Hi! Looking to buy 406SV manual

[madandy]

Hi all,

I am new to french flair ownership having only ever driven a 205GTi 1.9 and my mum in laws 309GTi. My Euro ownership taste has only been in the form of a E36 328iM sedan and a Mk IV GTi Golf (eeewwww!)
I've had a stream of fast & not so fast machines from the 'Land of The Rising Sun' though.
I'm currently building a 1990 HP10 Nissan Primera for circuit duties as it's been a while between track outings and using the family road car has become an excercise in futility since the family actually became reality a couple of years back 

Now I'm looking to a 4 owner 1998 406 SV manual sedan. Beautiful in wine red with a dealer fitted lowering kit and 17" wheels. The car has done 174,000kms and the owner reports the only faults to be some stone chips to the wheels and a lightly scuffed lower front lip from entering harsh driveways, car being lowered & all. A sound from the rear he beleives to be either a bent wheel (WTF?) or a wheel bearing on its way out...
He states the V6 runs very well & has been well cared for, the clutch was replaced recently and all electrics work as intended. He has some service records from his ownership period.

here it is on Trademe: http://www.trademe.co.nz/Browse/Listing.aspx?id=213494417

Please no-on steal her from under me - I've begun negotiations with the seller already, 

Is there a particular issue(s) with this model to be aware of?
I'm planning to check it over later this week and hope its good enough to take home.
I'm mechanically capable though a little gun-shy of more technical things lie engine control computers etc.

cheers all,
Andy

[madandy]

A funky sound? How did it drive? moremoremore please 
I'll be going over it with a fine tooth combe now you say its been listed so long!

[madandy]

He's sitting really firm at $5200...do you think that's fair?
I bet a cam belt, tensioner etc can be bought for less that $1200. I'll change that myself if that's the going rate for a Pug Mechanic. Can't be harder than a V6 Nissan.

Would you guess the rear end issue is an out-of-round wheel? Dunno what the scraping would be though? Bent brake rotor? How was it at higher pace?

[madandy]

Yes that's the picture forming in my head.
He's stated the tyre out of round due to sitting unmoved for ages and admitted the wheel is indeed bent.
I will fit the spare and test it out. He's been pretty honest after I Cut & pasted the gory details of your earlier reply 

I'd rather not do a wheel bearing driving home only just more than I'd rather not replace the wretched thing before taking it down the road! 

[CaM]

careful coz it couldn've spun up on the stub axle and ruined it....

tsw wheel go out of round all the time. from memory this has tsw17s doesn't it? can't see the ad at work.....

tyres don't go out of round when sitting, definitely not 17s with lo pros. may truck tyres or vintage stuff but i've never experienced it. I had an hq that sat for years and didn't have flatspots. same with my id19.

[madandy]

yeah TSW VX1's. 17". I really liked them back in the mid '90s 
I better check the offending bearing carefully. Think I'll take it to a mates workshop straight away to replace the bearing if that's the issue, then its a safe drive home - should I take the car.

I had to wonder about the tyre out of round bit...it happens all the time with some of the machinery I've operated over the years but yea, as for cars, I cant think of a time I've noticed it - even in the 1957 Rover 2000 (that sat for years with half deflated tyres) I learnt to drive in.

[madandy]

Ok so I took the car after careful consideration...the rear end is 100% fine & dandy with all geometry well within serivce limits & alignment specs. The bearing is fine and the wheel is just a little out of round. No grinding or squeaking. FULL service history since new. Put her on a mates hoist and checked everything out thoroughly. One inner CV boot to replace. One little PS leak to remedy and a cam belt to do. That's $340+gst from Tauranga Peugeot for the part. NSK or is it SKF, I forget which right now do a kit for around $700 if I choose to replace any of the tensioner/pullies & Peugeot use these exact bearings in their own OEM kit.

The car drove very well on the return trip, handling Karangahape Gorge with ease at pace and seeing the high side of the velocity indicator. All electrics work, its very comfortable and overall the car is in excellent condition bar the front end stone markings that are just part & parcel with a car that has spent its life on NZ's highways.

Engine torque & fuel economy are just a little worse than our E36 328i manual sedan but it does have more interior space and actually feels tighter & better built than the BMW did.

I must say I'm pretty impressed with this French saloon car