Engineers' Metallurgists' Opinions, please.
Discussion
Hello all,
This is a bit of a curious one.
It concerns a friend's web site that has the story of the writing off of his lease car. As the car's manufacturer is U.S.-based and likely
to sue, the site bears no I.D. and the make anjd model of the car have been disguised.
My mate's chasing up the matter so any expert opinion and/or comments would be very welcome.
Thanks.
http://blind999.wix.com/mysite-1
This is a bit of a curious one.
It concerns a friend's web site that has the story of the writing off of his lease car. As the car's manufacturer is U.S.-based and likely
to sue, the site bears no I.D. and the make anjd model of the car have been disguised.
My mate's chasing up the matter so any expert opinion and/or comments would be very welcome.
Thanks.
http://blind999.wix.com/mysite-1
The only advice I can give is it reads as the rantings of a nutter and doesn't help his case at all, the spelling is poor and doesn't help, it also doesn't really lay out what he hopes to achieve.
I assume (and people reading it shouldn't have to make assumptions) that post accident he wants the manufacturer to pay for all the repairs instead of the insurance? Or possibly he's just wanting to whistleblow and make a song and dance about it? It's not easy to see what the car is so I'd say he's probably safe from being sued but it's reasonable to assume that this was a freak occurrence, I haven't heard of any major manufacturers (Vauxhall/Ford at a guess) cars suffering "apocolyptic (sp) bangs" whilst going down the road.
I assume (and people reading it shouldn't have to make assumptions) that post accident he wants the manufacturer to pay for all the repairs instead of the insurance? Or possibly he's just wanting to whistleblow and make a song and dance about it? It's not easy to see what the car is so I'd say he's probably safe from being sued but it's reasonable to assume that this was a freak occurrence, I haven't heard of any major manufacturers (Vauxhall/Ford at a guess) cars suffering "apocolyptic (sp) bangs" whilst going down the road.
It reads as if he's accustomed to thumping a speed bump at 20mph every day (surprising if he has got a bad back so I might be wrong).
If the lower ball joint has broken I'd bet that was the original cause as from experience they're usually fine until the suspension unloads then they pop out and your car turns into a sled.
Perhaps it should have started clonking first before it failed catastrophically, but thumping speed bumps is a good way to knacker them
If the lower ball joint has broken I'd bet that was the original cause as from experience they're usually fine until the suspension unloads then they pop out and your car turns into a sled.
Perhaps it should have started clonking first before it failed catastrophically, but thumping speed bumps is a good way to knacker them
Snapped suspension on a car thats only a couple of months old !
No control from riding over a speed bump at 20mph followed by a collapse of suspension and the wheel/tyre locking into the wheel arch and wing ?
This does not sound very plausible to me .
At that low speed this sort of collapse will stop a car in a couple of feet.
I would suggest that the speeds involved prior to the failure were substantially higher and repeated impacts will cause a failure .
Or he lost control after hitting the speed bump and the damage was the result of hitting the parked car .
I feel there is more to this than we are being told .
No control from riding over a speed bump at 20mph followed by a collapse of suspension and the wheel/tyre locking into the wheel arch and wing ?
This does not sound very plausible to me .
At that low speed this sort of collapse will stop a car in a couple of feet.
I would suggest that the speeds involved prior to the failure were substantially higher and repeated impacts will cause a failure .
Or he lost control after hitting the speed bump and the damage was the result of hitting the parked car .
I feel there is more to this than we are being told .
Nearly all Motability cars should be autos. Odd that this is a manual? Having a bad back to the point at which a Motability car is necessary would suggest an auto would be 110% essential - last thing you want is to have to operate a clutch pedal. Friend of mine only just qualified for his car (I took him to his points assessment) and he can't walk more than 50 yards, if that.
And if you have a bad back eligible for the higher rate DLA, you'd be taking speed bumps veeeery slowly .... so how the car has trashed a parked car and then veered across to the opposite side of the road after the impact from an initial speed of 20mph defies the laws of physics.
As already said above, if a ball joint goes or suspension fails, the wheel goes up into the arch and wedges itself solid acting as a brake. Car stops pretty much instantly at 20-30mph, and would certainly stop dead if it clipped a parked car.
That alloy would have had a tyre round it - but from the pic it looks like a motorway speed impact or a full-on pavement attack. I've hit a kerbstone dumped in the road at a solid 30mph, wrecked a tyre, and driven home on the spare... and then had geo checked.
Very weird - but I am not a metallurgist
And if you have a bad back eligible for the higher rate DLA, you'd be taking speed bumps veeeery slowly .... so how the car has trashed a parked car and then veered across to the opposite side of the road after the impact from an initial speed of 20mph defies the laws of physics.
As already said above, if a ball joint goes or suspension fails, the wheel goes up into the arch and wedges itself solid acting as a brake. Car stops pretty much instantly at 20-30mph, and would certainly stop dead if it clipped a parked car.
That alloy would have had a tyre round it - but from the pic it looks like a motorway speed impact or a full-on pavement attack. I've hit a kerbstone dumped in the road at a solid 30mph, wrecked a tyre, and driven home on the spare... and then had geo checked.
Very weird - but I am not a metallurgist
davhill said:
Hello all,
This is a bit of a curious one.
It concerns a friend's web site that has the story of the writing off of his lease car. As the car's manufacturer is U.S.-based and likely
to sue, the site bears no I.D. and the make anjd model of the car have been disguised.
My mate's chasing up the matter so any expert opinion and/or comments would be very welcome.
Thanks.
http://blind999.wix.com/mysite-1
I shouldn't do this, but I guess we all do a bit of it. Anyway, did your friend previously have a Scirocco Motability car and failed back surgery?This is a bit of a curious one.
It concerns a friend's web site that has the story of the writing off of his lease car. As the car's manufacturer is U.S.-based and likely
to sue, the site bears no I.D. and the make anjd model of the car have been disguised.
My mate's chasing up the matter so any expert opinion and/or comments would be very welcome.
Thanks.
http://blind999.wix.com/mysite-1
http://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&a...
Anyhoo, it's none of my business.
As you were.
Edited by SHutchinson on Monday 7th March 11:43
SHutchinson said:
I shouldn't do this, but I guess we all do a bit of it. Anyway, did your friend previously have a Scirocco Motability car and failed back surgery?
http://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&a...
Anyhoo, it's none of my business.
As you were.
From looking at some ebay shots of some Scirocco suspension and comparing to the photos on the website, this certainly wasn't a Scoricco.http://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&a...
Anyhoo, it's none of my business.
As you were.
Edited by SHutchinson on Monday 7th March 11:43
EddyP said:
From looking at some ebay shots of some Scirocco suspension and comparing to the photos on the website, this certainly wasn't a Scoricco.
Maybe I didn't make my post obvious enough. The friend that the OP speaks of is clearly the OP himself. As this is the case, the OP is in a position to give us a lot more info about his smashing over speed bumps in his motability car.
The photo that would provide the most information is also the worst one of the lot, the close up of the failed arm.
IMO the factor of safety on a suspension arm is going to be huge, the likely hood of a defective part making it to production is remote, therefore I'd be inclined to think there was an external factor involved.
IMO the factor of safety on a suspension arm is going to be huge, the likely hood of a defective part making it to production is remote, therefore I'd be inclined to think there was an external factor involved.
Megaflow said:
The photo that would provide the most information is also the worst one of the lot, the close up of the failed arm.
IMO the factor of safety on a suspension arm is going to be huge, the likely hood of a defective part making it to production is remote, therefore I'd be inclined to think there was an external factor involved.
Exactly. It needs to be really clear. This is the key to the evidence here. With that clear photo it will be obvious the cause of the failure. IMO the factor of safety on a suspension arm is going to be huge, the likely hood of a defective part making it to production is remote, therefore I'd be inclined to think there was an external factor involved.
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