BIG Help needed :S

Ceirwan

Ceirwan

Ex. Club Member
On my way home from my friends house last night (he lives in the country) i was driving round a left hand bend and a fox leaps out in front of me. I stupidly try and swerve around it (as in not thinking 'oh i'll swerve', just instictively dodging it), car starts fishtailing, spins and goes sideways into a raised grass verge before back onto the road.

I had to drive it home and i didn't dare go above 30mph because although the engine ran fine the car was moving bumpily, as in jerking up and down as it drove, the steering was unnaturally light and it has a tendancy to move turn to the right.
Now i'm really worried, how serious is the damage likely to be? The only visible damage i can see is both the right hand side wheels (steel) the rim of the metal part is bent inwards in places with grass stuck in it, so i'm guessing the car hit the verge going sideways with the right hand side wheels.

Can someone help me out please?
Thanks.
 
Well could be a variety of things. Borrow another set of 4 wheels first to see if it makes any difference, but you could have bent your suspension, chassis, hubs.

From the up and down motion you speak of, somethings definately been bent.
 
I live in Hull, so a reasonable distance but not massive (if you livein durham)
i did my best to look under the car i couldn't see anything on the suspension obviously bent, but that doesn't mean it isn't. I may have to take it into a garage, and if its costs a lot to repair it could be more economical for me to buy another one. :(

Could have bent rear axle yes, but theres definateyl something wrong with the steering.

I'm still shaking a bit now, completely lost confidence in my driving.
 
look i was sending it to scrap yard next week but if you can get transport then your more than welcome to swap the bits over ie spend next week striping off what you think is bent and bring it up here to swap for good parts
or heres the thing even better can you get car with trailer to transport car if you can give me my scrap money i would get for it 50 quid and you can take the complete shell away minus its engine and gearbox as these have allready gone has to be cheaper than buying new or 2nd hand at scrappy
 
Thats true but, i'm not sure whats wrong with it yet, and i don't know if i have the knowledge to actually do all the work, or the tools for that matter.
But its a good offer i shall consider thanks very much!
 
cierwan

if its pulling right, the os wishbone is probably bent (they usually dip in the middle if so) if the wheel was hit hard enough it can twist the outrigger that hangs from the chassis.
i dunno it was sheep the other day, and now a fox!
 
Yeah the sheep wern't the cause, they were just bystanders, since that incident i'd been driving really carefully, or so i thought, i'm beginning to doubt my judgement... If it is the wishbone and outrigger is it gonna be cheaper just to get another micra and break this one?

I jacked up right side front wheel, it was not running true at all, but theres lots of visible damage on the wheel, so i replaced it with the spare, it then ran true, not ultra 100% true, but very little out. I'm getting a replacement for the front left side one as well, and we'll see what happens as thats not running true either.
 
Well someone recommended once i get the tire on, have the tracking sorted and the bearings looked at.
If it still pulls to the right then i don't know what im gonna do :(
 
No it steered to the right before, not loads, but enough that you couldn't let go of the wheel, plus the wheel was juddering left to right, but with those tires hopefully they will be the cause.
I don't know if it will pull with the new wheels on...
 
cierwan

a pull to the right means the wheel has physically moved back towards the sill, is,nt that wishbone showing any twist?
those panard rods are quite weak if hit from the right also!
 
When i looked under the car everything looked pretty straight, but without an unhurt example to compare it to i can't really tell.
Tbh i'm only really learning about cars after having a motorbike till recently.
I know for a fact that if the suspension needs replacing, i couldn't do it myself, i don't have the tools, or experience working with cars, or the workspace. If thats the case then i'd either have to sell it as a project or break it, and get another micra :( .
 
Take it to a mechanic, they will tell you straight away if you've twisted the chassis.
But before you do that go all round the car and look at the gaps between panels, for example wings and bonnet and look for closed/ large gaps.
 
As far as i can see the top half of the micra, bodywork, panels etc, looks perfectly fine, the suspension didn't look twisted (to me) when i looked underneath... so i don't know :(.
 
I'll be interested once i know theres nothing else wrong, problem is i don't know where i could get another 13" steel wheel on a sunday.
 
That's a good point. If I push them in his general direction they may roll there?

well renault wheels fit, as do vw so find someone with one of them and borrow them.
 
 
cierwan

i can,t see any damage on those photo,s, but they,re mainly n/s shots! its the o/s suspension thats suspect i think.
if the a/roll bar to wishbone link bolt is the same angle both sides (upright) i would say your wishbone is ok!
 
well that looks fine to me, I cant see any deformation at all, you could have a damaged rear axle or panhard rod, and I would say your tracking is definately out, if you need any parts I know that Joel is breaking a 1.3 and he's only in Scarborough, only about 45 miles away.
 
I'm not sure what to look for anti roll bar and wish bone link etc, i don't even know what they are! :)
Shall i take some photos of the suspension at the back?
 
cierwan

its the long bar from the axle to body, it should be straight!
its probably is whats making the car pull to the right.
 
LOL, thats mean't to be straight? That might explain a lot, will i have trouble fitting a new one on, will it fit, or does the fact that ones bent mean that it will have distorted the body?

Does anyone have one for sale?
 
the bit thats bent like a banana lol its ment to be straight not in a curve

i'd try a new rod and go from there but it looks like its shifted the whole axle left going by the n/s shocker angle, hopefully a new panhard rod will bring it back but if it doesnt bring it back into line then you need to look at the chassis mountings and new axle
 
Ceirwan said:
Which ones the panhard rod? And would that cause some of the problems i'm having?
Click to expand...

2003490429964702461_rs.jpg

thats the panhard rod, and as Frank says it should be straight.
It shouldn't have damaged the shell, but there still could be damage to the axle, if thats bent then its usually bent right behind the hub, you can see if it is by standing behind the car and seeing if the wheels lean out at the top.
 
Providing the axle isn't damaged should it all spring back into place when i take that panhard rod off?
Do i need to jack it up to fit it or something?
Maybe 40mph ish, it was quite a steep verge.
 
cierwan

no body should be fine (those rods have very little strength in the direction it was hit!) you could do a temp repair by straightening it but it will be even weaker than before
if you oil the bolts and let it soak in a while you,ll probably be able to change it ok yourself
 
cierwan

if it was my car i would straighten the panard rod, and then CAREFULLY test drive it to see if it still had the overly light steering/ pull etc
 
I may try that, but providing i can get one cheap i think i'll replace it properly...
How do i fit the new one, i'm guessing that it won't line up exactly especially after a bump like that, is it just a bit of brute force required?
 
cierwan

when you take it off the body will sway left and right bigtime, thats what its for, so refitting is no probs
btw i,m worried you,ll still have a steering issue, thats why i suggested the temp repair
 
Yeah, i just did a road test with the undamaged wheels, pull to the right is minimal now but the steering is stupidly light, so i don't know what i might have messed up their.
 

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