I had my first car incident today, it involved a the inner portion of my front right wheel hitting a curb. I was taking a left turn, and the rear of the car slid outward when the car hit second. I certainly was not at WOT, so I must have been going about 20 MPH when I lost traction. I went up onto the median. It wasnt a horrible smack, but it did bend the rim. The inner side of the rim is bent just enough to hit the tie rod-steering knuckle joint on right turns (not left...any guesses? Play in steering linkage maybe?) At a glance the steering linkage does not look deformed in any way but I haven't really checked it for true straightness. In a hit like this, what is the weakest link/most likely to tweak?



I know I'm an idiot, so go ahead and tear me to pieces, I need it

 

This should give you an idea of how hard the hit was.

http://img247.imageshack.us/img247/1339/p1120025tg7.jpg

 

Don't worry you're not stupid, these kinds of things happen. Its good that you had the tires pointed at the curb when you hit, that makes the tire take the blunt of the impact. The things to check will be the steering linkage, A-arm itself, all A-Arm bushings (inc balljoints), and strut mounts. Its also possible other parts of the steering system were damaged, and the front alignment was probably thrown off. A few months ago I jumped a curb in my 91 RS, luckily I was able to point the tires the right way and they took the hit. Here is a picture of the aftermath. In my case the balljoint was damaged and the steering box internal gears jumped a tooth or something. Alot can be determined by just driving the car around low speed and feeling how the car drives. If there aren't any vibrations or wobbles then its not that bad.

 

I just got a new temp wheel and tire on the car and took it for it's first spin since I smacked it. No wobbling or vibrations, (I stayed under 25) but the steering just doesnt feel quite right, and with the steering wheel at dead center the car pulls to the right. It also seems to be harder to turn left and easier to turn right. The new wheel is the same, and the tire is the same size however different brand. Could the pulling be because of the tire, or did I likely bend something?

If a tie rod is bent, must I get a new one, or can I maybe get the car re-aligned to make up for the bent rod and safely drive like that?

I'm due for new tie rods anyway, so if you guys think I should replace them its not the end of the world. I also realize that I have not given enough information for anything definite to be determined, but I've passed along all my observations. Tomorrow when the sun is out I will be able to determine more. Thanks for the help.

 

Pulling one direction usually means a bushing/balljoint is shot or the alignment is off. Being harder to turn one direction could be an indication of binding in the steering linkage, possibly something is bent. When you get more time get some jackstands under the car and really check out the front suspension.

 

I just had the car aligned before the hit, could the hit have "thrown off" the alignment? I'm not sure how alignments are done so I'm not sure about this possibility. I just figured that a hard hit is more likely to simply bend something than cause an alignment to be thrown off, unless of course, 'bent linkage' and 'bad alignment' mean the same thing.

 

Yeah it could have changed the alignment specs unfortunately. The strut mounts is one place where alignment is dialed in. The strut connects directly to the spindle, which connects to the A-arm on the balljoint. So if the A-arm got hammered (which it will when hopping a curb) its possible it affected the strut mounts. You could "eyeball" it on the strut mounts, the location of the bolts on the slots of the strut mount determine the alignment specs. So if the left side is different from the right then its safe to assume alignment was thrown off. Another place to set alignment is the tie rod adjusters (the adjuster between the inner and outer tie rod ends). These can also possibly get messed up when hitting stuff and cause alignment to change.

 

I checked out the strut mounts. They certainly have not moved judging by the area surrounding the bolts.

Got my car up on stands and snapped some pics. Something isnt right, I just cant quite tell what it is. See for yourself. Look at the center link, it doesnt sit level. Also look at the idler and pitman arm, one seems to sit lower. Any ideas?