After hitting a curb and replacing my rim, I took into a shop see if it could be aligned... the right rear toe was off by almost an inch and every other wheel had some sort of misalignment.

NOTHING is broken, and the tech told me looks like a bent control arm or it could be frame damage.

what's the possibility of having frame damage? what parts may need replacing... it's in a different shop right now, i know the owner very very well, so I know he wont screw me, hopefully gonna get looked at tomorrow.

 

The frame is fine. Don't worry about it.

The suspension and frame are designed to fail catostrophically in a severe impact, to absorb most of the energy. The suspension will collapse first, and then the frame. If your rear toe is off by 1 inch, that's pretty damn bad, but not enough to consider frame damage.

 

Did the tech try to align it and fail, or did he just tell you that it was way out of alignment? If it's just out of alignment, but you can still get it back into spec, then it's fine. However, if he can't get it back to spec, then something is bent. I'd definitely suspect a control arm or knuckle before I'd suspect the frame.

 

No, they just told me they couldn't align it to spec.

He kinda got me worried about frame damage, but all they do is tire alignment and told me to take it to a frame/body shop to get it checked out.

My toe was off and my camber went from negative to positive... I think .6 positive was the camber

All the other wheels had some sort of misalignment, is that normal? he said it could have been just from hitting the curb.


1in. is pretty damn bad? what do you mean by that? kinda scary the way you put it lol.


one more thing... any cost estimate? I have the rim&tire already back on the car, no body damage at all. Also... how readily available are these parts?

 

Well, I had an accident a while back, too. Tried to get the car re-aligned and the mechanic couldn't get one of the wheels to the spec I wanted (-2.0 camber, and 0.2 degrees toe-in). The control arm didn't seem bent, so I'm going to try to replace the knuckle to see if the resolves my issues. I'll try to remember to post back here with the results. If it works, then I'd suggest that you may have the same problem. You might try taking a straight-edge to your control arm to see if it seems bent.

 

Have you ever looked at how thin and lightweight our control arms are? They will bend before anything else on the car will. Hopefully it is bent badly enough that it is obvious which components are damaged and need replacing. (I mean that in all seriousness, because if everything "looks" OK, then it can be trial and error replacing parts and trying alignments until it's straight again.)

Andrew

 

Luke, in terms of impacting a curb, 1in of toe misalignment is pretty normal, and in that sense it's not that bad - it's what happens when you nail a curb. But, in terms of proper alignment, what it should be, and what is acceptable, having your toe out of spec by 1in is pretty freakin' bad!

 

Gotcha

Umm... for a previous post... like I said, nothing looks out of place or bent. the tech told me some adjustable or movable part (i don't know what it is, but I guess it is used to adjust someting ) in the control arm looks bent but not the arm itself. I don't know what that is, if someone knows the name, it will come back to me.

It's getting looked at by an actual repair shop tomorrow, hopefully they will give me an answer by tomorrow afternoon.

I need the car by next friday, control arm or not, for on night but it's a 20 mile highway cruise, i hope it survives or gets fixed before hopefully whatever needs to be replaced is in stock or shipped fast.

 

Quick Update: Got a call this morning - the camber adjustment bolt was bent in the frame... 'bout $150 job including 4 wheel alignment - it's back today hopefully and i'm excited!

Control arms are fine along with every other suspension part!