Minor knock in Cup, plus tracking Q’s

[TheCake]

Dear All,

After hitting a pot-hole at about 30mph in Bristol whilst away I have damaged my Cup in some way or form. I had the tracking done in Bristol, but still felt pants driving back to Kent so booked it into Renault for a full mechanic check over plus tracking done again.

Technician reports I need a new NSF wheel and tyre, but thats it. Renault out-source the tarcking to ATS over the road, who when I went and spoke to, use this machine (which they showed me) to carry out the checks and then correct if necessary using a wall chart. Now, on the chart it said "Renault Clio 2.0" but not Cup, or Cup 172.

Is the tracking different to a standard 172 on a Cup? If so, should Renault know this?

Paid my money on Friday and drove car home... the car is still handling awful compared to new... so bad in fact, that the steering wheel hangs to the left when driving, on staright roads, pulls to the NS like anything, and under hard breaking pulls left and right. Car going back to garage tomorrow. Anyone got ideas what could be wrong?

Seems car will be @ Reanult a while. I do have pics of the hole I hit and I will get them on here ASAP (tomorrow). At the mo though Clio will be off road. I reported the pot-hole to Bristol City Council, the highways agency and the police so they aint getting out of it.

Regards to all,

Simon

 

[White16valver]

Take the council for all you can - invoice them for your time, your phonecalls/letters, your loss of earnings if appropriate, and obviously all the relevant parts/work needed. If you dont then theyll keep getting away with shoddy roads! Grrr!

 

[TheCake]

Damn right mate. Hole was so big, there was no tarmac, just hardcore.

Really smacked it hard... really really hard. Only 30mph but it was well deep. Youll be amazed how big hole is. Pics @ work on company laptop so will post in morning.

So far have spent just under £130, plus had to take about a day and a half off work. Some phone calls (awaiting bill).

Renault reckon it needs a new wheel and tyre, £229.77 + VAT. cant really afford that at the mo, so might be due a stay @ Renault for a bit.

Agreed - serves them right.

 

[swelch]

Tracking is not the same on the cup

 

[BrynO]

Thats bad news. Write to the council/highways agency with the pics and an estimate ASAP to get the ball rolling. I buckled two (!) wheels on a pot hole a while ago, cost £350 EACH to replace. Council insurers disputed that it was their fault as the holes were not there last time they carried out their routine inspection. Best of luck in getting them to cough up.

 

[Chris n nic]

I think that youre ok if someone has reported it b4 and they havent fixed it. Just get someone to ring and complain, then report the incident. Not sure but it might work?

 

[RAY 187]

I done the same thing in my cup, i have taken the car back to the dealer many times and still they cant find out whats wrong. I have also tracked the car 3 times and still the problem is there. My steering also hangs to the left when driving in a straight line. i have had this problem for over 4 months and believe me you get used to it. You tend to find that the faster you drive the better the car handles. The slower you drive the worse it feels. Its kind of difficult to keep the car in a straight line, other drivers must think you are either pissed or stoned because the car all over the place. I have has renault service managers driving the car, other supervisors and all think the car is fine (bullsh*t) i know my car and it has not been the same.



Please mate if your renult dealer finds out what is wrong please let me know as i need to sort this out aswell.

 

[TheCake]

Thanks all for your positive support. This mornings update:

Went to Renault on a bit of a rant - invoice says that I had a four-wheel alignment done, but I have no printout to say so. So me and service manager go over to ATS. Basically the guy @ ATS says we only did a front wheel alignment "cos its got a fixed rear axle, so you cant adjust it", yeah great if ive smacked the rear suspension eh?!

Anyway after much huffing and puffing and the fact Renault cant sort it out, I have taken car to a bodyshop for a 4-wheel Geometry test, 3 hours worth. Evidently it uses an optiplex system?? Rings a bell anyway.

Cost is £65+ VAT for the alignment, then £10+vat per adjustment. Expensive but worth it. They are going to produce a full written quotation if anything is damaged.

In my Cups lowly life so far, it has had 5 lots of tracking and todays is its 3rd Geo setup. Must be extremely sensitive. Getting a bit sick of it TBH.

Going to e-mail council woman again today, been almost a fortnight now since reported it and now clear justification. If they start getting any slower will be seeking legal advice and seeing them in the small claims court.

Simon.

 

[RAY 187]

Simon



I know how you feel mate, i also had a Geo on friday and everything was good, they just gave my car back and said nothing was wrong. I just dont know what to do anymore, just fed up with the whole thing. When doing my tracking they only have 172 settings and not the cup, so its never right. I cant return the car due to the financial agreement so im screwed.

 

[TheCake]

Ditto.

I am in the same boat. I have the car financed with RFS. I think though there is definately something wrong at the back. My mum followed me round the ring road near my house, and she said the car is soo bad, she can visually see me correcting the steering all the way up this 3/4 mile straight.

How did you damage yours? Pot Hole?

 

[TheCake]

Picture! Ok so is that a big hole or what?

http://www.boltlightning.co.uk/car/image2.jpg

 

[TheCake]

UPDATE:

Simon,

I have just had a look through todays post and I have an answer for you.

A Highways Officer has been out to have a look at the site as we had no record of having carried out any works there.

Apparently it is the site of a new Honda showroom. It is thought the excavation you refer to may have been carried out to supply one of the utilities to the site. Our Highways people have had no request for permission for excavation to take place so I am unable to say who carried out the works.

The Highways Officer suggests you contact D.20 Groundworks & Civil Engineering on 01454 610888. It seems they may be the site managers. They have a website at http://forum.cliosport.net/www.d20ltd.comU color=#0000ff www.d20ltd.com/U too. There is a contact us button which gives you an address to write to and also various e-mail addresses.

In order for Bristol City Council to pay your claim it must be demonstrated that we have in some way been negligent. I regret to say that in this instance I have no offer to make. I wish you success in claiming back your outlay.

A bit of extra information - dont let D.20 fob you off by saying that you are making a claim too late after the date of the incident. You have 6 years from the date of the incident to bring a claim for property damage.

Regards and good luck.

Dawn

Dawn Harvey
Insurance Services
Room 313, Council House
College Green
Bristol
BS99 7BL

 

[RAY 187]

no i hit the front left side @ 10mph when it was snowing months ago, i tried to take a right turn and the wheels locked up. The car has had 3 geos, and test driven around 7 times by various managers. I also got so paranoid that they let me drive a new clio cup (demo) to see if the handling was the same. To be honest with you simon even the new 2003 demo car i drove the steering was hanging to the right and the handling was a bit rough aswell.

I have had the tracking done, then driven over a pot hole which has completely knocked out the tracking. My problem is that i know the car has not been the same for a long time, everyone at my local dealer knows me on a first name bases because of the amount of times i have taken the car back for this bloody sh*tty problem. In a way you just dont enjoy driving the car anymore. No one ever seems to care or to try and fix the problem, Si do you get knocking noises from the front suspension, i get that all the time.

 

[TheCake]

Yah, I get noises when on full lock and on rough roads.

I have phoned D20, as above, and they have flatly denied digging up the road as they cannot do this without permission to the council, so the council have had no applications made, and D20 havent made one.

So, to bring it to head. Someone dug up the road, and the filled it in the following day. I am thinking its either gas, electric, water company etc. A director of D20 is currently finding out the dates the services such as those were installed. Should be able to pin-point who was working on the road.

Annoyingly looks like I am going to be screwed.

 

[George16v]

Maybe you should contact r-tec or extreme who have laser tracking systems, They may have an idea of what to do!

 

[TheCake]

Perhaps I need a new car.

 

[RAY 187]

Si



I also get the knocking noises on rough surfaces and on full lock, there are quite a few 172 and cup owners that have got these problems.

All i can say is i know how you feel, it is so frustrating, people like us might get high blood pressure because of our bloody cars.

I am sure that one day we both might sort these problems out, both of us will probably be paranoid because we know how the car responds, dont forget Simon for me this has been going on for 4 months if not more.

 

[TheCake]

Mine has pulled to the left now for about 2 weeks, before that it was perfect! Sooooooo distressing. Maybe it handles better the way we have it! Hahaha!

Oh well. Will get some more info about whos responsible later. Sooo pissed off. Need to go and chill out. Def high blood pressure kicking in. Im so stressed the blood vessels in my hand have come to the surface - sure fire sign I am stressed.

Back soon

Si.

 

[RAY 187]

Simon

If you manage to find out the problem please let me know

 

[RSTDL]

Unfortunately itsm something you will have to put of with Im afraid - most cars will never sit level with the steering level as well! Mine is out and no matter how many times you have it set up it will never be perfectly striaght and centred. Someone told me that because French cars drive on the other side of the road and due to the camber in roads the steering is automatically adjusted to sit slightly left and over here it is the opposite.

 

[RAY 187]

Thats true, one of the guys at the renault dealer who is french told me the same thing. Because i have been driving the car like this for 4 months you get use to it, it can be annoying but i have run out of options. But i honestly can tell you that my steering feels quite loose aswell, there is alot of play on the steering, e.g when turning hard sometimes it feels like a delayed reaction, i turn it does not react straight away if that makes sense. And when driving over the smallest pot hole you really have to grip the steering wheel otherwise the cars direction goes all over the place.

RSTDL does your suspension also make a knocking noise

 

[TheCake]

Going to get Citizens Advice Bureau involved, have also contacted insurance company as I have a fair amount of motor legal protection under my belt so will get them one way or another. They arent squirming out of this one so easily.

 

[wallisj]

My old car got a wing mirror smashed off the car plus dent and painting (about a £1000) when i hit a roadworks sign which had blown over in the wind.

Took me about a month of arguements with the highways agency and then the contractors but i got them to pay out in the end.

Just be patient

 

[TheCake]

Sounds good to me. Needless to say I am not letting them get away with it.

 

[simonjones10]

Have you checked you tyres? Some times uneven wear can cause problems with ya steering!

The site manager will be able to tell you who, what, when and where on any part of the site including the surrounding roads and pavements. So if he fobs you off call the copanies head office and make sure you speak to someone high up.

It may not be excavation in that specific area, check for any heavy machinary which could have damaged the road while turning etc, check if theres any marks on the road for cat tracks etc.

 

[edde]

I have a similar type of problem getting my Clio to go in straight lines after its crash. Reading this thread gets me depressed though sound like it will never be right.

Good excuse for a new car (172 cup?) ASAP I guess which should show those 1.4 bodykitted Corsas up.

EDD