So, it’s this simple: I was stupid! Trying to race home (To use the restroom, TMI, right?), I was coasting out of a parking lot (initially) and saw that it was basically clear if I gunned it. Let me just say, I have a 2002 Chevrolet Prism, which is basically a Toyota Carolla mechanically with a Chevrolet interior. I was making a left turn and thanks to balding tires which caused understeer due to excessive speed, I slid while turning and hit the curb with my passenger side, front and rear, but my driver side did not go up onto the curb. So, I was halfway on the road and halfway in the grass, but still moving! Well, I just kept going and popped it back onto the road… I should have initially stated, by alignment was not the best prior to hitting the curb, but as I met someone for dinner that takes the same route home, I called them and asked them to look at my wheels while driving up a 2 lane road! So, while driving now, my steering wheel shakes left to right (or right to left) back and forth excessively bad! After getting home, I asked the person who I told to watch my wheel, what was going on or if they could see anything… They said the front passenger side wheel/tire was wobbling like mad! On the way home, I tryed getting up to freeway speeds (incriminating to state that) and it’s just too much wobbling and frankly, seems unsafe! What do you all think happened here? Should I keep driving it until I can afford to have it fixed? I am a college student that barely makes the bills (I just don’t answer the phone if I don’t! Gotta love the texts, right?), so the longer I can put it off, the better! However, I really don’t have another vehicle available (minus a bicycle which I should ride more, anyways) so that could cause a problem! But, just let me know what you all think is going on and whether or not I should be worried about driving this? Otherwise, the car is very mechanically sound and I can not afford to buy another car, no matter what! Let me know and I issue much appreciating to anyone who opines on this issue, in advance! Thanks!
You’re going to have to get the vehicle inspected to find out what damage was caused when you hit the curb. This could include a bent wheel to bent steering/suspension components. Until that time, park the vehicle. It’s not safe to drive.
Tester
Very much appreciated and all I can say is: will do! Bicycle: Here I come!
Tester is 100% correct. This vehicle is not safe to drive in its current state. Until you have the money available for it to be inspected and repaired, park it and do not drive it. As Tester stated, it could be as simple as a bent wheel, or it could involve damaged tie rods or other front-end components.
No matter what the cause may be, this car is not safe for you, for your potential passengers, or for anyone driving near you when something finally gives and you have no ability to steer the car.
Well, maybe my brother needs an extra car to drive on a daily basis, for awhile, until something gives… Hmmm… Thanks!
put the spare tire on the rear. then put the rear tire you took off (the full sized one) on the front.
see if it still shakes.
you MAY have (if you are extraordinarily lucky) just bent the rim.
if the car drives fine with the tires changed, then take the tire which used to be on the front to a tire shop. see if they can balance it. if they cant, then you need another rim.
if the car still shakes then you have a bigger repair on the front end.
any other history of repair?
Update: No, the car has had no history whatsoever. It does, however, have 100K miles on it! But, it has a good history and runs really well (go figure, I mean, it’s a Toyota @ heart!). But, I do have it in the shop as we speak and they should have a response to me by the end of the day. Unfortunately, my bicycle that I mentioned before, is at my parents house! Therefore, until I can get over there to get it and the weather is nice enough to ride it home, I’m kinda stranded! Good times, no doubt, but I’ll no by the end of today what kind of time I’ll be spending without paying bills! Love it, no doubt, but it will be a lesson learned not to take stupid chances when it’s wet and you have crappy tires! Thanks for the response and that’s a good idea! Unfortunately, I checked out the updates a little late, even though I should have the problem taken care of soon! Thanks!
Yep swap the spare as suggested and go to the junk yard and get a new rim, then to the tire shop for a used tire or two. If you’re lucky, that’s all it is.
Don’t be surprised if you’re told the damage is more severe than a bent wheel.
Often the front lower control arm gets bent during a curb strike and possibly the wheel hub. Since you hit the rear also, there is a possibility of a bent rear hub and/or trailing arm.
Sometimes damage of this nature is not visible with the naked eye but may show up when the car is on the alignment rack.
Drive the car as little as possible until it’s repaired. Other than being unsafe due to the suspension, the near bald tires you have will scrub off what little rubber remains and blow out.
UPDATE: EARLIER TODAY, I TOOK THE CAR THE A LOCAL FIRESTONE SHOP THAT KNOWS ME PRETTY WELL DUE TO OTHER STUPID MISTAKES I HAVE MADE. ANYWAYS, I LATER WAS TOLD THAT THE WHEEL WAS BENT AND ALTHOUGH THEY WANT TO ALIGN IT (which is definitely needs and did need before hand), THEY COULDN’T DO IT BEFORE I REPLACED THE WHEEL (they do not seel wheels/rims so I have to buy a new 14"x5.5" steel rim, since it has (beautiful, NOT!) hub caps on a steel, tiny, wheel). BECAUSE THEY TOLD ME TO DO SOMETHING THAT THEY CAN NOT PROVIDE (which obviously would be an obvious tactic, but I doubt it with all the free work they’ve done for me in the past), I FEEL THEY’RE BEING HONEST! SO, SO FAR, BENT RIM/WHEEL. THAT’S IT! HOWEVER, KNOWING THAT I DID NOTHING BUT DRIVE THE CAR THERE, NOT SET ANYTHING UP OR TALK TO THEM HARDLY (because my father beat me there… He lives closer, so…???), HE GAVE THEM HIS CELL PHONE NUMBER AND WHEN THEY CALLED AND GAVE THE INFORMATION, THEY GAVE IT TO HIM! SO, I DIDN’T GET TO ASK THEM WHAT ALL THEY CHECKED AND IF THEY CHECKED THINGS SUCH AS THE BACK WHEELS AND ALL THE THINGS EVERYONE MENTIONED. THEY ARE PRETTY PROFICIENT AND I HAVE NEVER HAD A PROBLEM WITH THEM IN THE PAST, BUT I DON’T PUT ANYTHING PAST ANYBODY BECAUSE, AFTER ALL, WE’RE ALL JUST SINNING PEOPLE/HUMAN BEINGS! SO, I ASK FOR ALL YOUR PRAYERS AND FOR YOUR BEST WISHES OF GOOD LUCK! IF YOU BELIEVE IN PRAYER (as I do), LUCK HAS NOTHING TO DO WITH IT BECAUSE GOD HAS CONTROL! OTHERWISE, JUST GIVE ME YOUR BEST WISHES BECAUSE, ALTHOUGH MY FATHER IS FRONTING/LOANING ME THE MONEY, I WILL HAVE TO (somehow) PAY HIM BACK! THANKS AGAIN, FOR ALL YOUR HELP AND GOD BLESS!
Hopefully, Firestone is correct that the only damage is a bent wheel. If your father is loaning you the money for the wheel, I would suggest that you also ask to borrow the money necessary to replace the bald tires.
After all, those tires (coupled with the way that you drove the car) were a major cause of the accident and unless you replace those tires, you are courting an even more serious incident in the event of a blow-out at highway speeds. Replace those bald tires now, before you get into even more dire straits.
I don’t quite understand. God wasn’t driving. You were! So, I guess you will have to find a way (eventually) to repay your father.
It would make it easier for the experts in this forum to help you if you kept your questions free of capital letters, free of confusing unrelated verbose text, and free of god’s role in this. Many in this form want to help. You just need to make easy for them to do so.
God has a role in everything! Also, it does say that if I deny Him, He will deny me before His Father. I put the update in capitals to draw attention that it was an update. It is not my responsibility to make it easy on anybody as, life isn’t easy bud! But, I’ll take it into consideration! Also, why do you take such offense to saying 2 lines, one mentioning prayer and the other just stating that God has control? The fact that you didn’t capitalize God shows your views, but why such offense? Just wondering but either way, have a good night!
We’ve said it many times on here…capital letters are hard to read, and posts need to be clear if you expect answers. You did a good job with that initially. I don’t know why you think you don’t need to make things as easy as possible for others…you won’t get far in life with that attitude. The posters that are clear, concise, and polite get the best results.
You are allowed to have your own beliefs, and so is Joe (and everyone else, for that matter). I don’t think Joe took “such offense.” I think he was reminding you that not everyone shares your belief system and that it really has no place in an automotive forum. Personally, I’m not a fan of being called a sinner. In the future, I’d try to stick to the facts.
That’s just my two cents. YMMV.
trulyrandommh–
I agree 100% with hoffmalr.
Incidentally, some people would consider those who consciously drive with bald tires to be sinners.
;-))
In other words, everyone considers things from their own unique perspective, and you are entitled to yours, but all of the veterans of this forum agree on one point, namely that posting in capital letters and without leaving paragraph breaks, is inconsiderate and leads to fewer responses.
It seems to me that I received plenty of responses! Regarding the people who consciously drive on bald tires being sinners, you are right that some “people” would consider me to be a sinner for doing such a thing. However, it doesn’t matter what the people believe, as it’s left to the judgement of God, not people. All humans (people) are sinners. Therefore, they have no right to judge me and should not attempt to do so!
As for the paragraph breaks and the such, those who would have a problem with that typically have serious problems with their own grammar. So, they have no room to have an opinion on the matter, unless their paragraphs and grammar are perfect (where they’re definitely not). But, your beliefs are your own and I am glad to say that I have been born into a country that is free. So, you have your beliefs, I’ll have mine and we can agree to disagree, if necessary.
Phew. For a while there I thought your father beat you up at the Firestone store for bending the wheel. When you get into freshman composition, they’ll explain about the paragraphs and so on.
As far as God goes, he considers life precious and so should we. Doing things that could endanger other people needlessly would not be very Godly. Blow a bald tire out or skid on wet pavement and kill a kid or two because of it would be hard for anyone to live with, regardless of who does the judging.
while leaving Jesus out of the conversation;
is it just me, or has this new web site made it entirely too hard to have readable posts, and paragraphs?
re reading the OP this person used correct punctuation and sentence form, but the whole paragraph is one long unspaced read.
i know that when i have done a long paragraph, with double spacing at the end of a sentence. it comes out as one long, barely readable paragraph. see what i mean? maybe the cyberlackeys could do something about this to alleviate the poor software interpetation. especially since i KNOW they do read this on occasion!
Trust me when I explain this to you: I have a rough copy of a book, that I wrote, that may soon be potentially published. Based on this fact, as well as the fact that I’ve completed (on the Deans List) College Composition 1, 2 and 3, I don’t believe I need to go through “freshman composition”, as you mentioned! I know how to write! However, when I look at the cited post, you say that it has no spaces. This tells me that it’s all one word! When I looked at the paragraph, that just wasn’t true! I figured, inititally, that people were mature enough to get over some mistakes or just some “lack of care” that were placed into a post (like lack of “paragraph spacing”) in a time of frustration. Unfortunately, maturity seems to be few and far between as, I’ve not noticed many that have the maturity to get over such miniscule “mistakes”!
My father and I have a great relationship, not to mention that he could not physically beat me up! I have had extensive martial arts training and am quite sufficient at using it wisely and efficiently! That’s heresay! As far as God goes, I guess we’ll see but I do remind you that I have previously mentioned that I have almost concluded that, I will be buying 4 tires because I found 4 new tires with free alignment, to be cheaper than 2 new tires plus alignment, elseware. But, admittedly, you may not have read that or have caught that fact so, no harm no foul! I’ll take up my sins with God and until then, I will let him be the judge and try and make wise decisions.