Hi All, I was wondering if somebody might be able to help me with a query. Not being very mechanical and having fairly cruddy but attractive CMR wheels I thought it would be a great idea if I tried to repaint them myself. To cut a long story short having the car stored in a small garage not too close to me and without enought room to manoeuvre on both sides of the car I decided to take off 2 wheels at a time so jacked up the passenger side of the car removed the front and rear wheel and lowered the passenger side back down onto concrete blocks under thefront and rear of the passenger sill. A week later I returned to put back on the newly painted wheels. Upon doing so I noticed that the car seemed higher on the front passenger side than on the drivers side by an inch or more. When trying to drive the car out of the garage I noticed a strange noise like a bit of a knock with each rotation of the wheel. It then occured to me that maybe I should have had the front torsion bar suspension supported on the passenger side rather than hanging in air. On looking under the car I noticed that the curve on the passenger side from where it is supported/joined to the body to the hub is more extreme that on the drivers side. I have since put the concrete blocks on the passenger side of the bonnet to bring the passenger side back to level. My question is have I somehow damaged or distorted the curvature of the torsion bar? My apologies in advance if this is a stupid question.

Thanks,

Colm.

Colm I don't think you have probably done any lasting damage. Have you managed to work out where the knocking was coming from? Was it just the leaf spring creaking as it returned to it's original position or is it coming from the rotation of the wheels?

I would jack it up and spin the wheels, if no knocking take it for a slow drive and it may persuade the leaf spring to return to its natural position? The only thing that may have broke is the shock being at its full extension for that period of time?

Tony

Tony thanks for the advice, upon reflection the sound could have been a creaking as you suggest rather than a knocking. I will investigate further tomorrow and report back. If all returns to normal, I assume when doing the other side I should ensure the front should also be supported under the hub.

Cheers,
Colm.

PointFiveO said:

Tony thanks for the advice, upon reflection the sound could have been a creaking as you suggest rather than a knocking. I will investigate further tomorrow and report back. If all returns to normal, I assume when doing the other side I should ensure the front should also be supported under the hub.

Cheers,
Colm.

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Yeah if possible. I don't know if you are using a trolley jack but if so just jack it up a bit to try and keep it level with the other side but don't let it take the weight of the car if you see what I mean. There should be a certain amount of give on the spring before it starts to lift the car?

Tony

Tony thanks again for the advice, knocking stopped and suspension returned to normal, it seemed to just take a while for the leaf spring return to normal. Am attaching pics of newly repainted wheels, 2 done 2 to go.

Colm.