Poor Lil' Blue

Our little, blue Suzuki Swift took a bit of a beating in Mexico. All of those back country dirt roads, speed bumps and vados (inverted speed bumps or dips) plus failed pavement and pot holes make quite an impact on the wheels.

On the drive to Austin we noted that the car was pulling a bit to the left and there was a shimmy in the steering wheel. My first thought was that the alignment was off. In Austin, since we were to be there for 5 days, I took the car into a Suzuki Dealer for a check-up. Well, the Swift model is not sold in the U.S. so they do not have any specifications against which to check anything. Their alignment machine does not have a setting for the Swift so they could not check the alignment.

The mechanic took the car for a test drive. When he returned he said that since it wobbles at slow speeds the problem may be the tires themselves. To test this theory he switched the front tires to see if the car still pulled to the left. Well it then pulled to the right. He also pointed out that all 4 rims were bent out of shape. I was not surprised because I hit so many speed bumps at high speed and also dropped into many pot holes. I was more surprised that the tires had not blown out.

So I ordered 4 new rims from Hub Cap Annie's which I had to pickup and bring back to Suzuki. These rims were US$120 each. Whoa! In Canada the rims were C$60 each. Very curious.

The new wheels got rid of the shimmy but not the pulling. This will have to be looked at back here in Canada where the Swift model is supported. We were lucky during our 6 months in Mexico. In Oaxaca there was a Suzuki Dealership for motorcycles and not cars. We had to supply our own oil filter for oil changes. If we had required serious repair, would the Swift model have been supported out of Mexico City and Puebla or would it have been the same as in Austin.

Lesson Learner: Consideration for our next vehicle will include research to ensure that it is supported in the U.S. and Mexico.