So I recently skidded and crashed into the curb (left side of the vehicle), and recently the car is not the same.
There is no external damage, but the steering feels light, and it sounds like something is hanging on the left side, also when I make a right hand turn it sounds like the tire is hitting something.
I understand that this is detailed information, but what is the most likely broken parts? tie rod? cv joints?
Only reply if you have some experience repairing cars.
If you are looking for definitive diagnosis of this damage, the only way to find out is to bring it to a shop and have them look at it. From your vague description it should be done right away because it may not be safe for you or others on the road with you. Any changes in drivability specifically in the front suspension and especially resulting from any kind of collision is potentially dangerous.
The damage I’ve repaired when a vehicle strikes a curb are,bent/cracked wheel, damaged wheel bearing, bent lower control arm, bent tie rod, bent sub-frame, bent strut, broken sway bar end link, damaged steering rack, and a combination of any of the above.
I’ve also seen an air conditioning connector spring releasing coolant,spring back to seal causing loss of refrigerant. Just recharged and good to go after repairing everything else.
There are experienced mechanics here who could make an educated guess without a hands and eyes on inspection based on normal wear and tear. Any collision can result in completely abnormal damage. There are also members who had a similar accident and symptoms with diagnosis and repair performed at a dealership or independent shop who could relate what was actually damaged and their repair costs.
Not to be harsh but I think the bottom line is that if you have to ask what to check, the checking needs to be done by a qualified shop. Just looking isn’t going to do it.
Any and all guesses we make will no doubt require manual intervention. So find out what needs replacing by someone who can get hand and eyes on it and tell you what happened. Something was damaged for certain because the light feeling is from being “tow in” meaning your left front wheel is now pigeon toed so your steering gets lighter from basically plowing down the road instead of rolling, so damage has been done.
You can have lower control arm damage, spindle or bearing damage, tie rod bending etc… Again, all need manual on site intervention to diagnose and repair.
So you forgot to say what model-year this little Mazda is and how many miles are on it. Also, do you have collision insurance coverage? How much is your deductible?
It could be totaled and we could be wasting our time and talent. By the way, I once managed a body shop and we worked on this type of collision frequently. Also, I work on my own cars.
Cars are made fairly robustly to take impacts to the suspension from moving in a forward direction, but not so much to sideways impacts.
See @Tester’s comments above. He is a professional and has given you a good partial laundry list of damage that can result from such a collision. CSA
There are shops that specialize in suspension and front end work. May have “alignment” in their name. Find one and take it in. Please let us know what is found. Best wishes.
It does not matter what anyone thinks it will cost . Your location , the shop you use , the hidden damage and the difficulty of finding parts for a 19 year old vehicle . You are just going to have to get an estimate and then decide if you want to put that amount of money in it.
Also most of the people here are US based and you are not so that also makes guessing prices difficult.
You can safely wager that one or more items are damaged. Putting the car on an alignment rack may aid in any diagnosis. Without hands-on it’s impossible to say what all is damaged or even how much it will cost to repair as repair costs can vary a lot based on locale.
