I dun goofed into a curb
 

Accident Report
Hi all. So a few nights ago I was driving at about 35/40 mph at midnight in a deserted part of town. I started taking a left turn across the intersection when the left side of the car jumped up, kind of in the same was as you when you go over one of those excessively large speedbumps you find in private parking lots. I pulled over immediately and heard my tires hiss as the air escaped.

It turns out I ran over an unpainted lane divider (construction?) - not parallel, but not perpendicularly either (kind of in between the two). I guess the curb ripped a hole in both tires on the left side of my car. Someone pointed out that they actually looked like knife punctures.


Initial Damage Report
I got out and saw two giant gashes in the both the front left and rear left tire sidewalls. Interestingly enough, the wheels were completely unharmed with no curbrash at all. I took off the wheels and inspected my tierods for play - found none. A cursory look at other pars revealed nothing.

Current Issues
So here's the issue: I got new tires on the car, but since the accident the steering feels really loose and sloppy. It's not tight and precise as it was before the accident. In addition the alignment is off, as I need to tilt the wheel a few degrees to the right to go straight.

My questions
I'm really worried right now that I'll never get that tight, precise feeling back into my steering.

1) Will an alignment for sure fix this issue?

2) Any chance of steering rack issues?

3) Will my car ever drive the same?

Below is a helpful diagram which includes an artist's rendition of the curb and tire damage. Those red marks on the tires represent the gash marks.

http://i.imgur.com/BOm6gU2.jpg

Thanks!

1) Alignment will definitely fix the turning issue but when you go to a Scion dealer to get it serviced when they go to align it they will probably find something else maybe a minute bend in the tie rods
2) Probably but maybe a slight issue usually your steering wheel will have a loose feel to it not as tight as normal
3) Yes if you get the problem found

I think it is best to go to the mechanic and told them what happened and tell them to align it and describe the issue of the steering feeling loose and inaccurate they'll know better than me at least good luck

I wouldn't worry about trying to figure out if anything else is wrong until you get the alignment done. No reason to fret without taking the first step in repairing and see if if that fixes some of the things that are wrong.

That sucks it might not be same even if you do an alignment since the tie rods are fine.. the only thing the alignment do is make sure the car goes straight. I had a little accident like that and my car wasn't the same thats why I bought a frs

sounds like you just need to break in the tires lol

Take it to scion/toyota or a good aligment shop have them check it out you make have still bent a tie rod or even a contorl arm slightly.

op dun goofd

I would totally use that as an excuse to get different tires *grin*, Agree with what the others said...start with an alignment and go from there, you were moving somewhat slow, you stopped immediately and inspected. If you said you had rash on the wheels, maybe you'd want to dig deeper. People tend to end up with major issues when they try to gnip-gnop down the street on a limp tire.

I'm sure you've already thought of this but when they put the 2 new tires on, did they put them both on the left? Were they new or reclaimed/take offs? If you had a lot of mileage already they didn't shave them at all did they?

Two brand new tires on one side of the car will most definitely make it track a bit to one side.

Personally I would throw the new tires up front then get an alignment. If it still tracks a bit to one side you may have to drive it a while, sometimes the tires need to adjust.

Your rack could have taken damage but from the sounds of it probably unlikely. listen for any weird noises, bearing type squeal when turning, pop/clunk when turning at low speeds.

You should be able to get back into tip top shape without too much effort

That's the same thing I thought of.
You always want to keep matching tires on each axel.

And all logic always says keep your better tires upfront. That's where all the "important" a stuff happens (turning and stopping).



There is a chance any number of things could be bent it it's probably the tires and alignment.


Good luck. Keep us updated

Threads like this are useless without updates. Thankfully I think I found the issue. First though, some background.

Right after I posted this thread, I went to get an alignment done. My specs were off, and they corrected them back - however, my steering didn't feel any better. I continued to drive for a few months like this before I started noticing an issue: whenever I turned right, the car would suddenly pull in very sharply, so sharply that traction control would have to kick in and cut power to my rear wheels in order to stabilize the car. It continued to get worse and worse over time. I took it into Toyota and they inspected it and found nothing wrong. They said it was probably my front-left damper, and that it wasn't dampening effectively. So, I ordered a set of Tein MonoSport coilovers and tested my car out on them - issue still existed, just as bad as before.

However, during the install, I finally found the problem while I was taking off my wheels. When I was taking off the left-front wheel, the one that hit the curb, I noticed it had a lot of play. A friend slipped under the car while I continued to shake the hub and he saw the problem: my ball joint was damaged and extremely loose!

I haven't replaced it yet, but pretty sure that's the problem. Just an FYI for anyone else who may be experiencing similar issues after running over a curb.

1) Will an alignment for sure fix this issue? Nope, not for sure.

2) Any chance of steering rack issues? Yes, there is a chance.

3) Will my car ever drive the same? Yes, if you spend enough money.

shit like this is why i have no faith in dealerships, or most shops in general.

how do an alignment shop and a dealership both miss a broken ball joint??

that makes me sad.

wow man you're lucky... the same thing happened to me but i hit the rocker panel... the entire rocker panel was destroyed and cost me almost $2.5k to fix :(