Crashed, need help guys

**Fuzzybunny5** · 12-03-2012 02:42 PM

So last night it was raining pretty hard, and i was making a right turn, i'll admit i was taking it pretty quick for wet roads because im a stupid kid with the awd everything mentality. Anyways, car hydroplaned, and hit the center divider curb doing about 15 ISH mph...and shes pretty ****ed up, front bumper is bent and scratched, wheel was bent inwards and i had to turn the steering wheel 90 degrees right just to go straight, so i basically limped her home since i wasnt to far.

Today when checking it out, i found out i bent the inner tie rod, so i spent several hours buying a new one, buying the tools i needed, and fixing it, i was really hoping that would be the only problem besides the bumper being beat up. But unfortuneatly, after i took it off the stands and jacks... wheel is still bent inwards a bit and the wheel is pushed way back towards the driver almost scraping.

So my question is what do you guys think it is? Bent Control arm? Or...something... im still learning about cars so go easy on me. And how much do you think it will cost to fix?
Thanks guys.

**jimbo058** · 12-03-2012 04:43 PM

Hard to say without closely inspecting the damage. You need to get it to a shop and on the alignment rack so they can find out what is bent how far. That will determine whether you can just replace parts, or whether it will take an experienced suspension mechanic.

I was lucky in a similar situation - low speed collision with curb - and just replaced a few parts and had a $69.99 four-wheel alignment done and was back in business. Hope you are as fortunate, it might not be as bad as it looks right now !!!

**Anub1s** · 12-03-2012 06:44 PM

A bent control arm is possible, and possibly a damaged strut as well since the caster is completely off, from what you describe. Not cheap. If you're REALLY unlucky you may have damaged the spindle assembly too. You could get lucky and find that the camber was just knocked off from the impact, which can be fixed with the turn of a bolt, but the caster isn't adjustable from the factory, so you definitely have something bent somewhere.

Was it only the front driver side that hit? If the rear hit as well, you'll need to check that out as well.

Consider this a cheap lesson learned. Slow down.