied and said they can’t help with no other info. Then finally a nice guy emailed back with loads of detail and info.
He explained that it’s actually the fibres showing through. It’s rare and years of sun has done it. He can’t clean it and nothing can be done other than a respray!
At first the dealer were ok ish at replying. Replies now were non existent. I did eventually get a reply from them. They at first blamed it on the pandemic? Then said bring it up and we will look. It’s a 4/5 hour round trip so I just wanted to speak to a manager first. But I’ve not heard from them now in a couple of months.
I’ve now started emailed body shops. We paid just under £20k and thought the prices have now gone up, so it’s probably worth more now in good condition. So it’s prob worth keeping and just seeing how much it will cost to do the work. No one will reply! A place in Newark did, and said they couldn’t quote me on the job? I’ve tried big companies and smaller ones. I guess they could be off work but I get the impression no one wants to get involved.
I though about wrapping or partial wrapping. These grey marks are in the sort of middle portion of the sides and the whole of the back. But it looks like your hiding something and it needs pulling off every 3 years I think.
Anyone else had this? We don’t know what to do! It’s a good motorhome, it’s dry and other than some niggles it’s a good bit of kit. It can’t surely be scrap?
I’ve attached a very close up pic of one of the worse parts. And a pic of the whole thing
cheers, andy
Just keep doing the bits you can one job at a time. Firstly make sure the van is watertight ( that bike rack sounds dodgy- needs sealing and fixing securely) last thing you need is damp inside so check all rooflights etc and make sure they are sealed. Sounds like you need a respray but even this can be done by yourself to a good standard if you have equipment and somewhere dry for a couple of hundred quid. I have done a couple of vans on my drive on hot still summers day's 
for myself and they turned out decent. Not up to a 2/3k plus job but well good
