So what Im told is my friend sideswiped a concrete barrier on the freeway when the back of the seat (that's been having problems since he got it, wont lock) unlocked itself and flung backwards. According to him he had it locked upright for a while but then it just made a pop or a clink or something and dropped back. So anyways he hit a wall on 405, the fenders no good (tho I have replacements) the moldings are now white (supposed to be red) rear wheel well is scratched up and the mirror looking nothing like it should.

Now here's comes the good part: the front driver's side wheel is sitting at an angle (so if you look at from the front it looks like \ just not that extreme) the balljoints and tierods have been replaced within the last 2 months so this doesnt make me really happy even tho he said he was gonna fix it. the wheel looks like its wobbling a bit when its driven not to mention you can hear it scraping on something when its moving. When I did the ball joints and tierods (inner and outer btw) I didnt have the alignment done since I didnt feel like buying the tool, I just zeroed out the toe for the most part. The steering wheel is cocked almost 90 deg to the right I believe to drive straight. The balljoint boot is torn too. My buddy said most likely the shims holding the thing straight probably got knocked out when he hit the wall so all it needs is an alignment to fix that but I just dont think that's gonna fix it that easily, it looks way too out to just be shims. Im scared to put it on a lift at my work to look at it from underneath. What else could it be? This car has been a project car from day 1, it has lots of issues to work out and this totally set me back on progress since I have a feeling he screwed up the actual somewhat costly parts I put it/got put in. Can he have &%#ed up the tierods too? The idler arm is bad on the drivers side (not totally shot but getting there) too so can that attribute to the awkward postion of the wheel itself?

 

that sucks, Im finding more and more reasons to NOT let my friends drive my car lol

 

FRIENDS DON"T LET FRIENDS DRIVE THEIR THIRD GENS

 

lets see some pictures

 

Yes, he could easily have bent a tie rod, and there are no shims in our front ends.... Either the strut mount moved, or the somethings bent. That something being wheel well or a-arm.

 

id like to see some pics

 

That is why not even my wife drives my 3rd gen

 

I worked at a Handy Andy Grocery store on the eastside of SA for almost two years saving pay check to paycheck at 5.15 an hour. I'll be damned if anyone else is behind that wheel but me.

 

No offense man i feel for u, just tryin to keep it real.

 

its funny you buddy doesnt know how to drive though. but if it was my friend, i would be pissed for months.. or a punch in the mouth..

 

I was scared someone was gonna say that, esp since the reason the tie rod were completely redone was due to a bent sleeve that happened to be frozen. He was supposed to tow the car to my shop today, kinda pissed he didnt but now he's gonna have to figure out how to get it there on monday since we're closed tomorrow. Oh and the tire's going flat, so Im thinking the rim's bent cuz the tire's good as far as I can tell and it'd explain the wobble if he didnt screw anything major up.


A lil background info on the car: this car was originally his, he let me borrow it for like 3 weeks before offering to sell it to me, this being the only reason I let him use it (he was the only person who has driven this car unsupervised, the other person being my daughter's father while our daughter and myself were in the car so I knew he wouldnt do anything) Now having the car payment I do the plan was that he was gonna put some more work into it (the body mostly and hunt down some parts of the interior that matched) in the 6mo I have to pay my other car off then we were gonna repaint it the stock red and sell it, split the money and buy 2 third gens (its my fetish...he kinda follows) for us to rebuild. Cuz really, Im good at mechanical and hes good at body work (obviously...he cant drive for s^#% lol) so it'd work out perfect. Im crossing my fingers on this tho. The damages dont look all that bad til you see/hear the car run, Ill post the pic I have of it soon (its a camera phone pic btw so its not the best)