Saab 9-3 Broken Rear Camber Bolt

[ET16]

During an alignment today, my local shop broke a rear camber bolt. Not that big of a deal, but they them find that that they can't get the broken bolt out. They send me home and order a control arm. They say they will have to heat the bolt up and likely ruin the bushings in the arm that it runs through.

Seems a little lame. I go back Thursday.

 

[Cardenio327]

Bummer.

One of my good customers brought in his Suzuki Kizashi with the left rear wheel rattling back and forth.

The Suzuki dealer stripped the toe eccentric bolt while doing an alignment. The customer drove 2-1/2 hours back from the dealer on the dangerous Pan-American Highway with the rear control arm loose.

When my customer called them and e-mailed them a photo, they said to just drive it back and they'll take care of it, they claimed it was not dangerous at all.

We ended up putting in a grade 10 bolt to hold it until the dealer can mail them a new eccentric bolt.

 

[NHGUY]

There are still Suzuki dealers?

 

[zzyzzx]

On my 1995 Escort, camber bolts go through the upper bolt on the lower strut mount. No bushings are there either. I want a pic of the location of this bolt. And where in MD because I don't want to take my car there!

 

[simple_gifts]

Originally Posted By: NHGUY
There are still Suzuki dealers?


In Mexico, apparently yes.

 

[geeman789]

Originally Posted By: NHGUY
There are still Suzuki dealers?


Soon, we will be asking the same question about Mitsubishi, and possibly Volvo...

I told a friend to maybe think twice about buying a Suzuki SX4 some years back... he laughed and said THAT will never happen. Now, he has a 5 year old car worth ZERO, with one shady service facility in a city of a million people... and aftermarket parts are hit and miss... oops...!

 

[IndyIan]

Originally Posted By: geeman789
Originally Posted By: NHGUY
There are still Suzuki dealers?


Soon, we will be asking the same question about Mitsubishi, and possibly Volvo...

I told a friend to maybe think twice about buying a Suzuki SX4 some years back... he laughed and said THAT will never happen. Now, he has a 5 year old car worth ZERO, with one shady service facility in a city of a million people... and aftermarket parts are hit and miss... oops...!

Really? I find the orphaned cars seem to hold their value better than I would think, atleast the asking prices are way up there. I'm sure he could sell it tomorrow for $5k anyways.
I am kind of tossing around the idea of getting a 2005-06 Suzuku XL7, and they are a bit cheaper than other SUV's, but low mileage ones are still 2/3 or 3/4 of what the average SUV goes for, which is about what they went for new as well.

 

[Hokiefyd]

Originally Posted By: NHGUY
There are still Suzuki dealers?


Sure there are. Interestingly, there's only one dealership in my wife's very small home town in the mountains of southwest Virginia, and it's a Suzuki dealership:

http://www.duncansuzuki.com/

 

[Cardenio327]

Originally Posted By: simple_gifts
Originally Posted By: NHGUY
There are still Suzuki dealers?


In Mexico, apparently yes.


Suzuki and its dealerships aren't especially common here, but they do offer a good selection of Japanese and Indian models. I don't think they have any intention of leaving Mexico like they left the US.

Suzuki is the top selling car brand in India.

My Honda Fit got wrecked, if the insurance company decides to total it, a new Swift with a manual transmission is on the short list.

 

[HangFire]

This thread makes me appreciate my local shop more.

I got a Saturday alignment on the Honda and they didn't want to bust the rear eccentrics loose for fear of breaking it and stranding the vehicle until the Honda dealer opened Monday morning.

I got new genuine Honda bolts online at Majestic, busted them loose, replaced the washers (bolts were OK) and got it back to finish the alignment that week.