Ok.. i have a 93 vtec with 138k mi. It is immaculately maintained with no missed serviced. The interior is spotless too. About the only thin wrong with it was the paint fading badly on the trunk lid and sunroof, but not a big deal, really.

So today, I manage to run it into a curb. The front right wheel hits, then the rear right hits. As a result, I now have 2 bent/damaged wheels. I also believe I have bent something in my front suspension (control arms?). When I drive the car, it won't recenter itself. If I turn the wheel left it stays left, if I turn it right, it stays right.. so its not a simply alignment issue afaik. Also, I beat up the front bumper, front fender, and rear bumper.

Here's the facts as I see them: The car is worth about $3800 in perfect shape. The repairs will cost more than my insurance deductible which is $1k. Also, if I fix it, it will still have faded spots in the paint so the kbb on it will only be $3000-3300. Also, there's the concern that it will never be like new.

So what do I do? Should I fix it? Would anyone buy it as is? If I fixed it, would it be worth selling (highly doubtful).

Luckily, I am in the position where I can afford car payments if I had to buy something newer.. I was just hoping I could hang on to the lude for another year and a half or so.. timing is not ideal.

Any suggestions?

 

oh, btw.. for what it is worth.. i absolutely love this car.

 

i cant believe your deductible is so high.....anyways you need to decide for yourself what you want to do....

fixing it will be nice as long as you find a good body shop....but i doubt you will ever get your money back out of it....

 

Well.. I just bought an 05 V6 Accord EX Coupe.

I feel like the prelude is still valuable fo someone and would make a steal of a donor car. Everything in the engine bay and interior is in top shape.

Best reasonable offer will be accepted.
https://honda-tech.com/zeropost?cmd=tshow&id=617401

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by mgags7 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">
fixing it will be nice as long as you find a good body shop....but i doubt you will ever get your money back out of it....</TD></TR></TABLE>

either way ur not getting ur money back out of it. if u love it enough tho, fix it!

 

if you do decide to fix it (which if i were you i would) make sure to check that you didn't bend the frame, because i did a similar thing. i hydroplaned into a curb and i hit the front first and almost hit the back but not quite (wheel was less than 2 inches away from curb). and when i did the front bumper cleared the curb but a piece that connects to the frame hit and it bent the subframe but did not break any suspension parts. weather you had the same thing happen or not i don't know but just keep this in mind

 

Sounds like it is totalled. Hitting a curb, twice, most likely means bent frame.

 

Yeah, I would fix it if I had the cash, but I went the new car route instead. I just gotta get to work, can't afford having my car out of commission.

Anyway, it was a surprisingly low-speed accident. I was parallel to the curb when I hit it, which was the reason both wheels hit. I was very near escaping the accident altogether, but I guess it wasn't meant to be. While I am not denying the fact that the frame may be bent, I am hopeful that it is in good shape.

At any rate.. I am not reporting the accident, so the title will remain clear. I am going to circulate info among Honda mechanics and enthusiasts as it is probably a good candidate for a rebuild, or at least as a parts/title car to legitimize another rebuild.

If someone is interested in the car, I will pay to have a mechanic check out the frame... if it is ok, then the only damaged parts will be ones that are often swapped out for aftermarket stuff anyway.

I can see this is starting to look like a for sale thread.. if it is not appropriate, I hope the mods feel free to delete/lock it.

Thanks!

 

Ok, the car is filthy, but it had been raining two weeks ago and I haven't touched it since last weekend. This is probably the dirtiest the car has ever been under my ownership. You'll have to use your imagination that it really does wax up nicely and pretend the wheels aren't covered in brake dust/miscellaneous smegma.

Pictures:

 

 

 

Modified by 93vtec ATL at 11:37 AM 10/30/2005

 

And my new love....

 

So yeah.. I didn't have the time to pull the wheel off and take some pictures of the linkage, but as you can see, everything still lines up well. The wheel is a little bent, but with as bad as they are scratched up, I don't think anyone would want them much, anyway.

 

No 6 speed? lol jk nice accord

 

hey i was checkin out your prelude...is it driveable still? what is your asking price? what about the shipping? maybe i could pick it up? is there anything else majorly wrong with it? just reply to adamvogt28@yahoo.com with details and pics if your interested
regards
adam

 

dont hit any curbs in that accord, be ashame to see a brand new ride with a bent frame.

 

The reason I think the frame may not be bent is that everything still lines up right... When you center the steering, the car drives straight, and the wheels line up parallel (as far as I can see). The two problems the car is exhibiting is the wheel not recentering itself from either direction, and a rythmic thumping (prob bent rim).

Again, I am not arguing.. by all means the frame could be bent, but for as low speed as the accident was, and how the ride quality hasn't really changed significantly, I wouldn't jump to that conlcusion right away.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by revlimitx04 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">dont hit any curbs in that accord, be ashame to see a brand new ride with a bent frame.</TD></TR></TABLE>

Yeah.. I still probably deserved that comment.

 

Damn, from the looks of it, the car doesn't look bad at all. Still wondering if the frame is bent.

The car looks to have been taken care of pretty well. Engine bay looks nice.

If I were you, I would keep it. Even if you have to get rid of it, atleast find out what is wrong with it. Maybe it is only something minor. It would be a shame to let go of such a nice older car.

Hell, I have two spare Si wheels. If you were close, I would let you use them to see if the car drives fine with wheels we know are straight.

 

Woohoo... I finally took the car to my trusted mechanic.

And the damage is.......

....

....

...A bent radius arm and some busted tie rod ends!

So, to replace those, swap out the rod end and steering rack bushings, straighten the rims and do an alignment, the grand total is $650.

It looks like the prelude is getting fixed after all. Unfortunately, I may still have to sell it due to that pesky brand new Accord sitting outside of my apartment.

(But hey.. at least I have a V6 now )

 

Awesome. Glad to hear one Prelude is going to be saved from going to the scrap yrad!!!

 

at all cost keep the lude, if the payments are really that hard for you with the accord, sell it, but make sure it's someone responsable cuz sooooooooooooooooo many people get the car and yeah.. and if you have a problem getting rid of it, you could always part it out, prob make more money off of it that way, but glad your getting it fixed, try to keep it\

-Adrian

 

My son just threw a rod in his 1993 Prelude Si. Looking for a replacement engine: 2.3L I4 16V DOHC. What are the specs on yours? How much do you want for it?

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by maurlady &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">My son just threw a rod in his 1993 Prelude Si. Looking for a replacement engine: 2.3L I4 16V DOHC. What are the specs on yours? How much do you want for it?

</TD></TR></TABLE>

You should just have your son buy this car and then sell off his 93 Si. It would be easier that way, and most likey cheaper. This guys car seems to be in pretty good shape too.