Hey, i got in an accident and now my front drivers side wheels is sitting lop sided like the top of it is pushed. A car usually sits like this

I.......I

now its like this

/........I

except that might be a little dramatic, i drove a day or two with it and seemed to be ok but before i go to get my alignment fixed i wanted to ask you guys if you had a similar problem and know what might be bent, broken, etc, cuz the shop i might have to go to is prob gonna try and sell me a whole bunch of new parts and i dont wanna get swindled again

thanks guys

 

Tie rod could be the #1 culprit, but you wont know till you have it checked out.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by H8rs get L0st &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Tie rod could be the #1 culprit, but you wont know till you have it checked out.</TD></TR></TABLE>

 

how much would a new tie rod be?

 

anyone have this happen to them?

 

more importantly, the picture you drew, isthat looking at it from the top of the car, or from behind the car. becasue the crookedness you described can be two very different things depending on which view you are talking about.

could eitehr be out of whack camber or toe.

 

thats if you look at the car from dirving behind it.

im trying to find out what it could be and how much it might be to fix it. I dont want to drive it unless i really have to as i dont know if this could cause more damage in the long run

 

sounds like u bent either the control arms or the knuckle. take off the wheel and take a look and see if antying is bent.

what you are describing is negative camber

 

i doubt its a tie rod, but if it is damaged as well they are around $30 if i remember..

but negative camber problems from an accident, i suggest looking at the upper control arm (A-shaped arm) and look at its 2 mounting points on the car body

 

i cant really get under the car, i only have a POS jack and its got a full body kit. but i will take off the wheel like im changing it, what should i look for from that angle?

if i bent something can it be bent back or will i have to replace this knuckle or control arm, how much would this be you think?

 

if you see anythgin bent, ur better off replacing it, you dont want to bend it back, you'll probably weaken it.

but yeah u dont need to go under the car, you can see if anythigns busted with the wheel off

 

ha, to bend either of those back would be a PITA. Deffinately replace the part thats bent, don't try bending it back.

I don't think you would have bent the knuckle but I guess it's possible. I would just figure the control arm or ball joint would fail first. But look at the upper and lower control arms, knuckle, ball joints, wheel bearings (depending on the way the accident happened it could have damaged it though that wouldn't cause your lop sided wheel), sway bar, radius rod, subframe and tie rod. I don't think it'll be the tie rod alone because that wouldn't cause the lop sided wheel.

Just lift the one side and remove the wheel. If you need some reference, lift and remove the tire from the opposite side as well so you can compare and see what may be bent. If you wheel is sitting in noticeably, you should be able to see something bent.

 

Tie rod or maybe a control arm. I was run off the road once and hit the curb pretty hard, it bent the control arm and tie rod. So check those I don't remember it being too much to fix but then again I had just spent like $2200 on a trans. so my idea of cheap at the time was probably a little distorted.

 

i think its ur hub thats bent...check that..

 

hub?

 

Hub aka steering knuckle (or that's what I'm thinking). It's the thing that the wheel bearings are in, that the brake rotor is on, and the studs that hold your wheel on are in. It connects the lower and upper control arms together. Kinda hard to miss, it's pretty much the main thing you'll see when you pull the wheel off. GL.

 

haha, you sorta got it but you're referring to the knuckle and hub as one part.

The knuckle holds the wheel bearing, connects to the upper and lower ball joints as well as the tie rod end. You also mount you caliper bracket to the knuckle. The knuckle is #1 & 2 in the diagram below.


The is pressed into the bearing and holds the rotors to the car. The hub also holds the wheel studs that hold your wheel on the car. The hub is #3 in the diagram below.


On the 90-97 Accords, the hub is what the mounting face of the rim sits on. So when you remove the wheel, the part covering the rotor and that has the studs sticking out from it is the hub.

Also, I don't think it's the hub. If the hub was bent (which I'm guessing would take a hell of a lot of force to do), as the wheel turned it would wobble, it wouldn't stay at the same angle.

Have you looked at the suspension parts yet? How do the control arms look? If your unsure, take a bunch of pictures of the affected area and post them.