As the title says- I smashed an intense curb at a pretty high rate of speed last night, only on the passenger side. I managed to drive home about 10 miles down backroads, but it was a fight with the steering wheel. I didn't feel safe getting over 20 mph. It's not driveable at all. I don't really care about my tires, they came on the car and I paid $400 for the car.

Wondering if anyone else has had a similar accident. The wheel is pulled back in the fender, rubs on the fender, and is completely off center when compared to the other side. It also does not roll uniformly- but when off the ground, the tire spins perfectly smooth (maybe the hub assembly is okay and the suspension is just so bent it's causing the wheel to roll like that?)


Pics. The coil spring is incredibly scary.

https://www.flickr.com/gp/137222699@N06/Gd5j21

https://www.flickr.com/gp/137222699@N06/222005

https://www.flickr.com/gp/137222699@N06/346ST7


I can get better pics. That's just all I have on my phone at the moment.

So- the guide rod is mangled.

The tie rods look OK.

The UCA hit the top of the fender pretty good

The LCA itself looks sort of bent- but the spring perch is.... Not looking like it can be trusted.

My car has ~300k, no rust, and none of this stuff has been replaced as far as I know.

I want to keep the car, so this is now my excuse to rebuild the ENTIRE front end.

I'm going to do:

-Both front springs
-Both front shocks
-Both front UCA's
-Both LBJs
-Both LCA bushings (probably will replace the damaged LCA from a junkyard car local to me that has a great looking front suspension)
-All steering related components (front end has always been really sloppy/noisy/boots are destroyed on tie rods)- needs to be done anyways.
-Both guide rod mounts, and obviously the bent guide rod (from aforementioned junkyard car)

Am I on the right track here? This just happened last night and I haven't really messed with this front suspension before- so other than knowing how incredibly dangerous these springs are- I'm a newbie.

I looked at the back of the guide rod mount and it looked OK. Looks like the rod took the majority of the impact.

My main concern is how in the hell am I going to safely remove that coil spring? It is so scary seeing it sit like that. I know I need the correct compressor so I don't die.


Thanks guys