Flood Damage?

[coastrider]

My garage and basement flooded on Monday, and my four month old RT LTD and my 622 trailer were submerged in Hurricane Sandy flood waters up to the middle of the Spyder's front wheels for about three hours. The bike's front suspension and control arms were submerged, and a small silt deposit was left behind on the flat surfaces. The water appeared to have been uncontaminated diluted salt water. The trailer actually contained a small amount of water. I washed the wheels, brakes, drive belt, and undercarriage of the bike with car wash soap followed by a thorough flood with fresh water. I removed the carpet from the trailer and washed, dried, and reinstalled it, and I washed the wheels as I did with the bike. THe semi-rigid luggage also got some water on it. The bike starts and runs normally, although I hear a new squeek upon brake application. My questions are:


1. Am I likely to suffer bearing (or any other) damage?

2. Should I bring it in for any preventative service, such as repacking the wheel bearings?

3. How can I sanitize the luggage without damaging it?


Thanks in advance for any input you can offer.

[Bob Denman]

:shocked: I'm sorry to hear that this has happened o you and your Spyder...
Is your home and the rest of your belongings okay?
Call your insurance carrier and report this claim to them!
Keep receipts for anything that you bought and used to help mitigate further damages!
The best of luck to you! :thumbup:

[NancysToy]

You should contact your insurance company. Submersion in salt water will usually total a vehicle. The appearance of damage can be delayed, especially for alloy engines and components. It would have been best to contact the insurance company before you washed it all, but sometimes pictures will satisfy the adjuster. Keep a close watch for corrosion, and it may pay to have a dealer run BUDS and check the function of all the sensors. I'd repack the front wheel bearings or replace them, and replace the rear wheel and sprocket bearings ASAP. Grease the front suspension bushings or replace them. Keep a close watch for corrosion damage, especially on suspension, wiring, and engine components, as well as sensors and the ABS sensor rings. I'd recommend tearing off all the bodywork, and disconnecting and cleaning every electrical connecto that may have been flooded...including the DPS connector.

As to the trailer, you are unlikely to be able to salvage the carpet, but as indoor/outdoor carpet, it may survive. All you can do is clean it throroughly, dry it completely, and see what happens. If it starts to mold, it should be discarded. The wheel bearings should be repacked or replaced ASAP. Keep a close watch for corrosion damage, especially on suspension and wiring components.

As to the luggage, good luck. You can try to clean and dry it, but mold or corrosion is hard to prevent. It may have to be discarded.

[jerpinoy]

Salt water immersion is bad news. Can be salvage for short period only. If the insurance will cover your damage might as well take it. Its my professional advice, I used to be a US Navy aircraft corrosion control Quality assurance inspector.

[juliantrost]

Report this to fema.gov

My parents and brother are in Brooklyn, NY and lost both of their cars under water and a friend, who lost 5 cars recommended to do that.

5685856860

[ARtraveler]

Sorry to hear of your problem. Good advice above. Please keep us posted.

[MickeyFisher]

Sorry to hear about this. I hope you're able to get it all covered/repaired quickly.

[Frank G]

Put a new bike under water once, (fresh water) Allstate totaled it, no questions. Buy it back with a salvage title.

Frank G

[TuckMiddle]

So sorry to hear of your losses. Can't imagine going through that.

I would take the insurance money and buy a clean used one long before I'd buy a salt immersed anything. The gent above who was a Navy corrosion inspector is right. I flew Sikorskys in the Marine Corps many years ago and every 24 months they use to go to Navy Jacksonville for corrosion inspections and what ever was necessary for repairs. Leave a MG or AL aircraft on a flight deck in storms and the salt actually builds up so fast you have unbelievable buildup of salt in no time. They use to use hydraulic oil as a protective coating when possible. The first landing in a dusty or dirty area and the helicopter looked awful and picked up lots of extra weight. No salt water contaminated Spyder for me, that's for sure. It would have problems until the day you sold it.

Good luck with it and what ever other complications arose/arise from that storm.

:cheers:
Tuck

[Sarge707]

My garage and basement flooded on Monday, and my four month old RT LTD and my 622 trailer were submerged in Hurricane Sandy flood waters up to the middle of the Spyder's front wheels for about three hours. The bike's front suspension and control arms were submerged, and a small silt deposit was left behind on the flat surfaces. The water appeared to have been uncontaminated diluted salt water. The trailer actually contained a small amount of water. I washed the wheels, brakes, drive belt, and undercarriage of the bike with car wash soap followed by a thorough flood with fresh water. I removed the carpet from the trailer and washed, dried, and reinstalled it, and I washed the wheels as I did with the bike. THe semi-rigid luggage also got some water on it. The bike starts and runs normally, although I hear a new squeek upon brake application. My questions are:


1. Am I likely to suffer bearing (or any other) damage?

2. Should I bring it in for any preventative service, such as repacking the wheel bearings?

3. How can I sanitize the luggage without damaging it?


Thanks in advance for any input you can offer.

I,m certainly Not trying to contradict anyone elses answers But --If it was only to the Middle of the Front Wheels - Did it affect the engine in any way?? Only you can say How much it affected electrical components? :dontknow:

[NancysToy]

I,m certainly Not trying to contradict anyone elses answers But --If it was only to the Middle of the Front Wheels - Did it affect the engine in any way?? Only you can say How much it affected electrical components? :dontknow:

At the middle of the front wheels, part of the engine and transmission would be underwater. An alloy engine and salt water are a bad combination. The output shaft seal was also probably underwater, which could allow salt water to get inside the transmission/engine.

[coastrider]

The insurance adjuster will be here next week. The bike and trailer LOOK spotless and undamaged, and with my deductable I likely won't even recover the cost of preventative maintenance to the wheels and bearings. The damage to the house should prove the flood despite my cleaning the bike. At this point I'd be happy to see it totaled so I could trade to a 2013. I don't want the constant worry, but I've spent a ton of money on this already. Has anyone had their bike totaled for being soaked in water to the depth that mine was submerged?

Thanks to all who expressed concern. I was luckier than most on my block. Neighbors with basements below street level had ten feet of water and cars that were floating. My contractor is going to tear out the wet sheetrock tomorrow, with the blessing of my home insurance company They said pictures will do for the adjuster's purposes. We lost a huge, new leather conversation pit and wooden tables, as well as all the usual stuff people store in basements. Our dryer is ruined, but the furnace and water heater still work, despite the furnace's motherboard being partially submerged. Life goes on....

[Bob Denman]

If the adjuster has had aNY experience working around the coastline; he'll know what salt water does when it gets in places that it doesn't belong... I'd ask him about his experience if he flinches or hesitates, then I'd call the fellow handling the office-end of your claim and tell him that the bozo they sent doesn't know :cus: and you need an experienced field adjuster on the case/
The Best of Luck to you! :thumbup:

[Frank G]

A couple of days ago I quickly responded to the saltwater insurance delema.:banghead: First of all, you and every one who is suffering from an loss is in our prayers. To continue... When my wife,s bike was totaled from submersion in a creek, the adjuster told us this was the norm to total the vehicle, as the problems allways occure down the road. Also, in a truthfull, sale the resale value is compromized. (a loss to you) Part2 My brother, who lives on the coast of Florida, had several vehicles submerged in sea water above the axles, below the engine (Pick-up & full size van) both dried out and both ran OK, BOTH TOTALED and issued salvage titles so they could not be sold. I think there are some laws about this, does anyone know? Good luck, you will recover, Let us know how they resolve it.:)

[viperred]

I aam so sorry to hear of your mishap, with your spyder and trailer. I sure hope that it will all work out to your advantage. Hope to took pictures of the water at its hights if need.:spyder2:

[Illinois Boy]

Coastrider... sorry to hear about this and hope the best for you.

For everyone else... it is a warning that over the next year or so... there may be good deals on all kinds of vehicles (that were submerged as a result of this storm).

There will be some unscrupulous people selling vehicles that have been submerged; and unfortunately unknowing-people will buy them -- only to find they have been ripped-off.

There are federal laws that are supposed to protect consumers against this, but some vehicles still get sold if they were not part of an insurance claim (because then there isn't any record to prove or not prove it was submerged in water).

It would help to remind anyone over the next year or so looking to buy a used vehicle to double-check to make sure it didn't come from the east-coast flood area. There were plenty of nightmares for people after Katrina to use as examples. These unscrupulous people will move these cars to other areas in the U.S. and try to sell them on the lots of used-car dealers.

Again, Coastrider, we all hope your situation turns out good for you on all levels.

[Phyxius]

+1 it's not just salt water. A local Ford dealership was flooded last year during some bad storms we had and almost $3 million in inventory was scrapped as flood damaged. No ifs ands or buts. This was from a freshwater creek.