[airguitar]

Guys,

The other night, I accidentally sped over an unmarked speedbreaker at decent speed and my SWIFT jumped a good 1.5 feet ( or thereabouts ; yes pretty nasty and I can't get over the terrible feeling) and landed. There were 3 people in the car and no luggage. Although the car's just fine, I have this feeling that I should get it checked ( e.g. axle, suspension etc ).

Anyone seen this sort of a thing hurting the car in anyway or am I just being paranoid ?

Regards

[Added_flavor]

Unless you get to hear some weird noises, or your car excessively pulls to one side, or any other similar irregularities, you are being paranoid. Relax and drive safe!

[condor]

@airguitar, not being really paranoid, but that is something for you - never go over a hump like that again.

IMO, more than the suspension, the entire car has been subjected to a shock treatment. But I dont think you can do much about it now.

Check a recent post I had made. And a related video.
http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/buying...ml#post2389017

[dhanushs]

Get your wheel alignment done. If there are any serious problems, you will know.

[airguitar]

Thank you guys. The hump was fairly obscure with no markings. I'm pretty guilty about it anyway and I can't get over what I did to the car, albeit accidentally.

Will look to get it checked as part of the service.

Thanks again.

[humyum]

I did that too, 2 times in 2 months, accidently though. As long as the car behaves fine and does not pull to any side, dont worry about it. Cars are not that fragile.

[libranof1987]

I don't think there should be much damage as a result of this jump.

Do one thing : Check the underbody; most probably, the engine guard would have some scratches/slight dent. You can get it straightened it during the next service.

Unless you hear rattling, weird suspension or bad handling, you shouldn't be worrying.

Piece of advice : if you have to "jump" over a speedbreaker leave the brake just before the car gets on the incline; if you have brakes pressed when the car encounters a hump, the recoil of the suspension will pose bigger problems.

[anujmishra]

Originally Posted by humyum

I did that too, 2 times in 2 months, accidently though. As long as the car behaves fine and does not pull to any side, dont worry about it. Cars are not that fragile.

I agree with that. In India it is unavoidable many times. Potholes are more dangerous than humps. Potholes effects only one wheel while hump gives equal pressure to both wheels.

Remember old movies where hero used to jump his cars while chasing villain and it was working fine even after those nasty jumps.

[dhanushs]

Originally Posted by libranof1987

if you have brakes pressed when the car encounters a hump, the recoil of the suspension will pose bigger problems.

"the recoil of the suspension" - Could you please elaborate?

[Maverick79]

Originally Posted by dhanushs

"the recoil of the suspension" - Could you please elaborate?

When you brake at speeds, majority of the load component shifts on to the front wheels and will compress the springs in the front from the top (to be precise, at an angle from the top of the springs)
Now in this condition, if the front tyres start climbing a sudden bump, the springs are further compressed from the bottom side too.
Hence, this could cause some damage to the 're coil' property of the springs in the suspension. The re bounding nature may get reduced due to excessive compression from both sides of the springs.

Hope I could clarify to some extent.

[libranof1987]

Originally Posted by dhanushs

"the recoil of the suspension" - Could you please elaborate?

Originally Posted by Maverick79

When you brake at speeds, majority of the load component shifts on to the front wheels and will compress the springs in the front from the top (to be precise, at an angle from the top of the springs)
Now in this condition, if the front tyres start climbing a sudden bump, the springs are further compressed from the bottom side too.
Hence, this could cause some damage to the 're coil' property of the springs in the suspension. The re bounding nature may get reduced due to excessive compression from both sides of the springs.

Hope I could clarify to some extent.

Thank you - that is what I was referring to.

The suspension takes a heavy beating because of this. So, if the jump is unavoidable, one should let go of the brake before the car gets on the incline. If it does fly, in all probability, the engine guard will take the hit.

[dhanushs]

Originally Posted by Maverick79

the springs are further compressed from the bottom side too.
Hence, this could cause some damage to the 're coil' property of the springs in the suspension.

Originally Posted by libranof1987

that is what I was referring to.

What you mentioned is correct. Braking transfers load to the front suspension. Further going over a hump increases load. So it is advisable to un-brake just a moment before going over the hump.

A second reason is that, braking load reduces the GC (compresses springs), and un-braking just a moment before saves us the GC reduced by braking.

But re-coil of springs causing problems was a new for me. I wasnt aware of any problems caused when re-coiling of springs, hence the question.

[wild child]

hi

long back, my bolero hit a pile of gravel by the road side. It was air borne ( as high as 4 ft ). she landed with a huge thud, went left right, made a couple of swerves and finally settled down. no pulling observed after the hit. i dint care much. but when i had my wheel alingment checked, i was told that there was a vast deviation from what it was supposed to be.

So as rightly pointed out by dhanush, it is better to get your alignment checked. the sooner the better.

cheers
wild child

[xingamazon]

Hi Airguitar:

Two cent information from my side. Is your car a Alloy wheel one of is it regular steel.
If steel one check if there is any visible bend on the wheels, this causes irregular wear in the tyres.
Best thing to do is, during the weekened get the wheel alignment done for all the wheels, it costs less and 90% damage changes are addressed with this. It should put to rest doubts in short term.

You can ask for service guys to check suspension during your next service provided Wheel alignment doesnt come back with bad results.

In general, relax things like this happens it can always be set right (unless in special cases) with few thousands to the max.

[abhinav.s]

Has happened to me in the Sparky. I was ill and my friend was driving from Mysore to Blore. He did not notice a speed breaker and jumped about 2 ft in the air and landed with a thud. The fuse for the cabin light bust and the light was constantly on. Removed the bulb and got the fuse changed at the SVC next day. Alignment was off in the front wheels by a slight margin but touch wood everything else was fine with the car and is running fine.

As suggested plz get the wheel alignment checked and dont feel guilty as such things tend to happen. Get over it and yes do be careful and aware in future.