mchristyuk
Junior Member
- Messages
- 668
Gents,
Just had a frightening experience this morning. My front right hand suspension collapsed, luckily I was only doing 30mph and going dead straight. At first I thought I had a blow out.. however it quickly became evident I hadn't.
As you can see in the picture above the lower arm mounting points have ripped open.
Now in the spares box I had a second hand 4200 arm which I planned to use as a replacement... however...
If you look closely on the casting flash line there is a hairline crack developing!
I've just had a front bearing hub carrier replaced because it had developed a hairline crack... looks like this might not be an isolated problem.
On the arm that had failed (3200 arm) and the one that is showing signs of failure (4200 arm) it is the front mounting hole where it bolts to the chassis that is failing, mine tore apart as I braked. If you look at the pictures of my car you can see the front mount opened up along the flash line where as the rear was obviously ripped apart as the whole assembly swung back and was "effect" rather than "cause".
I've got her sat at the local garage and they're going to put the 4200 cracked arm on for the moment so they can at least wheel her in and get her on the ramps of the road for the Xmas period. I'm just hoping I haven't damaged anything else in there.. but won't know until it's all taken off.
They were surprised looking at both the 4200 arm and the 3200 arms how little metal there is around the bushings.
I'm wondering whether as the state of our roads become worse and worse this is going to be a bigger issue?? I'm just glad I was only doing 30mph at the time and not anything greater!
I don't want to start a "scare", but I think it's prudent to share so that others can check theirs to make sure.. better safe than sorry.
Must now change my underwear
Cheers
Mark
Just had a frightening experience this morning. My front right hand suspension collapsed, luckily I was only doing 30mph and going dead straight. At first I thought I had a blow out.. however it quickly became evident I hadn't.
As you can see in the picture above the lower arm mounting points have ripped open.
Now in the spares box I had a second hand 4200 arm which I planned to use as a replacement... however...
If you look closely on the casting flash line there is a hairline crack developing!
I've just had a front bearing hub carrier replaced because it had developed a hairline crack... looks like this might not be an isolated problem.
On the arm that had failed (3200 arm) and the one that is showing signs of failure (4200 arm) it is the front mounting hole where it bolts to the chassis that is failing, mine tore apart as I braked. If you look at the pictures of my car you can see the front mount opened up along the flash line where as the rear was obviously ripped apart as the whole assembly swung back and was "effect" rather than "cause".
I've got her sat at the local garage and they're going to put the 4200 cracked arm on for the moment so they can at least wheel her in and get her on the ramps of the road for the Xmas period. I'm just hoping I haven't damaged anything else in there.. but won't know until it's all taken off.
They were surprised looking at both the 4200 arm and the 3200 arms how little metal there is around the bushings.
I'm wondering whether as the state of our roads become worse and worse this is going to be a bigger issue?? I'm just glad I was only doing 30mph at the time and not anything greater!
I don't want to start a "scare", but I think it's prudent to share so that others can check theirs to make sure.. better safe than sorry.
Must now change my underwear
Cheers
Mark