I'll keep this short and sweet. Drove into town a couple of days ago and when I slowed down (30MPH zone) there was a definite knocking / clunking sound coming from the front end of the car, this came on suddenly. A local mechanic put the car up on the shaker plates and went over it with a fine toothcomb....... he literally checked everything (well, not everything) and reckoned it needed further investigation so I booked the car in for next Thursday afternoon.
Anyhoo....... yet another long story cut very short........ The last work I did "myself" on the car was a month ago and that was to change the front brake pads. So when I got home (and car into my garage) I thought "what the hell?" and went out to examine the brake calipers just "incase"...... I got the wrench onto the wheel nuts and, guess what? They were loose! I am "usually" meticulous when I'm working on my car but obviously forgot to torque the left wheel up to 84 ft lb when I had finished replacing the brake pads...... they were probably sitting at something like 40 ft lb.
My mistake and if I hadn't spotted it before next Thursday it could have ended up as a very costly mistake either financially or death (if the wheel had fallen off for example).
Symptoms were a constant knocking noise when accelerating. As soon as I decelerated (or slightly applied the brake) the knocking disappeared........ it's obvious "now" what the problem was but, believe me, it was pure luck that I discovered it when I went to take the wheel off.
Mechanic was absolutely superb (I must get him a few beers) he went over EVERY damned joint on the car (assuming the knocking was a buggered joint etc.) but the one thing he didn't check for was loose wheel bolts.
Again, long story short, if you are experiencing the same symptoms check the torque settings of your wheel bolts.
Micra K10 / K11 / K12 owner with years of experience / knowledge of these cars but this was a real learning curve for me and a reminder to torque up the bolts after lowering the car to the ground. 84 ft lb. Micra 160SR was the car I'm talking about but that's not important.
Hope this is of help.
Mike.
Anyhoo....... yet another long story cut very short........ The last work I did "myself" on the car was a month ago and that was to change the front brake pads. So when I got home (and car into my garage) I thought "what the hell?" and went out to examine the brake calipers just "incase"...... I got the wrench onto the wheel nuts and, guess what? They were loose! I am "usually" meticulous when I'm working on my car but obviously forgot to torque the left wheel up to 84 ft lb when I had finished replacing the brake pads...... they were probably sitting at something like 40 ft lb.
My mistake and if I hadn't spotted it before next Thursday it could have ended up as a very costly mistake either financially or death (if the wheel had fallen off for example).
Symptoms were a constant knocking noise when accelerating. As soon as I decelerated (or slightly applied the brake) the knocking disappeared........ it's obvious "now" what the problem was but, believe me, it was pure luck that I discovered it when I went to take the wheel off.
Mechanic was absolutely superb (I must get him a few beers) he went over EVERY damned joint on the car (assuming the knocking was a buggered joint etc.) but the one thing he didn't check for was loose wheel bolts.
Again, long story short, if you are experiencing the same symptoms check the torque settings of your wheel bolts.
Micra K10 / K11 / K12 owner with years of experience / knowledge of these cars but this was a real learning curve for me and a reminder to torque up the bolts after lowering the car to the ground. 84 ft lb. Micra 160SR was the car I'm talking about but that's not important.
Hope this is of help.
Mike.
