Hey everyone,

I just graduated college, and after months of job hunting, I was finally able to get a final interview :D

The job is in Washington, so I drove up from California. Little did I know, it rains there in summer...

The first day I get there, I skid on a freeway on ramp right into a curb. I was making a right turn into the on-ramp, when my car skidding in a 45 degree towards a triangular curb. My left front wheel took a decent sized dent.

Luckily, I was still able to drive, so I pulled into an empty parking lot. I rotated the left rear wheel up to the front, and put the spare in the rear. I popped the hood, and it looks okay. I checked the ground beneath the car, and I didn't see any leaks, so the damages seem manageable.

Then, when I was pulling out of a parking spot, I heard some loud squeek. I just realized my left front wheel is closer to the back than to the front.

Here a picture:


Being in a state knowing almost no one, and without any tools, all I could do is going for an auto shop that had decent reviews on google. Turns out that place doesn't do any alignments, and recommended me this one alignment place that also fixes cars. I went there, expecting to spend somewhere $500 or under to get it in decent shape for me to drive back to California, but they told me I need to replace upper control arm, lower control arm, the strut, and the stabilizer link, in additional to a new rim. They told me it will be about $800-850.

Has anyone else ever skidded against a curb? I don't know how to verify if all that stuff needs to be replaced. This is the first time I have ever crashed my car, so I am not sure if all that stuff needs to be replaced. Even though the car is driveable, I don't think I can drive on the freeway with my left wheel bumping against the fender wall at turns, especially at high speed.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.

 

You'll definitely need a new lower control arm and a rim. If the sway bar link is broken, you'll need one of those too. There's really no reason to change the upper arm if it's not bent. As for the shock, that impact shouldn't damage it unless it was worn out to begin with and needed to be replaced anyway.

 

True.

Would be nice if we had pictures to see exactly what is going on behind the wheel, but no big deal.

I'd say try another shop if you can find one, or perhaps someone on here has one in mind?

 

You are right. I went outside this morning and took a bunch of pictures. These seem the most relevant. Hopefully I am on the right track.

There is something that is disconnected here. What is it called?



If I understand this correctly, the horseshoe looking thing is the Upper Control Arm. I guess it looks bent, but does it need to be replaced?
I am not sure what a "strut" looks like, but I am guessing it is the vertical suspension piece right behind the horseshoe. I can't quite tell if the "strut" is bent or not.


Also, is the vertical piece connected the the Upper Control Arm the Lower Control Arm? It does look a bit slanted.


And here the rim that got dented.




Here is the album of the images uploaded: http://imgur.com/a/DsuVF/skid_curb


Really appreciate all the responses I have received so far. Thanks guys.

 

First pic, it's the sway bar link that's broken. The upper control arm looks fine. It might look bent due to the ball joint stud being angled backwards, but that's because the whole wheel is moved back. It's hard to tell from the pictures, but the lower arm and knuckle look bent too.

 

Lower arm, sway bar link definitely broken/bent. Replace. Check sway bar for damage. Unlikely but possible if the link broke.

Your rim is trashed, replace it. 4x114.3 15" steelie shouldn't be hard to source or cost more than $40 new.

From the angle of the strut (The strut is the assembly of shock/spring so yes it is the vertical piece.) I would say you bent the shaft. If you leave it it will either bind or leak a large amount of shock oil, or gas depending on the type. You feel cheap, replace it individually. You have the money, replace them as a set to avoid altering your handling characteristics. Replace front strut/struts.

As for the upper control arm, yank it and take measurements. It could go either way depending on the anatomy of how the damage occurred. I wouldn't be concerned as much about the arm itself as the upper ball joint. I suspect that the reason they want to replace the arm is because the ball joint is damaged in some way, and cannot be replaced separate from the arm. Ball joint damage isn't always readily visible.

 

Hi,

I'm in the same dilemma, sorta, same general area.

Would someone happen to know where I can get instructions on how to remove and replace the upper control arm in this vehicle, driver side? I have the exact same car, but have a V6, if it matters

The car is yawning as I turn left and right, no clunking yet. I have to do this on my own. Garage said $315 for the control arm and another $65 for a alignment.

I was there the day before and they didn't see anything wrong!!! Went back today and they were like "oh...yeah" <palmtoface>

Thank you in advance!

 

Haynes manual. Buy one at your local parts store. No way to avoid an alignment though. Those are very difficult to do without very expensive equipment.

 

Lift up whole front end, unbolt shocks from inside the engine bay, undo upper ball joint. Loosen the control arm bolts, moving the shock/spring around to get the bolts out. Reinstall in reverse order.

 

I agree with everything here

Your sway endlink is definitely broken, strut looks bent, lower control arm looks twisted almost.

I don't think that shop is telling you too far off from the truth.....the price may be higher than you want but their assessment seems upfront. You can always take it to a Honda dealer for their assessment.

 

Nicely done on the pics! This definitely helps!

Nice assessment.

Agreed. Shop does seem to have been pretty up front. Maybe they could have elaborated a bit more, (or perhaps they did) but otherwise no harm done.

 

Thanks everyone! Really learning something new here.

Would you guys say it would be cheaper to buy aftermarket parts myself and bring it to the shop? The mechanic told me going for recycled OEM parts from junkyard is the way to go, but I am open to any alternative that will lower the price of the fix.

If you ever change your mind, and want to go to a shop, maybe the shop I am using could do it. According to some of the replies here, the shop sounds pretty honest.

 

Recycled OEM is probably cheaper haha

 

get the parts and do it your self. parts should be no more than $300-400ish at most. search and you can probably get the parts for less than $300. then get an alignment.

 

I forgot that Helms has the 3 day 10 buck deal to look at what you need!

If it will only allow me to log into my account now

 

Hey everyone,

Thanks for the responses. I decided to suck it up and give it to the shop. They ended up charging me about $900 total, instead of the estimated $800 (it was too late to change shop at that point).

So the car handles fine as far as I can feel it. Though, the left strut (the one that was replaced with used OEM parts), is a bit lower than the original one on the right. So, the top of the left front tire has less "clearance" with the body frame than the same gap for my front right tire. Is this something I should really worry about? I'd figure it's because the struts weren't replaced in pairs, so the discrepancy is kinda expected. I was wondering if there are horrible consequences of this.

Also, I feel "bump thunks" on the driver side. I am guessing they didn't do a good job on balancing the tire with the replaced rim. Is there a better way to check this besides taking it directly to the shop?

Learned a lot from this incident. Wish I discovered honda-tech earlier and picked up more of this knowledge before my accident.

 

Don't accept it then.

Bring it back and have them fix it properly. For $900 it should be fixed back into spec.

 

I 'second' what he said. definately take it back asap.

 

I will definitely take it back ASAP, especially when I heard scraping sound when my left front wheel was going over speed bumps today.

Though, given that the replacement strut was an OEM recycled strut, can the shop do any tuning to increase the clearance between the top of the tire and the body frame?

 

Just how low is this strut compared to the other side? They should have been the same.

The only difference in 6th gen suspensions exists between the early years (98, and possibly 99) and the later (00-on). The early years were about an inch higher than the later.

For example, the ride height in the first picture you took looks exactly like it should for a 2000. A 98 like mine is about an inch higher stock (really monster truckin!).

So it doesn't make sense that you have somehow have a lower stock strut on an already lower 2000 Accord... definitely try and have the shop explain that one.

 

Hmm, nice to know. I will definitely bring that argument up when I talk to the shop on Monday.

Here is a picture of the left front after the "fix" by the shop. It still doesn't look quite right, but it isn't hitting against the fender wall anymore:


Here is the right side, which wasn't damaged at all. I assumed they didn't touch it (aside from alignments):


I took some measurements.


I'd figure it shouldn't vary by that much, especially when I noticed something was wrong with naked eyes first.

EDIT: I just realized the shop didn't rotate the tires back...so the left and right front tires are different brand. But even so...the discrepancy in ride height shouldn't be this big, right?

 

Yeah that's not right...

And are my eyes deceiving me, or is your tire/wheel still pushed back towards the door on the drivers side?

Looks like a definite trip back to the shop man. Good luck this time around.

 

It's not hitting the fender wall anymore (as far as I know), but yeah. It is definitely still off.

I just hope the shop can fix it at this point. I am pretty much determined to learn auto repair at my spare time after this experience. There is a church nearby who does auto repair clinics for people. I think I am going to volunteer there. Get to help others, and learn something new.

BTW, I got the job I was interviewing for, so I get to stay. At least it's not all downhill in this adventure of mine.

 

I wouldn't worry about the 1/2 inch that it's lower on the driver's side. If they put on new upper and lower control arms, and the shock tower is not all bent out of shape, then the next thing to change out would be either the radius rod or the front part of the subframe (that the radius rod is bolted to). Did they give you a printout of the alignment specs?

 

I agree, I wouldn't WORRY about it, but I would be curious to see what the reason was. Just kind of unprofessional for a shop to fix it and then not explain or mention it.

This would definitely be good to know.