Well the car is not very well today.
I was on the A38 and the lorry in front of me drove over a kerbstone that passed between it's wheels. Too late for me, I drove over it at 40mph with the front and back near side wheels.
It was an almightly bang but it then drove pretty much ok, but the steering wheel is turned to the left when your going straight.
I pulled up to see what damage was done. Niether tyres are flat but the front tyre now has a big egg on the side and the position of the wheel did'nt seem right.
So I gently drove to Marshalls who checked it out. I don't know how, but niether of the wheels are buckled they are as straight as a die.
But I have managed to bend either the strut or the knuckle, the steering arm is also has a little bend. So the end result is that the tracking of the wheels is spot on with all four wheels pointing perfectly forward, but the top of the front wheel is in further than it should be (7 degrees to be exact).
A new knuckle retails at £256, and you will need a new wheel bearing assembly as well at £170ish. I figured this ain't going to be cheap.
I rang a Vauxhall breakers to see if they had anything, and they have a 58 plate rear ended Vectra 1.9 CDTi Design, £45 + VAT he said for the complete leg, so I bit his arm off! The only problem there is that the ident for the damper is not correct, mine is FF, so another call to Marshalls and a correct FF ident strut and steering arm on order for a total of £75ish inc VAT.
Also a new pair of Avon ZZ3's for the front should be here in the next couple of days. My current ones have just 3.5mm so it just means they are being replaced a little early.
So that was my day!
Bookmarks