[envy]

I also face the same issue in the new City, it's ok when I'm alone but the same breaker scrapes when even one more person is with me, but at times I'm not sure whether it is actually the body that scrapes or is it just the mud flaps, Note: Mudflaps are much lower than the body's GC and are harder as well, so they could also be the culprit.
I also noticed that the scraping sound always comes from near and behind the front set of tyres. Mudflap/Body? how do i know

[bluevolt]

Originally Posted by envy

I also noticed that the scraping sound always comes from near and behind the front set of tyres. Mudflap/Body? how do i know

There will be difference in sound of scraping a metal(underbody) and a rubber/plastic(mudflap). It's quite recognizable.

[envy]

Originally Posted by bluevolt

There will be difference in sound of scraping a metal(underbody) and a rubber/plastic(mudflap). It's quite recognizable.

Usually when my car hits my windows are up, since I drive slowly almost always on breakers, and due to sound isolation, it is hard to distinguish a small scraping sound as metal/rubber.

But recently I rolled my windows down on a particular breaker, and I was right it was the sound of that stiff rubber flap scraping.

On second thoughts, it is good that the flap is lower than the actual metal body, if it hits I'll know on which breaker I have to be more careful than others.

Will get my car's bottom inspected on next service just to confirm the damage if any.

[sudeepg]

Old thread, but still trying to revive. I can certainly make out the difference of a mud flap scraping and the underbelly. When the mud flap hits, it usually happens right after the front wheel crosses and it happens all the time. My office campus has a mile high speed breaker and it always hits there, even with just me in the car.

I had installed the adjusters over the rear coil spring and it has significantly reduced scraping (although it still does only when driving in some parts of Bangalore). When the underbelly hits, you hear more of a thud rather than a 2 tone sound of the mud flap being flexed and reverting.

In an attempt to fix this forever, I called Koni FSD (Methods Automotive) in Bangalore. Sadly, they do not have a suspension setup for Honda city. Seems Tein SS has suspension setup for city, but they are more of sports setup, which I am not really interested in at the moment.

[avisidhu]

Bumping this old thread. With my 3rd gen City (2009) clocking 70K kms, change of stock suspension looks imminent. And shifting to Hyderabad has now finally made me truly realise what all that cribbing about speed breakers on this forum has been about. My mud flaps scrape at least 10 places on the way to the office, and its driving me nuts!

Any inputs, suggestions and leads would be much appreciated. I want to explore options beyond the stock suspension, and don't mind a stiffer setup. Also, if there's a garage/mechanic who knows his stuff and can check if replacement or overhaul is required.

I'm new to the city and through this process, also intend to establish a connect outside the authorised service center for all my work. Thanks in advance!

[OSH]

Originally Posted by avisidhu

With my 3rd gen City (2009) clocking 70K kms, change of stock suspension looks imminent. And shifting to Hyderabad has now finally made me truly realise what all that cribbing about speed breakers on this forum has been about. My mud flaps scrape at least 10 places on the way to the office, and its driving me nuts.

70000 kms is a little early for a suspension overhaul if the car is driven well, are you sure that the suspension needs changing ? Asking this because my '07 City ZX got it's suspension work done at a little over 100000 kms last year and my '12 City has crossed 70000 kms without any suspension problems till date.

The oem mud-flaps are really long and they had the tendency to scrape the speed breakers even in showroom left cars so, be very sure if the old suspension is the cause of your problem.

Any inputs, suggestions and leads would be much appreciated.

Remove the mud-flaps. Try it out, it won't cost you anything and all you need is a small screw-driver. As time passes, the suspension does sag a bit and that makes the mud-flaps scrape the speed-breakers more often.

I have done this on my car and have not come across a speed-breaker that my car scrapes after that. I only fit them during the monsoon months to save the door's paint from the mud splatter. If you decide to try this out and need any help let me know.

[sunilch]

Originally Posted by OSH

...........Asking this because my '07 City ZX got it's suspension work done at a little over 100000 kms last year and my '12 City has crossed 70000 kms without any suspension problems till date.

Remove the mud-flaps. Try it out, it won't cost you anything and all you need is a small screw-driver....

OSH, you were lucky

CityZX had a different setup and higher ground clearance than 3rdGen ANHC.

ANHC from 2008-2011 had soft suspension and lower GC. 160mm to be precise. 3rd Gen ANHC refresh in 2012 (upto 2014) had a stiffer suspension (comparared to the earlier one) and also higher GC - 165MM to be precise.

Hence you missed or didn't noticed the GC/breaker scrapping issues a lot.

Removing mud-flaps will help but only superficially. Soft suspension will for sure lead to scrapping on larger breakers.

Originally Posted by avisidhu

....Any inputs, suggestions and leads would be much appreciated....

I know folks who have swapped the suspension in their 3rd gen ANHC with the one that can with the 2012 refresh and are happy. Swapping will help for sure. But you will still have to adjust your driving style in HYD

[OSH]

Originally Posted by sunilch

CityZX had a different setup and higher ground clearance than 3rdGen ANHC.

No sir. The 2nd gen City too had 160 mm of GC, the same GC was carried over to the 3rd gen pre-facelift model. As a matter of fact, this was the very reason why people used to crib about the low GC that the 2nd gen had. People then thaught that because the 3rd gen came with 15 inch wheels as opposed to the 14 inchers of the outgoing model, the GC would have been increased but that was not the case. The GC increased to 165 mm only after the facelift of 2012, like you mentioned.

Anyways, what I wanted to let the OP know is that the suspension does not give up so early. I was not comparing the suspensions of the two generations.

3rd Gen ANHC refresh in 2012 (upto 2014) had a stiffer suspension (comparared to the earlier one) and also higher GC - 165MM to be precise. Hence you missed or didn't notice the GC/breaker scrapping issues a lot.

There are two things the 3rd gen City would scrape while taking the speed-breakers; car's belly and mud-flaps. I think you are talking about the belly touching the speed-breaker because you mentioned the softness of the suspension. This was sorted with the increased GC of 5 mm in 2012.

I, on the other hand was talking about the mud-flaps touching the speed-breakers, the problem that the OP is currently facing and so asked him to try removing the mud-flaps. Those mud-flaps; especially the front ones are just extra long and so touch the speed-breakers even if you are a little careless while going over. This problem was not solved even in 2012 with 5 mm more GC. This was sorted only when the 4th gen was launched with shorter mud-flaps.

Removing mud-flaps will help but only superficially.

Yes that's true but believe me, the mud-flaps were the ones that scraped majority of the speed-breakers. The under belly of the 2012 facelift touches only those mountain-like contraptions and that too only if you are not very carefull.

[avisidhu]

Thanks a ton for the inputs guys, and yes, its just the mud flaps that scrape, I'm careful at speed breakers so avoid any underbelly hits most of the times.
The car is pretty much pristine mechanically and driven inside Chandigarh, so no speed breakers or potholes. Does make me think that suspension might not be the culprit here!

Let me remove the mud flaps for now, and meanwhile see if these can be shortened or some alternative is available in the market. Thanks again!

[rayjaycleoful]

In an otherwise great car, the ground clearance/ mud flap scraping is the only problem.
My observations in my 2011 pre facelift are;

1) The mudflaps always scrape medium to high speedbreakers even if there is only 1 person on board. This can be avoided if you take it diagonally.

The sound is horrible and for the longest time I used to think it was the underbody scraping because it almost sounds like metal.

2) With 4-5 people on board, on long but not so high speedbreakers (long hump), the belly scrapes but the mudflaps don't. This happens quite rarely though.

I've heard from people that it's lowest Honda car, even lower than the old civics and accords.

Removing or shortening the mudflaps is a good solution.

[OSH]

Originally Posted by avisidhu

Let me remove the mud flaps for now, and meanwhile see if these can be shortened or some alternative is available in the market.

There are 3 screws that hold each mud-flap in place, after you remove those screws, screw them back into their slots because those screws also hold the front wheel-well lining. This way you also don't have to worry about loosing those screws while the mud-flaps are kept at home. Use a really small screw-driver, it should not be longer than the distance between the rear tyre and mud-flap screw or else you will have to remove the rear wheel.

To remove the front mud-flaps, turn (full lock to the right to remove the front right mud-flap and visa versa) the wheels for easy access to the screws.

To remove the rear mud-flaps, two screws can be seen from the side but one screw is hidden out of sight. That one screw need to be accessed from under the car.

[avisidhu]

Originally Posted by rayjaycleoful

...

I've heard from people that it's lowest Honda car, even lower than the old civics and accords.
....

Tell me about it! Surprisingly our civic would never scrape any of the speed breakers (mall parking usually) that the city would. We had 2009 and 2010 models of City, and both had this issue to equal measure. But since it was infrequent so never bothered. Not anymore though :(

Originally Posted by OSH

There are 3 screws that hold each mud-flap in place, after you remove those screws,
......
That one screw need to be accessed from under the car.

Awesome, thanks for the detailed instructions! Will try this weekend and see how it goes. Thankfully the rear wheel mud flaps are not a problem so won't touch them for now.