Hit A Curb [Merged 12-8] curbed

[DULUTHDSM]

So it was wet out, in a best buy parking lot and no cars around at all. So i decide to do some drifting. Except i think i went a lil over board because i kept sliding until i hit a curb () I hit it straight on. No flat tires, but the right side of the car seems to be affected. When i start it up in the morning now it sounds like metal clattering together by the right side of the wheel. Also, it feels like something is rubbing when i'm going between 0-30mph. Can feel it by how the steering wheel feels (know what im saying?) Any help would be great!

Thanks
-Jason-

 

[TheTSiGuy]

Last night i was coming home from work on the slick roads here in Chicago.

About 1/4 mile from my house, the car slid out of control. Coming around a bend, i turned the wheel to steer a bit left, but it kept on going straight. I 'crashed' into the curb, and bounced off. I got out of the car to survey the damage. My right front rim was destoyed. each swirly spoke had snapped off completely, and the rim was warped.

My brother and I changed the wheel with the spare. Obviously, it looks like there is some suspension damge. The camber looks way offset, and the car drives strange.

My question is, to those who know or have done this before...what are the possible things that i might need to fix or replace? My brother says the axle might be completely bent, and i might need some new tie rods or something to fix it up. Also will need an alignment. Anything worse than this you guys can think of? Im terrified of what may be wrong.

Thanks!
Jim

 

[Morphius]

Things that may have bent:

Lower control arm

Strut: lower section where the upright bolts on

upright: not likely as it's cast and those usually break

Outer Axle: Does this wheel wobble, if not, it's OK

CV axles: there is enough "play" in those that you shouldn't have damaged them. The cups allow alot of room for movement in and out.



Best of luck

 

[TheTSiGuy]

Got the bad news back from my mechanic today

Needs new lower control arm, knuckle, and wheel bearing. He didnt believe me when i told him i was going the speed limit when i hit the curb. I swear i was going 25, but he says it looks more like 50

Anyways, i guess there are no cheap parts or generics...all are through mitsubishi, and are expensive...after all is said and done...parts,labor, and alignments....its going to be $1,172

I think ill be more careful in the snow next time.

anyone in the illinois area want to sell me some wheels, or a single wheel?

 

[TheTSiGuy]

I would hit up the junkyard, but from what ive been told, most of the 1g DSMs there are usually beaten to hell with no good suspension parts anyways...Whenever i need parts i usually go used...but for what i need, id want it to be straight as an arrow, nothing messed up.

sucks to be me anyways.

 

[Erok]

so i hit this curb with my left rear rim, bending it in but still holding air, i drive it for a week and then take it into midas, they tell me that everything looks alright but they cant set the tow enough to fix the rear, which gets all squirly and wants to slide to the left out from under me, and when i hit bumps it jumps alil to the left, so the midas people tell me they cant alighn it and that i might need to have my frame bent or something(keep in mind these guys are prety much idiots). so they charge me 40 bucks for nothing and send me to this place called marel axle, so i take my car in and they tell me that my rear cams or what ever is attached to the end of the control arms (i guess it is what you use to set the tow) is frozen up and cant align the car because they cant free up the bushings or cams as they called them, so they tell me that if i can free up the bushings (which is one part of the question, what bushings and on what control arm, the lower or upper?) using something like penitrating oil or heating them up and breaking them free, then they will be able to align the car, but they tell me they want me to pay like 700 dollars to have them cut out the rear control arms to take out the cams and i think the spindles and just replace the cams with new ones and new control arms, but i think that they are just trying to make a small problem big that requires alot of their time parts and my money, pretty much screwing me over, i just need some help on how i would be able to fix it or what i would need to do it, i can get new control arms and cams for like 180 for the set, should i just replace them, and what bushings are they talking about ? what arm do they use on the rear to set the tow? is it the bushing right above the tire by the spring,? please help me, thank you all so much for your time and effort in reading this lengthy problem i have, thanks and happy newyears,,, well not for me...

 

[1slowgsx]

if you can't adjust toe i would not replace the control arms. they have nothing to do with toe. you use the eccentric bolt in the upper control arm to adjust camber, not toe. the bolt for adjusting toe is in the trailing arm where it is attached to the body. i would take it to someone else first to see if they can get it. i did the exact same thing that you did. i hit a curb and i can't get the rear suspension aligned either. my car is still dog tracking hope this helps

 

[jtmcinder]

The only real error in the original post is that the pieces that are frozen are the toe arms, not the lateral arms. Otherwise, this isn't that rare a problem. The toe arms on 2Gs seem to seize quite often and this guy has a 95.

On the other hand, $700 to replace the arms is too much. I had to have mine chopped out and the entire job, including the new arms, was about $400. Look around for a different shop. And while you're at it, climb under there and verify that the toe arms' cams really are seized. As I said, this isn't rare, but you might as well make sure.

- Jtoby

 

[gsxtasy91]

well my problem comes from my stupidity my friend wanted to do donuts in my gsx so i did a couple only on the last one i got some contact from a curb in the rear i slid sideways at about 7-8 mph and hit the right rear tire on the curb. first i thought the rim was bent which it is also some suspension part is bent also. i crawled under there and nothing seems to have shifted but the tire is sitting out at the top and in on the bottom . PLease help this is my only ride!!!!!!

 

[tsunari]

If you're lucky, you might have only knocked out your camber adjustment. Take it somewhere and get an alignment done . . . and good luck.

 

[DSM_23]

I'm using my friends. Yeah my stupidity I did the same thing but it was the front tire and after I got an alignment the problem was fixed.

 

[theTuner]

i can tell you right now, your looking at about 600$ at least, for a knuckle 3 control arms anda upper control arm, then a rim :x lets hope its just camber :\ i just did finished fixing what you did :x but i wasnt doing donuts, damn the rain

 

[84fiero4speed]

I let my girlfriend drive my car :thumbdown the first day it snowed here and of course she ran into a curb. Sounds like the exact same damage happened to your car that happened to mine, and I thought it was going to be a lot too. Turns out I just needed a new tie rod end and an alignment job on the front end. Cost $115 after labor. Oh yeah, needed a new rim too, that was $75 from the local salvage yard. Good luck!

 

[Crackerjaxx]

I hope that is all it is I just got finished replacing both lower ball joints,front lower compression arm, and tie rods. I had broke the right hand ball joint slid for about 20ft and come to rest in a ditch. After replacing everything myself I took it in to have an aligment done and found that they could do nothing for me, comes to find out when I slid it was the same as if I hit a curb it knocked the caster out and know I have to put it on a frame machine to fix it. Hope you have better luck than I did.

 

[luv2rallye]

jtmcinder is absolutely correct about the rear toe arms and eccentric toe adjusting bolts being frozen preventing toe adjustment (which is your problem). My 99 GST has those bolts frozen to the bushing sleeves also. I've tryed torches, liquid wrench, hammers, 3 foot pipe on a breaker bar, and prayer - no go. Dsmtuner member tsunari suggested spraying it (where the bolt goes into the sleeve) with PB Blast, tapping with a hammer, and letting sit over night to penetrate (and repeating this a few times). Sounds like a good idea. If you can't free up the bolt you are going to have to cut the whole mess out and replace the toe arm. Then anti-seize the new bolt in the sleeve.

 

[luv2rallye]

Just to re-iterate an important point. The adjusting cam IS the bolt. It will be seized to the SLEEVE inside the toe control arm bushing (because they don't put anti-seize in there). Therefore when you try to turn the bolt, the bushing (which is permanently attached to the sleeve and the toe arm) prevents the bolt from turning. It may turn slightly but it is deforming the rubber bushing when it does. Also I know from doing this very toe adjustment just last week, that when seized, it will not turn very far. This is what your alignment guy is talking about (and of course he is not going to go to any extra effort to free it). Try tsunari's BP Blast idea (with tapping and leave overnight). PB Blast comes in a white can with a yellow cap at most auto stores ($5). It's worth a try and sure beats cutting the arms/bolts off and replacing them.

 

[Erok]

yea i took it to like 3 other places and then i took it to my friend at good year that use to have a dsm and is an alignment specialist, just had to drive my broke dick car alittle further, but anyways they couldnt torqe free the acentric bolt that controls the tow on your rear alignment(left was only one bad), on the lower control arm, it was froze up, so my friend heated it up with a blowtorch and warmed it up enough to torqe it free and wha la tow was set after i got 2 rear camber kits and put on the disks, which i did myself, then set camber, set tow, and drives as strait as an arow flies.

 

[jtmcinder]

Recheck your rear toe in a week or two. Seriously.

- Jtoby

 

[1slowgsx]

a few months ago i slid into a curb sideways when its was raining. my rear wheel had looked the same as yours, top out bottom in. i didn't see anything bent either until i had my car on a lift. i had bent the rear sub frame where the lower control arm bolts up to. you might want to check that on your car.

 

[skylar]

A little while back, i had hit a curb at about 20 mph. I hit my right front tire. The wheel had tucked back a little and was pretty undrivable. I put a new lower a-arm and a new wheel bearing. I also got some new rims and tires. I vibrates at about 60-90 miles an hour, like everyone else. I also can feel it a little when driving normal speeds. The steering wheel is not completely smoothe, like it used to be.

I really have been looking for ways to fix this, what parts would be messed up from hitting the curb? I just need a list so i can go one by one until it's fixed.

 

[bhop]

I'm assuming you had an alignment done?

 

[igopoopy]

I'm assuming you had an alignment done?

that is what i was going to say

 

[onepimpclipse]

I'm assuming you had an alignment done?

and got the wheels balanced?

 

[2gGSX]

Wheels balanced, entire rim maybe if it's really screwed up, upper control arm, lower control arm, tie rod, check if you jumped any teeth on your steering rack.

 

[RamenPride]

take it for an alignment and they'll tell you what's wrong

 

[skylar]

i got the alignment, i also just bought the new tires, i watched him balance them. It still shakes, and i am looking for answers