coldy13

Yeah, laugh all you want, I hit a curb. But in my defense I'm only 16, it was pouring down rain, and my tires are dry-rotted a little and have almost no tread left. I was making a left turn and out of no where I started sliding right when I was almost done turning. My front right wheel hit a square curb pretty hard. It didn't bend the wheel and took a small chunck out of the side of the tire. Now my wheel is tilted some so the bottom is more tword the car. I had a chance to get a good look at the underside when my car was up on a lift today getting my last little exhaust leak fixed(sweet, deep tone with my n1 now, and very rarely backfires ) I couldn't really see which part was bent or which one would be most likely to be bent from that type of impact. Sorry about the long story about how it happened and things, heres my question. My suspension is stock, and the wheel is tilted VERY little, is there somewhere I can just adjust to make it tilt it back to how it should be? Or do I need to hunt down the part that is slightly bent and replace it or bend it back?

Thanks in advance,
Matt(the dumbass who hit the f*cking curb today )

peejay

Either the control arm bent, or the subframe got shifted, or the chassis itself got twisted.

Oh, or the hub got bent.

Does the car pull or is the steering wheel off-center compared to where it was previously? I ask because positive camber is what you're SUPPOSED to have, by factory specs anyway.

coldy13

Steering wheel is still center, but it does pull to the right some, it seems to pull slightly harder while braking but it could just be my imagination.

peejay

Hmm, who knows. Have to put it up on a rack and see where things are, including SAI and included angle.

I ran into a bump sufficiently hard enough to cause my steering wheel to go 30 degrees off-center. Nothing was visibly bent at all, everything just sort of gave a little bit Drove it that way for a couple months until I FINALLY fixed it, and the next morning I slammed hard into a curb and the wheel was off 30 degrees the OTHER way :angry: Plus this time it pulled. STILL nothing visibly bent, although caster was way out of whack so I know something had to have yielded. My guess is the bodyshell itself did.

Manntis

hard to believe the bodyshell would bend from a curb bump. I collided with a concrete barrier @ 120 kph in mine and only slightly bent the frame (though it trashed the bumper)

of course, hard to believe doesn't mean impossible.

I'd check the strut. Could be it bent down near the hub or 1/2 way up at its weak point.

coldy13

Well, I dont know which part it did end up bending, but to give a little more info, the car was going about 20-30mph and slid at a 45deg. angle towords the 5'' tall square curb and when it hit the tire was pointed straight and the car was sliding parallel to the curb. The rear tire hit too, but after the front took all the impact and no damage was done at all to the rear. The impact felt pretty hard.

Manntis

driving 30 MPH in the rain on bald tires...

no comment.

coldy13

Yeah... I already know I'm a dumbass. I was taking this turn starting from a stop. My tires arent quite bald yet, I still have a little tread left. I'm mainly pissed because I couldn't controll it at all once it started sliding, there was no way at all to stop it. I have spun out on this turn before starting from a red light, luckily no cars were near me and I was able to pull it back and never stop going forward after doing a 360. Just when I get everything fixed and was about to start upgrading a couple things and get new tires I manage to f*ck something up. Well, 16 years old, lesson learned, never take rain lightly, drive a hell of a lot more careful in bad conditions, and try to save the fun stuff for the track or when I go race karts at speeds

Manntis

At the risk of sounding like an old fart (really I'm as immature as they come) I've learned to slow down in rain, snow, etc. through bitter experience.

Next time though try steering into your slide. It goes against your instincts but can realign the tread with the direction of travel and help you get grip back. Do NOT hard brake as it renders steering useless. Once you have steering control, turn (not jerk) the wheel away from any oncoming obstacles.

gamble302

id say control arm
i let a buddy of mine take my car for a spin and he really did take it for a spin
album here:
http://community.webshots.com/album/38755932xMAnAd

Manntis

ouch.

Keaponlaffen

same for me

jeremy

iTrader: (1)

se suspension upgrade..............

etherhuffer

A bit ****, but check the rear trailing arms. Hitting the rear wheel can bend these easily. I went the long tour through a front end and the car still pulled one way. It was a trailer.

gamble302

you guys like the side by side picture of the control arms?

Redlance

one other thought/place to check. the adjuster rod between the tie rod ends can bend fairly easily too. it wouldn't really explane the positive camber, but in my expericance with curbs with the wheels straight, that threaded stud can get fairly messed up. (don't ask , I was 16 at the time and it wasn't my car, then.)