JesterMasque

iTrader: (1)

Hey everyone. I figured this would be the right place considering steering is right up there with the suspension stuff, but I'm going to post in the Tech Stuff forum too cause I got some immediate issues here.

Forget about how it happened cause I'm not going to tell the story again...
My car went up a wedged 3" curb, rode a little bit, and then came back down really hard. This all started with a blown rear tire in a 30 mph turn...

When I got out I found:
3 bent rims (LF, LR, RR) *steelies*
1 blown tire (LR) through the sidewall
Front caster way off... The top of the wheel was sticking out about 1.5-2"

When I scissor jacked my car up and took of the front wheel to roll it back to the shop (down the street), my buddy looked under for what was damaged and said it was a lower control arm. What else could be damaged and what price am I looking at to replace it by myself?

Then, just yesterday (this happened on Tuesday) I looked and saw to divets about the size of the bottom of your fist on the LR and FR corners of my sunroof... What does that mean?

Next, I'm using this as an excuse to get some aluminum rims and some decent tires. I got some company called Mastercraft on there right now. I'd like to get no bigger than 16" cause of my drop, but what other things do I need to worry about when selecting rims?

Thanks for your help everyone! I'll have some pics up tomarrow hopefully.

Zzyzx

With caster being as visible as you say... I'd be best to get the thing up on a frame bench to do some measurments just to be certin the sub frame or the shock towers arnt bent/misaligned.

JesterMasque

iTrader: (1)

Really?
I figured it was cause the arm was all bent outta shape...

As you can see in my sig I got Eibach Sportline springs lowered 2.5" so if this will help with any dignosis...

Zzyzx

Check something for me. on the shock tower, there are 3 bolts... they should all be parallel. (pointing up in the same direction). if they arnt, then the shock tower is domed and will need to be pulled back in to shape. this happens pretty often when the suspension is hit. (Check it Vs the other side)

JesterMasque

iTrader: (1)

I'll check tomarrow when I'm actually at my shop. You're talking about under the car, right? What if my subframe is dented? My dad's a body man, so he may be able to fix it... or...

Zzyzx

no, the shock tower... where the top of the strut mount to. if you bottomed out the shock hard enough you can distort the top of the tower.

JesterMasque

iTrader: (1)

FLIPPIN CHEAP TIRES!

Zzyzx

Just to be clear, the shock tower looks like this (this one's actually from a BMW)


See the three silver bolts? those should be parallel to each other like they are in this picture, if they are not then the tower is damaged.

JesterMasque

iTrader: (1)

Ok, so under the hood. I should look for dimples and stuff in the metal and them being bent? If yea, How is this corrected? Big job?

Zzyzx

This is actually what you are looking for


See how two of the bolts are parallel and one isnt... well they are all suppose to be parallel...

To repair it properly, you need to do a frame pull... so Ya I guess it would be a big job (Not something you could DIY)

JesterMasque

iTrader: (1)

Like I said, my dad's a body man form the 70's and 80's. Used to buy totalled vettes and pull back the frames... then wreck them again himself XD