This Ever Happen to You?

[DUCeditor]

Yesterday's drive through South Western New Hampshire was a delight. But not surprisingly the length and intensity of this past winter's snowy weather had taken a toll on the roads. The form that often takes here in New Hampshire is the creation of an "alligator's back" -- a raised and jagged ridge in the center of the lane where water has frozen and melted repeatedly, breaking and lifting the road surface. That area is raised because it does not get put back into place on a daily basis by the weight of passing tires.

On a PU truck or SUV this matters little. But the driver of a low-slung vehicle like our Spiders has to watch for particularly high sections or for those that follow a suspension-compressing dip for fear of the road contacting the car's bottom.

This happened to me once yesterday, with an unpleasant sound -- that of the bottom of the exhaust system's resonator being not to gently scraped on the alligator's back. Still, no immediate problems manifested themselves and we went on our way until stopping some miles up the road at a country store for some much needed refreshment.

After pulling out of the little store's small parking area onto the narrow winding road that is NH Rt 123a, my wife and I started hearing sounds that portended trouble. Metallic bangs and rattles. Sometimes they were loud enough to be startling, other times they'd almost disappear. These had to be identified! But on a tightly curving road with little shoulder finding a safe place to stop took some time -- time spent nervously listening to that terrible sound. "OMG! What is wrong?" thought I. My wife's expression showed that she was having similar thoughts.

Finally, after a couple of miles of such nervousness, the road briefly straightened and I saw a safe place to stop, put on my signal to alert my buddy behind me in his Miata, and pulled off the road, my buddy doing the same right behind me.

I looked over my shoulder as I got ready to open the car's door and exit, truly fearing what I'd find when I'd peered at my beloved Spider's belly. Then all of a sudden the crashing a banging sound started again, only this time much louder.

"How could this be?" I wondered, the car fully stopped and the motor off. Then the answer became obvious and I burst out laughing as from around the curve we had just passed came a pickup truck pulling a loudly crashing and banging trailer full of old tires and assorted junk.

Turns out my Miata driving friend was also looking for a place to stop. He thought it was his car making all that noise!

We laughed together, took the opportunity to take some photos of our lovely little cars, and then went on our merry and untroubled way.

That ever happen to you?

-don

[baltobernie]

Not a noise, no. But several times I've been alarmed by a coolant or brake smell that turned out to be a forward vehicle. Tense moments

[donerehart]

I heard a noise several weeks ago on my right that sounded like a trash can being smashed by a baseball bat...startled me and I wondered the same...pulled over to realize my hubcap had come off and was rolling down the road beside me...

[fiat218]

haha, well i had the dissy slip on me because the not came loose, so once we got that tight all of a sudden the the cam gaurd was scraping on the pulleys , i was like wth, how does this happen all of a sudden. no one even touch anything except to tight down that bolt and all this time it never rubbed. WHY NOW

[Mad-Machine]

While not related to a Fiat Spider.. I had something similar happen to me recently in my BMW.

My 318ti is rather well suspended on poly bushes and Bilstien Coliovers.. not to mention sway bars, strut bars, and the like.. As such, I can outhandle even the later model M3s and M5s.. it's a different story once they can put the power down...

Anyway, I am taking part of a cloverleaf from the Atlantic City Expressway to the Garden State Parkway and I am on it hard, not slowing down at all from the speedlimit as I speed up to merge onto the GSP when suddenly I heard an aweful racket and can smell unburnt fuel.. I immediatly back off and check gages.. and all seems normal as the sound stops the same time I back off.

I get onto the GSP and take the next exit (half a mile down, and my destination) and I wind up behind a riced Nissan 240.. with a BIG fartcan that was belching both a terrible racket and unburnt fuel...