On Monday I was travelling back from NJ to Pittsburgh along the I-76. About 15 miles before I reached Harrisburg, I entered a construction zone, so I slowed down to 55-60mph. The top layer of asphalt had been stripped off the road because they are in the process of resurfacing it. Well, at the end of the construction zone, someone had forgotten to smooth out the gap between the unsurfaced and surfaced roads. No sign warned of this, only at the last second did I see that there was about a 2" height difference between the road surface. I hit what was pretty much a small stair or step going about 50mph.

I stopped at the nearest service plaza and found that both bumper lights popped out and were hanging by their cords, the interior fuse panel popped off, the ash tray opened, and everything that was loose in the car flew threw the air. The steering wheel was not tracking center and the car was pulling hard right, worse than any misalignment that I had ever experienced. Several other cars had pulled over to check out the damage after hitting the same bump.

After struggling to get off the road at Harrisburg, I made my way to Faulkner Nissan. They checked the car out, and no suspension components were damaged or bent - only the car's frame! So now my insurance company is likely to total the car, but I'll know by Friday at the latest. If they do, I'll never see the car again (it's in Harrisburg, I'm in Pittsburgh), so please don't bother asking for parts. I'll be posting a for sale thread of what I have in the garage in a few days.

I guess that shows just how weak the max's frame is, though I can't expect any car to take that bump without much damage. I was just lucky that I didn't blow a tire. I'm still kind of shocked that the frame bent though. If it is not totaled, should I keep it after the repair? I've always heard bad things about cars with repaired frame damage, that they never drive the same, have more rattles, and have greatly decreased resale value. I think I'll probably just part out, sell it and start over if that's the case, but I wanted to get opinions anyway.

 

some companies total the car and dont even want it. when my civic got totalled out they didnt make me buy it or anything cuz they didnt want it. I'm glad you didnt go the direction i was expacting and ask if you can sue the city/road department, because 50-60mph is alot in a consturction zone lol.

hope they dont total it but the alternative isnt likely.

 

Its a good time to upgrade to a gle or SE thats what i did. 85%+ chance that your car is totaled

 

Actually, the speed limit in the construction zone is 55mph (this is the PA turnpike, and no one was working at the time), so I wasn't going excessively fast. The insurance company is also investigating the liability of the PA turnpike commission because the bump was not marked by a sign or anything, so they may be getting the bill in the end. Regardless, that's beyond my control.

The insurance company told me 98% chance it will be totalled, sadly. I'm not sure if it will be another max or not, though I may consider a 97-99 SE since I have a 00VI that was waiting to be installed.

 

if thats the speed limit and theres no sign go for it i say. There is a road like that around here that tried to take my car out too but i got lucky lol

 

Dont exactly know your budget but here is a nice crimson blaze sel with super low miles

 

That is crazy. Try your best to get the state involved.

 

yeah seriously wtf is that.. I think you will come out victorious in this one friend.

 

I call on the bent frame issue.

A car is designed so the suspension components bend or break first. They are made from softer materials then the heavy metal sub frame bolted on the unibody structure of your car. For example, the control arms are cast, they will bend or snap pretty quickly. Ball joints will break first as well. Next is your hub which is harder then the control arms, but still softer then the frame. Even your strut will bend way before the frame sees any stress.

Have the car tracked on an alignment rack to see exactly what moved or bent when you hit the bump. I suspect you have bent lower control arms, struts or even tie rod ends. The subframe should be fine.

It takes a really hard shot to bend a subframe, hard enough to totally break your wheels right off the car to the point the impact actually hits the subframe to cause damage to it. That doesn't happen when you drive over a large bump. Suspension, rims and tires fail first. If you didn't blow a tire & rim, you couldn't have possibly bent the subframe.

 

That was my first inclination that something in the suspension was bent. But the dealership told me specifically that no suspension components were bent and that the frame appeared to be bent. I can't exactly take a look at it since the car is over 200 miles away, nor did I have the ability to jack up the car and look at it myself at the time, so I'm just going by what I was told by the dealership. I'm somewhat inclined to believe them since if there was suspension damage, they likely would have tried to capitalize on this and get more work for themselves, but they didn't. I agree with the logic behind your thoughts though, the frame should not bend before the suspension gives or the tires/wheels.

The insurance adjuster will look at it either today or tomorrow and give the final verdict, so I'll update when I know.

 

I would venture a guess that a typical tube steel shock housing is way stiffer than the undercarriage of the subframe.

Thick wall tube steel is way stiffer than the thin unibody sheet metal.

This is the reason why subframe connector mods make such a big difference on a lot of cars -- because 30 pounds of box-tube or round-tube steel is WAY stiffer than the floor of the car.

Can you bend a sample of .050" flat "good" steel with your hands? Maybe.

Can you bend a shock or a control arm by your hands? Definitely not.

This is why race cars and mega-expensive supercars have everything built around a round-tube steel frame, and not flat-steel unibodies. A tubular structure is many times stiffer than a flat example of the same material.

It would not surprise me in the least if what the dealer told you is true -- that the suspension held up well and the unibody was distorted.

 

To give a quick update, the insurance company has towed the car to their storage facility but still has not yet looked at the car, so I don't know what they'll be doing yet. As of Friday, the insurance adjuster was saying that they will look at it for sure on Monday and that they will be able to tell me then what will happen to the car. So a few more days of suspense for me...

 

I'm shocked that hitting that raised portion would bend your frame. Did both wheels hit it at the same time i.e "head on"? If so, then I agree the njmaxseltd that your lower suspension parts have been damaged and I suspect either one or both of the ball joints. These are not easy to spot as I currently have a bad balljoint that I only found out accidentally. I knew there was an issue with my frontend because of the way the car drove around town, it would have a tendency to jerk the steering whenever I drove on rutted roads. I only pinpointed it when I was tightning the lugnut on the driver's front wheel & noticed the entire wheel moved as I leaned on the wrench. My mechanic didn't believe me at first, even after he had the car on the hoist & poked & pried at the control arm which was solid. On the ground, he peeked under as i used the wrench on the wheel & saw the ball joint was loose. Grabbing and shaking the wheel showed no movement either, the issue can only be seen when the suspension is loaded. If the dealership (who are not suspension experts), had the car on the hoist & visually checked it then checked for movement as my mechanic did, they will miss it.
A violent impact like that will surely damage your wheel/suspension/linkages before bending your frame.
Race cars with tube frames are made for torsional rigidity & SFC's assist in this regard on road cars, but the two cannot be compared in this instance.

If you really want your car, have it inspected by a qualified shop, if not take the money & get something else. I sense you are leaning towards the latter.

 

95bluse - I did hit the bump roughly head-on, though I don't know if it was perfectly square, one wheel may have made contact a split-second before.

I heard from the insurance company today, the car is totalled. They claim that the frame is indeed bent - I don't know whether to believe them or not, but they are giving me quite a bit more than the car would be worth if I were to sell it (~$7k), so I'm just going to go with what they say. I'll never know what really was wrong with the car, so what really happened will remain a mystery.

The turnpike commission has admitted some responsibility for the incident, so the insurance company is going after them for the money.

It's time to start shopping for a newer car, it may be a Maxima, it may not. I'll probably still lurk around the forums every once in a while even if I don't get another one. Either way, thanks to the .org for help over the years!

 

do you have full coverage?

 

Yes, I have (or rather, had) full coverage on the car.

 

sucks man, when i crashed my 97 about 2 years ago into a ditch, it cost 2500 alone in frame work to fix

 

Well all I can say is good luck in your new car search! Remember the Max offers the best bang for buck in it's class.

 

Especially with Nissan's heavy depreciation.

 

:hint: 2007 maxima :hint:

 

well now that Ghosn has the reigns.. I dislike that guy and I don't really dislike anyone.