i have a 1990 CRX SI and its lowered with only .75" springs and has stock wheels and tires, ....................i hit a curb hard at just the right angle and it was bad enough that it put a hole in the front tire and the rim was popping out at an angle and it put a tear in the rear passenger tire and later that went flat too, but luckily it happened right near a gas station i was headed to, so i parked it at the gas station and when looking at it the front passenger wheel looked like it was tilted out at an angle (not straight vertically) i put a spare on and drove it slowly to my friends who was right around the corner and had the friend ride along next to me watching the wheel to make sure it was'nt doing anything.

next day we had a mechanic friend come over to look at it, he said it had a crack in the radius rod and was bent slightly, (front stabilizer bar, the long rod going to front of car), he said that needed replacement along with a new CV axle since it was all busted. so he replaced the CV axle and radius rod with new ones and afterwards the wheel still looked like it tilted outwards but it was a lot better, but he said my sway bar was bent and something else might of been bent and possibly some frame damage, but he told me that the frame shop i had it in last back in 2002 did'nt do it the right way and that there were a couple bolts missing that were important, and he said i had a couple motor mounts broken.

i needed to get peoples opinions on here to help decide what to do on my next step,.......................... one concern is that the radius rod has two bolts that it mounts it to the lower arm and he was only able to line it up with one bolt, so i was wanting to ask is this really important or not??? he said the radius rods job is to hold the wheel at a straight angle but that the weight of the car's pressure mostly go on the shock/springs, control arms, etc... the reason he could'nt line the radius rod properly to fit both bolts is that he said there was something bent or minor frame damage and he did the best he could. i was just wanting to see if its ok for me to drive it like this? and keep in mind even know he put a new radius rod the wheel is still not straight but he said i could drive it. he said the steering knuckle and control arms look pretty strong and they probably are'nt bent but i am not ruling that out as a possibility cause they could be, but i'm not giving up on the car and i will replace anything needed.

the other concern is, .................he installed a new CV axle and there are two parts of the frame that look like loops (where the steering rack goes through), and he said on the side i hit the curb that the CV boot is close to that loop part of the frame and if i drive it that it could start cutting into the boot, so because of these things my car has been stuck at my friends apartment complex and i the reason i am now just posting this is cause i got sick while over there and have been sick for a week and just feeling normal again enough to put my head towards the car again.

the next step he said is to take to a frame shop, but my concern is more towards how safe it is to drive it to any shop at this point with the state it is in ????

i was really pissed at myself for doing this and disappointed so much cause i finally just got my front end together just back in April 2006, ...................i just bought new tires, installed new steering rack, had pretty new shocks/springs, and alignment and it was finally driving to my liking, so this is not anything i wanted to happen anytime soon, but it was my fault though so i can't bitch too much, lol.

any thoughts or opinions would be appreciated, thanks

 

way back in the day when i got my license, i let my friend drive and he did the same. the wheel was (no kidding) 45 degrees. bent my cv shaft. but the transmission was fine.

I fixed it.

It took a whole new rear subframe, new radius rod, new steering knuckle. depending on how you hit it, you might want a new steering gear/tie rods, too.

good luck.

edit: i know what you said about the control arms bending, they could be a little, but on mine, the subframe bent worse, and that's harder to see. just get a new subframe, knuckle, and radius rod. looks like your tie rod/steering are ok.

don't take it to a collision shop, they'll tell you it'll be X to pull it, but since those things just bolt off, it's so much cheaper (and safer) to get those pieces off a parts car.

take it to an alignment shop when you're all done. it should only cost you a few hundred bucks to fix.

 

thanks for the reply bagpipe goatee

yeah i am trying to avoid taking it to collision shop just like you say cause i know how they rape you with their prices cause i had to pay 700 bucks when they pulled my frame an inch towards the passenger side a couple years ago and they did'nt even do it the right way i found out later on.

so i don't trust them.

luckily i know this friend who is a mechanically inclined guy who charges me decent prices and knows how to do everything, i will just look into it further, but if anyone else has any ideas on what i can check or diagnose that would help, thanks

 

one thing i am curious about, ........what is the main purpose of the radius rod ??? what is its purpose??? that would help me understand this whole thing.

when i look in the Helms manual it shows how to install or uninstall parts but i never see like a definition of what a part does exactly or a description of its purpose in the whole system???

 

The radius rod's job is to keep the lower control arm in a specific location at all times. This location helps determine things like caster. It also keeps the suspension from walking around when you accelerate or decelerate. If you think about it, the front tires are pulling the car around. Without the radius rods in place, the front tires would pull way forward & start pointing in funny directions until the bushings ran out of slack (or you crashed ). Later civics don't really use a radius rod. instead they have a two piece lower control arm. The second piece acts as a radius rod that extends rearward. Its actually a wishbone with two chassis mounts instead of one (like the CRX). This makes working on them much easier because there is no front sub-frame...

Definitely do not drive it with just one bolt in the radius rod. If it's only held with one bolt, any back & forth movement can easily work the remaining bolt loose. Once it falls out, your in big trouble. If you have to, get the car towed to the collision center...

If it's possible for you, remove all your front suspension. Then you can compare the control arms with their left-side counter part. You can easily tell if something is bent with this method.

Next you will have to move on to inspecting the sub-frames. This is much tougher when you don't have anything to compare to. Usually this must be done professionally.

As for your axle being too close to the rear sub-frame: either the sub-frame is bent, the suspension is bent, or the engine mounts are not keeping the entire drive-train in it's proper location. Since you said you have broken/torn mounts, make sure to replace those right away (they need it anyways). If that doesn't help, then it looks like you really are due for a trip to the frame shop...

Good luck man. Let me know if you need anything else.