Pothole misery!!!

Any issues relating to suspension, steering and brakes.

Pothole misery!!!

by CallyRed » Mon Mar 16, 2009 5:23 pm

As above, recently hit a large pothole which I think has done more damage than I thought. First off it bent my front wheel so bad I needed a whole new set (the alloys were no longer in production).

So I purchased and fitted new alloys (17's). The steerin was very bad constantly pulling one way or another and had a constant left hand drift. I put the drift down to one of the front tyres being nearly bald and the other being nearly new but the left to right pulling was very worrying. Weekend just gone I replaced the track rod ends and re-tracked which has improved it but still have a bit of drift and this strange pulling going on, it's not constant but it's there.

Also on when turning to full lock it gets half way and then the steering just pulls itself to full lock, which ever way your turning. Also had a knocking/clunking sound (just one clunk) which I thought to be the l/h track rod end when stationery and going right full lock to left full lock but again it wasn't constant.

After changing track rod ends, the knock/clunk is still present (weekend of swearing and trying to move siezed rod ends for nothing then!). Steering also feels very light like the wheels are barely touching the ground. Lots of torque steer when pulling away too both left and right.

So what next, should I replace the rack or is it more likely to be suspension component or a wishbone.

Thanks for any info guys.

Andy

P.S. Car is '92 Cally Redtop.
Last edited by CallyRed on Mon Mar 16, 2009 5:47 pm, edited 1 time in total.
CallyRed
 

Re: Pothole misery!!!

by vinny_69 » Mon Mar 16, 2009 5:28 pm

have you checked your droplinks n lower arms?
vinny_69
 

Re: Pothole misery!!!

by CallyRed » Mon Mar 16, 2009 5:45 pm

Passenger drop link is brand new, drivers one looks a bit fubarred but is still attached. Lower arms/wishbones appear to be ok, but not really sure what to look for in terms of damage, the rubbers all appear ok.

Andy
CallyRed
 

Re: Pothole misery!!!

by vinny_69 » Mon Mar 16, 2009 6:01 pm

age means nothing mate if its gonna snap its gonna snap and
why is it i can never find one of me pics when i need one :roll:

jack the front end up,remove the wheels
give the hub a bit of aggro (moving it up down etc)
there are two bolts attaching the wishbone to the car the one pointing up into the footwell is a 16mm iirc----hows that looking?
and the other bolt is facing the front of the car- are all the bolts still on?

if everything is ok its either you rack,topmount,drive shaft

or maybe two wheel nuts have fallen off :oops:(long story)
vinny_69
 

Re: Pothole misery!!!

by CallyRed » Mon Mar 16, 2009 6:13 pm

Ok Vinny I'll check the wishbone bolts tonight and give the hubs some aggro at weekend. I'm thinking either top mounts/bearings, wishbones or rack (hoping not rack or top mounts tho as both are an arse to sort).

Also have a long story involving wheel bolts, all 4 of 'em not being where they should be!

As a last resort maybe I could pop it over to you to have a gander at/test drive if your about, Luton aint too far from Harlow after all.

Andy
CallyRed
 

Re: Pothole misery!!!

by vinny_69 » Mon Mar 16, 2009 6:29 pm

if all else fails bring it over mate :D providing you have a good set of tools as mine are w***
vinny_69
 

Re: Pothole misery!!!

by tazz666 » Mon Mar 16, 2009 8:34 pm

check the spring as it may of broke or it has dislodged itself from the seat :D
tazz666
 

Re: Pothole misery!!!

by CallyRed » Fri Mar 20, 2009 7:45 pm

Sorted! Kind of anyway. Passnger wishbone was bent so got new one (£20) fitted and has helped a lot but still wandering a bit and pulling. Will get tyres replaced and tracking done and then hopefully all will be well again.

Andy
CallyRed
 

Re: Pothole misery!!!

by vinny_69 » Fri Mar 20, 2009 8:01 pm

when you took the wheel off what was the inside wall of the hoop like?

did it have a lump?
vinny_69
 

Re: Pothole misery!!!

by VII CKS » Sun Mar 22, 2009 10:05 am

Hmm, what about the track rod ends?
VII CKS
 

Re: Pothole misery!!!

by CallyRed » Sun Mar 22, 2009 3:48 pm

vinny_69:
"when you took the wheel off what was the inside wall of the hoop like?

did it have a lump?"

Inside wall of what hoop? Lump?


VII CKS:

Replaced both track rod ends with brand new items.

Got a feeling either top mount or rack is at fault, still getting a quiet knock on occasion from pass side and rack is now macking an intermittent "rubbing" sound as though the track arms bolts are rubbing on the bulkhead but not all the time mainly when coasting and sometimes when idling (only when turning the wheel) but not when power is on.

Andy
CallyRed
 

Re: Pothole misery!!!

by vinny_69 » Sun Mar 22, 2009 4:18 pm

with an impact hard enough to f**k a wishbone the tyre might develop a bulge in the inside walll worth checking bud :D
vinny_69
 

Re: Pothole misery!!!

by vinny_69 » Sun Mar 22, 2009 4:42 pm

like so

Image
vinny_69
 

Re: Pothole misery!!!

by CallyRed » Wed Mar 25, 2009 11:07 am

Wheels have been changed since the impact as that was exactly what happened to my alloy. I think the rack has suffered some internal damage. It feels like the track rods are going in separate directions then seem to sort itself out for a while then go funny again, and so on and so on and I'm still getting a knock the very first time I turn the wheel from starting the car and then no noises after that apart from the strange rubbing noise I mentioned earlier.

Now here a weird thing, I parked up last nighyt after driving home and the wheels were noticably out of alignment, drivers side was str8 and passenger side was turning right.

Drove to work this morning, parked up and both wheels are str8. Something is defo not right/bent/broken but I don't wanna start replacing racks and top mounts and stuff just to find the problem still remains.

Andy
CallyRed
 

Re: Pothole misery!!!

by vinny_69 » Wed Mar 25, 2009 5:20 pm

it does sound like your top mount bearing has broke up mate :alright:
vinny_69
 

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