Technical Chassis Damage

[Zak1991]

I hit a kerb last week at roughy 15mph because a cat ran out in front of me in really bad weather conditions, i tried avoiding the cat and braking at the same time the wheels locked and the d/s front wheel clipped the kerb

staight away the car cut out show 'FPS ON' checked the manual and it was fuel cut off so i pressed the button under dash and it started staight away
i got out to check the wheel and it was at a 45 Degree angle, looked under noticed the shock was like a banana drove it to my local garage and they replaced the shock and lower arm (Costing £100)
when i picked it up they said that the chassis is 'Bent and Damaged'

So staight from there i took it to the bodyshop round the coner they had a look and said he can make a Jig, Mount it to Jig frame and pull it out ( Costing about £150-£200)

Just wondered if any1 else has had problems with chassis strenght
It's like its made of butter !! lol

(p.s If any1 got a single seicento sporting alloy lieing around please let me know - i have put a Ad in classifieds too )

 

[ycming]

in my believe, once the chassis is bent, the car needs to be scrapped.

Best to find another! Sorry to hear about that mate!

Ming

 

[Pep0]

Cats have nine lives.

Suspension parts also made of butter, check the pretensioner flags on the seat belts.

If it strainghtens then it is ok, go back and sort out the cat.

Noel

 

[ycming]

Cats have nine lives.

Suspension parts also made of butter, check the pretensioner flags on the seat belts.

If it strainghtens then it is ok, go back and sort out the cat.

Noel

Can;t agree with that, if you consider:

1) Price of a jig
2) Price of a cinq
3) THe original strength of the chassis on the cinq
4) The weaken shell after the jig

Ming

 

[Pep0]

Hi Ming

maybe

But even when you buy a car new there is not a warrenty it has not been in a straightening jig already?

Two guys I used to work with previous job was with a maj manu - one had a book of chits, he drew the shape of the next dolly he needed, and the tool shop made it up immediately cause it was stopping a 'new' car being shipped out. The other addressed the remining damage with a skim of paste,... W&D 1000. Then they had a spray man finish it.

It was like new afterwards.

At the weekends they body shopped their mates cars...

One of the leading garages (locally) sold a car that was a cut and slot, they did not detect the welds, the new owner used it for a while and then put it up for sale, the new buyer had an AA inspection ...

Noel
P.S. the real problem is that there will be more corrosion afterwards.

 

[Rich_65402]

One of the leading garages (locally) sold a car that was a cut and slot, they did not detect the welds, the new owner used it for a while and then put it up for sale, the new buyer had an AA inspection ...

Noel
P.S. the real problem is that there will be more corrosion afterwards.

you are aware that is extremly illegal arent you? the police could take action and possibly a prosecution taken against the garage that sold the cut & shut

 

[Pep0]

Yea apparently a true story, the person selling the car wanted compensation, cause it was unsalable, the garage had not been aware.

It was in local press...

Donno the outcome.

I'm not going to say where or what garage.

Noel

 

[StoneNewt]

Sounds about right, I know of 2 centos that have been scrapped due to a banana chassis after fairly minor collisions.

In all honesty jigging it will be fine for normal road use as long as that's the first time that area has been worked. The problem is if you get 2 or 3 repairs like that & it quickly adds up to a fatigue problem developing at a rapid rate.

 

[Whiley]

ittl be fine get it jigged, wont make corrosion worse like people have said in previous posts.

 

[craigb244]

jigging is fine. they have one at dads work(insurance repairers)... looks like something from SAW.
4 huge arms at each corner with hydraulic rams then mounting points where lots of little ones can be fitted to pull or push bits of the car in or out.

can even jig bike frames and when you think how accurate and strong bike frames have to be compared to a car chassis it says a lot

should of flattened the cat!

 

[Pep0]

should of flattened the cat!

bum bum

dont like hitting a dog or bird, but a cat has 9 lives

Noel

 

[craigb244]

I hit a cat on the day of my driving test. lol

 

[allanhelen]

I hit a bird on teh way to a MOT one time, just stunned it and it ended up on a suspension arm, scared the crap out of teh MOT inspector when it came around and flew off

Anyway back on topic, the car should be fine and straight,

but personally if it was me I would not want to continue to own a car that I know had been in an accident bad enough to damage the key structure. Cento's have very little crash protection as they stand anyway and this just detractes from that even more

 

[gp3000000]

I hit a kerb last week at roughy 15mph because a cat ran out in front of me in really bad weather conditions, i tried avoiding the cat and braking at the same time the wheels locked and the d/s front wheel clipped the kerb

That's really unlucky! I hit a kerb at 20mph in my 2002 Sei, after some understeer on a mini roundabout. Steel wheel was damaged badly, tyre knackered, alignment knocked VERY far out, but not too far to be adjusted, once that was done and the wheel replaced, I've had no further problems.

staight away the car cut out show 'FPS ON' checked the manual and it was fuel cut off so i pressed the button under dash and it started staight away

When I had my kerb-hitting incident that never got activated! And when I was rear-ended at 20mph in my old cinq, it never got activated either! TBH I didn't have much faith in the inertia cut-out, but your story reassures me

Sei sporting alloys are very available on e-bay.

 

[jenks69]

Check for other damage to things like steering rack anti roll bar etc - I am breaking my cinq which had previous accident damange (I knew it had been bumped) but didn't realise how bad :bang:

with the struts and lower arms off and steering rack disconnected at the ball joints I can't move it by hand - and it's still really tight at the steering wheel!

When I pulled the alternator off - it wouldn't come out of any of the gaps easily - but when fitting it to my non crash damaged cinq - it slotted straight in!

If you get it jigged there's lots of other things that could also be wrong!

Good luck which ever way you decide to go!

 

[ycming]

Get another cento for £500!!!

Ming

 

[Zak1991]

Just a update,

Chassis Jigged and tracking done, new alloy found and fitted ( £20 for the alloy )

People who saying should of hit the cat
1. my cat got flatted outside my house when i was younger i was heartbroken lol surely some of you guys have pets !!
2. i hit a cat a few week after passing my test and it took the meshing out of the middle section of my front bumper (on my cento) The cat was fine, even had the cheek to sit there and watch me while i was checking for damage lol

Overall car is driving fine no nosies ,goes in a staight line, handling not effected and even looking at the chassis its really hard to notice that any work has been done

On to the next problem now, got a rear brake not working/ sticking on.:bang:

The joy of owning a Fiat

 

[Pep0]

It is like Basil Brush

When you hit a cat they should go bum bum.

If you swerve or brake for an animal you may create a worse accident. I hate dogs, birds and badgers cause they are so inoffensive, really dont like hittiing one, typically a cat will avoid contact, unless it is at night or a youngster.

Noel