In a previous post I introduced my new used 2003 Honda Accord. In low speed driving it felt like I was driving a new car but after more time at the wheel and more miles I have noticed a few things I don't really like.
The soft suspension is great at low speed but high speed undulations in the road makes the car feel floaty and there's a little more unexpected movement that I can feel which is simply not right. There is a very subtle side to side sway on dips like the rear wants to kick out a bit and when I removed the left rear wheel to investigate the cause of the negative camber on that wheel I found a bent leading control arm. I had no idea what to call this part until I located a parts diagram listing the trailing and leading arms.
This should have been something that was repaired by the body shop that repaired the accident damage but I guess if you are not careful in choosing a repair place and you don't know to check the work, they can get away with just about anything. I think it's a little unsettling to think that a repair shop could cut corners so much that safety might be an issue. I found that the hidden rear bumper discharge vent was not replaced even though it was severely damaged. They simply taped it to keep it from falling apart and jammed it back in place. The lock on the fuel door was removed and now the bent leading arm.
un-ethical repair practices are just plain wrong in my book and I wonder if it can be contributed to the repairs being performed by people trained to be dishonest from a different culture or if it's simply a desire to stretch profitability on a repair beyond what is considered reasonable and safe.
Maybe they couldn't replace the part due to some frame problem and I would have liked to use the adjustable camber link I ordered to replace both sides and hopefully get around a slightly crooked frame. Luckily, I recently sold the slingshot carbs from a past project on my 1980 cb750c and was able to use the proceeds to buy adjustable upper camber links and part of the rear camber links.
The plan was to replace the right rear first, setting the link lengths for both sides since the left side is bent. Unfortunately when I finally got the car up, I figured that the kit with the longer arms on the right is actually the leading and trailing arms for one side of the car.
It appears that I could simply use them to replace the leading arms on both sides since they are the same dimensional size and adjustable but when I compared them to the stock arms, the new adjustable units are a bit longer than stock as well as the fork bracket being a little too wide where it connects to the spindle at the wheel.
I replaced the shorter camber links and ran off to Autozone to find an OEM replacement for the one bent arm but they only have the trailing arm to order. It would appear that the only difference between the trailing and leading arm is the small bracket to hold the brake line and I think I can simply use the part that I ordered.
I've requested a refund of the adjustable arms and sent them pictures describing my problem and just noticed that they pulled the ad for these arms thanks to my 2 star review and probably to figure out what the problem is with their product.
The bent control arm shortened the control arm by about 1 inch and this resulted in problems with toe and camber. The car drives roughly the same but I'm expecting the side to side sway will be gone on the high speed dips in the road as well as improved handling. I think I feel some imaginary improvement in stiffness from the 2 new control arms but anyone else would feel no difference in before or after driving. However, I'm certain this is far safer and more economical (tire wear).
Update:
From the pictures you can see that there is very little rust underneath. For a 12 year old NYC car this looks really good, but I know the original owner hardly drove the car at all and probably never on slushy salted roads.
This car drives great and I can confidently go above 80mph without fear of being tossed into another lane by the side to side sway which, as I expected, is now completely gone. What a pleasure it is now to drive this car.
The soft suspension is great at low speed but high speed undulations in the road makes the car feel floaty and there's a little more unexpected movement that I can feel which is simply not right. There is a very subtle side to side sway on dips like the rear wants to kick out a bit and when I removed the left rear wheel to investigate the cause of the negative camber on that wheel I found a bent leading control arm. I had no idea what to call this part until I located a parts diagram listing the trailing and leading arms.
This should have been something that was repaired by the body shop that repaired the accident damage but I guess if you are not careful in choosing a repair place and you don't know to check the work, they can get away with just about anything. I think it's a little unsettling to think that a repair shop could cut corners so much that safety might be an issue. I found that the hidden rear bumper discharge vent was not replaced even though it was severely damaged. They simply taped it to keep it from falling apart and jammed it back in place. The lock on the fuel door was removed and now the bent leading arm.
un-ethical repair practices are just plain wrong in my book and I wonder if it can be contributed to the repairs being performed by people trained to be dishonest from a different culture or if it's simply a desire to stretch profitability on a repair beyond what is considered reasonable and safe.
Maybe they couldn't replace the part due to some frame problem and I would have liked to use the adjustable camber link I ordered to replace both sides and hopefully get around a slightly crooked frame. Luckily, I recently sold the slingshot carbs from a past project on my 1980 cb750c and was able to use the proceeds to buy adjustable upper camber links and part of the rear camber links.
The plan was to replace the right rear first, setting the link lengths for both sides since the left side is bent. Unfortunately when I finally got the car up, I figured that the kit with the longer arms on the right is actually the leading and trailing arms for one side of the car.
It appears that I could simply use them to replace the leading arms on both sides since they are the same dimensional size and adjustable but when I compared them to the stock arms, the new adjustable units are a bit longer than stock as well as the fork bracket being a little too wide where it connects to the spindle at the wheel.
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| Aftermarket adjustable control arm is too wide |
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| The adjustable arm is too long with no way to adjust for the extra length. |
I replaced the shorter camber links and ran off to Autozone to find an OEM replacement for the one bent arm but they only have the trailing arm to order. It would appear that the only difference between the trailing and leading arm is the small bracket to hold the brake line and I think I can simply use the part that I ordered.
I've requested a refund of the adjustable arms and sent them pictures describing my problem and just noticed that they pulled the ad for these arms thanks to my 2 star review and probably to figure out what the problem is with their product.
 |
| Before: note the bent control arm on the right |
 |
| During: HF Ball Joint separator and new control arm |
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| After: New upper camber arm and leading control arm |
Update:
From the pictures you can see that there is very little rust underneath. For a 12 year old NYC car this looks really good, but I know the original owner hardly drove the car at all and probably never on slushy salted roads.
This car drives great and I can confidently go above 80mph without fear of being tossed into another lane by the side to side sway which, as I expected, is now completely gone. What a pleasure it is now to drive this car.
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