Yikes. How did this happen?
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Narrow winding road + High concrete curb + Wet leaves. I wasn't even goofing around, honest. I was following traffic around a left hand bend in my neighborhood when all of a sudden the steering went light as the front wheels lost grip. I don't recall even having time to complete a thought before the back end followed and I drifted right up into the curb.Randy Chase said:Yikes. How did this happen?
And I had just gotten it back from the shop with a shiny new rack this past Wednesday. No body damage at least although that rear wheel is pretty sad looking and will probably live out its life as a hose reel or something.
I expected that inboard joint to be broken and was surprised to find that I snapped the threaded portion off right where in goes into the rest of the link.
Nasty.
Wet leaves are no joke. I realized the other day just pulling into the garage, there was a good layer of wet leaves and just letting the clutch out normally (there is a slight incline to the driveway though) it was like I was on ice. I've slightly broke traction in the wet leave covered cul de sac as well- like you said, not even screwing around.
Wet leaves are no joke. I realized the other day just pulling into the garage, there was a good layer of wet leaves and just letting the clutch out normally (there is a slight incline to the driveway though) it was like I was on ice. I've slightly broke traction in the wet leave covered cul de sac as well- like you said, not even screwing around.
Ouch, sorry to hear this Andy ! eek
Hope the Elise gets well soon...
Mike
Hope the Elise gets well soon...
Mike
If possible, get some extreme closeups of the link and joint ends at the break.
Not much help to you, Andy, but I'm glad it was an impact and not just a "I was driving and POOF!" deal. It sounds like it won't be too much to repair, but have that A-arm checked closely, too.
I suspect that Stan is wondering if the joint was beginning to fatigue and fail on it's own. In any case, this could be a good excuse to replace the tie-rot end with the double shear brace instead...Yes, take close up pictures...Stan said:If possible, get some extreme closeups of the link and joint ends at the break.
Yup, won't hurt to take a peek. So far, we can see that the threaded portion of the joint bent. I'd wonder about the outer joint too, and other bits. Even if everything appears to check out, the alignment rack may indicate change. Maybe you already have a baseline alignment...perhaps related to the rack job.TimMullen said:I suspect that Stan is wondering if the joint was beginning to fatigue and fail on it's own. In any case, this could be a good excuse to replace the tie-rot end with the double shear brace instead...Yes, take close up pictures...
Is it just me, or does the A-arm look a little bit bent where it connects to the chassis?
I wish I had more time for photos and inspection after the incident, but the AAA guys were just too fast. Maybe 20 minutes from phonecall to flatbed. I couldn't even get a good look at the broken end of the threaded rod as the inboard stub was jammed against the undertray and the outboard end didn't have enough freedom of motion for me to get a look at it.
I don't believe that the upper A-arm is bent as I believe it has a curve there anyway. Obviously I've got the dealer guys going over that whole corner in detail and we'll replace anything even remotely suspicious. Beyond the a-arms, I'm concerned about the CV joint as the rear wheel had a pretty good range of motion forward that the joint may not have been able to take.
I considered telling the dealer to add the brace and I guess I still have the option, but I'm not likely to have them do that. Two reasons. First, my popularity at home took a dive, decreasing the odds of new spending being received well. Second, I don't believe that the brace would have done much good with this big an impact and maybe would have spread the damage elsewhere. Third (of two), I had hoped to spend that money on harnesses or possibly a twin muffler setup. Dunno. Got a while to think.
I don't believe that the upper A-arm is bent as I believe it has a curve there anyway. Obviously I've got the dealer guys going over that whole corner in detail and we'll replace anything even remotely suspicious. Beyond the a-arms, I'm concerned about the CV joint as the rear wheel had a pretty good range of motion forward that the joint may not have been able to take.
I considered telling the dealer to add the brace and I guess I still have the option, but I'm not likely to have them do that. Two reasons. First, my popularity at home took a dive, decreasing the odds of new spending being received well. Second, I don't believe that the brace would have done much good with this big an impact and maybe would have spread the damage elsewhere. Third (of two), I had hoped to spend that money on harnesses or possibly a twin muffler setup. Dunno. Got a while to think.
If nothing else is bent or broken (A-arms, etc.) I wouldn't expect that the CV joint would have problems - it is intended to be a steerable joint from a front wheel drive car, so it should have a large range of motion - it just went suddenly to full turn.andykeck said:Beyond the a-arms, I'm concerned about the CV joint as the rear wheel had a pretty good range of motion forward that the joint may not have been able to take.
Hopefully anyway...
Actually this is a good point. With a non-repairable chassis, it is better for the suspension to "fail" in things like this. A similar case is the old Lotus Elan. The stock front A-arms are fairly fragile. But when the corner gets hit, the a-arms bend and are destroyed. But the non-repairable (mostly) pivot points on the chassis usually survive. Other's have installed "racing" reinforced A-arms, that survive the crash - but the chassis doesn't...:shrug:I considered telling the dealer to add the brace and I guess I still have the option, but I'm not likely to have them do that. Two reasons. <...> Second, I don't believe that the brace would have done much good with this big an impact and maybe would have spread the damage elsewhere.
Hi, I just bought an Elise a month ago and have been reading the posts. Was this failure due to the weak link in the rear suspension as brought up by Stan and then also discussed under the heading of safety recall by Ronin and Tim? Should I be concerned?andykeck said:Just in case anyone was wondering, the Elise does not handle better when the rear wheels are allowed to independently steer themselves. I guess holding rear toe constant is a good idea after all.
No and No:wave:big guy said:Hi, I just bought an Elise a month ago and have been reading the posts. Was this failure due to the weak link in the rear suspension as brought up by Stan and then also discussed under the heading of safety recall by Ronin and Tim? Should I be concerned?
Andy made contact and then it broke:tadts:andykeck said:Narrow winding road + High concrete curb + Wet leaves. I wasn't even goofing around, honest. I was following traffic around a left hand bend in my neighborhood when all of a sudden the steering went light as the front wheels lost grip. I don't recall even having time to complete a thought before the back end followed and I drifted right up into the curb.
There is debate about how critical this known weakness is. Many would argue that the issue is almost exclusively limited to those who track their cars with stickier than normal rubber. I could not find examples if this failure occuring on street or light-track use cars either here or on SELOC. In my specific case, something had to give. I hit the curb quite hard. I'd rather break a relatively inexpensive toe link as compared to damage to the subframe or the rest of the suspension.big guy said:Hi, I just bought an Elise a month ago and have been reading the posts. Was this failure due to the weak link in the rear suspension as brought up by Stan and then also discussed under the heading of safety recall by Ronin and Tim? Should I be concerned?
Probably so. One way or another, all the braces in the world won't help if you're the kind of idiot that drives into concrete curbs. (imagine sad nanner here)Patricko said:I would think that the failure that the brace prevents is of the other side on the link. The bit that attaches to the rear sub frame...
**** happens...at least you still have a car:sad:andykeck said:Probably so. One way or another, all the braces in the world won't help if you're the kind of idiot that drives into concrete curbs. (imagine sad nanner here)
Good point. Although I did not enjoy the bus ride of shame this morning.:sad:Patricko said:**** happens...at least you still have a car:sad:
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