Curbed My S14 Wooooo!

[corbin]

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[corbin]

I've been driving on the bad rear wheel and I've noticed that the steering is very numb. It seems to have a bit more play than before and sometimes only returns to center like halfway.

Could this be caused by the damaged rear wheel or would that be caused by something up front?

[benarovi]

it could be all of the arms or just one. inspect it very carefully and if you notice even a little bend just swap it out. or be a man and get the isis suspension package. i hit a curb a while back, fucked a lot of shit up lol. check the thread out for a good laugh

[corbin]

I just hope there's no frame or strut mount damage. How do I inspect for that?

I won't be able to get the car up and look for a few days...

[Jav1997GSX]

i have s14 rear arms is you need them and also pretty much complete s14 suspension exept front arms, hit me up if you need anything ill be cheap on price

[corbin]

^ Cool, might do that.

As far as chassis damage goes... crossmember, subframe, strut mounts... is there anything else I need to worry about? That's all I really care about - I want to get this car back to how it was before. I don't mind replacing suspension arms... I just don't want any serious damage. I guess I should take it to a good alignment shop and let them do some measuring.

I hit the curb going about 40... doesn't seem like my chances are good. The camber in the back is pretty negative... looking about like some slammed car.

[yingiang]

check all the arms if you have stock arms. you should be able to see any damage. this goes for the subframe also...just jack it up and look around...
look for busted bushings in the arms if the arms look good..

[corbin]

Damage is worse than I thought.

I was looking at the strut tower domes (whatever they are called) from the trunk and the metal is creased on both sides, unevenly.

Fuck.

[yingiang]

Damage is worse than I thought.

I was looking at the strut tower domes (whatever they are called) from the trunk and the metal is creased on both sides, unevenly.

Fuck.

Pics ? That sucks...prob need a collision shop to fix that

[chiboy002]

be a man and get the isis suspension package.
or be a real man and buy real parts, (spl)
if you're going to tell someone to buy something, don't tell them to buy shitty things
Damage is worse than I thought.

I was looking at the strut tower domes (whatever they are called) from the trunk and the metal is creased on both sides, unevenly.

Fuck.
Be honest, were you trying to drift?

Also, like yingiang said, take it to a collision shop like Gerber and see what they say
Pics ? That sucks...prob need a collision shop to fix that
You can probably fix it with some fabwork
edit: nvm i saw you edit

[sidewaysil80]

or be a real man and buy real parts, (spl)
if you're going to tell someone to buy something, don't tell them to buy shitty things

(insert i hate everything other then original speech, followed by reassurances, and close it with half ass justifications)

it has nothing to do with this thread so keep it to yourself

[corbin]

Nah I wasn't even trying to drift which makes it even worse.

For some reason I just decided to take a 1 lane corner with curbs on either side way too fast and my options were either understeer into the curb or take my chances with braking... it was a pretty hairy situation.

[benarovi]

wow wtf were you thinking? lol but none the less, shit happens, at least you learn not to do it again and when you replace all the shit you learn how to for future reference. curbs are fuking gay.
and chiboy im not gonna start one of those arguments haha. but come on, hes 19 and owns a 240. i dont think hes gonna want to spend a butt load of money on arms.

[chiboy002]

Nah I wasn't even trying to drift which makes it even worse.

For some reason I just decided to take a 1 lane corner with curbs on either side way too fast and my options were either understeer into the curb or take my chances with braking... it was a pretty hairy situation.
If damage isn't bad, which most of the time you COULD fix yourself if you went to a salvage yard or something and cut off that panel and had a shop just weld it in, then you're lucky cause if you hit head first and caught a tow-hook on the curb... Done.
Get pictures if you can, that'll help us help you
(insert i hate everything other then original speech, followed by reassurances, and close it with half ass justifications)

it has nothing to do with this thread so keep it to yourself
hypocrite.

[sidewaysil80]

hypocrite.

i was being sarcastic...i've rocked and had no problems with isis stuff. i'm just sick of people (both sides...including myself because i'm kind of doing it now) complaining and bickering over the real vs knock off thing

anyway,
OP i just pulled my entire rear end off for resto and replaced all my arms i have oem toe rods and traction rods that are damn near mint condition AND the bushins seem pretty ok to me. let me know if your interested. if you pay for shipping you can have them for free.

[yingiang]

ive got all the stock arms too...going to throw them away this week...lmk asap if u want them and ill hold em for u just come pick em up
front tension, rear upper, rear traction, rear toe

[corbin]

I was finally able to get it up on jackstands and I didn't see anything bent. The half-shaft looked like it was angled kinda weird but wouldn't that cause clunking?

I also took it to the shop my parents get their car stuff done and they couldn't find what was bent either. They wanted to put it on a frame machine and just bend it back into shape... sounds pretty retarded to me. They also said that the strut tower domes are okay and that they just look like that from the factory. I'll try to get some pictures of them to show what I mean. They are creased at the back of the strut tower dome, and the left is much more creased than the right.

I hit the curb on my left, so it initially doesn't make sense that my wheel is negative cambered. With that angle of hit it should theoretically be cambered positive. I believe the negative camber is just because all the shit got pushed up... that being said, what can be damaged if the rear left wheel is forcefully pushed up?

I have nothing to go off of except tearing apart the whole rear end and randomly replacing stuff.

If I replace the subframe and everything... is it possible that it still won't align perfectly?

Car feels floaty and vague... steering doesn't like to return to center as well as it did before. Pulls to the right at high speed.

[TNathe]

go get some good pics, the folks on here are way more knowledgeable than some "tire center" that does maintenance work I would imagine. Most of those places guess and replace racking you up a nice fat bill.

[corbin]

Here are some pics I just took...

Creased left strut tower is what I'm most worried about:

http://i51.tinypic.com/2dak8qu.jpg





Right strut tower:

http://i52.tinypic.com/nl7t39.jpg


http://i54.tinypic.com/s4s0us.jpg

[corbin]

Nobody seems to know what the problem is. At this point it looks like I'm going to need to replace everything that could have possibly been bent. I'm going to look into dropping the subframe and replacing all the suspension arms.

Is it worth all this work when its still possible (or probable) that I have chassis damage? This is actually my first car and I'm no mechanic so I don't really know how they are constructed. I have asked this before but I really didn't get an answer. Again, is this something that has the potential to be chassis damage? I don't mind spending money to replace a bunch of stuff underneath the car (subframe, etc.), I just don't want there to be any unfixable damage like a bent chassis. I want it to align perfectly with stock parts and essentially be no indication of hitting a curb. Is this possible? How would I know? Just by hoping for the best and replacing everything?

What do I need to look at replacing when I begin my guessing game?



Also, here are some pics... anybody see anything?

http://i52.tinypic.com/2hnz6rl.jpg

http://i54.tinypic.com/5wb7yd.jpg

http://i52.tinypic.com/k9v1xt.jpg

http://i53.tinypic.com/r9juow.jpg
http://i56.tinypic.com/2v9f6zt.jpg

[corbin]

C'mon guys... somebody has to know the answers to my questions.

[sidewaysil80]

i would start with resizing your pics so people can see what they are looking at. "creased strut tower mount" and then nothing but a green screen is a little hard to figure out.

[corbin]

Done msg length

[KrazyS13]

Take some better pics of your rear upper control arm

[corbin]

RUCA looks fine... honestly everything looks fine, but my steering wheel is crooked, wheel is still cambered in, steering wheel doesn't return to center, pulls to the right, handles weird, etc. Very frustrating.

[Irresistible]

RUCA looks fine... honestly everything looks fine, but my steering wheel is crooked, wheel is still cambered in, steering wheel doesn't return to center, pulls to the right, handles weird, etc. Very frustrating.

If your steering wheel is crooked, then your front alignment might be screwed...

[Datenshi]

Which way is your steering wheel turned since it's not center? Is it to the right or the left?

Before you replaced your LEFT Tie Rod it must have been bent as you said in your first post.. but what about the right side? If your car is pulling slightly to the right and your steering wheel is off center.. it's probably your right side tie rod. Are you sure it's 100% straight? Check your front right suspension and steering rack. Did you go straight up the curb or which side do you think hit first?

Also.. if you were driving on the broken tie rods for a while it's possible your tires wore down improperly because of the toe problem you would have had until you fixed it if you kept driving on it.

I'd still check your front right control arm, tie rod, tie rod end and see if anything's up with it first because it's more likely a problem with one of those than your tires.. but still a suggestion.

[corbin]

The wheel is turned 2-3 inches to the left. I hit the curb on the left very hard. After I hit it my steering felt really weird... it was very light and vague.

It still has less feel and doesn't return to center like it did before.

I'll check the right tie rod tomorrow.

Is it possible that my steering rack is actually messed up?

[corbin]

At this point all I really want to know is the possibility that some unreplacable part of my chassis is damaged. I'm hoping to just redo the subframe/rear suspension and have everything be good.