First 2 weeks ago some lady makes a big dent on my door, I was scheduled to go to the body shop January third. Now, today when I backed out of the garage the freaking control arm on the passenger rear wheel busted off from the main chassis! Screw GM for putting in bad quality metal in the car. I at least thought I would get another 2 years out of it due to the rust on the side at the bottom of the doors, now I lost a friggin wheel. And thank god it happened right were I can tuck back the car (albiet with great difficulty) to the garage, because if I was on the express way I would have lost the whole weel completely and may have been in a serious accident!

Now I dont know what to do! Is the part that holds the control arm welded to the chassis or can it be bolted off and replaced? Because if the latter then I can just fix it. If not, theres a $2,000 Bonneville SSEi about an hour away that has 185,000 miles for $2,000, but I will try to negotiate with the dealer for $1500 in cash since thats all I got.

What luck.

So what is your advice? And can it be repaired or if not, what is the next step? Do I ask for monetary compensation from the lady who hit me? The issue and thinking with that is that she should pay reparations for her negligence.

[Edit] Here is the kicker, a month ago I plopped over $500 for a new set of tires. I dont have the kind of money to just throw that kind of money around. I am not letting them go if the car gets totaled! I keep them.

so the control arm busted, the bolts, or the chassis?

i got a new control arm for $40.... no sweat...

NOT the control arm, chassis. If it was teh control arm it would be a different story, it is whole but it busted off clean from the chassis with the bolt still in it!

I'm borrowing a pic from John Deere'* car when he took pics from his underside to show you exactly what I mean, I do not have a digicam.

As you can see, the red line I drew separates what broke off. THat small piece that broke off still has the bolt on the control arm.



ANd here is the car I am going to look at tomorrow and negotiate down to $1500 (I hope!)
AutoTrader Linky.

Same thing happened to me a month ago. Had my buddy weld it back up not big deal. Here is the thread and my pictures for ya.
http://www.bonnevilleclub.com/forum/...206&highlight=

Yes, it is a big deal. Weldeding materials and areas rust like hell, you will just get the same problem back a few years from now. Not a feasable solution and a very bad and dangerous idea. Need the whole area replaced.

I think at this point we are deciding to go for a new car altogether, what with the rust beginning to seep under the door and all. But I still dont know how to go about "totaling" my car given the fact that I just spent over fife hundered dollars on a new set of tires 100 miles ago. How does this whole "total your car" dealy work?

Crap, the intake, yeah.
But the chassis where the control arm attaches?
I hope this is not another common problem with our H'*.

I guess i am lucky that Colorado does not use salt on the roads. My car knows not what rust even is.

Take it easy ever heard of sand paper and undercoating. He ground off all surrounding rust and replaced what ever metal was needed (not much) then undercoated it. I do not know why you think it is such a horrible thing. If you think your car is a total loss I will buy it from you for $100 and have another Bonne pretty cheap. I took it for an alignment and everything was fine. I guess if you want to buy a new car go ahead. If this makes my bonne last at least another 2 years then its a pretty good deal for $125 I think. Instead of some other car that may need who knows what else.