E92 325D
I probably dont use this forum enough, usually because of the sheer amount of posts every day id never keep up. However i do float around in the background and know that there's a lot of knowledable folk on here so thought id get your 2p on whats going on.
I know some of you will be aware of CL10 FTW, be it the right or wrong reasons....but shes been nothing but arse ache. Brace yourselves for an essay.
Im not a fan of the dealers anyway but i wont go into that in this thread.
Two major items of work ive had done:
Clutch slave cylinder at 6k
Gearbox at 13k
Now straight after the gearbox change (12k ago!) i complained of a knocking from the front when manouvering at slow speeds. Been told time and time again that "it needs to get worse for us to diagnose it" which i accepted, but now the car is showing some more characteristics and im still getting fobbed off.
Got Renault UK involved and they just sent me from dealer to dealer being told the same thing.
Over the course of the year i felt the car had changed significantly. I tried the usual swapping wheels back to front, new tyres etc but the steering still felt heavy, vague and sketchy.
So off my own back, i went to Danny at 519 Automotive yesterday. Only for a diagnosis as i was fully aware he isnt VAT registered as of yet so couldnt provide warranty work if he was to find the fault. The guy comes highly spoken of and sees Renaultsport models daily so if anyone should feel what im on about...he should. Luckily he did feel that the 200 isnt right and proceeded to tell me his Cat C 197 he bought with no service history actually drives better than mine...winner lol
Danny found upon driving the car that the steering feels under assisted compared to other 200s/197s that he drives regularly. He also believes, and agrees, that the steering is heavier turning left at low speed than turning right. With the car off, he inserted the key card and held the start button until all the dash lights lit up and the steering lock was released without the power steering activating. With the power steering not active, so the wheels are providing resistance to the turning, upon wiggling the steering wheel left to right it feels almost as if the steering wheel is slipping on the column, almost as if the steering wheel isn’t attached! This backs up my statement of the car feeling vague when cornering, feeling that the wheels straighten slightly upon heavy cornering with no feedback through the steering wheel. Danny recons that the steering column/power steering assembly needs replacing, which at a cost of £1200 for the parts alone, it'll need to be done at a dealership under warranty.
I also complained that the car felt skittish on the road. I asked Track Club in Kimbolton to check the geometry of the car on their laser system and they found the front nearside wheel to be running nearly a full degree more of negative camber than the right. How can a car on 25,000 miles have such a difference in the front setup when its not even adjustable? The only thing I can think of is that when it was all disturbed at the gearbox change at 13,000 miles it hasn’t settled back in its original position causing strange driving characteristics. A degree in terms of camber is quite a large amount.
Danny deals with Smiths of Peterborough daily in regards to refering customers to them for warranty work and using their parts department so hopefully they will respect his findings and allow him to assist them to finally rectify the issue.
Now the hard bit is convincing the dealers. Emails have been sent with a print out of Dannys findings and the Geo readings from Track Club.
Heres the Geo print out (sorry cant scan in as im at work)
....................Left Front.......Right front
Camber...........-1°21'............ -0°39'
Caster..............5°25'............. 5°48'
Toe ................ 0°05' ............-0°02'
Total Toe 0°03'
Steer Ahead 0°03'
................Left Rear..........Right Rear
Camber ..... -1°38'..............-1°34'
Toe .............0°09' .............-0°06'
Total Toe 0°16'
Thrust Angle 0°01'
Thats a lot of camber for something that isnt adjustable :/ Maybe i should get a second opinion on the geo front.
I know some of you will be aware of CL10 FTW, be it the right or wrong reasons....but shes been nothing but arse ache. Brace yourselves for an essay.
Im not a fan of the dealers anyway but i wont go into that in this thread.
Two major items of work ive had done:
Clutch slave cylinder at 6k
Gearbox at 13k
Now straight after the gearbox change (12k ago!) i complained of a knocking from the front when manouvering at slow speeds. Been told time and time again that "it needs to get worse for us to diagnose it" which i accepted, but now the car is showing some more characteristics and im still getting fobbed off.
Got Renault UK involved and they just sent me from dealer to dealer being told the same thing.
Over the course of the year i felt the car had changed significantly. I tried the usual swapping wheels back to front, new tyres etc but the steering still felt heavy, vague and sketchy.
So off my own back, i went to Danny at 519 Automotive yesterday. Only for a diagnosis as i was fully aware he isnt VAT registered as of yet so couldnt provide warranty work if he was to find the fault. The guy comes highly spoken of and sees Renaultsport models daily so if anyone should feel what im on about...he should. Luckily he did feel that the 200 isnt right and proceeded to tell me his Cat C 197 he bought with no service history actually drives better than mine...winner lol
Danny found upon driving the car that the steering feels under assisted compared to other 200s/197s that he drives regularly. He also believes, and agrees, that the steering is heavier turning left at low speed than turning right. With the car off, he inserted the key card and held the start button until all the dash lights lit up and the steering lock was released without the power steering activating. With the power steering not active, so the wheels are providing resistance to the turning, upon wiggling the steering wheel left to right it feels almost as if the steering wheel is slipping on the column, almost as if the steering wheel isn’t attached! This backs up my statement of the car feeling vague when cornering, feeling that the wheels straighten slightly upon heavy cornering with no feedback through the steering wheel. Danny recons that the steering column/power steering assembly needs replacing, which at a cost of £1200 for the parts alone, it'll need to be done at a dealership under warranty.
I also complained that the car felt skittish on the road. I asked Track Club in Kimbolton to check the geometry of the car on their laser system and they found the front nearside wheel to be running nearly a full degree more of negative camber than the right. How can a car on 25,000 miles have such a difference in the front setup when its not even adjustable? The only thing I can think of is that when it was all disturbed at the gearbox change at 13,000 miles it hasn’t settled back in its original position causing strange driving characteristics. A degree in terms of camber is quite a large amount.
Danny deals with Smiths of Peterborough daily in regards to refering customers to them for warranty work and using their parts department so hopefully they will respect his findings and allow him to assist them to finally rectify the issue.
Now the hard bit is convincing the dealers. Emails have been sent with a print out of Dannys findings and the Geo readings from Track Club.
Heres the Geo print out (sorry cant scan in as im at work)
....................Left Front.......Right front
Camber...........-1°21'............ -0°39'
Caster..............5°25'............. 5°48'
Toe ................ 0°05' ............-0°02'
Total Toe 0°03'
Steer Ahead 0°03'
................Left Rear..........Right Rear
Camber ..... -1°38'..............-1°34'
Toe .............0°09' .............-0°06'
Total Toe 0°16'
Thrust Angle 0°01'
Thats a lot of camber for something that isnt adjustable :/ Maybe i should get a second opinion on the geo front.
