Ironically enough about ten minutes after "playing" in the snow (first big snowfall of the year here) I hit a snowcovered curb at about 20 mph. The left wheel is pushed tword the back of the car and rubbing against the fender. I need ideas/test proceedures to figure out what I need to fix and quickly. The car absolutely HAS TO RUN 24 hours from now. Thanks for your help.


EDIT - I pulled the wheel off (keep in mind its dark) and it seems like the axel may be bent. What is involved in the removal/intallation of the axel?

What luck, My buddy travis did the exact same thing to his 93se on the passenger side.

Find out if you pushed the subframe back. Measure each side, you probaby did. Loosen the bolts and beat it with a sledge to get it back in place.

Measure the A-arm, from the rear bushing to the balljoint on the both sides, then the front bushing to the balljoint on both sides. the sides should match. You probably bent it. Once you have the CV out pull the two bolts through the bushings and it comes out.

To pull the CV you compress the spring, pull the brakes off, pop the hub out, pop the balljoint apart, slide the knuckle outward and pop the CV out of the tranny. I doubt your CV is bent.

If you don't loosen the upper bolts on the knucle it should be okay to drive to the alignment shop, but you definatly need to go there either way.

Unless you have a personal pit crew, forget the 24 hours thing, and make other transportation arrangements now. Sounds like you bent the a-arm and the subframe assembly. The way I would go about it would be to hang the drive train up on a t-frame (engine-hanger) then remove the entire subframe assembly from underneath. I would get a good sub-frame assembly from a junk yard to replace it. Before you remove your subframe, measure the body bolt distances to see if you will need to take yours to a body shop to pull them back into an acceptable position. If those are OK, it won't cost you much, but it will take a good bit of time. Lots of work here.

As luck would have it I actually may have my own personal pit crew here in a few hours Anyway I'm going out in the snow to measure everything and find out exactly whats bent. I'll report back here when Im finished.

lol just had the same thing happen to me in my sabre its a bitch but my work said they will do the work for free and i just have to pay parts....i work at a body shop i need a new rim lower control arm and i think thats it. this is such a PITA i hate the winter damn snow covered curbs i was doing well idk but it was less than 20mph

Yeah whats really crazy is it happened just after leaving the huge parking lot I was doing donuts and steering with the e-break in. No problems whatsoever doing all those little tricks, but I get out on the road and bam right into a curb :(

i was just about to show off to my girlfriend and i was saying how i am good at this kinda stuff and BAM madison looks like a retard in front of his girlfriend lol **** happends get it fixed and be back on the road my friend good luck

Ciao
Madison Zanette

It seems that I may have gotten lucky (I hope). The only thing that seems to be wrong is that the wheel has a crack in it, and the part that has the ball joint riveted into it is bent (pic comming soon as camera charges). I was wondering if anyone knows the name of this part and wheater or not a normal part store would carry it, or if I should plan on a trip to the JY tommorow.




Also I was wondering if it is possible to fix a wheel or if I should just start looking for a new gold honeycomb wheel? Everything else under there seems to be straight and unharmed. The bolt that goes through the control arm broke when I was removing it, but that shouldn't be a problem since it all came apart. I can just grab one while at the JY.

Only other thing I'm wondering is will I need an alignment after I make this repair?

That'* the lower control arm. Junkyard.

If the rim is cracked a junkyard one is waaaaay cheaper.

That has got to be the nastiest looking one I've seen in a looong time. Did your CV boot pop or is that water?

Water... my hands and knees are still numb from the snow :( . The JY I will be going to has a free service that tells you what other cars you can take a part from, however I just figured I'd check with you guys first. What cars can I get this part from? Can I take it from an SE? It'* for an SSEI, but is it the same part? Can I get one from say a buik lesabre? or any other car?