I had an accident, I was driving in the rain, took a corner too fast, couldn't brake due to slipping, ended up hitting a divider curb pretty hard with my driver side front wheel. The concrete divider curb was cracked and broken by the force. I got out of my car to see the extents of damage, the left front wheel was deep inside the wheel well with ridiculous levels of toe-out and positive camber. Towed it home.

The wheel, rotor, control arm, steering knuckle (spindle), hub, bearing, stabilizer bar, shock absorber, and driveshaft were damaged.

Looking at $1500 at least in parts without a new rim and tire. Surprisingly, the OEM 17" wheel was not bent much, it's incredibly strong.

So far, I replaced the control arm. The toe-out and camber were fixed slightly. Had to adjust steering shaft majorly to fix toe-out. Driveshaft kind of wobbles. But now, it's movable, not driveable though. That's a sign that the other coponents being damaged.

***I bought the stabilizer bar but I can't figure out how to remove it, the hole underneith is just too small, any input would be nice.


Not good, here's the list of how much the OEM components cost from Dublin Nissan:

rotor: $103.19
steering knuckle (spindle): $239.35
hub assy: $178.75
bearing assy: $103.47
strut kit: $173.43
stabilizer bar: $113.00
link comp (control arm): $188.27

total: $1195.66 without a $500 driveshaft and maybe $200 OEM wheel.


Aftermarket parts I'm considering:

icw k2 bronze 17" wheels: $450
megan springs: $100
tokico hp shocks: $300
drilled/slotted aftermarket front rotors: $100
***considering kragen rebuilt driveshaft for $250 if i decide to sell the car

altogether: maybe $3000


How do I contact Dave B.?

Should I take repairs in steps or should I do a complete fix? Should I go aftermarket or OEM? Should I sell my car? My car is not drivable, it's a piece of garbage right now. HELP PLEASE!!!

 

sucks dude sorry to hear that, here's DAVEB's info:
888-254-6060 and his email is daveb@adpub.com

 

Thanks EDKEK.

 

Bro, you can go to carparts.com for the steering knuckle assembly that includes the hub for around $100 or less. It will be a good idea to get a brand new bearing from the dealer though.

With such force, you may wanna check your front subframe as well ........... bout $300+ from the dealer.

 

Those prices are a bit more than what I paid last month when I had some parts replaced on my car as well.

Prices I was charged:

1 - Driver's Side Bearing Assembly $82.12
1 - Driver's Side Hub Assembly $149.68

 

Are you sure? I'm getting this:

We're sorry!
We do not currently offer "Spindle and Hub" parts for a 2000 NISSAN/DATSUN MAXIMA V6-2988cc 3.0L F/I Vin VQ30DE .

 

Dublin Nissan is a big rip-off:

1 - Driver's Side Hub Assembly $103.47
1 - Driver's Side Bearing Assembly $178.75

 

That definately does suck man. Like others mentioned, contact DaveB.

 

Yup, but should I take repairs in steps or dump it in all at once?

I'm doing repairs at home in my garage with my car on jacks.

About the subframe, I'm not sure what it is. I know for sure the control arm was damaged, it was bent pretty good.

 

Go to Car-parts.com with a hyphen not carparts.com

 

Sub-frame is where the control arms are mounted. If your arms are bent pretty good, chances are that your sub-frame also absorbed some of the impact.

 

Should I trust spindles (steering knuckles) or other suspension parts from wrecking yards from www.car-part.com? Or even maybe aftermarket parts from other sources?

I'm just kind of skeptical, especially with the Kragen rebuilt or aftermarket driveshafts.

 

Knuckles don't get bent. They will crack if they get hit hard enuf.

 

Im with bsetiawan on this one. It sounds like there is a good chance you bent the frame somewhere. If it's bad enough you'll need to put it on a frame bending machine to bend it back. If so, you can add and extra 40-50% to your cost because that aint cheap.

 

I know about the frame bending machine in body shops, but I believe I didn't hit it THAT hard, From looking at it, the control arm took most of the force.

I found a local wrecking yard with a 2000 Maxima SE 5-Speed, same as mine. It got rear-ended and the front is totally intact. I have one concern however, at the dealer, they asked for my VIN number before they gave me the parts, they said that there were several different control arm types and what not, is this true? If it is, then there might be a chance that the parts from the Max in the junk yard might not fit my car.

Also, is the sub-frame removable? If it isn't then I guess I have no choice but to go to the body shop if it is damaged, but from my eyes, I can't tell if it is damaged or not.

Also, the guy tells me that the stabilizer bar in the front is very important, keeps your wheels from swaying side to side, but from what I see, it is connected to the control arms, I bet even without it, the car would be ok. It's probably just to spread out the force from bumps in the road to the other side of the car.

 

The sub-frame is definitely removable. But it's a b!tch to remove it by yourself. Get another pair of hands if you could. The subframe is item #2 in the picture below.



If the impact is really not THAT hard, the sub-frame might have absorbed most of the damages and not transmit any to your frame.

All 5th Gen and 5.5 Gen control arms are interchangeable. They will all fit the A33 chassis. I would think that the difference is the durometer of the bushings. SE will have stiffer bushings compared to GXE and GLE. The early built 5.5 Gen also have a bad control arms that Nissan recalled them to have the arms replaced.

Your car will run fine without the stabilizer bar as long as your don't take corners thinking you're in a race car. Btw, I've sent you a PM too.

 

Hit something and bent my knuckle. Went to car-parts.com and got one used and the problem was fixed.

At my shop we do suspention rebuilds for body shops all the time and it's common for a knuckle to be bent.

 

My bad, usually I see knuckles cracked when they get hit.

 

The latest news, I bought pretty much the whole driver side suspension including:

Caliper, rotor, pads, spindle knuckle, hub, bearing, control arm, driveshaft... there might be more included that I don't know. They didn't have a shock, d@mn!

ALL OF THIS WAS AT THE LOW-LOW PRICE OF *$568*, EVEN THE PADS WERE IN GOOD SHAPE!!! That means, the poor Max owner must have been rear-ended soon after he bought the car. Which means the parts are fresh.

Got a quote from the dealer before, it will be least $1700 for all of this.

I ordered a new shock from Dublin Nissan... $178, ouch!

Also, it is not a wrecking yard, they're professional auto dismantlers, warehouse of cataloged parts all organized, no junk cars anywhere.

They're really great guys, visit them here: http://www.concordautodismantlers.com/

 

Oh yeah, one of my OEM 17's got bent a little, one in the back got scratched a little.

I was thinking of going aftermarket wheels. Bronze ICW 17" K2's with Falkens from Big O Tires. According to them, $98 per wheel, $955 wheels and tires together.

Take a look:
http://www.icwracing.com/wheel.php?wnum=10
http://www.icwracing.com/data/10.gif

 

I think the control arm did. From the looks, sub-frame still looks peachy.

 

UPDATE:

I removed and replaced the whole driver side suspension. It's finally complete! Apprently my sub-frame is still intact. Taking out the axleshaft was messy because gear oil spilled out. Installation of the new control arm was a piece of cake. The only problem I had was the OEM outer CV boot came loose (on the my new OEM driveshaft). This happened at 80mph with my car on jacks with passenger side wheel on the ground (I have a locking differential). I bought an aftermarket boot from Kragen and took apart the outer CV joint on the axleshaft, re-lubed it, and put on the aftermarket boot. At 90mph, the boot started wobbling, but no lube came out (before I replaced the boot, the OEM one splattered grease everywhere).

My theory of why this happens (pressure within the outer CV joint causes the outer CV boot to come loose and splatter grease) is because of the fact that my car was on jacks. Since it was on jacks, the control arm is hanging in a "down" position and the driveshaft is at an angle. This angle within the CV joint might be causing the pressure to pop the CV boot loose. When the car is ground level with all four wheels on the ground, the control arms are at an "up" position, thus angle is reduced in the drive axles. After I lowered the car, switched my bent OEM wheel to the back right, I took the car out for a test.

Apparently "backyard" alignment with a liquid level and tape measurer ain't so bad, the car lasted approximately 7-9 seconds on straights before it started to veer - not too shabby!

As for the CV boot, I took the car up to 80mph, didn't feel any wobbling, didn't notice shaking.

I'm afraid to take my car up to speed (100+). If my boot comes loose, there will be trouble.

For now, I'm looking at these:
http://www.craigslist.org/eby/pts/117450467.html

But I also want to get a new OEM 17" Maxima wheel to complete my OEM set. Concord Auto Dismantlers have a lightly scratched OEM 17" wheel for $175. Buy? They go for $500 new.

My eyes are still on the ICW 17x7 K2's. They're as wide as stock, quality wise, I dunno, Gimme some thoughts!
http://www.icwracing.com/data/10.gif

 

yo maxboost925 i got a set of 2k wheels. PM me

 

Don't be afraid of the cv boot coming loose. All it does is keep grease in and dirt out. If it were to come loose at high speeds the only thing that would happen is a big mess.

Good job getting it all back together though.