Help! hit a curb really hard.. something's wrong..

[blaqsilvia]

ok- I was driving home tonite and if you live anywhere near nyc you know that its been snowing like crazy and icey here. Well I was comin home from my g/f's when I went around a corner and hit a patch of black ice... My back end just totally went out sideways on me and then swung back and forth till I almost had it and slammed the brakes- well the car then slid sideways right into the sidewalk at prolly like 10mph.. w/ a LOUD bang .. I was like, ok.. I backed up and then drove home..I've hit curbs before w/ my old car- usually nottin wrong but a scraped rim. Well my steering got totally weird-- now instead of holding it straight- i gotta hold it toward the right more and the car feels like its wobbling. I pulled into my driveway and pulled it in with the car supposedly going straight(steering wheel to the right) and parked, got out and looked at my car. My driver wheel is pointed in slightly and the passenger side one is straight .. Whats wrong? What did I break or might be wrong.. I need to know before I hit the local mechanic so I don't get ripped off.. I don't trust them.. too many fake oil changes and ****.. But anyways. please help and tell me what you think is wrong or how expensive this might be! Thanks a mil to who do. :eek: :confused:

[Dark]

you might have bent your T/C rod but don't qoute me on that.

Raise your car take off the wheels and check your suspension.

If you see anything bent replace it and get an alignment.

Pictures would help.

[blaqsilvia]

T/C rod? hmm-- dunnno what that is-- :confused:

[turbo240sx]

check the lower control arm ive been and done that. then had the frame pulled out but i hit my curb at 50 mph

[bmaston]

yeah i had the exact same problem, caused by the exact same reason, i might have been going only about 20 mph but i bent the control arm and that screwed my steering up pretty good.

[Danio]

Originally posted by blaqsilvia
T/C rod? hmm-- dunnno what that is-- :confused:

I think it's more likely that your tie rod end (aka steering rod? not sure) got bent. It looks like this:

http://www.norcal240sx.org/events/20020812/20020813%20016_480.jpg

The one on the right is how it should look. :P

http://danzeth.com/studio/galleries/images/photos/20020804%20042_480.jpg

That bent rod is what I'm talking about.

The lower control arm might be bent also:

http://www.norcal240sx.org/events/20020812/20020813%20008_480.jpg

See those holes? The TC rod should connect to those holes.

When I hit the curb at about 25 mph, the lower control arm and tie rod end got bent. The TC rod was fine. I don't remember exactly how much the parts cost me but it was below $300 from the junkyard. (Jeff and a bunch of other guys helped me fix it.)

Just take off the wheel and look for everything that looks bent. :P

http://danzeth.com/studio/galleries/images/photos/20020804%20045_480.jpg

No fun.

Hope you get your car fixed!

[blaqsilvia]

Thanks for the pics - I crawled under my car today-- the lower control arm of mine has a bend in it- it bends down and back a little- i know it s bent since the other one is straight. I also recall I believe a slight bend in the tie rod.. how much do you think it is to get those parts and also to put in, is it hard? Thanks for your help!!

[BEISSEN]

Those parts you can get pretty cheap he hardest part is getting the old ones off then its a breeze to put on. helped GTspecR wth his tierod removela and istall"more like I did it fo him"hehehee but he is now driving along with the front end conversion Ihelped with and he now has on.

[toddnappi]

same situation rain i hit a curb about 20 mph, bent my a-arm. $100 for the part $100 for labor $50 for alignment.