PICANTO 2004 1-1 - vibration during acceleration

[picomaniac]

hello Bau & Caralumba,

Thank you for giving me courage.

I am satisfied now, vibration is totally gone on accelaration.
I tried the car already on 90 km distance, while most of them on the highway.

Everything is fine now.
I do love this little car.
It gives me so much and ask for so little.

I have done very few modifications but I believe these mods are well thought & extremely effective.
Perhaps I should open a topic to upload some pictures.

[Caralumba]

Put the pictures (and the explanations) here.

[picomaniac]

Can I upload pictures to the forum directly? or..only links?

[BAU]

You can also send links and photos.
At the bottom of the Quick Replay screen is the FullEditor @ Preview button
Clicking on it opens the message editing window.
At the bottom left you have the Attachements button, click on , then bottom left , Add Files

[picomaniac]

Here are some photos.
I'll try to take some more

[picomaniac]

REAR VIEW - notice the ET of the wheel and that it comes slightly out of the wheel arch

[picomaniac]

SIDE VIEW.
Tommorow I'll try to take some photos from spring buffer

[picomaniac]

Dear Friends,

I was thinking to give you a small update.
While I removed drive shafts I noticed that left ball joint dust cover from lower arm suspension was damaged.
I went to KIA garage and bought for about 9 euros 2xdust covers to replace myself.
But..when i tried to replace the left one, I noticed that joint was somehow loose.
Also..to remove the cover was a real pain since there is no clip to remove.
Finally I understand that the bottom of the dust cover is metalic and has to be pressed on the ball joint body.
I put the cover after having a really difficult time and then I wanted to check a new ball joint to see how stiff it is and compare with mine.
To my disappointment, the brand new MANDO ball joint is sooo stiff that it is impossible to move it easily with my fingers.
But then again..my car's one is so loose that even a baby can move it arround..although there is no tolerance (after perhaps another 5000-10000 km I am sure..it will start giving noises and acquire dangerous tolerances).
As a conclusion i decided to change the ball joints.
Then I faced another issue: these joints are pressed within the lower suspension arm and genuine KIA ones are for about 100-120 EUR both.
Taking into consideration I may need to replace within good time the 4 bushings (already 315.000 KM on the clock) which also are pressed I started considering replacing the enire lower arm.
Costs of genuine parts is about more or less 300 EUR.
As I have already used MANDO tie rods with absolutely no problem (already 10.000 km on them) and I liked their quality, I though to explore the possibility to buy MANDO suspension arms.
In fact...I did so last saturday and they costed me about 100 EUR.
I am looking forward to replace both lower arms the forthcoming weekend.
I will keep you updated.
I hope they are exactly the same and i shall not face any unexpected & unpleasant surprises.
I am not too happy removing such a crucial factory genuine part with an after market one but I plan to remove the first and give it a good clean and put it aside the brand new Mando to check the quality/design/welding of MANDO.
If I see something which may put me to a dilema of whether I should go for genuine KIA parts I'll return the MANDO's and order the genuine ones despite the increased cost.
I fully understand that such parts are designed to sustain massive amount of mechanical stress and any fatigue simply is not allowed to happen.
Onm the other hand the guy that sold them to me claims that all his clients (various garages) consider MANDO of equivalent OEM quality.

I would be mostly indebted if someone could comment on the issue.

Any feedback will be mostly welcomed!

[picomaniac]

Dear Friends I hope I find you in good health.
Small update:
I replaced myself almost a month ago both lower suspension arms with MANDO parts.
Below my findings:
1) Very EASY to remove driver's side one but..a real pane to remove right side one because of the limited space to reach the real bushing nut on top of the sub frame.
I wasted hours...trying to align thre bushing with both subframe wholes. Finally..it oocured to me..a make a "special" tool..
I took another both and grinded it to make it sharp and with a bit of persuasion from my hummer..the bushing got aligned with top whole and managed to complete the work.

As far as the quality of the MANDO arm, I noticed the below:
1) near the ball joint I could say MANDO seemed more reinforced than KIA part.
2) Near front bushing I think MANDO is less reinforced unless there is some more metal in the "sandwitched" parts with some kind of extra welding on the bushing which is not visible.

Weight almost same..but without measuring both, as my personal feeling maybe KIA's one is a bit heavier.
I kept original ones and I intend to prepare them with new bushings and ball joints so if I see anything suspicious on MANDOs...I'll remove them right away.
So..far..so good...car is stiffer but in the same time..feels slightly more comfortable when passing over sharp edges (perhaps due to the new rear bushings of the lower arms which have fresh new silent rubber arround).
next work on my agenda..front brakes.
Disks are a mess...they are not straight giving vibration when pushing brakes.
I shall go for original DISK rotors with original KIA's pads.

Awaiting your comments!