Need A Little Help - Hit A Gutter

[RB30mike]

Hey guys, Im in a bit of a pickle at the moment. Basically last week I hit a gutter in the 33 going around a corner and hit the front left. I was doing maybe 15 - 20 kms/hour. The car is still driveable, and no noises coming from front end, but the wheel is pushed back about 4 cm towards the rear of the car. I got a shock when i got the quote of $1800 to fix when i took it to a suspension place and this is what they reckon needs: wheel bearing and kit, outer tie rod end, rack end, loweer control arm joint, castor rod and bracket, front x member and upper control arm. Is it possible this much damage could have been done? I was going pretty slow. Just wondering if i should take it somewhere else or get dad around to help me check what needs fixing i dont think its too bad.

Thanks, Michael.

[Damo_R34]

For piece of mind, and price, id get at least 2 quotes.

[CRoNic...]

That's a crazy amount of damage! I hit a curb after getting into a pickle while going around a round-about in the wet, hit it pretty full on... got a wheel alignment and I was good to go again! No damage... not even on the rim.

Sounds like your entire left corner, suspension-wise, is finished? Must have been a pretty hard hit?

[SLED]

definitely get a couple of quotes but if your wheel is pushed towards the rear by 4cm, you're doing OK at $1800 IMO

[nos man]

definitely get a couple of quotes but if your wheel is pushed towards the rear by 4cm, you're doing OK at $1800 IMO

what are you talking about Pete? simple adjustable castor rods would fix that problem :laughing-smiley-014:

anyway i had the same problem! my left wheel was pushed back around 2-3cm! i bent the control arm and the coil over! so i replaced them and got castor rods and the wheel alignment place did the rest

[rad100]

yeh i hit a gutter when "turning" a corner prob 2 yrs ago and cost me $1500 to fix.. control arm, wheel bearing, etc...

that was done a japco.

has the company seen the car who quotd 1800? as some of those parts may still be fine?

[nisskid]

Hey guys, Im in a bit of a pickle at the moment. Basically last week I hit a gutter in the 33 going around a corner and hit the front left. I was doing maybe 15 - 20 kms/hour. The car is still driveable, and no noises coming from front end, but the wheel is pushed back about 4 cm towards the rear of the car. I got a shock when i got the quote of $1800 to fix when i took it to a suspension place and this is what they reckon needs: wheel bearing and kit, outer tie rod end, rack end, loweer control arm joint, castor rod and bracket, front x member and upper control arm. Is it possible this much damage could have been done? I was going pretty slow. Just wondering if i should take it somewhere else or get dad around to help me check what needs fixing i dont think its too bad.

Thanks, Michael.

lol, sounds like ur average quote for that kind of damage, it's called sales. they quote the exact same parts for every crash like that, its basically just them trying to milk as much $$ out of u as possible.

i can gaurentee you that you DO NOT need all of that stuff.

first thing id do, take a look under, compare everything to the other side, ur LCA will be bent (the LCA joint will come with a 2nd hand LCA anyway), ur caster rod bracket's are weak as piss, so they often bend, caster rods dont break all the time, depends on the angle they are hit, usually unless they take a direct hit, its other parts that will give way around it.

tie rods, well they shouldnt bend unless they take a direct hit or the wheel was forced well past full lock, they are ball joint and designed to move around so will just move with the hit unless they are taken beyond their range.

wheel bearings, lol, dont worry, unless they were on there way out they will be fine.

crossmember, possible, depends on a few factors, usually u need a fairly hard hit to bend the cross member, compare the end of it to the other side, they come standard with a bit of a kink at the end so u need to compare it, its not something u wanna replace unless u have to as it is a bit expensive and is a bit harder to change than other parts.

upper control arm should be fine, they are quite strong and can put up with a lot of beating before they bend, much more than what u sound like uve done.

beleive me, ive done all this shit before quite a few times lol

[nisskid]

btw, just so people get an idea, this was after hitting a small wall at around 40-50k's:

only things replaced in the steering/suspension were:

LCA

Caster rod (took a direct hit) and caster bracket

and crossmember (not 100% whether it was bent tho)

car drove fine afterwards and has a decent alignment which is all that really matters in the end.

[Krishy]

^^^ shit thats a massive hit!

[nisskid]

lol ended up costing me like 1k in the end, even after having all the chassis and structural work done professionally. i bought a engineless front cut off a bloke and after using the parts i needed i parted the rest off and made back the original cost of the front cut plus around 1k on top. the quote i got from an average repair shop, was between 12-15k i think.

hence when i see people paying almost 2k for tiny bolt on repairs, i cant help but laugh.

just need to be smart about how u do it.

[Damo_R34]

crashing then making money off it, nice

[S13_DriftR]

My experiences were when my S13 went up a kerb last year, The Kerb was alot higher then your avergae kerb, Wasn't drifting or anything, Had to take avasive action to avoid collision with a drunk Driver, Anyhow, Impact was around 50KM's, Both tie-rod ends snapped, Both adjustable control arms bent, crossmember was fine, all 4 Rims were buckled or split, Lower control arms were both ok somehow?? Coil-overs etc were ok, but took many weeks to get the front end right again, But all in all cost under $500 to fix through Wheelworx & I supplied parts which cost next to nothing, Wheel Alignment was done through Matt @Adelaide Radial Tyre who is probably one of the best in Adelaide

But definitely get a few Quotes because every accident is different...

[nisskid]

My experiences were when my S13 went up a kerb last year, The Kerb was alot higher then your avergae kerb, Wasn't drifting or anything, Had to take avasive action to avoid collision with a drunk Driver, Anyhow, Impact was around 50KM's, Both tie-rod ends snapped, Both adjustable control arms bent, crossmember was fine, all 4 Rims were buckled or split, Lower control arms were both ok somehow?? Coil-overs etc were ok, but took many weeks to get the front end right again, But all in all cost under $500 to fix through Wheelworx & I supplied parts which cost next to nothing, Wheel Alignment was done through Matt @Adelaide Radial Tyre who is probably one of the best in Adelaide

But definitely get a few Quotes because every accident is different...

ur gonna have to be a lot more specific, ur all over the place, u talk about tie rod ends, then u talk about upper control arms, are u talking about the front or rear, or both? and if u mean both then specifcy front and rear, front and rear is completely different.

[S13_DriftR]

ur gonna have to be a lot more specific, ur all over the place, u talk about tie rod ends, then u talk about upper control arms, are u talking about the front or rear, or both? and if u mean both then specifcy front and rear, front and rear is completely different.

I don't see how that is all over the place, I meant Front adjustable Castor rods were bent, not adjustable control arms,

I realise front & rear are very different...

[Dohmar]

Not sure if this is relevant, but I once hit a kerb in my r31 at around 80kph... wheel stayed on but there was a plate that was affixed to the chassis, which the suspension component had to attach to. Had some rubbing on the guard once my mechanic at the time (a mates dad) had fixed most of the damage, and to fix the rubbing he unbolted the plate, moved it forward to its proper location and spot welded the broken bolt onto the plate (i think thats what happened...)

Maybe check and see if there is something similar on your car. I honestly don't know enough about suspension to say

-D

[nisskid]

I don't see how that is all over the place, I meant Front adjustable Castor rods were bent, not adjustable control arms,

I realise front & rear are very different...

ok, but u did say control arms, hence why it was all over the place, especially considering S13's dont have upper control arms at the front, only at the rear.

and remember, S13's and R33's both have completely different front suspension.

[skyhighR33]

mate i done the same thing except at like 50 and it cost 550, check the lower control arm, thats what mine turned out to be in the end and it only took them a day to fix if that

[nisskid]

a day to fix the LCA? its like 2 bolts or something lol

[skyhighR33]

hmm read it, i said not even a day, i had work and when he rang i couldnt just leave and get it plus he checked the wheels bearings and stuff.

[RB30mike]

Thanks heaps for the help guys! Im pretty much going to have to take it somewhere else to get it checked cos i doubt all that stuff needs replacing.... Unless im fairly unlucky. Nisskid my wheel looks nowhere near as bad as yours lol. Hopefully ill get out of this one alright.

Thanks, Michael