Help! Knackered Suspension?

[metroarea]

Hi all. I've had my new 8v for nearly a month now and love it. One problem is that I think my wheels are scraping against my wheel arches when I go over bumps/into dips at any kind of speed and making a horrible noise. This wouldnt bother me apart from the fact that the outside edge of my front right and rear left tires are wearing away; i assume from where they are occasaionaly rubbing against the arches at speed. It is defo not normal tire wear and is not on the contact surface of the tire, but is on the top/side of the tire where it is rounded, on the outside of the tire. I also found tire tread stuck up in the arch! Not only this but the other day i took my borther and sister out in the car, and it was doing the same thing, and making horrible "grounding" noises driving normally at low speeds.

Is this likely to be my suspension? It does feel soft anyway. The car hasnt been lowered in any way and is totally standard but I'm wandering whether to just replace my suspension?

Sorry for the rambling message but hard to describe! Any thoughts would be much appreciated.

Ta

[takethefifth]

If your car has not been lowered and you are not running 22" wheels or something then there is most definately something wrong!

I run 17" wheels with my standard suspension and its fine even when loaded and driven hard.

Not sure exactly what though - springs or mounts i would guess.. Have a check for anything obvious and get to a garage asap!

[Horney]

Mine didn't even do that when I had the back seats down and it was loaded to the roof with junk when I was helping the trouble and strife move house, plus it's lowered 40mm. Sounds like your suspension is in need of a car doctor. You're probably gonna have to replace everything but fear not as this is not as expensive as it forst sounds.

I would recommend going to a garage to find out what needs replacing, shop around for the parts then do it yourself if you feel abale.

Nick

[metroarea]

Worried now! I was trying to ignore it! I'll have to pop it down the garage at the weekend. I can feel my first big cash injection coming on!

[Horney]

If you shop around you should be able to get the whole lot for less than £250 and may not need all that. Could be worse, I rebuilt the mini a year ago and after 2 weeks on the road I blew up my gearbox. I can assure you that cost a damn site more than £250!!!!!!

Nick

[metroarea]

Could do without it but hey ho, I bought into these kind of things when I got the b!tch in the first place! Was that £250 taking into account fitting or assuming I(not the worlds best mechanic)was doing the rebuild?!

[Horney]

£250 would just be the bits and a worse case scenario. Fitting isn't all that hard. THe rear is easy apart from the odd stuborn bolt. THe front is a little harder as you need spring compressers and a little widget for a nasty little nut in the tower mounts.

Nick

[metroarea]

well thanks for your help mate, appreciated. I'll get it over to a garage and see how much they try and screw me out of then probably end up getting the bits myself and ill be back on here asking for advice. I'll let you know how it goes. cheers mate!

[Organisys]

Worried now! I was trying to ignore it! I'll have to pop it down the garage at the weekend. I can feel my first big cash injection coming on!

Don't ignore it, your tyres will get real dangerous...real quick.

Have the garage check the top mounts and bump stops, as well as replacing the springs and possibly the shocks.

[Agreeable Slick]

Right,

Remove the parcel shelf and supports.

Get someone to bounce the back of the car whilst you look at the top mounts of the rear suspension. There should be no movement from the tops whatsoever. However from what you have said it seems likely that the little circlip on the piston has broken off. This stops the spring compressing right down. If it has broken then the top of the piston will start coming through the top mount hole.

If it is this then you need to get yourself down to GSF, Rear Gas shocks are £40 a pop, Top mounts are £5.

The work is easy to do.

Jack the rear of the car up completely, unscrew the bolt at the top of the suspension and the entire rear axle will drop down. Then follow the strut down onto the lower part of the axle and remove the bolt that screws through the bottom and next to the brakes. This will free up the strut and you will be able to take it out easily.

Stick the spring on the new shock as you found it on the old one. Replace in same way as you took out, lower car back down and it shouldn't bounce anymore.

Hey presto £85-90 spent and an entire job done by yourself, you will be a regualr mechanic in no time.