Hit a curb...

[thefultonhow]

I went out this evening because it was snowing and I wanted to practice car control. I found a nice empty parking lot and started sliding. Everything was going great for 20 minutes, until I started a turn a bit too fast and found myself heading straignt for an island. I slammed on my brakes, so I slowed down a lot, but I stil hit the island at a pretty good clip, almost but not quite head-on. My right side hit first.

I know I need an alignment, because the car pulls a bit and the wheel is slightly off-center when i'm going straight. But my question is, have I fubared any of my suspension components? I've taken soem pictures with the wheels off for you to look at:

http://photobucket.com/albums/a325/thef ... it%20Curb/

Let me know if you see anything out of the ordinary on those pictures. The thing I'm worried about most is that there seems to be a dent in the right strut (visible in pictures 3 and 4 -- although I didn't notice it until I got in and reviewed the pictures). I showed them to someone else and he said the tie rod in picture 1 looked bent, but I'm wondering if that's how it's supposed to be.

Thanks.

[thefultonhow]

Anyone? Please? I want to have the alignment done tomorrow morning if possible -- but I want to know that the suspension is fine before I drive half the length of Salt Lake to the shop.

[93forestpearl]

Kinda hard to tell from the pics. How did it drive afterwards?


ps- scissor jacks in the snow are a really bad idea.

[mikec]

Tie rod should be pretty obvious to see if its bent using a ruler or other straight edge. Check your control arms, as well as where they mount to the body and engine cradle.

And yeah, that strut looks pooched.

Hard to tell otherwise from those pictures. Sorry.

[thefultonhow]

Grrrr... I just had the strut put on in January. Do you think I can get it aligned with the slightly bent strut? Would I have to get it realigned if I replace the strut myself later on? I was told it's easy to do the rear struts -- how hard are the fronts?

I took it on the highway at 90 mph, and it seemed to drive pretty well. On the side roads, I noticed some pulling, especially going over bumps, but it seemed to be fairly minor.

[thefultonhow]

All right, the thought of having to replace an almost-brand-new strut was really bothering me, so I went outside and took the wheel off again. Unless it's bent in some other non-visible place, the strut is fine -- that was just some dirt that made it look like it was dented. So that's not a problem.

The pictures aren't wonderful (they're the best even my fancy digital SLR can do at night), but can anyone see any other problems?

[gt2.5turbo]

post up some shots from underneath the hub and from the other side. might help as we will be able to see the actual arms and rods. Looks as if it was just knocked outa alignment though but like mentioned above kinda hard to tell. best of luck ive been in your position before

[thefultonhow]

I think my camera would barely be able to fit behind the hub, let alone have enough room to take an in-focus picture. Since there don't seem to be any glaringly obvious problems, I'm just going to take it in for an alignment and hope for the best.

[thefultonhow]

I got a four-wheel alignment today, and the car is completely back to normal. The one thing that isn't in spec is castor on the right front wheel; it's supposed to be 2.4 degrees and it's at 1.8 degrees. Oh well... at least I didn't have to get a new strut!

[Manarius]

Our cars are pretty resilient to damage lol.