So as of last Monday I’ve been removed from furlough and sent back to work. This means I could finally get some wheel time and enjoy driving the little Clio again.
Thursday night as I pulled off the drive, and heard what I thought was a knock from the OS front. Bugger!!!
First look I could get at the car was Friday morning, and I found my issue at the first thing I suspected, the lower ball joint. Double bugger!
The bottom ball joint had a good 0.5 / 1mm of vertical play in it. These bearings were brand new from McGill Motorsport when I fitted the roll centre correction hubs only a few weeks back. Unable to get access to a press at work during the lockdown, they were pressed in by a local machine shop. Knowing they’re an interference fit i assumed, although unlikely, that the play was the ball in the outer race and had worn prematurely.
I sent McGill an email with a video and details of my issue of which they responded right away and got me a replacement bearing sent out FOC. Excellent.
They also asked me to return the faulty item which I was happy to once removed so they could inspect it and discuss with their supplier as to why it may have failed in less than 200 road miles.
I also didn’t want to rule out the bearing carrier having a possible tolerance issue or being out of round. So called Alan at Bridgecraft Motorsport who machined the parts originally, and bought a new bearing and carrier. I asked him to send it on a next day delivery so I could be sure to get the car fixed today. Again, excellent customer service from them.
So this morning I removed the faulty bearing and carrier. The bearing bore is a slight interference fit on the hub extender so used a small two legged puller to remove it. Happy to see it came off without issue. No reason for it not to be, but also pleased to see the hub extender was mint with no material pick up from the bearing.
My OCD was having issues with the new bearing carrier being a yellow zinc finish and my other parts are a silver zinc, but i coped admirably and fitted you the new carrier, torqued up and am delighted to say the knocking as gone.
On inspection I couldn’t see any obvious issue with the previous bearing or carrier but removed the circlip in preparation to press the faulty bearing out on Monday.
To my amazement the bearing slid straight out with very little hand pressure. Then to my amazement and annoyance, I saw the old bearing had what appear to be sanding marks on the outside of the outer race. It would appear these have been linished down to fit in the housings rather than pressed in as they should have been. FFS!!
I haven’t gone back to the machine shop as frankly I can’t be bothered with the conversation over a bearing.
So, great that the knocking has gone, and pleased there is no play in the NS bearing. But I’ll be calling McGill first thing Monday morning to explain my embarrassment in what I found, and pay for the replacement item they sent me FOC. Clearly this is not a issue with their part.
I had also rubbed down and painted my original door bullets in Moondust silver and clear coated. They’re okay considering I’m not a painter but I’m too fussy and wasn’t happy to refit them. I enquired about a new set from Renault but at £180 a pair, that wasn’t a route I was prepared to go down. So set about finding the mintest pair of original bullets I could. Now they’re fitted, the colour coded ones had grown on me and if they had been a good colour match, I may have kept them.
So with that done, I gave the old girl a wash as it’s been driven to work in the Essex rain all week and was looking filthy.
