I was unable to avoid a rock in the middle of the road and did some damage. Somehow this beast, approximately the size of a football, went under the car without completely destroying my front lip. It put a small gouge on the bottom of the lip but otherwise no visible damage. It then made contact with the radiator support, I can only guess it got rotated and wedged between the car and road, forcing the support up into the radiator. It was a hard enough hit that the bottom of the radiator cracked, coolant was gone in less than a minute.

Initially I thought I could just replace that cross piece and the radiator. It looks like it is a weld in piece but I'm concerned that maybe there was additional frame damage. The driver side upright to the A/C condenser is slightly tweaked. Do you think when the cross piece was forced up it pulled the uprights in closer together? Could this affect alignment?

Deductible is $500. Do you think this is worth filing an insurance claim? Any general tips or advice would be appreciated.

Top view:



Driver side upright:



Passenger side upright:



Looking through the grill:



Another angle:

 

It shouldn't affect alignment. I wouldn't worry too much about it, though it wouldn't hurt to get it on a frame rack. Anything out of alignment can be pulled back, or put in place before being replaced.

Call around and get a quote to have it checked. Then go from there.

 

if thats the only damage minus the rad and esthetics ur fine. that rad support doesn't offer any structural rigidity on these cars. honestly i would bang it out best i could and keep on trucking.

 

That exact thing happened to my car not that long ago. But my rad support looked a bit worse than yours. I had the radiator and rad support replaced. I had a certified shop do it, and there was no other damage. The alignment was also perfect.

 

Thanks for the replies. I am going to attempt to straighten it out the best I can. Depending on my results, I'll either use as is or have a new piece welded in. I will get my alignment checked out also, good to hear that everything else should be fine.