So I broke my p5 tonight... What do you think I broke?

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nealric

Member
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Carless :(
So I was on my way home form work and all hell was braking loose. A snowstorm today had made the roads into an ice sheet. Got about 1/2 home when I came to a hill that I just couldn't make it up so I turned around. The downhill was curvy and basically an Ice rink. Going around at about 10mph I under steered into the curb and hit it basically head on with my right front wheel.


Now the steering wheel has to be at a 90 degree angle for the wheels to be straight. Anybody familiar with the steering system and might know what I most likely broke?
 
sounds like your alignment is VERY off. I would get it checked out as well, even though it was at a slow speed its still very likely that something is bent/damaged.
 
You may have bent a tie rod. I would drive it directly to an alignment shop. There could be more serious damage that hasn't yet presented itself and you don't want it to let loose at a bad time.
 
2xsess said:
You may have bent a tie rod. I would drive it directly to an alignment shop. There could be more serious damage that hasn't yet presented itself and you don't want it to let loose at a bad time.
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I would really like to be able to fix it myself mostly because I am poor right now and am looking at getting much more poor in the future (going back to school). I could bike to work for the next few months if I needed to (although biking in the snow does really bite the big one).

Any chance its worse than a tie rod?
 
nealric said:
I would really like to be able to fix it myself mostly because I am poor right now and am looking at getting much more poor in the future (going back to school). I could bike to work for the next few months if I needed to (although biking in the snow does really bite the big one).

Any chance its worse than a tie rod?
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Uhhhh...

Don't take front end damage, and it sounds like yours could be severe, lightly. If you lose control at the wrong time it could end up being more than just a curb that gets hit next time. As far as what's damaged, stick your head up under there and take a look.
 
As far as what's damaged, stick your head up under there and take a look.
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I will definetly do that once the weather clears up (probably this weekend). I was mostly hoping there were either some well known weakness or someone else had had a similar thing happen and had an idea of what it most likely would be.
 
nealric said:
Any chance its worse than a tie rod?
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Hate to say it, but the chances are very good that it is more than a tie rod. You need to take it to an alignment shop and get it checked out. Sometimes you can't tell by looking at it that something is bent. The only real way to tell is to get it onto the alignment rack.

Next time, turn into the curb if you know you are going to hit it. At the speed of 10 mph you may only end up climbing the curb and ruining a wheel instead of destroying your front end.
 
Sure...it could happen to any car. You said you hit the curb head on. Is this correct, or did your wheel turn and the rim hit the curb?
 
altspace said:
Sure...it could happen to any car. You said you hit the curb head on. Is this correct, or did your wheel turn and the rim hit the curb?
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He said he under steered into the curb, so I assume he still had the wheels turned to try to make the corner.
 
I poped a curb foolishly taking a turn too fast in wet conditions. I turned the wheels straight into the curb, hoping to minimize the damage. I took it to get algined and they told me I had a bent lower control arm. They said I could still drive on it cause only the caster was off... it's been about a year and i've been driving on it but it pulls to the left.
 
Let me be a little more specific with my response from earlier. The outer tierod is the weakest link if you hit something with the wheel turned sideways, but the lower control arm could still be damaged. If you hit a curb with the wheel straight on the lower control arm is much more likely to be damaged.
 
Hit the curb mostly straight on. I had so little traction the car basically could not go but in a straight line. Curb was too high and square to go over.

Looked at it today (not on jacks) and there is nothing visibly bent (that I could see)
 
Seriously, I understand being hard up for money but I'd definetly just take it to a shop and atleast have them look at it. If it's just the alignment screwed up then it should only be like $70 And then atleast you know what it is. If it's more than that they can tell you and then you'll know what you need to replace and if you're lucky they may not charge you anything.
 
when i got ran off the road, i nailed a median similarly with similar result. took it to the stealership, because i was on my way to work and its across the street, and the only problem was the alginment. at least take it somewhere and have them check it out
 
Got a diagnosis. Cost $20 but whatdya goin to do?

Lower control arm.
Car-Part has em for $50 so Shouldn't be to bad. $20 for shipping and $40 for an alignment and I am back on the road. Firestone wanted $400 (yupnope) - with only one hour of labor.
 
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