Hey guys, My friend slide my car into a curb last winter, and before i put it into storage the alignment felt a bit off, I bought all new tie rods, to make the alignment easier, but taking a close look at the passenger control arm it looks a bit bent up, although i've heard the pass and driver control arms are different. Is it possiable to simply unbend it, or should i just get one from the junk yard? Thanks Guys!

 

its hard to tell from that pic. the angle should be the same on both control arms.

 

If it is not at the same angle as the other side, replace it, do not straighten it.

 

That's not bent - this is bent:



It happenned after my right front wheel came off at 100 mph.

 

dude id say its bent

 

It's toast. That's a problem with stamped steel control arms.

I've got cast aluminum ones to put on my FB.

 

go nab one form the junkyard if there's any doubt.

 

Go to a junk yard, observe teh control arms in the junk yard. If they are different buy the control arm from the junk yard. And when you there, take all the kibbles and bits you can fitinto your pockets, and what ever elce seems intresting.

 

my wheel came off once....not at 100mph though, more like 30mph. scraped the brake rotor and the control arm. Car drove ok afterwards....but I replaced brake rotor and control arm anyways, cos of the stress put on it.

 

Yeah I had to replace both control arm and brake rotor too; it "scraped" my brake rotor alright: :p




Sorry for the hijacking.

 

comparing both control arms, looks like it is bent slightly. Isn't it possiable to bend it back and then reinforce the bottom by welding in some new metal supports? I suppose the only real problem would be getting the angle just right

 

If you are skilled enough to reshape the arm back to it's original state, you should be skilled enough to build one from scratch. Bending and rebending the arm will work harden the steel, the entire piece should then be reheated to the appropriate temperature to re-align the molecules, with the ball joint removed of course.

If the above methodology is not in your skill set, do it the right and safe way, replace the damn thing.

 

pointless to reshape them, get them from a junkyard and sand blast them, cheaap if you get a guy at a home to do it. 5 dollars a part.

get some rust paint, grey, hang them up, paint them grey de rust color. then when they dry, paint them black, you wouldnt even know it was great, and black is so sexy on those cars.