Got Too Much Negative Camber y0 (Hit the Curb)!

danza said:
After hearing from the garage (actually, I had to phone them last Thursday), I found out that they were awaiting delivery of the subframe last Friday. They said they'd call me either Monday or yesterday to confirm progress, which they didn't.

I called them today and was informed that it is being dropped off tomorrow. I really, really hope it's straight and nothing untoward shows up in terms of iffy handling. I can't believe it's been 2 months!

I'll probably update tomorrow after a hoon.
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I understand your pain, mine took 3 and a half months in the end!! One thing to do is get the alignment checked, mine wasnt right to start off with. The garage had set it up within Hondas spec, but because there are tollerences either way I had the NSF wheel toeing out and OSF toeing in, resulting in it pulling to one side. Once they rectified this it sorted it out and now drives as good as ever. Going to get adjustable camber arms and camber bolts fitted soon, along with the thicker JDM rear anti roll bar, and take it to Revolution in Gateshead to get a fast road set up on it. Cant wait as it should make a big difference to the way the car handles, and hopefully help me get down nearer the 9 min mark round the Nurburgring this year :cool:
 
Thanks for the comments guys!

It's back, but I *think* it pulls to the right, albeit very slightly. It seems to be slightly easier to turn the wheel the first few degrees to the right than left, and seems to want to re-center easier when going from left to straight than right to straight. I'll have another drive later/tomorrow to confirm, but I think I'll have to take it back.

Bottoms.
 
The car was collected by the repairer on Friday.

They've since looked at the car, found that the rear was out of alignment with the front, and have adjusted it (although to me this does not explain why it was effectively steering itself to the right when allowed to do so, and driving straight ahead with the wheel centered). I've been told that it was fine on the road test, after which I was asked 'what it was the car was doing again'.

I was told it's best to drive the car for a week to see how it behaves, and if there are still issues that it might be necessary for them/myself to take it to be laser-aligned.

I have very little confidence that this will be sorted any time soon.

Maybe, just maybe it'll be okay though. Maybe.
 
The car was still pulling right after receiving it back last week. It was a lot better, but still quite bad on straight, flat bits of fast road.

I called the repairer, and they eventually came to collect the car a day later than when they said they would (yesterday). It was taken to somewhere in Worthing and checked on a better setup, where they found it (the alignment) was indeed still out, and there's nothing that can be done without replacing MORE suspension bits.

I was called by a tech at the repairer who said that the newly found damage was on the opposite side of the car (NS), and he asked if the car had hit on the kurb on this side as well. I've told them at least half a dozen times that my wife slid across the road after the initial impact, and thinks she could've bounced into the kerb on the other side of the road before coming to rest. From day one I forced to them that I wanted them to have a damn good look at all the suspension to make sure it was ok. Maybe they did and just missed it due to it not being too severe?

Anyway, it looks like it's going to need at least another shock (at least it'll mean I have a matched pair, not one on the way out and one brand new), and a steering knuckle too. This is all subject to the approval of the engineer (and he'd better approve it!).

For now though, I've been given a 2006 Ford Ka 1.3 which is positively the worst car I remember sitting in, let alone drving!
 
Ah that sucks, I know how much of a hassle I had with mine :(

But at least you'll have pretty much complete new suspension up front so it should be spot on once its eventually fixed. Still haven't replaced the drivers side shock on mine as, like yours, the insurance only replaced one.
 
i'd be getting annoyed at this, they can either straighten it or they can't.

i would be a bit miffed them missing bits.... well needing to replace a whole shock absorber unless you have more details?

i mean, if its pulling to the right its not fixed. why give it back to the customer? ask someone who doesn't have nerve damage to drive it next time.
 
Yeah it's a right PITA. At least they left me with a courtesy car though.

All I know is what I was told on the phone yesterday, and that was that it needed the aforementioned bits to put it right (they were bent). They didn't explain why their alignment figures were within tolerance but the car still pulled, but I imagine if an angle is allowed to be +/- 45 minutes, and it's + 45 one side and - 45 the other, that's going to cause it to do something it shouldn't.

I'm not that annoyed by it at the moment, at least they're playing ball and actively(ish) doing something about it!

I don't know how they managed to miss the fact it was pulling to the right as they'd driven it 25 miles for 'testing'. Perhaps the road test didn't involve any long, flat A-roads or something? Maybe I'm being too soft on them!
 
It's back and as good/better that ever. \o/

They fitted a new lower arm, shock, hub assy and bearing on the OS on top of all the bits they fitted on the NS. So basically I have a complete new set of front suspension components, which I'll probably never have to worry about changing in the time I own the car.

The total bill from the garage was £2,433. Not far off a £3k claim after the hire car from Enterprise is taken into consideration, and probably not all that far off write off territory(?).

Anyway, it's good to have the old beast back. I forgot how awesome 8,200RPM sounded. :cool:
 
danza said:
Well it's a bit late now. It's being done through the insurance, simply because I was unsure of how much damage there was.

If it's below the £500 excess, we'll be picking up the bill and cancelling the claim anyway. Live, learn and all that.
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what a wise decision that turned out to be !

glad its all worked out for you mate :)
 
Dogbreath said:
Unless it snows next winter :)
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Enough of that! Her indoors won't be allowed anywhere near the CTR if there's any snow/the likelihood of snow! Although the rear suspension components are getting on a bit now...:D

MrLOL said:
what a wise decision that turned out to be !

glad its all worked out for you mate :)
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Cheers. I'm chuffed it's finally over, and that the end result was good!

Jonnybmac said:
Honda are a rip off. I remember getting charged something like £10 for a little bolt from honda
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My ex-local Honda service center seemed just about the most expensive in the UK. I paid £444 for a job that would've cost at least £100 less at any other dealership (which at the time would've been impossible to get the car to). Their Type R tax rate was ridiculous! Thankfully they're no longer in existence, and I've found cheaper/more reliable local mechanics.
 
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