SAchris

iTrader: (2)

Hi guys, I missed the dog but nailed the curb in the Camaro last night. I've been reading a lot on here since I got my z28, but haven't registered until today. After I hit the curb I got out and check to see the damage. I hit the front passenger side, and the rear just barely grazed it.

Since this is my first post, my car is a '99 z28 with the stock 16" rims. It's bone stock at the moment. My question is, what typically takes the brunt of the damage in situations like these? I did a drive way alignment to get it close to where it should be until I get new rims/tires, but I can't find anything wrong. Nothing looks off, bent, or broken. Right now after I did my home alignment it tracks right and pulls left.

The worst part is I just did inner/outer tie rods, upper/lower ball joints, sway bar links, rotors and brake pads like 3 days ago, then this happens. I JUST had it aligned two days ago. Such is life I guess...

Any input would be appreciated.

Chris

SparkyJJO

iTrader: (11)

Honestly there are so many things that could get tweaked that your best bet IMO is to have a shop look at it and tell you what is messed up. Then you can go from there to decide whether to fix it yourself or have a shop do it.

SAchris

iTrader: (2)

Well I just ordered some wheels, and I'm gonna get tires done at Discount. I'm undecided between 555s or nt05s, but that's irrelevant to this discussion i guess. Once i get the wheels in and the tires mounted, I'm going to take it to an alignment shop. I called a local shop and told them what happened and they said they would let me know what, if anything, was messed up when they do the alignment. I do all my work on cars myself, so I hate having to take someone's word on what is wrong with my vehicle.

You're right though, all I can do is hope the shop knows what they are doing and go from there.

Chris

spy2520

iTrader: (3)

Sometimes a slightly bent inner tierod is hard to see until you adjust it, then you can tell that its slightly curved.

my bandit

iTrader: (10)

if you just replaced the stuff and its broke now, most places will take a defective part back and give you a new one so if you got ithem at napa you can swap them out and say they were bad

SAchris

iTrader: (2)

I adjusted the tierod on the side that hit the curb because that wheel was toed way out. I couldn't tell that it was bent when I was adjusting it. Also, if it was bent, it would have been toed way in... if I'm thinking about this correctly. When I adjusted the tierod, I only adjusted the passenger side back in until it was pretty close to straight, I left the drivers side alone.

Also, is the rack and pinion supposed to leak fluid into the sleeves that go over the inner tie rods? I'm not very familiar with rack and pinions, but it doesn't seem like any fluid should escape that ram. When I pulled those sleeves back to get the inner tie rods off, they were full of power steering fluid. That doesn't seem right to me.

Chris

why87

if there is fluid in the sleeves the outer seals on the rack are bad. easiest to replace the whole thing

Badazz 97 TA

iTrader: (18)

probably did more damage then ya think.

SAchris

iTrader: (2)

I doubt that. I always assume the worst. The R&P was leaking before this happened.

Thanks guys.

Chris

SAchris

iTrader: (2)

I finally discovered what I did. I moved the castor and camber adjustments on the passenger side when I hit the curb. I could tell the arms moved because the washers for both of those bolts dug metal out of the arms when they moved. It was pretty obvious where they were for the last 10 or so years.

I put a new R&P in (what a pain) before I got it aligned. They couldn't bring the castor completely into alignment, it was a few tenths off. It is pretty good though, so I'm happy.

I'm not sure anyone cares, but I hate unresolved threads!

Chris

UAE_Z28

iTrader: (14)

we do lol, its good that you've resolved your issue.

COSPEED

iTrader: (331)

That's great. Just don't take this advice.

You wouldn't like it if you were on the other end of dishonesty. Jeez, I can't believe this guy even posted this.

SAchris

iTrader: (2)

I just pretended like I didn't read that post... I took it to a different shop anyway. I was not at all impressed with the first alignment anyway. Not that that matters though.

Chris