Hello friends,
Its been long time that i posted something here and this time i won't even say was lazy.. lately been facing a few of blows on personal front and life has not been the way it was to me since last post, but all that can come in picture may be in a different post altogether. Lets talk about civic here, my Black 2007 Honda Civic.
That sweetie has been one hell of a car. Believe me i have not driven super cars yet but whatever that have driven this one is a very sweet machine, from racing one traffic light to other... to cutting corners... to driving 150 to 210+ km/h... to listening melodies in rainy days or some time just talking to her it has been very good in fact i will say great car to me.
But as with almost everything wear-tear happens and my car is no different.. Many of you don't know but at the start of this year Civic met with bad accident on road, hitting a feet height pavement at 150+ km/h from front and the impact was such that right side alloy wheels turned into pieces suspension assembly broke at rear and after all this all four in the car walked out and the first statement i heard from one of my friends (to other) "Good morning" (he was sleeping while crash happened)(can elaborate more but thats not the aim here)
And from that day onwards something or the other kept on bothering me from cars perspective too(because some very personal stuff were also bothering me). Got the damaged parts replaced got her set of 4 + 1 brand new Michelin Agnis tyres but it was not the same car, i think...
There was this sound something like humming from right front wheel, was vibrating steer at 90+ km/h confidence of breaking was not there.. always kept thinking that it might just leave the road again and this time may be i will not get the chance also to walk away.
Took it to local garage and after quite a few test drives was able to convince the person that it must be the right wheel bearing.. He was quite skeptical but on my insist he replaced it, that was around Rs 1400.00 + Rs 200 for the press machine and Rs 500 as labor charges. Result: humming sound went away. I thought finally things are getting normal with my sweetie but no i was wrong.
Vibrating steering issue become more and more prominent and it was like Praveen why can't you send me to Honda service center(HSC) and get me fixed.. am i not good enough for you now to ask for proper authorized service center visit but service center guys were more lame than me.. as per them things are quite ok and they can't figure out whats the reason behind vibration and gave the car back... I kept the car running like that and lately it started making noise while braking as if something is hitting the brake disc rotors and the cycle begins again.
As per my local garage may be suspension bushes or the rotors must have gone wrong.. they replaced the bushes and got the disc cleaned on lathe machine but that thing was so stubborn to go away. Between all these I saw one very strange thing... what the local mechanic did is that he jacked my car from front right so that front right tyre is completely off the ground.. took the tyre off and started the car (switched to Drive mode) brake disc was hitting the brake caliper pins while rotating in an alternate fashion, which he ignored but i didn't .. i asked him to get this disc also removed and see of that hub is also doing this behavior (as per him this is not that abnormal) but upon my forced request he had to do it and there i saw that the hub was also showing wave behavior but as they has changed that hub's bearing only a month back so they don't want to take the blame if bearing or hub has gone wrong but kept insisting that it must be disc only and they will re-put that on lathe machine and get it fixed but i was pretty sure the culprit is the hub.
To be very sure, took it to Honda Service Center(HSC) again and elaborated the problem over phone (as driver has picked it to HSC) as i was not physically present there but again they were not able to figure out the issue. Even though i was so precise explaining about hub and its bearing (would be the culprit and how to confirm it...) they just can't get to it and my car came back with interior cleaned along with leather polishing on seats and nothing much but at least they were frank in telling me that they were not able to get to crux of the problem and hence its not fixed as of now.
And day before yesterday took it to Palika Bhawan, RK Puram, New Delhi (opposite to Hotel Hayat) and explained the problem and asked the mechanic to do the same exact steps and then it will become clear.. At least this time they listened because i think they didn't had any thing to loose and neither to take blame of some kind and finalized on yes its the hub (and if worst case may the axle), but as the hub(with bearing) is a thing which rarely gets any damage is generally not available with any store there. Now what do i need to do, wait or could i ask Honda to get me one but both things will take time.
One among those mechanics came up with the idea of why not get it fixed it on lathe machine while rubbing of the extra dent (which is not visible from naked eye) this way even if there is a slight dent on hub wheel it will not be propagating that on the brake disc plate(rotor) (because its directly mounted on that) after some negotiations i agreed.
They took it and came back in 40 min.. hub was looking shiny from the front as they have grinned for that uneven surface and rest was exactly the same. Keeping fingers crossed they put the things together which is not that tough but mind you not very easy too and its very laborious.
Took the test drive and it seemed to work... there was no vibration on steering and it was not screaming while breaking too.. on a safer note got all the tires balanced and aligned too and even though has not taken it for any long rides yet but initial observations are very satisfying (Total cost: Rs 3500.00 including labor charges) and also for the first time i got my civic a new accessory the "steering wheel" cover.. it is very much well stitched and finished have a look.
@ Rs 2200.00 What you say?
@ Rs 2200.00 What you say?
