Garage repair- opinions please

[STW2010]

Hi all,

A couple of weeks ago my car went in for an MOT, however I knew that the track rod end and anti-roll bar link for the driver's side both needed replacing, and so asked the garage to do this. The tracking was obviously part of this repair.

When I got the car back I noticed that it wasn't quite right, and soon enough after about 5-10 miles of driving the steering wheel would judder. When I pulled over there was a smell coming from behind the driver's side wheel, and the rim was hot to touch. I figured that this was due to a sticky caliper, and so took the wheel off when I got home to investigate. I decompressed and compressed the caliper piston a few times to loosen it up; this did the trick and it has been fine ever since, however I noticed that the pads were near the end of their life, so ordered some new discs and pads.

Yesterday I set about changing the discs and pads, and noticed that the new track rod end didn't look like it was fitted very well. Here it is-



It seems a bit wonky... For comparison, here is the other side-



Am I correct in thinking that the new part looks like it has not been fitted correctly?

The steering wheel isn't quite central either, if I was being picky- but I honestly cannot say that it was straight before this repair.

By the way, I am aware that these should ideally be changed in pairs.

The car is an e46 coupe. Any thoughts welcomed

[Garvin]

The wonky bit shouldn't be a problem - if you grab hold of the track rod end and twist it you should be able to straighten it up OK. However, the rubber boot looks as though it has a chunk taken out of it!

[STW2010]

Do you mean just on the left side of it? If so, then yes. This appears to be a bit of wear from the heat, so the fitment may mean that there is contact between the rubber and the metal plate. The surface isn't broken though, so shouldn't impair the part in any way.

[Lotus 50]

Aren't those the anti-roll bar joints rather than the track rod ends? - in which case what do they look like when the suspension is under load? I suspect they won't look as wonky when the suspension is compressed with the weight of the car on it.

[STW2010]

No, they are definitely not the anti-roll bar links. See here

[S0 What]

Appart from not tightening them correctly you can not fit them wronge, looks fine to me just a bit melted possably from the heat of the stuck caliper?
they are supposed to be able to pivot thats the whole idea of the balljoint on the end.

[Garvin]

STW2010 said:

Do you mean just on the left side of it? If so, then yes. This appears to be a bit of wear from the heat, so the fitment may mean that there is contact between the rubber and the metal plate. The surface isn't broken though, so shouldn't impair the part in any way.

Should be perfectly OK - the ball joint is only at an angle as, when adjusting the tracking, the 'technician' (can't call them mechanics these days) will have rotated the track rod that goes into the rack in order to make the adjustment and has just let the track rod end rotate until it couldn't any more to provide the 'resistance'. As long as the lock nut is done up then all should be fine - just straighten it up for that aesthetic quality.

[paintman]

Your split boot may also be a future MoT failure:
http://www.motuk.co.uk/manual_220.htm
c.
a ball joint dust cover missing, insecure or excessively damaged or deteriorated to the extent that it would no longer prevent the ingress of dirt etc.

At the moment some of the new MoT subjects are being treated as advisory.

[STW2010]

What split boot? Which photo are you referring to?

The car has a very recent MOT, with no advisories (ignoring the fact the failures were known and repaired in advance)

[WhoseGeneration]

STW2010 said:

What split boot? Which photo are you referring to?

The car has a very recent MOT, with no advisories (ignoring the fact the failures were known and repaired in advance)

He's referring to the new, where the boot has an obvious split or tear and is not seated properly in the bottom location groove.
Then, there's a difference between old and new boot, the old being two section, the new one section.
Probably a difference between suppliers, or OEM and pattern.

[Garvin]

WhoseGeneration said:

STW2010 said:

What split boot? Which photo are you referring to?

The car has a very recent MOT, with no advisories (ignoring the fact the failures were known and repaired in advance)

He's referring to the new, where the boot has an obvious split or tear and is not seated properly in the bottom location groove.
Then, there's a difference between old and new boot, the old being two section, the new one section.
Probably a difference between suppliers, or OEM and pattern.

Is the boot split? Doesn't look like it to me but it has been damaged. Is it not seated correctly? - I take the 'shiny' bits above and below to be the clips securing the boot in place.

[WhoseGeneration]

Garvin said:

Is the boot split? Doesn't look like it to me but it has been damaged. Is it not seated correctly? - I take the 'shiny' bits above and below to be the clips securing the boot in place.

Split or damaged, it's an MOT failure. The left side is not located under the clip, therefore not located correctly.

[penryar]

I'd say the damage to the boot is down to the sticking caliper which heated up the whole hub and dust shield to the extent it melted the boot.

The boot also looks very compressed, hence it folding over, probably down to the fitter using the longest breaker bar he could find to tighten the nut on the TRE.

Just my 2p worth.

[Mroad]

Looks to be a non OEM arm, the boot is larger and different design to the other side hence the rubbing on the dust shield.
Bend the shield towards the brake disc so there's some clearance from the boot otherwise you're going to need a new one soon.

[STW2010]

Thanks all for the comments. What do you think my next course of action should be? Take it back to the garage and tell them straighten it up?

I've sorted the caliper out, so there shouldn't be any more heat to cause any more damage. The damage is minimal- not even close to splitting the rubber. It is literally just a bit flattened.

[STW2010]

WhoseGeneration said:

Garvin said:

Is the boot split? Doesn't look like it to me but it has been damaged. Is it not seated correctly? - I take the 'shiny' bits above and below to be the clips securing the boot in place.

Split or damaged, it's an MOT failure. The left side is not located under the clip, therefore not located correctly.

Further to my last post, this sounds like I should be asking the garage to do the whole job again. Is that correct?

[WhoseGeneration]

STW2010 said:

WhoseGeneration said:

Garvin said:

Is the boot split? Doesn't look like it to me but it has been damaged. Is it not seated correctly? - I take the 'shiny' bits above and below to be the clips securing the boot in place.

Split or damaged, it's an MOT failure. The left side is not located under the clip, therefore not located correctly.

Further to my last post, this sounds like I should be asking the garage to do the whole job again. Is that correct?

Well, I would ask them to have a look and to explain the state of the boot. I'm not convinced heat from a sticking caliper, in the short time you experienced it, could damage the boot. Let me put it this way, if high brake temperatures damaged trackrod end boots, it'd make pit and service crews' jobs much harder. To add further, the sticking caliper?, how come that didn't register on the brake test?
Unless it only happened once you drove away which seems a bit odd if you hadn't had it before.

[STW2010]

I hadn't experienced the sticking caliper before the MOT. I discussed this with the garage and the only possibility that they could think of was that when they applied hard braking during the test it may have pushed the piston out that slight bit further than normal. Either way, they didn't do any work on the brakes, so as far as I'm concerned this isn't something that they did- basically it was waiting to happen. That doesn't make me any happier about it though.

When I picked the car up from the MOT, I drove it the short distance home (1.5 miles), parked up and then didn't use the car for a couple of days. The steering wheel judder occurred every time I drove the car after that, but only after 5-10 miles. This happened for about 6-7 times before I fixed it, so there was a lot of prolonged heat- the mark on the rubber is consistent with contact with a hot surface. I see what you're saying though, but track rod end rubbers are not supposed to contact the hot plate behind the brakes.

To add further, this is a small local garage that I have used for years, and I trust them to do an honest job. I don't doubt that if I took the car back tomorrow that they would correct any mistakes. This was the reason for the post- I don't really want to march in if there isn't a genuine issue (me nor my wife have ever had any issues with this garage before). It sounds like there might be a problem though.