Crash damage assesment, help please! :S

[Ceirwan]

Anyone whos read my other thread knows that i managed to slide the outside tire into the kerb at a roundabout yesterday evening, my own fault, wasn't paying enough attention and the outside tire dipped into some snow and ice, the car understeered into the kerb.

Anywhoo, just had a chance to get the wheel off and luck at the suspension bits, any chance that someone with more experience with these things (i tend not to visit the underside of the car too often!) can help me assess the damage?

Pics:

All of these were taken with the steering centred, as can be seen from this pic of the undamaged wheel:

Now compare it to the damaged wheel:

Close up of damaged wheel:


Wheel now off, two views of the carriers and hubs:


Tranverse link thingy:


And now driveshaft, inboard and then outboard ends:


Anyone got a verdict on this?
Cheers
Rich

 

[frank]

ceirwan

the cast iron knuckle (what the 2 bolts at the bottom of the leg bolts to) is usually the first to go

 

[jim_bling]

yea it will be the bearings in teh knuckle as i managed to break them when i hit the kurb when you put the wheel back on and its jacked up can you move the wheel in and out of the arch like so the top comes out and the bottem is pushed in and the same with the left and right way if so then its the bearings in the knuckle

 

[Ceirwan]

No the wheels very solidly in the wrong position, when you yank the wheel about theres no play or movement. but i'm certainly willing to try changing the knuckle. I definately want to get the car back on the road. Is it just me that thinks that the inboard end of that drive shaft looks wrong?

I'll have to see if the scrappys got a knuckle in.

Hope the wheels ok, do alloys buckle like steelies? If its ok i'll just get it reconditioned.

 

[Micra 110]

Has the Driveshaft popped out?

Is the lower arm bent?

 

[SammoHung]

im not experienced but isnt the WISHBONE normallt the first thing to deform in a kerb-bluerb? yours looks OK though

are the tie rods on at oth ends OK...are thay straight

may be one or both of the ball on the ball joins have been bent (under the tie rod ends)?

 

[Ceirwan]

I imagine that the driveshaft is fine since i drove it back from where i did the damage, as you can see from the pictures, handling was interesting with the wheels pointing like that!
I'm tempted to get a new knuckle and wishbone and try them both.

 

[nexussteve]

Yeah, alloys can buckle.

One of mine is buckled, so when I had the tires put on, I had a truck load of weights on one!

That wheel looks nasty man!
Sorry to hear about this....

 

[Ceirwan]

Hmm, my friend seems to think that as the top of the wheel is in, and the tow is also in, it might have just knocked the camber and toe out, and i should try loosening the two bolts in the knuckle and giving it a good pull towards me. I have my doubts, and if this fails, i have a wishbone and hub carrier waiting at a scrappy which i should hope solves the problem.

If it doesn't i'll bang another track rod on it... after that dunno!

 

[Speedle]

im not experienced but isnt the WISHBONE normallt the first thing to deform in a kerb-bluerb? yours looks OK though

are the tie rods on at oth ends OK...are thay straight

may be one or both of the ball on the ball joins have been bent (under the tie rod ends)?

have to agree there i hit a very high curb at about 30 once it destroyed the wheel and the wishbone everthing else was fine. get the wishbone off and compare it to another its not always easy to see damage to them without comparing it to another.

 

[frank]

we,ve had this discussion before, and they changed the leg, wishbone and everything bar the nuckle, and it was still the same

 

[Ceirwan]

Well i shall be changing both knuckle and wishbone, so hopefully that should get me moving again!

 

[Ceirwan]

It lives!

The beast is back on the streets!
Even better news the alloy is salvagable, not buckled, its being reconditioned for £50.

Heres the (rather obvious) damage:

 

[frank]

i stand corrected, that wishbone is well stuffed !

 

[Ceirwan]

Lol yeah tell me about it! I think the tracking is out, because it wants to pull left a bit now, especially under lots of power, and seems to be grippier turning right! But i think a lot of this is down to having the spare wheel on while the alloys sorted, obviously its a different tire with different grip etc, when i get the alloy back (monday). I'll get her tracked up.

 

[Micra 110]

I thought the Knuckle was Forged, is the Knuckle not fixable ie Bearings?

You did a good job on that Lower arm :wink:

 

[Ceirwan]

I'm not sure if the knuckle was bent or not, it looks forged to me. Regardless, its in the bin, they're not that expensive, plus by replacing the balljoint and wishbone together its one less balljoint!

 

[joesouthgate]

OUCH! Won't be doing that again ay!