Hey All,

I am new to the forum. I need help with my Honda Civic 2008 Hybrid. I crashed into a parking garage cement column and dented my front left bumper and bent my front left wheel outwards at a bad angle. Engine would run but certainly couldn't drive it. Please see my attached pictures.

I believe the front bumper, headlight, and front left quarter panel can simply be replaced to fix the cosmetic damage. The main problem is the wheel bent out at an angle. I am about 100% sure I will have to replace the axle. The rubber on it is pretty torn up. I am just not sure about what else will need to be replaced. I am planning on doing it myself and was hoping to get some advice from the members as to what they think I should look for. The picture aren't great but hopefully they will give you an idea for what is going on. Thanks!

Click on the link below and you will be director to a box.com account where I have several pictures of the car uploaded. Thanks for any help I can get!

https://app.box.com/s/462pe1b4kg8yzuixx6py

 

Suspension parts that could be damaged are the lower control arm, strut, strut top hat, and knuckle. It's hard to say what's damaged through pictures, especially since it's hard to see how bent the wheel is with it turned. It's easier to tell how off the wheel is when the steering wheel is straight.

I'd say the chances of the strut and lower control arm being bent are pretty high, since they're what holds the knuckle in place. If both are replaced and the alignment is still off, the knuckle could be damaged; the part where the strut connects to the knuckle can stretch from impact to the lower part of the wheel.

One last thing: the wheel bearing could be bad even if the knuckle isn't bent. Symptoms of a bad bearing would be vibration or noise from the wheel (once everything else is repaired, as bent suspension parts could cause similar symptoms).

 

Well, the CV joint ( constant velocity ), the shaft that transfers the power from the transmission to the wheel is definitely smashed...the torn boot and grease says that most assuredly.
The possibility of the control arm and strut being damaged are reduced to maybe the knuckle and possibly the tie rod end as they are closer to the stress points than the larger parts like the control arm and strut.
Yes, the bearing is a sacrificial part between the knuckle and the hub...
This is what I can see from the pictures, there isn't a good shot of the suspension from below to gauge the actual damages.

 

Thanks for everyone's reply so far. It is really appreciated. I think you all have pretty much confirmed my thoughts on this. Basically, I will replace the front left Half-Axle and then see what else appears to be bent or broken and go from there. Thanks for taking the time to look at the pictures. Very much appreciated!

 

It's pretty weird that the axle is damaged. Is there damage to the face of the wheel, or is the damage on the inside of the wheel?

I've dealt with a Civic that had the wheel at about a 20-30 degree angle (hit in the outside bottom) and everything was replaced except for the axle.

 

Truthfully, I have not taken the tire off to take a picture of the wheel. There is no damage to the tire. I hit the concrete column with my front left side at no more that 10 miles an hour. As is increasingly the case, I was a dumb ***, trying to choose the youtube.com video I wanted to watch when I crashed. I have to get out of that habit.

Anyway, I am not sure why it is weird that the axle is damaged because from the pictures I uploaded, it is pretty clear that the CV joint with rubber cover is completely torn and F'ed up. My main concern is that after the accident, the front left wheel was turned out (to the left) at about 45 degrees. It looked like a severe broken arm on a person as an analogy.

I am just surprised that the only obvious damage it to the proximal section of the half-axle. I see no obvious bending or denting of the other parts in the wheel well. I am going to take the tire off tomorrow and post the pictures of the wheel well to hopefully get some assistance from the forum. I will also try to get as many pictures as I can from different angles to hopefully get the best advice I can get.

Thanks to all who have responded. This is a great board.

 

I was just surprised cuz I was expecting damage from the outside of the wheel, like when you hit a curb with the bottom of the wheel. Hitting a curb wouldn't usually damage your axle. Like I said, I've dealt with a Civic that hit something with the front left wheel that damaged everything BUT the axle.

 

Hey Vladd,

I hit the car into a concrete column on the front left side of the car. Nothing really hit the wheel or tire. The crumpling of the front left fender and front bumper caused the damage. That is probably why you don't see anything on the tire. Thanks for the help!

I am going to open a new Thread as I have taken off the tire and other parts and am now having trouble removing the old lower control arm due to some piece of equipment that I have not idea what it is! If you can help on that thread, I would greatly appreciate it!