Front top wishbones breaking/collapsing?
Discussion
Has anyone ever had this happen before?
Brands Indy trackday, had a top laugh - met tiff needel, drove the Cerb a fair bit, got more confident with it and then had the front top right wish bone sort of collapse.
Still a superb day, great track - easily the most I've pushed a Cerb and it was great fun to go porsche hunting
until the car broke... still managed to drive it home though, albeit with about 10 degrees of negative camber on one wheel. 
The Cerb is now at 77k miles.
Brands Indy trackday, had a top laugh - met tiff needel, drove the Cerb a fair bit, got more confident with it and then had the front top right wish bone sort of collapse.
Still a superb day, great track - easily the most I've pushed a Cerb and it was great fun to go porsche hunting
until the car broke... still managed to drive it home though, albeit with about 10 degrees of negative camber on one wheel. The Cerb is now at 77k miles.
Sorry, had only limped back when I posted this and been at work all day. I'll get pics when Dad gets back later and we take the wheel off again...
its quite literally just crushed itself forwards and in a bit - so the wheel is properly wonky, steering shot and camber is huge!
The failure is due to the age/ corrosion I reckon, its led a hard life this car... body off rebuild in November will sort this, shame it failed before we got a chance to replace it.
One to watch for those with sticky rubber, definately. We've always run road tyres, so we're not putting a huge stress on it compared to many of you... that said, it failed uphill at about 100mph onto the brakes hard (the hairpin at Brands) Scarily, I thought I'd just locked up initially and when I eased off the brakes (split second stuff here, we were heading off) I noticed the steering issue.
its quite literally just crushed itself forwards and in a bit - so the wheel is properly wonky, steering shot and camber is huge!
The failure is due to the age/ corrosion I reckon, its led a hard life this car... body off rebuild in November will sort this, shame it failed before we got a chance to replace it.
One to watch for those with sticky rubber, definately. We've always run road tyres, so we're not putting a huge stress on it compared to many of you... that said, it failed uphill at about 100mph onto the brakes hard (the hairpin at Brands) Scarily, I thought I'd just locked up initially and when I eased off the brakes (split second stuff here, we were heading off) I noticed the steering issue.
How old was it?
When I got mine, a not overly rusty chassis car, I removed 1-2mm of rust from the vertical section of the upper front wishbones. A year later I did the same again and thought I'd better measure it.
Original material thickness was 5mm and with those 2 years of metal corrosion I was down to 1.5mm!!
I promptly bought a new pair and when removing found that they would bend VERY easily.
The vertical section holds the lot together, loose that and most of it strength is gone.
When I got mine, a not overly rusty chassis car, I removed 1-2mm of rust from the vertical section of the upper front wishbones. A year later I did the same again and thought I'd better measure it.
Original material thickness was 5mm and with those 2 years of metal corrosion I was down to 1.5mm!!
I promptly bought a new pair and when removing found that they would bend VERY easily.
The vertical section holds the lot together, loose that and most of it strength is gone.
ridds said:
I removed 1-2mm of rust from the vertical section of the upper front wishbones
I'm trying to picture which bit you mean. In my mind the whole wishbone is horizontal with no vertical bits... do you mean the middle part of the U section?Edited by Omerta on Wednesday 20th August 23:28
Omerta said:
ridds said:
I removed 1-2mm of rust from the vertical section of the upper front wishbones
I'm trying to picture which bit you mean. In my mind the whole wishbone is horizontal with no vertical bits... do you mean the middle part of the U section?Edited by Omerta on Wednesday 20th August 23:28
On right is top wishbone, on left bottom.
Tim
Omerta said:
Yep, your top wishbone looks just like mine. But if yours wasn't hanging in the air all the sections would be horizontal so I'm still wondering which bit was rusted! 
I'd guess he means the part of the Wishbone assembly that is 'vertical'. The cross section is '|_|' shaped so the two edge '|' bits are the vertical bits.I'll have pics tonight, sorry they're delayed, Dad got back late from work and didnt want to have a look last night...
From what I remember, its right at the top joint, but its sort of been crushed forwards along the longer part of the wishbone. Hard to explain, easily obvious on inspection, I'll get a photo.
From what I remember, its right at the top joint, but its sort of been crushed forwards along the longer part of the wishbone. Hard to explain, easily obvious on inspection, I'll get a photo.
Load under braking caused that. Caliper trying to stop wheel, caliper tries to twist clockwise, wishbone collapses.
The rear is probably where the failure started. It looks like that has cracked.
Also it has bent at what is potentially the strongest part as thats where the flat sections are thickest.
Yes mine failed at the bottom of the 'U' section. I did write that first but didn't think people would get what I meant.
Also, where'd you get your discs? I need new ones.
The rear is probably where the failure started. It looks like that has cracked.
Also it has bent at what is potentially the strongest part as thats where the flat sections are thickest.
Yes mine failed at the bottom of the 'U' section. I did write that first but didn't think people would get what I meant.
Also, where'd you get your discs? I need new ones.
Crikey Ben I've never seen that failure in 12 years or more! still there's always a first time, but surprised you drove back to birmingham on that! have you got any tyre left? pleased youre ok though .. might need to look at the nearside arm aswell just to make sure .. a good bash with a hammer will tell you if it's strong or not. See you tomorrow night with Jeff?
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