Stupid Speed Hump / Carpark Exit

[Champwhite]

I drive a 330 cab and have encountered on two ocassions, a "thud" sound after my front wheels go over (1) a speed hump (2) at the end of an uphill carpark exit where the road becomes level. I searched under the car but can't seem to find the affected area. Does anyone...

1) Have this experience before?
2) Identified which part of the car is the lowest such that it contacts the speed hump?
3) Know if it causes any serious damage?

Thanks. Just wanna be sure and am trying damn hard to avoid such situations again.

 

[russo]

what is your mileage on your ride? Could be due to worn bushings on the front axle. Cabs normally don't have thud noises when going over humps. Have it checked by agent. If it us under relevant warrenty have it replaced

 

[Puny]

Champwhite,

I've had the same experience, even prior to lowering of the car on a couple of occassions, now, I'm even more careful. Slow speed for front tyre clearance. Sometimes, the hump needn't be too high, but the angle is very abrupt. Also, extra care for more passengers in the car. Cabs are much more rear heavy and fairly lowered compared to coupes/sedans.

Forgot to add that it only happens on a small fraction of speed humps - the telltale signs being humps that have plenty of rough scrapes and the paint is nearly gone around the middle. There's also a thread of the list of carparks where the humps are a little unforgiving. :thinking:

The sound is painful to hear, but the damage hasn't been serious yet for slow speed hump clearing, unless someone can enlighten otherwise. There're cases whereby the owners consistently get bottom-out scrapes, but the car functions as normal (except the cosmetic scratches beneath the car when it's hoisted up). Would anyone be able to advise?

 

[Racebred]

for the front i'm guessing the metal brace below your transmission. since front hard knocks usually occur after your front wheel crosses the hump, and what's behind the front wheel hits the top most part of the hump when your front suspension compresses after crossing said hump, then it's roughly that area, plus it's the only solid part of your undercarriage to produce such a sound. repeated knocks on your transmission is no good, and you can misalign it. the only way is to look out for scrapes on the hump already, like puny said, and go really slowly so when your front clears the hump your suspension doesnt compress so much. there's no scratch marks coz you're doing a direct "top on" hit, not scraping the undercarriage along something.

as for the rear, the lowest part of the car is the additional cross underbrace which is unique to cabrios. this bugger is pretty resilient it shouldnt translate to any obvious damage.

 

[Champwhite]

I agree, it's not a regular problem - I always angle the car when I see scrapes on the speed hump. But sometimes, you can't avoid them especially if you have not exit from that particular car park exit before.

It seems like twice isn't that bad yet - car functions as per normal. Just can't seem to identify the contact area. Where is the transmission brace? There is a 4 point (min) brace covering the entire front section (covered) but from that point, I don't recall. There are two parrellel metal strips (covered with some rubber substance) running along the length of the car, about 20 cm from the sideskirts - they seem to be the lowest point. Other than that there's the twin pipes for the exhaust (S-bend) area lower down...

 

[Champwhite]

what is your mileage on your ride? Could be due to worn bushings on the front axle. Cabs normally don't have thud noises when going over humps. Have it checked by agent. If it us under relevant warrenty have it replaced

My car is 1.5 years old... Worn bushings seem a little premature? So fast? Don't scare me please...

 

[Racebred]

if you cant see the damage then it shouldnt be much of a problem lah. bang away. hehehe

 

[nexus]

There are two struts underneath that gets scraped on most of the time esp for lowered cars. Went to PML once to have a look. The guy told me it is ok. The struts are apparently strong enuf to be used to support the car for hoisting purposes. But if you are worried you can go to PML to have a look.

 

[Champwhite]

There are two struts underneath that gets scraped on most of the time esp for lowered cars. Went to PML once to have a look. The guy told me it is ok. The struts are apparently strong enuf to be used to support the car for hoisting purposes. But if you are worried you can go to PML to have a look.

Thanks! That's a good idea. I am going down to PML real soon. They damaged one of my interior panels when I sent it in for another job. :furious: :furious: :furious:

 

[tracker]

Speed Hump damage

Check your suspension housing and see if there are any signs of bulging. The suspension is able to take the shock but if full travel may extend them into the housing. I experienced this on the hump between Junction 8 and the multi-storey carpark. Changed shock and the related items after reworking the housing.