Well that's odd...

[someguy]

I've had some clunking in the rear end for a while that I've been trying to sort out and couldn't find what it is. Had checked near on everything and all looked good and was tight. So since I still have my extended warranty on the car I decided to remove my Corksport RSB (only suspension mod), put the stocker back on and take it in to Mazda to deal with.

Well...as I'm cleaning up I notice something a little odd.

That's a little off eh?


Yup other side looks good...


I wonder how out of square that is....WOAH



Anyway, I'm long since out of warranty on this bar (Order: #2310102 Date: 10/09/2011, 09:42 AM) and it's the old version I'm not expecting Corksport will do anything about it. Might give em' a call Monday just to see what's up but figured if anyone else runs into this it's just good info to have out there.

[MarineMazda]

That doesn't look like a defect to me... Looks bent from some sort of impact

[someguy]

Originally Posted by MarineMazda That doesn't look like a defect to me... Looks bent from some sort of impact

Well obviously it didn't come like this from Corksport many years ago lol...that said, I've never had anything happen to the car that should have caused this. Car is just daily driven, never tracked, hasn't taken any big hits, stock suspension otherwise, only probably 30,000km on the bar itself, etc. Seeing the amount of deflection I'm shocked that the endlink isn't broken or bent or anything from it as I would have expected it to be the weak point.

No matter, it's just an FYI post...not blaming corksport for this.

[iammike]

I've been a bit disappointed in that version of the bar. It's the same that's on my car. I can't run it in it's hardest setting because it makes some contact with the LCA. Been thinking of getting a JBR bar but the similarities of the JBR design and the old CS design concerns me.

[Fast_Dude]

Op. Stop hopping curbs.

[Snotrocket]

That's a hell of a hunk of steel you bent.... Let's be honest that would take a pretty serious hit to do that.

There is no other way to provide enough force to bend a piece of steel that thick.

[someguy]

Originally Posted by Snotrocket That's a hell of a hunk of steel you bent.... Let's be honest that would take a pretty serious hit to do that. There is no other way to provide enough force to bend a piece of steel that thick.

LoL it's never taken a hit guys...probably been bent over time, just fatigued metal. If it was a hit (which I can't remember ever happening), the little 1/4" endlink should have snapped rather than the 1/2" thick steel plate bending.

[btstarcher]

LOL yes it did. You bottomed out, maybe hit a deep pothole or something. My Cobb RSB did the same thing.

[someguy]

I still have my doubts, the car is babied and where it gets driven are pretty good roads. However we'll never really know for sure what caused it to bend, it's not like there was something watching it day in day out ... so it's entirely possible it was fatigue and entirely possible it was some random hit.

[btstarcher]

Dude, you can see where the paint/powder coat flaked off. That's from an impact. Or at least that's what it looks like to me.

[someguy]

Originally Posted by btstarcher Dude, you can see where the paint/powder coat flaked off. That's from an impact. Or at least that's what it looks like to me.

That's what 3 Canadian winters does to car parts...and that's the top side of the bar, up away from the road, would be pretty absurd for something to impact up there don't you think?

Fatigue might not be the perfect word, point is, the more you stress metal (constant vibration, force, flexing, etc) the weaker it becomes and the easier it is to bend.

[Easter Bunny]

except thats not how fatigue works

[Easter Bunny]

No fatigue is the correct word for what you described. It's just not the correct word for what happened to your bar. That section does not bend during normal use and definitely not in the direction in which it bent.

[someguy]

Originally Posted by Easter Bunny No fatigue is the correct word for what you described. It's just not the correct word for what happened to your bar. That section does not bend during normal use and definitely not in the direction in which it bent.

Well actually if you look at how the force is applied to the bar, the endlink is on the one side and has swivel/ball joints which can make the force not completely parallel to the bar. You can't really see it in the pictures but it's twisted slightly too, basically if you pulled really really hard upwards on the endlink (like tons of force) I imagine this is actually how it would end up bending.

As said though, it's all speculation as to why it bent...I can be 100% certain there was never any direct physical impact to it, which leaves a very hard bump (of which I can't remember happening) or just prolonged fatigue.

[neganox]

Clearly a case of rogue Canadian moose.

[specvspeedfreak]

It's a CS product, what did you expect?

Everyone knows you need to at least wait for rev 2 or 3!

[calizoomzoom]

Originally Posted by specvspeedfreak It's a CS product, what did you expect? Everyone knows you need to at least wait for rev 2 or 3!

LOL!

[jack_hammer]

let me start by saying kudos to you for not trying to flame them. you're just saying it happened and has anyone else seen it before.


every canadian i've ever heard discuss roads claim that you guys have the world's worst roads. even babied, your old lady could have hit a pothole and never told you. bottom line is that you'll probably never know.

Originally Posted by specvspeedfreak It's a CS product, what did you expect? Everyone knows you need to at least wait for rev 2 or 3!

i'm all for holding vendors accountable, but in this case it seems unwarranted.

even so...

[someguy]

The car has never been driven by anyone apart from myself and the dealer (nobody else drives my car, that's just asking for trouble lol). And it hasn't been to the dealer since the noise started...and I did have the bar off in the spring to change the relatively worn bushings out (exact same energy ones that came with it) and didn't notice anything odd at that time.

Canada's this big place lol there are some nice roads, the KW area where I drive mostly is actually quite nice.

But yup, will never know for sure what caused it and can't blame CS for it.




On another note, the stock RSB sucks lol I forgot how rolly the car was before I installed it. I miss my CS RSB

[SpencerC]

@someguy;

This is odd, definitely never seen it before. If you haven't yet I'd call us up and maybe we can hook you up with a discount on a scratch and dent RSB that is the current model.

360-260-2675 ext 105

[Easter Bunny]

Originally Posted by Spencer@CorkSport @someguy; This is odd, definitely never seen it before. If you haven't yet I'd call us up and maybe we can hook you up with a discount on a scratch and dent RSB that is the current model. 360-260-2675 ext 105

He already has a scratch and dent. He needs one that is just scratch...........

[someguy]

Thanks Spencer

[someguy]

Well, now that I have a new (scratch and dent) bar on the way I decided to see just how much effort it would take to straighten the bent bar back out.



Surprisingly not much, a few minutes in the vise and some muscle and I was able to get it back to almost right on. It's good that Corksport changed the design, the 1/2" steel plate isn't that tough at all. I have no doubt in my mind now that the forces applied while driving without hitting something would be enough to have caused the bend.

[iammike]

lol, do I get a special since I can't use the firmest setting on my CS bar? :-p

[mabbus]

Consider yourself lucky. Mine just straight up broke. Very low Km on it. Defect in the weld from manufacturer. No potholes at all. Next to zero support from corksport. Lesson learned.


Sent probably while on the toilet.

[SpencerC]

@mabbus;

How long have you had yours, when did you buy it, and when did you contact us about it?

Email me if you need Spencer@CorkSport.com because "zero support from corksport" does not sound right to me.

[mabbus]

My friend bought it ran if for about 6 months then he sold his car so I bought it from him and put it in my shed for a while. Never auto crossed. Was in mint condition. Just look at the bushing in the photo. Bought my 13 installed it and it only lasted 2 weeks. You guys were contacted but because it was past the 2 years no help was established. I get the warranty issue but there was also a known defect with these because of the design. Hence why you changed your design.


Sent probably while on the toilet.

[SpencerC]

Ok, that makes sense. Honestly the fact that you weren't the original owner is probably why we denied a warranty request, though that plus the 2 year mark made it a definite deny.

Unfortunately we had some that had failures, and others that are still out there running fine after several years. We did change the design to strengthen the bars.

If you want to email me I can see what I can do. Maybe we can come to some sort of deal like I offered someguy.