A little story, a little advice.... [ Really long ]

[Seraph]

I know that you all heard from one person or the other what happened to my car on the way to the Reading Meet. Well. this is what really happened.

-- Monday before the meet : A pair of rear bearings for 94 L was bought from my regular dealer.
-- Tuesday before the meet : Right Rear Bearing was changed at a "local" shop.
-- Wednesday before the meet : Left Rear Bearing was changed at a "local" shop.
-- Thursday before the meet: I was pumped!!!

Friday morning, we (Doug, Brian and myself) left for Reading. After crossing IN border, Doug radios me and asks me if anything smells funny. I told him jokingly that the burning smell was probably from my car. A little later, we decided to take a break at a rest stop. I checked for fluids and refilled my fluids (power steering/engine oil). At this time, we were about an hour or so away from Chicago.

At the next rest area, I told Doug that the smell is still there and it really smells like electrical wires burning. I started to looked around the car and saw a small leak on the driver side rear wheel. Upon furthur inspections, I found out that my rotor was wrapped (really really bad). I decided to keep going and replace the rotor at Reading. I called Kelli and asked her to scout around for a rotor and pads for my car. We decided to keep heading East.

As we leave the rest area and gained some speed I heard a metal to metal rubbing sound. Told myself that was not a good thing. Kept going anyways. A couple of miles later, I heard a "thud... thud...thud..." as well as the previous metal to metal sound. Pulled into another rest area... took the wheel off and found the following in the pictures.

If I had kept going for a little longer, chances are the wheel could have fallen out and I'd probably lost control of the car and you can only imagine what could have happened....

so my story is over. As for the advice, I only have a couple of things to say.

1. Do not fix anything major on your car a couple of days before the meet.
2. Do go to a suby dealer to fix major parts (trust me, it's your life we're talking about)
3. When someone says something is burning, do listen and look around for trouble (esp. on long trips).
4. Carry a phone
5. try to travel in a group.
6. If you think your car is going to fall apart, tow the damn thing.

I would like to thank Doug and Brian again for helping me out with the car from taking the wheel apart to helping me find a new replacement toy. I would also like to thank everyone at the Reading meet for the support that they showed.

You guys are the best!!!


Lwin

Wow, I'd be pissed if I were you. Did you talk to the guys who did the installation? Also...I worked at a 'Auto Shop' pumping gas for about a year, and in all that time I never picked up on thing from the mechanics there. So my question is...in the picture, what's wrong and how should it really be?

[Seraph]

Originally posted by punisher
So my question is...in the picture, what's wrong and how should it really be?

Trust me, I will get every single penny from those guys.

As for what's wrong, you can see the damage parts on the pictures.

On the top left, you can see that the little bracket that holds the pads is bent out and the rotors were warpped and worn out on the edge.

On the top right, you can see the general picture and that it really came from my red SVX

On the bottom left, you can tell the wear on the bracket. You can not see the tiny crack it has though

On the bottom right, you can tell that the part where you mount the actual rim of the wheel should have been pushed all the way in but instead, it has came out by about 1/2 inch already

Lwin

[Beav]

Sorry to see you had a problem on the road - that always sucks.

Awww....come on Lwin, like nobody ever had a bad experience at the dealer? There's good and bad mechanics no matter where you go.

Beav

[kuoh]

Ok, this it not to say that it wasn't their fault, but it does look as if the bent caliper bracket would have been spotted if you had checked. Possibly from as early as when you left the shop. From the pictures, you can't tell whether the axle nut was loose and simply allowed the disc assembly to move away from the car and bend the bracket in the process, or if they completely botched the bearing install and could not get it back on so they just bent the bracket until it would fit. Though it does appear from the pictures, that you have a good case against the shop to recoup the repair costs, preferrably done by either another shop or yourself.

KuoH

[Seraph]

Originally posted by kuoh
Ok, this it not to say that it wasn't their fault, but it does look as if the bent caliper bracket would have been spotted if you had checked. Possibly from as early as when you left the shop. From the pictures, you can't tell whether the axle nut was loose and simply allowed the disc assembly to move away from the car and bend the bracket in the process, or if they completely botched the bearing install and could not get it back on so they just bent the bracket until it would fit. Though it does appear from the pictures, that you have a good case against the shop to recoup the repair costs, preferrably done by either another shop or yourself.

KuoH

I was in the shop when they fix the thing. I had to be. I had to tell them three times to repack the damn thing in the different grease. When they put it back, everything seems to be ok. I even checked the rotors. Oh crap. I just realized that the wheel did not move as freely as the other one. SOB. DAMN!!!

Lwin

Now i am pissed at myself

Originally posted by Seraph
1. Do not fix anything major on your car a couple of days before the meet.

I second that advice. Because of a bad bearing job last thursday, my car sat at the hotel all day. I will NEVER have anything fixed that soon before a meet again. Thanks, Nubs, for letting me ride with you all day.

-Mike

[wasions]

Sorry to hear about all the trouble.

So, you bought another car on the way to the meet?

I guess I'm learning things, too. When I saw the fourth picture, I thought, "That's a drum brake! That's not his SVX!" Then I realized that it's the parking brake, right? I had no idea.

Anyway, glad things worked out okay, and here's hoping they continue to, to the end.

After having my SVX in EIGHT times to have the rear bearings (hopefully) repaired I have zero faith in the local dealer's ability to repair anything. And this is the dealer I had more faith in than the other. I wouldn't let the other dealership oil my bicycle chain after I've seen what they do.

My motto, "If you don't trust yourself, trust no one"

If you ain't doin' the work yourself there's no tellin' what works gettin' done.

But I'd say you have a good chance of good chance of getting this shop to digest these damaged parts in reverse biological order if you catch my meaning.

Well, it sounds like it's probably a pretty good thing that I opted not to go. I'm sure that I would've ended up like Lwin except I wouldn't have been able to afford another car. So I suppose it was for the best. Thanks to everyone who yelled "hi" to me on Randy's cellphone (if you even knew who the hell you were yelling to), I got a real kick out of it. I doubt I'll make it to Indiana (or wherever) just because I can't afford a transmission or even the gas for the round-trip.. Maybe we can do something somewhere between PA & NH.. we'll see..

-Adam

[mohrds]

<<1. Do not fix anything major on your car a couple of days before the meet.
2. Do go to a suby dealer to fix major parts (trust me, it's your life we're talking about)
3. When someone says something is burning, do listen and look around for trouble (esp. on long trips).
4. Carry a phone
5. try to travel in a group.
6. If you think your car is going to fall apart, tow the damn thing. >>

7. Bring warm hat and gloves.
8. Bring extra AAA batteries.
9. Leave the car running!!

Everything worked out OK in the end. Look at it this way, if you wouldn't have had this problem, you wouldn't own your dream AWD SVX...

Congrats and you're welcome.

Doug

[mohrds]

<<Ok, this it not to say that it wasn't their fault, but it does look as if the bent caliper bracket would have been spotted if you had checked.>>

The caliper holder was bent from the heat and pressure of the rotor. The rotor didn't touch the holder until after the bearing disentigrated and the wheel started moving away from the rest of the car. Had we not stopped, the hub would have continued to move outward from the car and after it ground through the whole brake holder, nothing would have been there to hold the wheel on!

Doug

Originally posted by wasions
Sorry to hear about all the trouble.

So, you bought another car on the way to the meet?

I guess I'm learning things, too. When I saw the fourth picture, I thought, "That's a drum brake! That's not his SVX!" Then I realized that it's the parking brake, right? I had no idea.

Anyway, glad things worked out okay, and here's hoping they continue to, to the end.

I did the same thing when I saw the pic. As a matter of fact I "zoomed" in to verify what I thought I was seeing.

Randy (Was cornfuzed, aint no more) ii

[Never2phat]

7. Bring warm hat and gloves.

It's a shame the meet was not today(Monday) It started out a lil' dreary but turned into a beautiful day. Lots of sun and temps in the 60s. Compared to the 30s we had over the weekend it felt like summer and not winter. Oh well. Maybe it will be nicer next year


Lwin, Congrats on your new SVX. She looked pretty sitting in the lot


B.C.

Originally posted by Seraph


Trust me, I will get every single penny from those guys.


Lwin

Glad ya stopped when you did.


Randy (Safety foist!) ii