I've noticed recently that the front end of the car has been feeling a little wooly as of late, with a tendency to wander at high speed.
(just a note tyre pressures ok and new rears just fitted about 5-6mm on the fronts)

Now having visited my local dealer and having a chat with Steve the master techie he was of the opinion that the rear bushing in the lower o/s wishbones/arm had become distorted - but more on that later. A new arm was ordered to be covered under warranty.

The car went in today for the work. Had a brief phone call from the service manager (whom i get on with) that they've had some "issues" removing the arm. When i arrive i see my front subframe on the floor with the offending arm removed c/o mr blow torch
But the n/s is also seized , now the techie recommended, in the good old Honda tradition replace full subframe with new arms - woohoo i say lets go, but the service manager has his doubts as to wether we get the warranty company to agree, but he says he'll try and ring me tomorrow, while i'm at Goodwood.

Now the reason i'm posting such a long winded post, unusual for me to have so much substance in my ramblings, is thus.

About 3 months ago I had the geo setup at a localish reputable motor firm (those that can be bothered to search will find out whom) Honda techies say that the nuts have never moved let alone been adjusted. They have shown me the bushing welded to the bolt, it isn't pretty. Yet the car felt better after the geo work

Should i bother having a pop at the original garage for charging me for work that appears not to have been carried out and the initial damaged to the bushing, by applying excessive force in trying to release the seised bush/bolt?

I'm also concerned that the warranty company with turn around and say fair wear and tear on the additional suspension components, having already agreed to replace the o/s side. Has anyone else been in a similar position and what was the outcome.

thanks for any pointers chaps.........chaps

 

Just read TBW's thread - I am now brickin it

 

Worth a go, but isn't going to be easy to prove

If they did bend something, you could use the safety approach, and suggest trading standards getting called ?

 

I had the same, a suspension geo and 6 months later when HUK tried to do another suspension geo the bolts had seized in the arm. So it is possible for this to happen. I guess once they start corroding there is absolutely nothing you can do.

Good luck getting it under warranty because AFAIK HUK call this fair wear and tear after 3 years. I got mine done free, but only because they were doing the rest of my suspension and were having to tread very carefully around me at the time

This problem is documented in the faq

 

BTW if they do change em, get them to grease the bolts before they put it back together, that should save you having to do them again in another 3 years

 

Do you have the printout from the alignment showing what it was when it went in, and what it was when aligned?

Oh, and ask Honda to put some grease on before bolting the new arm in place.

-Brian.

 

i did hear that you can just replace the bushes, but don tknow where to buy the bushes from. mine were seized but honda and the company who had to do the alignment did get them sorted, took a long time but i had a before and after set up to show it had been adjusted.

i was hoping to replace the bushes and sand blast the suspension arms and respray to save on some cost i have a machine to get bushes in and a mate who does sand and water blasting so it wouldnt cost a lot.

 

I have seen many printouts, where the castor settings are so close on the 'after' to the 'before' it is clear that they cannot be arsed with that one. I suspect yours might be such a case.

IME, the car is very sensitive to toe adjustments, especially at the rear. It is possible that if these alone were rectified, the car would feel much better.

Equal castor is important to avoid tramlining under braking, etc, so it shouldn't be ignored.

 

My 04 is going in for geo on Monday as I am seeing similar "sensitivity" I wish there was an easy fix to this as I would like to do some thing preventative now before the car gets older and the corrosion sets in!

 

Get the bolts out and greased before they do the geo then Mikey