Well I have a NEW problem.

[Erick]

Hey guys, once again I'm asking for your help and assistance. Any help will be greatly appreciated. If you dont feel like reading the whole story just skip to the bold part where it gets technical.

Well Saturday night I was coming home in a huuuuge rush because I was past my restricted driving time ( which is 1am, it was 1:15am ). The problem is that if I'm caught my father takes the responsability automatically, and he'll kill me if I mess up his flawless driving record.

So I wasnt thinking straight and I was just trying to get home as fast as I could. One left 90º turn showed up and I noticed I was at 35-40mph in 3rd gear..... and with my "classic radial" worn tires.... I knew I was going too fast to make that turn.... I guess my rush to get home got to me.... I didnt do anything about it. Well the tires didnt even put up a fight with the turn.... it gave up traction so fast I almost collided head on with the curb. It hit right at my front passenger wheel.

The car bounced back to the road and I drove home under serious vibration and serious alignment problems. I put the spare wheel on and the vibration went away. However car still swerves horribly to the right. I had an alignment done on Sunday but the car still swerves horribly to the right. At a better glance this time, I clearly noticed the whole suspension was pushed backwards..... by that I mean that the wheel now rests only two fingers from the rear part of the fender.... and this huge gap open in front. Obviously that cant be good.

I still havent had a chance to jack up the car but I wanted to know what could it possibly be. I took some pictures of the wheel base right now but they arent the best quality. I just put the camera under the car and snapped some shots....... cant see much from them. I'll post the picture of the wheel shortly.

My question to everyone right now is what could possibly be damaged? I'm thinking of the whole front-right suspension but mainly the control arms. Cant think of anything else that would be damaged worse than that to cause the swerve. Maybe the steering rack?

Thanks guys, and pics will be up upon request.... just ask for anything you need and I'll try to get a decent picture of it.

Erick Mahle

Edit:
Here's the picture of the wheel:

[808BMW]

When I curbed my car last year, I bent the control arm pretty badly. Also check your tie rods, I snapped an outer tie rod.

[e9nine]

Worst case scenario either or all:

Bent strut
Fubar Control arm
Fubar Tie rod
Fubar strut mount

Have a shop measure your caster and they should be able to pinpoint what's up...don't go to the first shop you went to...I can't believe they attempted to align the car without noticing its outta wack!!

I'd say you need new c.arms with new tie rods. Hopefully its not a bent strut and fubar shock...to assume its only strut mount but is wishful thinking but it's possible :?

Good luck..

[Erick]

I'll get in touch with some friends and see if they can let me use their shop and expertise to find out the damage.

Thanks for the input and keep it coming if anything new shows up!

Erick

[Bill 84 318i]

Yeah, I'm with k-less Eric. I slammed into a curb a LONG time ago and went up it instead of bouncing off. I snapped my control arm and tie rod, but the strut stayed in decent shape. I'd try the control arms (and bushings (M3)) and tie rods first, and just hope it wasn't the strut housing that got bent.

Also, before going to a shop, I'd put the car up in the air and take measurements from side to side for comparison.

[Erick]

I took some pics of the bottom of the car from both sides and comparing them isnt giving me much.... I really have to find sometime to raise the car, but this week my teachers decided to shove tests and projects up my ass..... Tomorrow alone I have 2 tests and a 5 page paper on the Article I of the Confederation :roll: .... I'll put the car on jacks this weekend.... hopefully I can get a diagnostic of what is wrong.... next week I'll purchase the parts ( holding that 1 grand for an emergency really pays off at these times ) and hopefully 2 weeks from now my car will be running as good as new.

I'm thinking this is a good time to get the bilsteins off my wish list, along with my Pro-Kit sitting on my garage for the past year and lower the bastard once and for all. But that after a careful analysis of my budget and what I should and should not be spending.

As for now..... I'll be driving the car as it is and deal with the tire wear...... and try to control sudden urges of road rage, since my car is not in any position to have any strain done to it.

[jbob]

whoa, i just did the same exact thing last week in my e21 (altho i wasn' t in a rush, but it was raining in az...one of the few days it does rain here).

result was a bent strut housing.....w/ the same exact symptoms ur having:
-right front wheel is pushed towards the rear significantly
-right turning tendency only when moving forward (the car tracks straight when going in reverse)
-steering doesn't feel as well connected to the road (my e21 has no power steering to begin with....so the difference in steering feel was nite & day)
-and slight positive camber on that right front wheel...cuz on the e21, the strut housing is connected to the steering knuckle just below the spindle, and i went into the curb w/ almost full left-lock. if i steered right (into the drift & up the curb), my front spoiler & valence would've been toast....they cost more than a brand new strut housing.

i was still able to perform an 'at home' alignment (tie rods & control arms looked undamaged/unbent)....btw, when i hit the curb i let the steering wheel do it's thing cuz usually when u try to brace it, more stuff breaks


IMO, it seems ur strut housing is bent.....but i wouldn't rule out the control arm being bent just yet. i'd checkout ur local wrecking yards or see if anyone local is parting out an e30.

[Erick]

But ok here's the question, should I trust an old control arm from a junkyard or an e30 being parted out? God knows the stress that has been put on it already due to the driver and the mileage in it.

And man.... thanks for the input but that just made me feel a whole lot worse...... :? I really hope it doesnt get past the control arm and the tie rod. But half of your symptoms match mines and the other half ( such as reverse and noticable camber ).

My car has more of a toe problem.... it's noticable that the angle of the wheels are messed up just by walking around both sides of the car, comparing to the other wheel. If I park with the driver side front wheel fine, the passenger wheel will be turned ( not tilted )... and that is noticable.... not TOO much, but enough to tell the difference.

[jbob]

And man.... thanks for the input but that just made me feel a whole lot worse...... :? I really hope it doesnt get past the control arm and the tie rod.

lol, i know exactly how u feel

yeah, i wouldn't get a control arm out of the junkyard....eventho it may be straight & unbent, the ball joints & bushings will most likely be shot.....altho if u can get one for free, it would be worth trying out, so u can find out for sure whether it's the strut housing or control arm. but couldn't hurt poking around at some...ya never know what u'll find at the junker, nearly brand new control arms, freshly rebuilt engines, dead hookers :shock: lol

did the alignment shop give u any camber/caster/toe specs? if u drive on those glossy/painted garage floors, u can tell if ur toe is way out of wack if the car is rolling straight & tires are squeaking like crazy.
another way to check for sure is to get a tape measurer, pick a tread line on both front tires.....measure the distance between those tread lines on the front-bottom of the tire, then do the rear-bottom of the tire. and then adjust ur tie rods accordingly....won't be exact, but u'll get 'em pretty dam near close.

[Erick]

the only thing they gave me was a refund.......

I wouldnt trust their specs either.... like e9nine said.... if they actually checked out the alignment without noticing the messed up suspension, I wouldn't trust them for any other information they would give me.

[Jarvis]

So what would someone do about a bent strut housing? Nothing? Is there an actual fix for it?

[Inspar8r]

Worst case scenario either or all:

Bent strut
Fubar Control arm
Fubar Tie rod
Fubar strut mount

Good luck..

Ha, worse case scenario? No, what i did was worst case scenario.

What might that be? The ENTIRE STRUT TOWER UNDER THE HOOD SHIFTING INWARD AND BACK.

I have no bent components, but my fender hood and all are all out of alignment.

Eric, I hope you just bent stuff up. I didn't bend or crack a wheel, and i took the curb at 40mph. I have pics but my web host is doing maintenance.

Check all seams on the bodywork to see if anything is out of alignment. My car needs to by put on a frame rack and pulled out (frame is not bent, but that what we use the rack for).

My car goes in this week or next, it will be done for free, but i can get the estimated cost for you if you like. Good luck...

[Inspar8r]

So what would someone do about a bent strut housing? Nothing? Is there an actual fix for it?

replace it. They are only 170 or so new. Cheaper if you have a CCA discount...

[Erick]

.......man this is getting worse and worse. I guess there's only when I get there will I be able to see what exactly happened.