[keyur]

I agree on the mud flaps being useful. Depending on the content of gravel in the muck, you could even have scratches (as a direct result of the splatter or as a result of the after-spray cleaning). The mud flaps prevent the muck from being thrown to the sides as well as onto the underbody.

Then again, cutting the mudflaps or shortening them results in the same or similar situation. The length of the mudflaps and the angle are dependent on the angle of the spray at your average speeds!

[Tgo]

I think my car is leaning towards the left when viewed from the front. Please suggest how I can confirm this.



In this picture you can see the tie rod clearly visible on on the right wheel assembly under the car which is not visible on the left.



I tried taking some pictures to make it more clear.





Can the Jeepers in the community suggest how this can be confirmed with a spirit level at home which can later be demonstrated to the service center people?

If not by using a spirit level, can this be detected by change in some observable driving dynamics, eg. pulling to one side etc.

Really worried about this now. Its just a 6 month old vehicle with 3000 km on the odo.

[BuRnT RuBbEr]

a. put the spirit level on the ground. note the tilt.
b. put the spirit level on the roof of the vehicle. note the tilt. alternatively. you can put it atop the engine if there is adequate flat surface to do that.

[Captain Slow]

Originally Posted by Tgo

I think my car is leaning towards the left when viewed from the front. Please suggest how I can confirm this.

.

The ground that the car is on doesn't look very even. The left side looks higher than the right side. Don't worry so much drive the car and enjoy it.

[download2live]

I think it was reported very early in one of the ownership reports that the mud flaps being hard were prone to break off. Getting the flexible ones is the only way out. Do not go for shortened flaps. With increasing height of speed breakers they will lose out on their usefulness over period of time.

Using a brick to demo height difference? Funny.

[Tgo]

Originally Posted by BuRnT RuBbEr

a. put the spirit level on the ground. note the tilt.
b. put the spirit level on the roof of the vehicle. note the tilt. alternatively. you can put it atop the engine if there is adequate flat surface to do that.

My search for a flat surface for parking the car begins. With every part being curved inside the engine bay and the roof or the dash. It is kind of tricky. Is there some kind of make shift Jig for that?

Originally Posted by Captain Slow

The ground that the car is on doesn't look very even. The left side looks higher than the right side. Don't worry so much drive the car and enjoy it.

I will take another set of pictures soon.

Originally Posted by download2live

Using a brick to demo height difference? Funny.

I didn't have the Ostrich Egg lying around like VW.

[figo_united]

I'm part of the broken mudflap figo community as well.

Have tried bringing this to the notice of ford india atleast a couple of times through facebook and email. promptly Got a call each time and was told a new variety is available, but when I visit the dealer and check, its the same old hard mud flap
So I'm still running without mud flaps!

[rajeev k]

Use a water level tube instead of the brick or spirit level. A water level is nothing but some length of 12mm or 1/2 inch transparent PVC flexible tube filled with water, without air in between. Tell someone to hold one end against a reference point and look at the difference in level at the other end. This way you can identify ,a rather correct level difference.

[Tgo]

So I started searching on the internet about Water Levels. Tried to set it up at home. For those of you who will come across textual procedures for the same i have included a step by step procedure for fabricating a water level. Here it Goes...

1. Find a container and suitable tools for punching a hole in it.


2. Start punching the hole a little above the base on the side wall where it it sufficiently thick.


3. Widen it according to the diameter of pipe to be used. This one was purely trial and error. Using the back end of a flat file here.


4. Hole Punched. Make sure that the circumference of the hole is even and circular. No rough ends or burrs. This will help you achieve a water tight press fit instead of using sealants.


5. Make sure you have a pipe with a Outer diameter slightly bigger than the diameter of the Hole. No embarrassment in taking the container with you for reference if you have already punched the hole.



6. Insert the pipe into the hole.


7. Make sure that the pipe is sufficiently inside the container so as to avoid accidental slipping out due to slight jerks.


8. Place the container at a height after filling it with some water.


9. Bleed the pipe.


10. Remove any major air bubbles such as this one. And check for leaks.


12. Add some marker. I used Ink.


13. The water level is set for your experiments. Keep the open end of the pipe higher than the level of water in the container until you want to use the water level. Save Water.


Now comes the Measurement part (Technically speaking this is a comparator instead of a measuring instrument)

I was thinking of using some point on the side panel indicator molding as the reference points. Will be touching the end of the pipe on the pointed edge and will mark the level of water in the pipe with a marker. Keeping the container at the same height I will repeat the step on the other side. Please correct me if I am wrong.

If there is a difference in the height of water on either sides, I have a serious issue to be brought to the notice of the Service people. Otherwise, lets hope its is otherwise, I'll be rolling like before.



Hang on for the result.

[Tgo]

The result is out. First things first. Left and Right are from the driver's perspective. Right being right side of the driver when he's sitting in the seat and left means his left.

The apparatus set on top of this stool to raise the water level. Water was made to settle down to remove any surging inside the pipe at the open end.


Marking the Right hand side. Lower left edge of the molding taken as reference point.


Checking on the Left hand side. and....


Significant difference in the level. My car is banged up!!! Why, Why me?


For those of you wondering what this means. This means that my car is lower on the right hand side. As I had suspected in the first place. In the pics posted in an earlier post where the car is viewed from the front, the car is leaning to the left, the side where the tie rod of some sort is not visible below the front bumper.


I didn't measure the difference as I was too disappointed to see it there in the first place. Guesswork says its close to 1.5 ~ 1.75 cm. Can experts suggest what could have caused it? What to do now?

[rajeev k]

Is the floor in your porch exactly horizontal or is it sloping in one direction.
From the picture it appears that the can set up is at a lower level than the side indicator or is it only illusory?
Kindly check again, with any reference point in the wall, with the help of another person. The tube can be removed from the can.

If difference is confirmed first get your suspension, strut checked up

[Tgo]

Originally Posted by rajeev k

Is the floor in your porch exactly horizontal or is it sloping in one direction.
From the picture it appears that the can set up is at a lower level than the side indicator or is it only illusory?
Kindly check again, with any reference point in the wall, with the help of another person. The tube can be removed from the can.

If difference is confirmed first get your suspension, strut checked up

Damn! What a fool I am? Obviously the floor is sloping to the right side of the car for drainage purpose. But 1.5cm? I doubt it. Will check with my dad today and also check the levels on a meter scale on the places where the wheels were.

Yes, the can is lower than the indicator but that does not matter as one only needs the marking of the height of water in the tube which will be the same as the height of water surface in the can. Doesn't matter even if i keep the can on the floor, in which case I would have had to mark the water level in the tube somewhere 6 inches above the ground.

[kalpeshc]

The level of the floor for drainage may indeed be around 1.5 cm. It's not uncommon to have such leveling on flooring outside the house. You can try a simple thing - put your car in reverse and you'll find that now your left hand side is lower than right hand side. That should put all doubts to rest.

[racerme?]

Originally Posted by Tgo

Some others:

1. Front seat Sliding mechanism doesn't lock in properly. Whenever there is pressure applied onto the seat back above mid level eg. pulling out a wallet from your trouser pockets, the seat just slides back the maximum it can. This happens immediately after the adjustment is made for a short or tall driver. One setting if not fiddled with remaims fine for some time, until the day you decide to clean the carpets in your car.
2. The front left suspension has started making this significant thud~dhuk sound when falling into a ditch or over a sharp speed breaker. It seems like the dampener in the shock absorber assembly is not working.

man..i got the same problems on my figo and was wondering if they were one off issues.My Figo's going for its SFS(10K kms) on saturday and I am looking to get these issues solved.

as far as the thud-dhud sound of front left suspension i am pretty worried.I already had got it rectified shortly after first servicing but soon it returned.i was outraged and blasted the service center guys who asked me to bring the car back but i couldn't for lack of time.the last time around i was told that some bolt on the suspension needed tightening but that i wasnt satisfied with their reply and the results show it.

[Tgo]

Originally Posted by racerme?

man..i got the same problems on my figo and was wondering if they were one off issues.My Figo's going for its SFS(10K kms) on saturday and I am looking to get these issues solved.

Hey racerme,

I just wanted to share this with you. I was sitting in the front passenger seat the other day and the sound seemed to be coming from the front right suspension instead of the front left one. I thought it might just be something to do with acoustics instead of an actual problem. Can you try the same and let me know? My car has done only 3000 km in 8 months so the first service is 4 months away.

About the seat sliding mechanism thing. Have you got seat covers installed in your car. I first noticed this problem only after the seat covers were installed so i'm guessing this has something to do with them or faulty installation which might be interfering with the locking mechanism.

Do share how the first service went. How much it cost you? and were these two issues looked into and solved?

I have yet to check the level of the car after parking it in reverse on the driveway. Please wait for that.