Oooops. . .Hit the wrong button -
After my somewhat usual 15 minute ride home from work on the freeway (I
had noticed that the car felt a bit twitchy, like it was following the
grooves in the road, and I made a mental note to check the tires) with
moderate traffic, the 10 minute stop and go jaunt through the busy streets
of "town", I get to my driveway and as I have done hundreds of times I put
it in reverse to back into the garage and am greeted by a thunk, slight
drop, and a horribly loud screeching stop as if I had hit something! Of
course I was looking and nothing was there but I am now sticking halfway
out into the street and cannot move (thankfully not a busy one). I
immediately jump out to see what the heck has happened. As I round the
passenger side rear corner I can see the wheel is cambered right up into
the wheel well. A quick look under the car and it obvious what occurred.
The single bolt holding the lower wishbone (GT6 rotoflex setup) has either
broken or wiggled its way out and is nowhere to be found. I had obviously
fallen out prior to me entering even the side streets to my house.
Thankfully it didn't destruct on the freeway or on the busy sections of the
city as I am sure that severe damage OR WORSE would have happened. As it
were there was absolutely NO damage, and only a slight bit of undercoat
rubbed off of a few items on the frame and wheel well. . .and a slightly
shaken driver:-)
>From what I can tell, after I completed the conversion to the rotoflex
setup I had taken the car to have it aligned. Now the rear on this, as far
as the lower wishbone and camber is concerned is NOT adjustable.
Apparently, this did not sit well with whoever did the alignment and
WITHOUT consulting me decided to rectify the situation. What he did was to
enlarge the bolt holes on both sides so that now the rubber bushing and
it's sleeve could no longer bottom on metal, shoddily welded on some
washers on the outsides of the mounting bracket (I had always been slightly
annoyed and wondered why that was done, now I know) to cover up the badly
enlarged opening and provide a properly sized hole for the bolt, and since
the bolt when tightened could no longer tightly clamp the bushing sleeve
without deforming the brackets and rigidly clamping the arm in place with
metal to metal contact, he had just relied on the single nyloc nut to
retain it's position WITHOUT BEING TIGHT. It must have eventually worked
loose. Don't these individuals realize that peoples lives are at stake!!
And what really gets me is I was not even told or asked whether I minded if
the "modifications" could be done on my car!
I certainly would have said, no just leave it as it is.
This was at a *supposedly* reputable shop that all the "rodders" go to. I
will NEVER go back. And if I could prove what had happened (this was done
some time ago) would certainly advise the owner of the shop what had happened.
Needless to say that it is fixed properly now!
All I can say is I truly feel "someone" was looking out for me yesterday -
Barry Schwartz (San Diego) bschwart@pacbell.net
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