title says it all, popped my front driver side tire, chipped the non-chrome buzz saw rims. Went to a junk yard and paid 40 bucks for a chromed version with 80% thread left. put it on. found out that my control arm is also bent, so now the wheel is sitting closer to the right fender and rubs everytime I turn, plus while driving, it pulls the car to the left, not good for 75+ mph daily commute.

My question is, what are the chances of the whole control arm assembly being bent, by assembly, I mean the plate that attches to the frame of the car and holds the control arm in place? Is there any other damages that I should be keeping an eye out for concerning the front driver side suspension?

For internetautomart, do you happen to have pictures of the control arm that you are selling? and do I need to replace the rubber stuff around the joints?

Thanks.

 

the cv boot? if you want to, the kits are for like 15 bucks.

 

It's probably just your control arm. Have it checked out though. this happened to me some time ago and I ened up replacing my control arm.

 

no, not the cv boots, they are brand new when I bough my car off a mechanic, he had just replaced them, I was talking about the rubber around the control arm ends, where it is held together by a 22mm bolts or something to that size.

 

You mean the control arm bushings? I'm pretty sure Internetautomart's control arms come w/ new bushings already pressed on.....mine did at least.

 

thanks for you reply, and yeah, i think I meant the bushings, sorry for my vague description.

 

no the bushing is hard to come by. but the real pain is replacing it. you are better off to just get the control + gusset at the local junk yard. I bent both my control arms and it turned out that the gusset ends (where the bushing attaches) was bent as well. there is very little chance of frame damage if you were driving after the accident.
your alignment will probably be off even after you replace. but its easy... take a look at THIS THREAD that I had going.
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the control arm's that I sell are complete with ***** and bushings

 

how fast can you ship it to Camden, NJ? If delivery time is reasonable, then expect a couple orders from me

 

depends on when it's ordered, usually a couple of days on the control arms as I stock them.

 

Kind of the same thing happened to me long time ago on my 92 SE and I had some frame damage....hope that's not the case

 

I would definately take it down and have it looked at, you dont know what could be bent.

I jumped a curb in a turn at around 45-50mph and tweaked ALOT of stuff. If the insurance would have known they would have totalled the car. Thank god for Jeffs parts car, he sold me all the suspension stuff I needed for cheap and my mechanic gave me a good price. I had to replace the pass. side caliper and rotor, ball joint, control arm, tie rod and rims (my 17x7.5s ugh, upgraded to 17x18 5zigens, I like them more) the rear pass side. I had to replace the the srut body, both parallel links, and the entire rear cross member.

 

man that's some jump you did, I took my control arm assembly off today, and compared it with the one I got from the junk yard, from what I can see, the control arm is bent like 1 inch or so, maybe more, but the "gusset" seems to be fine. Don't know about the the struts yet, but the caliper, ball joint seems to be fine, nothing leaking out of those mentioned parts. I will be ordering the control arm from internetautomart, and will update to let you guys know.

 

just an update, just ordered parts from internetautomart, hope things come quick cause I need to get this wheel rubbing problem fix.

 

if it's just arms, they'll go out tomorrow.
more than that will depend on what it is that you ordered
most orders go out pretty quick though

 

same thing happened to me last summer. jumped a curb going straight at it and knocked down a no parking sign at 50mph. entire control arm was busted and i was leaking tranny fluid cuz the pan was scraping the floor. i think my oil filter was busted open too. and also fog lights were smashed (and so was i).

 

I did the same thing about 3 weeks ago... Hit some black ice taking a turn and hit a curb going about 25mph. Had my 17 inch rims on and the Rim doesn't even balanced anymore, but the tired survived. My control arm was bent so far back that the wheel was jammed into the rear of the fender. Somehow I managed to get my donut on (since it was a smaller wheel it didn't rub with the fender), and was able to drive it to the mechanic to get fixed without a tow . Total cost to fix ~ $340 (parts/labor)

 

Driving 75+ mph per day with the bent control arm is scary business, as soon as I forget, my car would swerve to the left and had to correct myself. No flaming plz, this is the only car I have for school, work, occasional parts runner/racer, basically the all in one "SUV".

 

I understand but:
1) Shouldn't be driving 75+ with bent up suspension stuff. Should be trying to "granny drive" it around.
2) If you drive too long on it, it will probably screw up that tire.

So try to fix it when you can or bum rides of someone else.

 

he means 75+ miles per day, not 75+mph.

and yes.. you're chewing through tires like you wouldn't believe.. expect to replace your fronts when this is done if you don't get it fixed quickly.

also check the steering knuckle, ball joint, and tie rod end. those are all parts that are prone to bending and breaking when you have an accident like this. they'll royally FUBAR your alignment and cause all kinds of other nasty problems. might want to replace them or have them with you when you go to the alignment shop.. if they don't need them, then you can return them and get your money back.

 

ball joint comes with the arm I guess, the last time I inspected the tie rod ends, it seems ok, but the rubber are cracked, so I think I need to replace them, as for steering knuckle, how much are they? and does anyone have a pic? I think I need to see what that is, as I am more of a visual learner.

 

the arm comes with a ball joint.

 

steering knuckle is also called the spindle, depending on who you're talking to and what car. it's the big heavy hunk of metal that the ball joint, strut, and tie rod end all bolt onto.. the ends of the knuckle where the strut and tie rod end mount are both prone to bending a bit under heavy impacts like this. you may not see the damage, but it could be nearly impossible to align later... if you have problems with alignment, this would be one of the first things I check.

 

so it was raining and i def just did the same thing after hydroplaining, but had to travel the next day so i havent gotten to look at it, i was wondering if anybody had a pic of what it looks like under there so i can start my poor college student plan of attack.....and im trying to replace the least possible at the cheapest price possible how bad is it to get a control arm from like the junk yard or the .org classifieds, versus new?

 

ill do the work myself so i just need parts

 

if you drove afterward... then you probably didnt do much to it at all. the biggest risk for hitting the curb would be tire damage, or rim damage. you'll know if you bent your control arms or ruined a ball joint.
control arm - its an easy operation if you have the sockets for it. when i did it i just pulled the arm and gusset (my gusset was bent from the impact, the control arms were straight torn) and put the whole new (used) assembly on. less than an hour.

 

what did i bend tho that is causing me to rub on right turns then?

 

the gusset...?

 

maybe you bent your lower control arm.... does your wheel sit back a little????? i mean it should be dead center..........thats what i did to mine when i got in the accident hitting the curb at about 45 MPH.....

 

yeah thats exactly it, it sits back instead of center

 

your lower control arm is bent......... at the dealership around me, it is $188 for a new one..... i wil put money on it that your arm is bent... look underneath the car and take a look at it, you may not be able to see it, or you may see a little bend in a peice of the metal......

 

One or both of these parts arrowed have most likely been damaged..

 

Thanks, that helps, thats what i thought i had probably bent

 

haha, i did that once going backwards, AND SOMEHOW MADE IT OUT WITH NO DAMAGE, it was absolutely insane. i fishtailed and went sideways, ended up going backwards then hopped the curb, absolutely pure luck nothing got busted

 

[QUOTE=Matt93SE]he means 75+ miles per day, not 75+mph.

and yes.. you're chewing through tires like you wouldn't believe.. expect to replace your fronts when this is done if you don't get it fixed quickly...
QUOTE]

I slid through a small ice bank at about 35 mph once, and both tires on the passenger side were flat (I slid sideways and the pass. side hit). I pumped them back up and noticed the alignment was way off. I had just gotten the car and there were brand new tires on it, and 2 months later, the bands were coming through, so make sure u have it all fixed or you will need tires soon, and then soon again after you replace them. And again after that....

 

i hit a curb on the passenger side a few months ago and bent the control arm busted rim, ect. but one thing that i didnt check was the axel on the tranny(driver's) side. it had been pushed out some by the impact. just enough to leek oil but still engage the gear. the axel on the passenger side is bolted in so you don't have that problem but just something to keep in mind

 

Well i just bought a 1990 maxima and the first thing i managed to do was up a curb at 60kmph took it to a mechanic and he said the arm is well bent. What sockets etc... would i need to take the bent one off and to put the new one on myself

 

i would also like to know this info
and if anyone who has done it can tell me what complications / how long it took?
thx

 

taking the bolts off is not the hard part, the hard part comes when you want to separate the arm from the gusset. I highly recommend a propane torch or similar torch, Dremel tool with cut off wheel (you will thank yourself for having this tool later), and last but not least, access to air tool, most notably, air hammer. As for the sockets, I can't really remember since I replaced my control arm awhile ago.

 

Do you have any advise on the best way to do it, or any links for guides etc... id rather do it myself (already got a quote from a mechanic and it didnt make me happy)