Buick right strut

The right strut on my Buick lesabre is slightly bent inwards as a result of a recent accident, it’s barely noticeably bent but how pressing is this to repair? And what speeds should I stay under/stuff to avoid doing?

You will be the best judge of that. Get the rear replaced in pairs is the general suggestion. Also have the car checked for additional issues related to the damage. Of course the sooner you get it fixed the better. It may cause more trouble the longer you let it go.

Fix it now. You can almost count on it failing at the worst possible time. As one of the members likes to say - Catastrophic vehicle problems seldom happen in your driveway.

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I replaced the subframe and a bunch of other things due to a deer I hit before the accident… the only remaining issue is the strut but it doesn’t seem to be affecting the driving much so far except for slight handling (very very slight)

Also it’s the front steering strut

The bent strut may have knocked the camber off for that tire. If so, that tire will wear faster.

Tester

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What’s that? Not the suspension strut?

It is the suspension, I meant it’s the strut for a steering tire

I’m not too worried about the wear on the tire, it’s getting replaced soon, I just need to know if I’m good to drive at 55 mph frequently for a week or two till I get the money for the new struts

OK, so it’s the right front strut. Who knows if it’s ready to fail or not, but it certainly needs to be replaced.

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I used to design struts for a living.

A bent strut is a bad thing for several reasons. One is the steering knuckle itself took that same hit. It is made of more brittle material than the strut and could fail at any time if it is cracked. You don’t want that to happen as the corner will collapse. Very bad things happen then. Inspect it when BOTH struts are replaced. Yes, both, they are replaced in pairs.

A strut actually holds up that corner of the car. Remove it and the car falls over. If the bend leads to a break, the car will collapse on that side. The portion that is bent also holds the internal tubes in place that actually carry the bearings the strut slides on internally. If knocked loose by a pothole while you are driving this way will lead to a loss in steering control.

Don’t drive it until you replace both front struts.

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Do you not have a credit card because even the interest on strut purchase will be better than crashing your vehicle.

I do not… I’m 19 and they won’t approve me for one

OK , then what about family members or friends that might loan you money because you really should not be driving this vehicle.

Sadly, none of the above… :confused:

I assume the car did not go on an alignment rack after the sufbrame and bunch of other things were replaced?

You say you’re going to replace the tires. Replacing the tires with a bent strut and no alignment will only mean that new tires will get chewed up also.

I’m going to replace all 4 tires, the struts and do an alignment in 2 weeks I just need the car to not crumble before then, so I’m looking for advice on driving safely (the strut is barely even bent it’s literally unnoticeable I’m not even 100% sure it’s actually bent)