Heres the situation, very slippery road leads me to slide somewhat sideways into a curb at about 20 mph, and it brought me to a dead stop after a slight richochet. I tried to straighten the wheel out in time, but i didnt make it so basically, the car hit the curb on the front drivers rim while it was turned. It pushed the wheel back into the body work slightly towards the rear of the car, the bodywork is definetly touching the rear of the tire. Definetly not drivable so i left her there overnight, and ill go get her tommorow with one of those uhaul tow things for cars. But I do need some help from you all, if you can, I know for sure that the rim is fu&k#d, and will have to be replaced, however as far as other damage i could have done to it. I need some help. Im pretty sure the lower control arm is definetly bent. How much would this part be from a dealer, i dont think there are any good junkyards around here and because im so pissed off that this happened my goal is to fix this as quickly as possible and forget about it. Is there anything else that is most likely bent? anybody ever have this happen to them ? OH and also a friend of mine was telling me that if the damage is not truly extensive, a good wheel and alignment place might be able to force everything back into place. Any comments on this, it seems like that that would be a very optomistic out come.
Thanks
Eventnick

 

Talk to Internetautomar. He can get you most if not all the parts you might need. But the thing is to:
1) Find out what is bent
2) Find out of there is any unibody damage.

 

EXACT same thing happened to me last year. i wanted stock rims which were a btch to find but they were cheap, got em off the .org shipping was the expensive part. i had a bent control arm $180 brand new, broken sway bar linkage $12. im lucky i didnt break my cv joint or ball joint.

edit: from the way it sounds, dont count on fixing it just by getting an alignment, though youll probably need one after replacing parts, as i did...

 

www.car-part.com for used parts.

there are TONS of junk yards near Columbia, but I don't see any listed with control arms.. most are in Springfield or Joplin.. BUT.. they ship for cheap and it'll only take a day to get to Columbia from there.


just replace the control arm and ball joint on that side, get you a new wheel, and then see what happens after that.

Also look at the steering knuckle/spindle. it may have been bent or damaged. also check the strut for damage. that's the most common stuff to bend in an accident like this.

 

It pushed the wheel back to where it rubbed the inner wheel well. For me it cost $180 and the only thing replaced was the lower control arm.

 

what is it with people buying control arms at the dealer?
the dealer = $188 (list)
Me = $62.50
and they are both the identically same part.

 

is there anyone making stronger aftermarket control arms? the stock ones bend like crazy...

Brian

 

Any suspension will bend if you run them into curbs etc... Better that then bending your unibody all out of whack

 

i know it will bend, but i have heard of people warping them too? from what conditions i am unsure, but they just seem a little weak compared to designs i have seen made of alloys.

Brian

 

actually our arms are of a very strong semiboxed type design.
the only possible improvements I saw was to completely weld the arm as the OE is only partially welded.
though I'm sure someone will disagree with me on that.

 

bought mine from a place called russel's foreign car, if i knew you when this happened and knew you sold control arms, i would've bought from you man

 

Unlike Nissan, Honda uses a lower control arm on earlier Civics that is mounted to the lower unibod, and has a forward link to the frame just under the radiator. The exact same thing happened to me three years ago in a 1991 Civic, except the left inner tie rod had broken. In the snow, and on a partially cleared street, without warning- the car suddenly turned left. I steered HARD right and hit the gas (not knowing I no longer had control of the left front tire), while sliding down the road...
It kept going left, striking the curb (bulls eyed) at a street drain. The car was attempting suicide! Blew the tire, bent the Eagle Alloy, and worst of all, curled the front fender/hood down at the front. Did a full 360 in the middle of the ice covered street, right in front of my lawyers house. Inner fender came unbuttoned from the fender an although it did no paintable body damage, the wheel ended up all he way back in the well, and the outer CV joint separated.
Frame shop $250, wheel $50 (used), tire (used-free), reman'd axle $45.
Instead of bending the suspension, the rigid suspension parts transmitted the force of impact to the frame and even broke the mounting tabs off the radiator. (Fixed with JB weld) Seems on impact, the left front tire was turned full left, and went into the curb perpendicular at speed. Tire blew as it was pinched between the curb and the rim, rim bent as the cars inertia continued pushing it, bending the frame...Control arm and trailing link survived. Car nearly didn't.

 

Hmmmm, I've done that on a couple sets.. IIRC, Mr Gone has a set that he owes me as well..

 

It's nice to know people with a MIG welder... a co-worker suggested doing that weld without me asking him.

 

******* this is an amazing amount of damage for 20 miles an hour. THanks for your replies guys, heres what i got so far, internetautomar, whatever you gots im interested

aluminum rim - dead, need replace
tire - dead, got another though
axle - dead, but i got this already
strut - dead, but i got this aleady, with the axle for 90 total for both
new
sway bar -dead, looks like an acordion,
control arm -dead, surprise! lol

so i guess i need a sway bar, control arm , and a stock rim aluminum rim, oh and my pride back lol. Eventually ill need another quarter panel it seems the wheel pushed it up a bit and the hoodlines are off slightly, oh well, ill deal with that over the december break. I hope the strut tower isnt bent ...or ill shoot myself. If i could ve jsut got that wheel straight id be looking for a new rim right now, if that, oh well thanks guys,
Nick

 

......or i bent the frame slightly, which actually im guessing i did, but its not a lot, so im not worried, but still....

 

if the hood ain't lining up then chances are there is damage to the frame or strut tower.
I'm glad to sell you anything you need that I have