[Guest]

Last night driving home late, ran over... something that was lying in the middle of the road. Not sure what it was as it was dark and I was travelling pretty fast. Looked like a block of wood or some such. Suffice to say I tried to avoid it but failed, and now I have damaged my front left wheel and totally [email protected] the tyre (there is a large bump on the sidewall, right at point of impact). Thankfully, the wheel itself is not seriously deformed-- just slight inward dent on outer lip of the rim.

BUT, the jolt to the whole car was quite severe, and now I'm worried-- could I have possible damaged something else on the suspension? The car continued to track straight on the way home, but I'm paranoid. Has anyone experienced hitting a very bad bump, resulting in damage to a suspension member or other such component? Or does the wheel/tire usually take the brunt of the forces in such situations, saving the suspension from damage? I drive a 5, which I believe has the aluminum suspension bits, so I'm worried that they're not as tough as they could be.

Car is going into the garage tomorrow for a once-over and alignment check, but I'm losing sleep over this! Just how much abuse can these cars take? I hope that I haven't done any damage, as there are no Evo parts stockists in this country, and I'd have to order everything from overseas! |EQU|(

(sigh)

P.S. I've got a front strutbar and lower suspension underbrace. I'm hoping that helped keep things together.

 

[Guest]

Hope things aren't too bad. Get some sleep. Remember these cars are used for rallying! They do take some abuse. Probably only need allignment sorting.

Good luck.

 

[Guest]

WHen I first bought my 6, I slid on a wet corner and hit a high kerb, which chunked the wheel. Because this was a side impact, it knocked the tracking out too (funny, the tyre was fine!).

However, there was a damaged tie rod, lower arm and wheel bearing discovered later....


All depends how u hit it - to have dented the wheel sounds like a hell of an impact!

 

[Guest]

Blade,

I ran over the object (more I try to recall it now, it most likely was a 2x4 wooden beam-- that's what it looked like) pretty much straight on, that is, not at an angle. Looking at the damage this morning, its the tyre that looks really bad. The wheel itself, while definitely dented, only has the outer lip edge slightly deformed.

Apart from anything obvious that would show on a wheel-alignment machine or from the car not tracking straight, what are the key areas I should be inspecting, and what should I be looking for once the car is up on a lifter? I would think apart from wheel bearing, lower arm and tie-rod, perhaps the shock absorber itself and the shock mount?

As mentioned in another of my posts, there's no official support here in the Philippines for Evos by Mitsubishi, and aftermarket tuning shops are unfortunately much better at selling you modded parts than actually fixing things! So the advice from you guys on this board is a godsend for me!

Thanks, and cheers! |EQU|)

 

[Guest]

If you run over a piece of wood or a hole in the road and damage the wheel, that's already bad luck. A damper having been compressed all the way over such a small obstacle should be fine. Talking about OEMs. If you have Proflex, Dynamic, Öhlins or Drummond or the like, no way they have any sort of damage. Try looking for leakage of the damper in question just to be sure.

If you need to change tire, maybe it's time to get some real tires in the front instead of the Shìtstones rather than a new bad one on the left and a used bad one on the right.

Also maybe if the thing you drove over came up it hit the exhaust or sthg and scratched it or made a small bump. Dont worry about that.

 

[Guest]

Hitting the debris in a straight line was the best way 4 the suspension 2 avoid damage , however an alignment check shud reveal the collateral damage if any , they r quite tough as already stated.

Best of m8.

 

[Guest]

One little check that you could do is measure the suspension bits on both sides and compare them. Although this isn't the most accurate test, this way you'll see if something is way off.

 

[Guest]

Apart from a [email protected] tie-rod end and the deformation to the wheel, thankfully there doesn't appear to have been any other damage. Wheel has been repaired, and tie-rod end replaced.

Fine then, smiles are back!

|EQU|)