Help Regarding Crashed Front End - Suspension Ok?

[sweefu]

Hi there,

Long story short, a friend of mine crashed my car into a barrier on a mountain (metal barrier on the edge of the road). I don't know how fast the car was going on impact, but it wasn't stupidly fast, <40km/h on impact. The front bar is cracked, guard is bent, filler panel is cracked, and the reo behind the front bar is badly bent. There was a small bend inside the engine bay behind the headlight, and the plastic headlight mounts were cracked.

Two days prior to this crash, I installed brand new HSD HR coilovers. My worry is that the impact has damaged my coilovers, I think it is unlikely considering the damage, but I was hoping someone could help me check to be sure.

What can I do to check? Remove the coilover, disassemble and push the piston down to ensure it has a smooth stroke? Also visually inspect/check straightness with a ruler?

Here is a picture of the exterior damage, my friend is buying me new parts tomorrow to replace the damaged parts.

Can anyone shed any experience or help?

Many thanks,

Anthony.

[bluey33]

Get a wheel alignment done. Tell them you had a little tap in the front right and ask for printout of alignment. With such a little crash you will find your coilover will be fine but your castor,toe or/and camber may be out.

[sweefu]

Get a wheel alignment done. Tell them you had a little tap in the front right and ask for printout of alignment. With such a little crash you will find your coilover will be fine but your castor,toe or/and camber may be out.

Thanks for the reply, mate. I will get a wheel alignment and compare the print out to my last wheel alignment. My friend who is responsible for the damage had a look at it, and his father (Mechanic engineer) had a look at it, and thought that there was no chance of damage to the coilover, though I'm a bit paranoid as the coilovers cost me 65 hours of work in a cafe to buy!

[GTSBoy]

Yuh, you won't have bent the struts. If anything in the suspension got bent, it will be the lower arms or the mounting points onto the crossmember. It is also possible to move the crossmember relative to the chassis bolts if you hit an object hard enough (like a kerb or a rock as it goes off the road). So get the alignment guys to check for that sort of stuff too. My recommendation is to go to a proper chassis specialist rather than a typical tyre place wheel aligner. I use a guy that the crash repairers and insurance companies use to fix chassis stuff that gets bent that the crash repairers have a hard time sorting out. He's expensive for wheel aligning, but worth it to know it's getting done properly.

[sweefu]

Yuh, you won't have bent the struts. If anything in the suspension got bent, it will be the lower arms or the mounting points onto the crossmember. It is also possible to move the crossmember relative to the chassis bolts if you hit an object hard enough (like a kerb or a rock as it goes off the road). So get the alignment guys to check for that sort of stuff too. My recommendation is to go to a proper chassis specialist rather than a typical tyre place wheel aligner. I use a guy that the crash repairers and insurance companies use to fix chassis stuff that gets bent that the crash repairers have a hard time sorting out. He's expensive for wheel aligning, but worth it to know it's getting done properly.

Thanks, will look into this. I will put the car on stands and give it a thorough inspection, if I can see anything that warrants a proper inspection I will do so. Looks like my worry is unwarranted.

[bluey33]

I wouldn't bother putting it on stands. (purely as it drives ok) Just get the alignment done. Ask nicely to have a quick squizz under the car whilst its on their 4 poster because you had a little tap (saves you breakin your back and putting car on stands/plus you get a better chance to look at it all) and the W/A results will tell you more then your eye could ever see.