x15jq

Hey everyone

Well i have had good luck with my car until yesterday. I slid going off a u turn type exit and struck teh front rim hard against the curb. My car didnt go up on the curb, it just smacked against it and off I was contirnuing down the road.

Anyways, the steering is totally off, and the left wheel trails like its turned and the right one is straight.

Is it possible this is just alignment, or did I most likely bend a control arm or tie rod? Any idea how much it is to get fixed, im not worried about the rims because I am putting different ones on soon. They just seem curbed really bad in the front left.

Any input is welcome thanks.

x15jq

The front is battered.

x15jq

The rear isnt so bad, once again, I am puttin different rims on, so my main concern is the suspension. THe rear wheel looks to have more positive camber than the right side, that is it leans more on the outer edge now.

I dont think i bent the axle but knocked it off alignment quite badly and probably damaged somethin in the front

Diz382Benz

dude
i'm sorry to hear that.

Me and sister traded cars one day and when I got it back, I spun out on the freeway. Luckly it was about 2:30 in the morning. The next day I went to the dealer to have them check it out. I thought It was out of alignment or something. When they checked it out, the told me that I hit a curb or something hard enough to push my wheel in. Sure enough, when I came back from lunch, the whole right back tire was tilted in. It ended up costing me, or should I say my sister, $1,550 to replace the control arm and about 2 alignments. I hope that this doesn't happen to you, because it sucks. But, it can be fixed.

Buellwinkle

My daughter hit the curb and snapped the rear axle off, cost me about $1,600 with new wheels, salvage rear end and all. I ran through Central Park at high speeds in the rain and hit the curb and ended up in the bushes, one dealer wanted hundreds to fix it (this was 28 years ago) and another just replaced the broken strut for $28 and got a new wheel for about $25 so check around. You can always ask your insurance company to pay the damage, afterall it was an accident.

x15jq

Well, still no word from the dealer, I dropped it off at noon time today.

Im guessing something is definately broken because the front wheel hits the inner fender at full cut and looks shifted back from the middle of the fender.

Not positive tho, and it will probably be expensive.

one thing I learned from this is to not trust the ESP. I think prior to this curbing I put too much confidence in my traction control after it has saved me a few times. I outsmarted it by sliding into a curb, learn from my mistake lol.

Its nice i didnt accumulate any body damage at all, but the front supsension is not lookin good.

Diz382Benz

good thing you didn't have you 19's on

Matt230K

I'd say it's possible that it's only an alignment problem. Some MB models go out of alignment quite easily from hitting a curb. But you likely bent something if you hit it pretty hard. Hopefully it won't be anything too expensive.

Outland

How is ESP responsible?

It can't alter the laws of physics, or prevent the driver from nailing a curb. Given how bad both your rims are scratched, it doesn't look like a slide, looks more like you scrubbed or understeered the car into the curb. ESP is more than just traction control, BTW. Traction control only controls acceleration wheel spin.

How fast were you going?

Matt230K

I think your wheels just wanted to finally get clean, so they decided to rub up against the curb and get some of that dust off.

mbtech208

You probably bent the strut. From what I've seen, it seems to be the weakest link on the 203.

x15jq

ESP is not resposible for what happened, after being used to my car for the 6 months ive had it, i guess I have become used to the ESP keepin me on track.

It was clearly my fault that I hit the curb, I entered the curve at about 40 mph and there was gravel so I didnt have much time to react.

Lol, actually Matt I cleaned the car last monday, and my rims got that filthy with 300 miles.

I hate the dust, but I hope it doesnt cost too much to fix, I will see tommorw.

Thanks for the constructive comments.

x15jq

How much should I look to be paying for the strut?

mbtech208

I don't know, I've never had to buy one:p