The other day I ran over a tree stump at night, my wheel is now dug into my wheel well. It seems to have NO recoil or suspension ability at all, as when I raise the vehicle, the wheel remains in position. I have no clue about suspension, but I know the red bar (i guess sway bar) is bent. and the connecting black rod above that is bent. What all do I need to do to fix this. Im almost certain the axle is not broken, thanks.
Broken suspension
- Thread starter Keatonc
- Start date
tweety2300
Member
- :
- 2001 mazda protege mp3
Post a picture with the wheel off so that we can see what is broke
tweety2300
Member
- :
- 2001 mazda protege mp3
From what I can see it looks like you bent the strut. Probably bent the sway bar or at least the brackets for the bushing. Axle looks fine other than where the end link run against it. Not sure how ours are balanced but worst case scenario you will have to get it rebalanced
tweety2300
Member
- :
- 2001 mazda protege mp3
P5 has the same but you will notice the difference the tokico are around $100 new or just get kyb gr2 for $50 those are your only options as others will break the tabs on the strut from the bigger sway bars the mp3 has
tweety2300
Member
- :
- 2001 mazda protege mp3
Not having the front one sucks, huge amounts of body roll. It beyond rediculous my Buick lesabre would out handle it when my end link broke. It's a piece of metal you can bend it back, if its actually even bent
alright gotcha. And I found these on craigslist nearby for cheap. should I? http://www.meganracing.com/product_detail.asp?prodid=484&catid=44
Honestly, You're better off fixing what's broke before you start modding. It looks like to me like tweety said that your strut is screwed and maybe the bracket is bent/broke on the swaybar. the RB sway bars are hard to bend...
My money is also on a bent/torn up Lower control arm. I promise you that if you dont replace it, that ball joint will eventually start popping like a mother f'r.
Since that side took the impact, go to www.rockauto.com and get a Lower control arm, spend the $100 and get the strut, swap the stock spring out, and replace the sway bar links (both sides, they'll probably both start clunking if they haven't started already).
When you do the lower control arm, the bolt that goes kind of into the body under the passenger door (it actually goes into the engine cradle) ....do it with the RF wheel on the ground, full weight of the vehicle on the ground. if you dont, you will strip the s*** out of the bolt and possibly the threads for the bolt as well. I've made that mistake before.
the strut is easy peasey to do on these cars, takes me about 20 minutes per strut.
1. take rear control arm bolt out
2. take strut off
3. take horizontal control arm bolt out
4. remove old control arm....
5. reverse order.>>>>>>>>
That will guarantee at least your ride height will be corrected.
worry about the sway bar later...get the ride height situated, do the alignment, make sure it drives normal, and thennnn worry about the sway bar.
My money is also on a bent/torn up Lower control arm. I promise you that if you dont replace it, that ball joint will eventually start popping like a mother f'r.
Since that side took the impact, go to www.rockauto.com and get a Lower control arm, spend the $100 and get the strut, swap the stock spring out, and replace the sway bar links (both sides, they'll probably both start clunking if they haven't started already).
When you do the lower control arm, the bolt that goes kind of into the body under the passenger door (it actually goes into the engine cradle) ....do it with the RF wheel on the ground, full weight of the vehicle on the ground. if you dont, you will strip the s*** out of the bolt and possibly the threads for the bolt as well. I've made that mistake before.
the strut is easy peasey to do on these cars, takes me about 20 minutes per strut.
1. take rear control arm bolt out
2. take strut off
3. take horizontal control arm bolt out
4. remove old control arm....
5. reverse order.>>>>>>>>
That will guarantee at least your ride height will be corrected.
worry about the sway bar later...get the ride height situated, do the alignment, make sure it drives normal, and thennnn worry about the sway bar.
tweety2300
Member
- :
- 2001 mazda protege mp3
I had to dodge a pretty good sized tree the other day from a storm...
ok fixed it all, and put new struts on both sides. although now the car is really sketchy to drive. Veers to the right pretty far when driving. And around 40mph, a weird sticky noise starts appearing from right side. and above 60 car wobbles. is this just wheel alignment?
did you replace that control arm? I can't tell from the pictures but it looked pretty bent up. The wheel looks to be pointing forward while it's buried in the splash guard- lullz.
Sway bar looked okay to me, those things are huge and i'd imagine they're pretty tough.
When i plowed into a curb i messed up one of my wheel bearings- you can check for a bad wheel bearing by jacking up the car and seeing if there's any play in the wheel... like if it jiggles around or something, or if you take the wheel off you could be able to notice something's wrong by spinning the hub.
Also, did the wheel get bent? That's something to check for... and a bad alignment can cause the car to pull off to the side
Sway bar looked okay to me, those things are huge and i'd imagine they're pretty tough.
When i plowed into a curb i messed up one of my wheel bearings- you can check for a bad wheel bearing by jacking up the car and seeing if there's any play in the wheel... like if it jiggles around or something, or if you take the wheel off you could be able to notice something's wrong by spinning the hub.
Also, did the wheel get bent? That's something to check for... and a bad alignment can cause the car to pull off to the side
