Rep Power: 0

I drove my '02 Civic coupe over a curb. The front wheels went over the edge and the frame bounced hard on the concrete.

The drop height was probably only an inch or two, but man it hit hard.

The driver-side door catches slightly now. The end of the door is perhaps 1/16th of an inch low, so the door catches on the U-shaped latch on the frame slightly when I close it.

The door does open and close OK, otherwise.

Here are some photos of the damage:
http://claw.omgcats.com/~tucker/civic-hit-curb/

A few questions:
Do you think I damaged the frame at all?

Do you think the frame is fine and that the door simply got bent downward on its hinges?

I was thinking about taking it to a body shop to have them look at it.

The car drives normally otherwise.

Thanks!

 
Rep Power: 312

It's not likely the door got thrown out of alignment. I have an idea, do a test. Jack up the rear passenger side of the car using the rear side jackpoint and see if your door opens and closes normally. If it does your frame is bent, and when you jacked it up it straightened it. My bet is that you messed the frame up

Best bet is to take it to a body shop and see if they can tell you the extent of the damage like you said. Then you will know for sure.

 
Rep Power: 0

I jacked up the car yesterday. I needed to swap my studded tires with summer tires, anyway. So while the right-rear corner was jacked-up I checked the driver side door and it did close normally.

But I'm not sure how significant that is, for a few reasons: 1) since I drove it over the curb, the door problem does not always show up. The door does not "catch" 100 percent of the time. More like 50%. I think it depends on the particular terrain the car is parked on and how the unibody is being flexed.

2) I've noticed the door "catching" even before I ran over the curb, although it did so much less often and only when the car was parked in at least mildly uneven terrain (Where the ground might be a few inches higher on one wheel than another wheel.)

I called the Honda dealer and he made an unhappy "hmmm" sound when I told him what I did. He said I might have to take it to a body shop. I'm bringing the car in for service at Honda on Friday.

I asked him if they could measure the car's unibody straightness and see if it is within manufacturer's tolerances, and he said they said they will know something about any damage by using their alignment rack. I presume this alignment rack is what they use for aligning common steering issues? (camber and toe and all that stuff?)

I have been Googling for information about how unibody repairs are made. Rather interesting process. They bolt the car to a metal bed and use hydraulic pistons and chains to pull the frame in the direction they want.

But I was curious ... just to *inspect* a car's unibody for damage, does the car need to be disassembled? The cars I came across in my search had many parts removed in order to expose the unibody, but these cars were also waaaay more smashed-up than mine is.

Gah. Can't believe I drove it over a curb. I was so upset I went to Honda's website and "built my own" 2012 Civic. Lulz.

 
Rep Power: 0

I chatted with a bodyworker on the 'net. Here's what I learned, just in case anyone might find it useful.

I asked him if a hammer-like impact behind the front wheels would bend the body into an arch upward (slightly) like the arch on a bridge.

He replied:

>Things are often not that simple when it comes to wrecked cars. A LOT of
>times things bend the opposite of the direction they thought they would. A
>lot of times a strike in one area doesn't hurt that area, but an adjacent
>area.

He said that unless a body shop found something "obviously wrong" that they would probably just adjust the door so it fits better. (No adjustment to the unibody.)

I asked him if the hinge pillar might have been bent slightly in such a way that the top of the pillar was now shifted rearward. His reply:

>That is possible, but I do not think it's likely. I do think it's possible
>that the pillar twisted slightly - the bottom front of the pillar moved inward
>a bit. Since the hinge pivot point is not directly on the edge of the pillar,
>it had the effect of moving the lower hinge slightly forward, which brings
>the back of the door down.

That's a neat thought: I had been thinking of the damage 2-dimensionally, mentally thinking of the car in profile and how the impact would affect the unibody. But what this fellow is doing is thinking in three dimensions. The impact points are perhaps 1/4 of the way inside from the sides of the car.

This guy also posted a youtube links showing how lasers are used to check unibody alignment: [autostream]http://autostream.com/ibcivicforums/?page_type=firebirdplayerthumbnail&framepage=1228& transactionid=1334528150-65243151172&posted_by=capacivic_www.civicforums.co m&youtube_video_id=M1jDxhKhwzM[/autostream]

I found a book titled "Auto Body Repair Technology" on Google Books that has the first 130 pages available. Interesting stuff there.
http://books.google.com/books?id=zh9...20cowl&f=false

Also interesting:
Graphics showing the unibody of various Hondas:
http://boronextrication.com/tag/honda/

I've learned a lot about unibody construction this week!

 
Rep Power: 0

I took the car to a local autobody repair shop and asked them for their opinion on whether or not the unibody was damaged. They said they took some quick measurements and determined the unibody was fine. Their opinion was that the car did not need to have the unibody further checked with their laser alignment tool.

They adjusted the driver-side door and it closes perfectly now.

I also took the car to the Honda dealer for an oil change and for an airbag recall check. I asked them to take a look at the curb damage, too. They said the damage was not bad. They checked the wheel alignment and everything was within spec.

I am happy that all is well.

I advise everyone not to drive their cars over curbs.

 
Rep Power: 293

Good advice. Happy Ending.

 
Rep Power: 312

Good Stuff