So last night I was driving around a curve and ended up taking too tight of a turn. I ended up hitting a curb with the front right wheel. I hit it at about a 60 degree angle. I felt a loud bang and jolt, then the car ended up skidding to a stop. I tried to drive the car to the next side street so that I would not be in the middle of the lane, but the car would not move at all. After getting out of the car I saw that the front right wheel was at about a 50-60 degree angle facing away from the car, when the steering wheel was straight. The only description I can give is: think of the wheels normally being alligned like this: | | (top down view). Now the wheels looked like this | /, but the front wheel was rotated more than that. When the car was being lifted, I noticed that it looked like the wheel was only being held onto the car by the upper suspension (im not a car guy, so I dont know what it is called. Basically the wheel was being held onto the car by 1 thing towards the top of the wheel). It looked like everything else was broken off from that part down. There was also a bit of liquid on the tire and ground, so im guessing that might be brake fluid.
I had it towed to the dealership last night because it wouldnt move at all, and the dealership is going to look at it today and give me an estimate on what needs to be fixed.
What will probably need to be fixed and how much do you think that it will cost?
The best picture that could resemble what it looked like was this: (however the wheel was not that turned and there was only a few drops of liquid on the ground.
Bummer, I am sure you will be getting an estimate soon. Hoping for the best.
Sounds like you broke a ball-joint. This is not going to be a cheap fix. There could be several things that need to be replaced also (shocks, control-arm).
It really would be a waste of time to even guess at the final charge . Only a hands on look can do that plus there may damage found after they start on it.
I concur…you really need to have this looked at by a professional. There may be other things that are broke and may not look too obvious at the time. Hitting a curb that hard could even mean you need to get the body straightened. Have it done right for the your safety and everyone else on the road.
+1
A few years ago, a friend of mine slid into a curb with his Rav-4, and the visible damage was essentially the same as what was described by the OP. In the short term, he needed to have the lower ball joint and the control arm replaced, and–of course–he also needed an alignment. A couple of months later, he needed to have the wheel bearing replaced, and bearing was undoubtedly also damaged as a result of that curb impact.
The part that the wheel/tire attaches to is called the hub ass’y. It can’t be bolted directly to the chassis b/c that would cause too rough of ride, so it is “held on” to the chassis via springs and sturdy metal arms, attached with bushings that allow some rotation. There are at least three points of attachment from the chassis to the hub, b/c three points define a mathematical plane, and the wheel has to be oriented in the correct plane for it to track w/the other wheels. The adjustment of the plane orientation is performed as part of a wheel alignment. Since the wheel didn’t completely separate from the chassis you know you got at least one of those three holding it on. But the other two (or more) are probably shot and need to be replaced. And the one that’s holding it on now probably has to be replaced too. So you’re looking at replacing (1) the spring gadget (strut or coil spring w/shock), (2) at least one of the arms (control arm), and (3) tierod components. And (4), there may be another control arm involved too. I’d guess you are looking at $1000-$1500 or so.
That sucks… What you can do to irritate yourself further and develop more anxiety over the repair costs is to go onto a Ford Parts Lookup page and view your front suspension. It will show you all the parts involved up there and you can use your imagination to determine what was ripped from its moorings or bent in order to produce the steering angle you achieved with this accident.
You definitely damaged or broke your tie rod/tie rod end… possibly the steering knuckle, you also likely pulled the axle out of the trans, the cv joint may be broken, lower control arm ball joint etc… It will be fairly easy to extrapolate what happened once you see all the parts and how they connect on the parts lookup pages. Sorry you are going through this but those part pages will show you plenty of visuals.
