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Guys,

I bought an esteem in May2007 from Competent Automobiles Gurgaon. From day one it had some very minor defects like

1. Fuel needle not showing correct amount of fuel.
2. Little bit offset steering wheel.
3. Little noise from the fan belt when starting the engine. Later fixed by tightening
4. After 3k-4k on odo a jerk was felt when the clutch was being pressed

Lately i discovered that after only a week of service my coolant tank was on E. Took it to service station and they said that some seal is broken and that would need to be fixed. I insisted on the clutch issue as well and after some talks with the service manager he aggreed to fix it too. Firstly they said its a clutch wire issue.

When they opened the seal for coolant issue he said that since the coolant has been dripping on the clutch (or whatever the box is under it) it has resulted in dirt accumulation at that area and thats the reason i feel the jerk in the clutch movement. They did Clutch retainer cleaning and all was sorted out. i was happy driving it.

On 26 Jan 08 i went with my relatives to a long distance drive and was sitting in their car. My car was in front of me with Dad driving. I could see the front right wheel about 3 inches out of the car and the left front wheel 3 inches in. took many views and even asked the others and they all said that this is clearly a chassis defect as my entire car was Skewed. Now when i see it standing today i can clearly see that the right side is moving out in right direction and the left in towards the car.

Another way to explain would be that the rears and fronts are not in line when seen from back. The front right is towards right of the rear right and front left towards left of the rear left.

Can you please suggest what to do in such a case. My Father in law suggested me to mail to competent or maybe visit and if they try to run out then mail Maruti. It hurts so much, i really love my car.

Also one thing guys, on 4000 reading this car had met with an accident (minor) where the front right fender was changed and the front camber settings had to be done again. Maybe the tyre also got hit resulting in misalignment. But it really wasn't that strong which could move the chassis.

From what you have described, it seems to have had a major shunt, and a hurried accident repair job. I wouldn't recommend driving this car on the highway at all....the behaviour at speed would be dangerously unpredictable.

Can you provide some details on the accident? What was it with, another vehicle or some kerb/wall? Does the vehicle pull to one side? Is the steering behaviour symetric, i.e. do LH & RH turns feel the same?

No No, i was personally involved in it and it was nothing more than a 10 Kms/2nd gear speed shunt in rain and i collided with a cemented road barrier. Got t he piece replaced as Dad didn't want a fixed up fender. He said its a new car just get the piece replaced by insurance, the bumper, lights etc are all original and untouched.

The wheel was hit cos it was upsized tyre with alloy so was a bit near the edge of the fender. Had it been the normal rim tyre i don't think it would have even got touched.

After the job was done i could feel the misalignment when seen from the front. The left side of the car seems to be ok in all cases till now. Its the right which feels awkward.

I went to the service station today and the manager himself said that a skewed chassis in impossible as it would mean inconsistency in body lines/panels at least at one area of the car. All pieces of car, interiors are perfectly set. Most important thing he said was that we (competent) will never do any thing like selling a TD car or fixed or repainted car. The issues that i mentioned according to him were on Maruti's level. They would certainly fix those if i want but its not their fault if there were issues since day 1. Anyways

According to him its the front right wheel of the car which is offset (in their computer it was (+), the left one was (-), he says it should be (-))and has been left since the rework was done. Now i have to take back the car to him with original rims (as he asked) and said then they can fix the offset. Ill post pictures soon.

I hope its the offset only and gets removed ASAP

there is a problem in wheels my friend get your car to a good tyre shop and get it corrected. chasis cannot be skewed so easily in minor accident

The car does good speeds with no wobbling, no moving towards a particular direction. After the visit even i am thinking is it really only the offset as seen in the images. Now what can be done, the problem is such a one off that what can one comment on. If you can figure out from the pics what i am saying.

I have a terrible headache cos of all this and maybe after reading about so many incidents with people being handed accidental or TD cars. Am i becoming a mental victim of it.

I can not tell anything from your pictures. It seems to me if you take it to a good alignment shop, one with a computerized system that knows how to use it, then you can confirm where the problem is. You may also want to go underneath and take a long look at the REAR wheel assembly. If you have hit a large rock or hole you can bend rear cross pieces and knock the rear out of alignment. This is expensive to fix but a good computerized alignment shop should show the problem.

Hey DD, just because two wheels are involved you don't need to post the same instructions twice!! You could've just done a ditto for the second one!
lol:

The RH tyre seems to be slightly offset, though nowhere near three inches. Get the car hoisted at a workshop and examine the lower arm mountings and strut ball joint.

A wheel alingment machine will typically not indicate offset. It will only indicate camber and toe.

Same here, pictures are telling nothing, suggest the same as Dan.

Atleast you'll find the exact problem, which can then be rectified.

Well i put in pics of both the fronts. The offset can be seen. What exactly is offset. according to me the right tyre is coming out of the car more and this is what is the issue what i feel. the left is in and that is normal (non - accidental). This right one might be a result of the stunt it took. God knows what else would be under there when i take the look.

Today when i took the car to service station, the guy did correct the alignment though. But said offset can be set only with the default rims.

Now ill have to arrange for some friend who doesn't have alloys on his car and swap for a day or two.

If your vehicle is still under warranty (which I presume the case to be) then I would strongly urge you to keep knocking at the doors of the MASS until this problem is rectified. The pictures you have posted above dont do justice to the problem cited. If needed, keep MSIL in the loop. This way your problem has better chances of getting sorted out.