Yesterday my cars was ruined.......
Well..... heres the story.......
After the initial install of my H&R coilovers, I started noticing that my springs were srating to clunk and pop as if they were out of place. Well When I got my coilovers, they didnt come with instructions (H&R products dont come with instructions) Now, with that being said, this was my first coilover install EVER, but it looked pretty straight foward. Well aparently, i found out the noise from my springs was because the coilovers are supposed to be installed with the stock perch, from the stock shocks. Why? Because the rotatin platform on the stock shocks, lets the springs on the coilover turn and conform to the turning of the wheel.
Now.... I been busy and lazy.. SOOOOO I bugged my dad to do it. He had been working all week and went ahead and did the install even though he was tired from working all week. Well, my dad was getting ready to close up the shop so he was in a rush to redo the coilovers. I picked up my car afterwork, and everything was fine. i drove it to work the next day and it was fine. On the way back home my front driverside wheel LOCKED UP ! Im like " HOLY s*** !" Well, luckily I was able to control the car, and pull over to the next exit into a parking lot.Once I got the car to a stand still, the wheel completely locked up. There was no moving the car.
I called a favor from one of my dads old business associates and he was able to send one of his tow trucks out top me asap. Take in mind that this was a homey hook-up and he only charged my $45 to take me wherever i needed to go. This is when th real damage happened. Yes, it was a flatbed truck, BUT no 2X4's. My car is low. 2.25 in the front and 2 in the rear. he told me he doubted that he could get the car on tere without any damage. I was being stubborn and said, "Its cool, it looks like it can clear." It really looked like it would clear. he pulled the car up on the bed and said 'Are you SURE you wanna keep going?" i insisted it was clear. Well, there is a reason our cars dont have FMIC. Once the chain from the truck tensed up, it dug into my FMIC core. Well, thats not all. The bottom of the front bumper rubbed into the bed, warped up, and ripped the corner fasteners off the bumper. So now, my intercooler core is bent, and my bumper is hanging by a few plastic clips.
We got the car to my house and looked at it. Found the problem. Apparently, when my dad put everything back together, he forgot to torque down one of the caliper bolts. It probably came undone and the caliper fell on the rotor and locked the wheel in place. I informed my dad, and he felt so bad. I dont blame him cause he was tired, and I kept bugging him to fit it in his schedule even though he didnt have the time. He came over last night to look it over and see what needed to be done. Well.................... Theres a happy ending...
My dad got all the stuff he needed today and came over. he was able to repair my bumper. The corners gap a little bit, but thats ok, its better than hanging off by a few platic clips. What about my FMIC core? well, apparently, the damage was only asthetic, 2 bottom bars and 2 rows of fins were bent, No leaks, no REAL damage, just asthetics. BUT, I turned the core around and low and behold, NO DAMAGE TO THE OTHER SIDE !! WOOOT!! car has been retuned to normal pretty much, only thing is the side of the intercooler core thats showing has the ugly "Corksport" logo on it, which is fine for me cause my car has returned to me almost exactly the way it was. Im VERY happy everything was fixed. Regardless, I MAY in the future, get an aftermarket bumper, and get another intercooler core.