Sulaco

Okay.

Got the C43 back from the shop after the crash.

On the way to work I notice a slight squeaking coming from the rear left wheel (this side of the car went a good 5 or 6 feet in the air and then came crashing back down onto the road during crash). It sounds like a wheel bearing on its way out. No big deal, I can limp around on a squeeky bearing for weeks, right?

Half way to work (25 miles or so) it's much worse. At slow speeds I can feel the car wobbling, and I'm also noticing the squeek is accompanied by a scraping/grinding sound. I adjust mirror to view the wheel as it turns, and i can see a slight wobble in it. Not good.

Limp it home and leave it at the local specialty shop of euro professionals. Get a call later:

They asked if I had recently installed these 18" wheels, because it was the wheel rubbing the body. I told them the car had 270k miles on those wheels. He explained that the impact from the crash had damaged the control arm bushings and "the main bushing?(I think)" on the hub and they were causing the wheel's camber to go slightly out of alignment when driving, causing the wheel to rub the body. Due to the fact that they'd have to use a press to press out/in the bushing, and replace entire control arm, they quoted just over $1,000

I have access to a hydraulic press. Anyone got any ideas for starters? How big of a job am I getting into here?

mbsickness

Sounds like the bearing and hub are at fault. My first inclination is to grab the whole knuckle from a salvage yard and change the whole thing. My guess is the part at a Pick N Pull type of place would be about $100 or so. Back when my ML had some suspension damage in an accident they replaced everything down to the springs. It doesn't take much of a bend to create drivability issues. There is a guy parting a C280 over on Club202...I bet he would make you a good deal on the part.

Sulaco

Could it just be a lower control arm bushing? I can't see a damn thing wrong except a shredded bushing.

Sulaco

I was able to get the wheel up in the air. NO PLAY in the wheel when I try to push or pull it from any direction. Does not rock in or out, back or forth, right or left, etc.

I can't find ANYTHING rubbing in there. I did see plenty of places where the tire and rim scraped the body when it landed after the crash.

I got the wheel off and cranked the car and put it in D so that hub could spin with no wheel attached, and the sound remained. Now I think I'm on to something.

I can't see anything going on other than the brake disc wobbling in and out, rubbing against the brake pads as it passes by them. I'm not sure if it's just a warped brake rotor or a warped wheel bearing causing the entire thing to wobble.

It only wobbles when turning, and has no play. I'm praying that the no-play thing means the bearing is fine. How on earth could I know for sure? I hypothesize that I could swap rotors on the back and see if the problem carries over to the other side, I guess. But if it's a warped rotor then the ENTIRE rotor is warped, because the wobble happens to the attached wheel when it's turning, too! I find it highly unlikely it would have just warped the entire rotor like that, though.

Thoughts??

nd4spd13

I could be going , but I'm pretty sure the lug bolts only actually thread into the hub, I don't think there are threads in the holes in the disks, so if the wheel is "warped" with the rotor, it would suggest the problem lies behind the disk in the hub or bearing.

Sulaco

Friend's father in law owns a good indy shop. Took it to him and he replaced bearing, control arm bushings, and both rear rotors.

Problem is still there. Now it's awkward because it's my friend's father in law.

Sulaco

Wow.

Took it back to the shop. They called the next day, saying they were stumped but finally figured it out:

It was the WHEEL. They swapped the rear wheels around and the sound went to the other side. !!!!!!

KJI3jflarryfe93

your wheel was crooked?

Sulaco

Well, it's the 2-piece r129 Aeros. That rear wheel went about 2m in the air when we crashed, and the car VERY nearly flipped over.

My wife was driving and she didn't know how to react. I remember the car being up on 2 wheels for about 15-20 feet and was about to tip over on the roof. I was in passenger seat and grabbed the wheel and turned into it to make it land on it's wheels. This made that side come crashing down pretty hard, which apparently bent the wheel, brake rotor, and crushed the lower control arm bushings.

The original shop had all 4 rims resurfaced after the crash, but apparently this rim was not straightened or trued up, and was still warped from the crash. I'm taking it back to them.

KJI3jflarryfe93

that axxident must have been scary, glad you and the missus R ok!

if you have the splits from the SL these can be disassembled.
didn't shop take them apart to check for issues before resurfacing them?

Sulaco

I think they half-assed it, to be honest. I inspected them closely and noticed some of the bolts on this wheel are sticking out and are clearly not torqued all the way in! Absolutely unacceptable, and borderline dangerous!

KJI3jflarryfe93

shop was cutting corners, which mean they are no reputable shop.
go back and complaint about your rim issues.

Sulaco

Yes, I agree. I'm going back to the original shop to raise hell. God, I hope they don't give me some **** about the wheel not being able to be repaired. These wheels are awesome and impossible to replace.