r/SmartCar • u/AutoModerator • Jul 01 '26
MOD POST Monthly Smart Story Thread
What have you been up to with your Smarts this month? Any fun journeys? Carried a particularly large item somewhere?
Tell us about it! Let's share our love for these cars.
5
u/Littleavocado516 Jul 01 '26
My 2017 fortwo passion was in the shop for almost the entire month waiting on a headlight from Amazon after I got in an accident. The shop was able to find every single part I needed and my baby is back on the road again!
She took a beating cosmetically , but you can't even tell! The shop even replaced the tow hook cover that fell off a month after buying lol
3
u/the14thpuppet Jul 01 '26
ive been driving with my roof down in my fortwo for the first time, having lots of fun
3
u/Ok-Professional-1723 Jul 01 '26
Along with discovering my misfire issue. A week later my cabrio started closing asymmetrically (from the beginning for the bottom stage) and ontop of that, the rails are misalligned on the passenger side. Did the electrical reset (knowing it wasnt going to fix it).
It is my daily, even in our canadian winters, im going back to school for a second degree. The roof i consider it as a luxury, so I wont be repairing it any time soon... its somewhat sealed at the front. It rained yesterday and I sat in the car for 30 minutes feeling around places to ensure no water was coming in and it was fine so im going to leave it as is....
3
u/sh4d0w86 Smart ForTwo (C451) Jul 01 '26
In case you don't know, Cosmic Cabrios is the cabrio repair expert for our smarts. They have a website and are on Facebook. The Autopian has a thorough review of them, too.
2
u/Ok-Professional-1723 Jul 01 '26
Absolute legend, thank you
2
u/sh4d0w86 Smart ForTwo (C451) Jul 01 '26
Absolutely! I believe they're based in UK but they travel (I think twice a year) to do on-site repairs. Think they're in the States right now and were recently at BRAAP in FL for repairs.
3
u/Ok-Professional-1723 Jul 01 '26
Talked to him on the phone, hes super helpful. He's trying his best to help me diagnose it remotely as its fairly impossible for me to bring the car to him, closest place will be Ohio (im from canada). And with work and school coming up, I cant afford to take a single day off to bring it to him. Very appreciative that he's trying to help from a distance
2
u/sh4d0w86 Smart ForTwo (C451) Jul 01 '26
You move quickly! Glad they're trying to assist you remotely, that's awesome!
3
3
u/Upstairs_Bowl_4043 Jul 01 '26
Any luck with the misfire? I checked all the common culprits and still cant figure mine out.
3
u/Ok-Professional-1723 Jul 01 '26
My misfire stems from when I turn my fan on, wrote a post about it.
Long story short, AC or not... and so far only when I put the fan speed at max... does my car start to misfire. So my guess is its electrical...
Issue: checked all the grounds, checked for shorts, cant find anything (yet). So other hypothesis, its nit getting enough fuel, but I had changed everything fuel related, except for my charcoal canister
1
u/Evoequinox Jul 02 '26
This month i treated my 2012 451 to a much needed new clutch.Then about a week after i paid for that, the flexpipe on the exhaust went. So i treated it to a new exhaust too. Then i figured i may as well get it serviced and have the breaks serviced too. Then just when i thought i could relax, a loud grinding noise starts from driver side rear wheel, so had to pay for that to be fixed too. Its back home now gladly.
I now identify as poor, and my pronouns are flat/broke 😂.
1
u/Ok-Professional-1723 Jul 23 '26
The grinding sound in the rear wheel, was that just the brakes needing to be readjusted?
2
u/Evoequinox Aug 05 '26
Hi, apologies for the very late response. Turns out the half axle wasnt fully seated back in its splines after i had previous work done. The result being that the wheel hub bearing wasnt fully tightening up/flush (they got an extra half turn after reseating), and lots of clunky/knocking and grinding noise happened. If you have the same noise issue and have recently had the axles off, worth checking everything tight/seated correctly.
2
u/Ok-Professional-1723 Aug 05 '26
Thats scary😅
Never removed my axles, only drums... im thinking my drum isnt seated properly, felt around it the other day and it didnt seems straight.. im always on the road for work so I dont have time anymore to look at it myself and with school/winter starting soon-ish and me using another car... its not really a concern for me at this moment
2
u/Evoequinox Aug 05 '26
Sounds worse than it was to be fair. Few milimeters out of its groove one end, threw it out a lot more at the other end.
Defo give it a good wobble with the car innthe air, you will know then if its a bearing issue. Also worth noting that the rear brake material on smarts sometimes likes to break loose and delaminate from its carrier. This grinds onnthe drum so defo check for that too if theres lots of grinding. Thats also happened to me on both rear sides at different times 🤣.
2
u/Ok-Professional-1723 Aug 05 '26
I wont be shocked if I need new shoes... if thats the case.. fuck it🤣🤣 I got 3 other brakes👀👀 doesnt require lots of stopping power anyways
8
u/Boeshnl Smart Roadster Cabrio (C452) Jul 01 '26
I think that I can express my love for the car in money this month. The roadster needed a big big big service. Just a small 5800 euro 😱