Help with Mazda 3 repairs

First post to the forum folks. Hoping to get some help with getting our 2006 Mazda 3 back on the road.

My son was a tad overzealous taking a turn on slick roads and slid sideways into a curb with a hard impact to both front and rear wheels.

First estimate from a body shop was for $1400 which included new wheels, tires, rear knee assembly. I chose to replace wheels and rear knee assembly myself (parts from same salvage yard shop uses) and reuse the tires (no visible damage). Unfortunately, two shops indicated the car could still not be aligned. Alignment was off as follows:


Second estimate from a separate mechanical shop was for $1800 indicating that the front and rear subframes were bent and needed replacement as well as well as the rear hub bearing assembly. I had just replaced the rear hub assembly (part of the knee assembly) and there is a loud humming sound at 25+ MPH from the FRONT. I was very suspicious/distrustful of the estimate.

The sub-frames are out of my league for repairing so I'm looking to rule out other issues before shelling out the $$ to replace them (was told they cannot be repaired). I had not replaced the rear shock or front strut so decided to replace those. I can see from simply eye-balling the rear tire that the camber is still off.

Next step is to replace the front hub assembly (hub, spindle, bearing) to quiet the humming but this will not help with the rear alignment.

Thoughts on what to try next?

sounds like your frame/chassis is bent. Obviously it is not a rail frame but a unibody where all parts connect to shaped sheetmetal. that's why they said it cannot be replaced and probably not able to be repaired.

Guess its your deal as to why insurance wasn't involved but it may have been totalled. You can swap parts but if the frame itself is bent up at the mounting points it may be done.

Bent frame is a possibility but I'm willing to put some $$ into it before giving up. Going to replace the front hub assembly today. Thoughts from other forum followers on what can be done to fix the alignment?

Nomad: Avoiding insurance because I have 5 ppl on my policy including 21, 19 & 18 yr olds. Rates will skyrocket with accident. We have ~$600 invested into the wheels, rear knee assembly, shock, strut and front hub assembly so far. Well worth it unless the car needs to be totaled. It has also been a great experience for me and my son to do these repairs (no significant prior experience with mechanic repairs).

If the hub is humming then most likely needs replacing. If two shops said it can't be aligned then it is certainly because of the subframe being bent somewhere.


not sure if a shop will do a subframe pull on it but if they can get it into spec there are usually "crash bolts"' and things they use that give more space in key assemblies to try and bring it into spec. Seems to be more out of spec than a crash bolt will give.

You probably need to replace the subframe. I dont think this is a home job even for the experienced. Not sure what adjustments an adjustable top hat for the Struts will give you either.

Good luck, glad you had fun