View Full Version : Shoddy work
Hi guys,
Had a really bad experience lately with the lugnum and thought it best to share so others can avoid.
Mitsubishi Canterbury.
This garage used to be ralliart but has since lost this status. But for some reason they are not telling anyone when you book a car in for work to be done.
They had my car for five weeks as there was a major issue with the abs. The car drove like a beast; Any slight corner it would flick the back end round and was borderline undrivable.
Anyway, they got me to buy a part (they wanted 750 quid for it) which I managed to get from here much cheaper (thanks Carlos).
Turns out this didn't fix the problem. In the end they gave up and told me to come and pick the car up explaining 'I should take the car to a ralliart garage.' :furious4: great..
It's been at another garage for 2 days who have told me the nearside suspension top arm (sorry, not sure of the right name) is snapped and I should consider myself lucky not to have crashed. How on earth did the other garage miss this and let me drive such an unsafe car? The mind boggles..
This is gonna be so expensive to sort out. Oh well, hope you got some more parts for me carlos.
ritch_w
16-03-2010, 01:35 PM
did u have to pay Mists canterbury anything?
if so - get letter writing and contact CAB too.
Ghost_2008
16-03-2010, 01:45 PM
Also they have endangered you by making you pick up the car (which I assume you drove away?) in a dangerous condition......
I'm sure this needs to reported to a higher authority.....
Davezj
16-03-2010, 01:59 PM
you should be able to get a top wishbone if it is item that has snapped, quite cheaply from some of the guys breaking cars on here. not too much to worry about on the cost front.
steelie600
16-03-2010, 02:06 PM
First rule of mechanicing.
If there is a handling issue, all mechanical suspension components must be inspected and tested thoroughly!!
to me either the guy checking the car is a muppet or they just werent interested. Not to say i would have picked it up, there may be a reason why it wasnt picked up, but i doubt it.
Can we have a picture of the wishbone in situ as it stands at the min so we can just try and see why it was missed??
MarkSanne
16-03-2010, 02:12 PM
this you mean?
uploaded/1887/1268745131.jpg
crazyken76
16-03-2010, 02:22 PM
cowboys comes to mind , if i was you i would take this to the trade and standards and get ye money back .
Davezj
16-03-2010, 02:24 PM
whats with the rubber strap for, is it holding the caliper when unbolted.
Spring look the same width all the way up is it aftermarket spring, or is it facelift.
top wishbone looks a bit different to mine if i remember rightly. is it an original or aftermarket replacement. or it could just be a funny angle of the picture.
MarkSanne
16-03-2010, 02:29 PM
Dave, I simply stole this picture as a reference. It's not a picture of d3x car. :)
Davezj
16-03-2010, 02:34 PM
i thought it might have been your car.
In the process of contacting trading standards now. They seemed quite shocked this has happened.
I really don't understand how they missed this. I'm no mechanic but the the guy that looked at it in the second garage said the first thing he was gonna check was the suspension arms. hmmm
Rich, yeah I did. They did a service, apparently. But they didn't check the diff oil as I asked so I'm going to try to get that money back.
I had to drive it to Hounslow last week which ended up a 220 mile round trip. And all the time with a floppy rear wheel. Obviously wasn't my time to go then..
I'll get some pictures sorted out.
cheers guys,
Col
crazyken76
17-03-2010, 03:19 PM
good luck hope you get your money back and some extra
The Vee
17-03-2010, 07:02 PM
Not heard of this happening before normally. If possible, could you get some pics up to show the break and when off the car also.
Obviously as these cars get older they will be subject to more and more wear and fatigue. One of the best features of CVR4 is the gathering of info all about these cars. While this maybe a one off it is also useful as a check for others incase of any signs appearing on theirs. These are after all high performance cars and anything brought to light is worth checking........thanks in advance
Not heard of this happening before normally. If possible, could you get some pics up to show the break and when off the car also.
Obviously as these cars get older they will be subject to more and more wear and fatigue. One of the best features of CVR4 is the gathering of info all about these cars. While this maybe a one off it is also useful as a check for others incase of any signs appearing on theirs. These are after all high performance cars and anything brought to light is worth checking........thanks in advance
Will do Mr V. The garage have offered to put the car up on the ramp tomorrow so I can get some pictures. Should be interesting to see just how close I must have come to disaster.
Nick Mann
19-03-2010, 12:03 PM
I'm also interested. I've never heard of that component failing - it's not one I've paid close attention to before. I'd like to see where/how it fails so I can check cars better in the future -got to learn from others mistakes as well as your own!
I'm glad you are okay! A dealer should have the facilities to do a proper job really - they certainly charge enough!
Subaru ETA
22-03-2010, 12:36 AM
thats pretty average missing something as obvious like that....by what you are explaining it would stand out like dogs balls.
also in that pic it looks like the nut is still loose so i would suggest that the rubber strap is being used to the kuckle part up so that the nut can be tightened
That wasn't a pic of my car dude...
Right. Went down to the garage to get some pics; I felt a tad sick when I saw it.
The first pic show's the break. How obvious does it have to be? The main part was swinging around like no bodies business. As you can see, it was quite a major part to fail as the wheel can be moved around. How about that, a legnum with three wheel steer!
No wonder it would drift at 8 mph.
miller
23-03-2010, 03:16 PM
AFAIK thats the standard bottom ball joint failure!
That Mitsubishi dealership should now be shot with even more bullets as this is a common problem on all Galants and Legnums
AFAIK thats the standard bottom ball joint failure!
I drove three hundred miles with it like that... Can't believe how lucky I was.
miller
23-03-2010, 03:19 PM
I drove three hundred miles with it like that... Can't believe how lucky I was.
Pick me 7 numbers between 1 and 49 please :greedy:
Have a read here, this is what happens next......
http://www.clubvr4.com/forum/showthread.php?t=38715&highlight=ball+joint+failure
and here
http://www.clubvr4.com/forum/showthread.php?t=46750&highlight=lower+ball+joint
and here
http://www.clubvr4.com/forum/showthread.php?t=44169&highlight=lower+ball+joint
peter thomson
23-03-2010, 03:23 PM
That's a rear arm Mike. Not the usual front one
miller
23-03-2010, 03:25 PM
DOh!
That will teach me to scan read.
elnevio
23-03-2010, 03:25 PM
I'd say that's the REAR one. Probably explains the lack of total disaster.
However, no excuse whatsoever for it being missed. /pan
yeah guys, passenger side rear.
At one point on the motor way I hit 90. :censored:
If any of you know the M20 near junction 8, you'll know about the hilly bit with the very uneven tarmac. I slowed right down but still ended up on the grass as I had zero control. Since then I only drove it to the new garage..
The Vee
23-03-2010, 04:48 PM
Thanks for posting the pics. Glad you did as it's not what I thought it was from your description but it is equally important. That must have been absolutely horrendous to drive, Thank God you got away unscathed. Unless at sometime in the past it's had a serious thump one way or another, it's probably fatigued and broken off - is the ball joint seized?
Turbo_Steve
23-03-2010, 11:56 PM
MEIN GOTTTT!
Every time I meet you, I am going to rub your head for luck!
AlanDITD
24-03-2010, 12:01 AM
MEIN GOTTTT!
Every time I meet you, I am going to rub your head for luck!
your a married man steve!
Thanks for posting the pics. Glad you did as it's not what I thought it was from your description but it is equally important. That must have been absolutely horrendous to drive, Thank God you got away unscathed. Unless at sometime in the past it's had a serious thump one way or another, it's probably fatigued and broken off - is the ball joint seized?
Ah sorry, I didn't really know how to describe it. The ball joint moves about with no hindrance.
MEIN GOTTTT!
Every time I meet you, I am going to rub your head for luck!
lol, you're not the only one to have said that..
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