Hey guys,

I'm new to the forum but wanted to share my story. It involves an expressway crash caused by debris on the road and the repairs that follow.

I drive a 2003 Acura 3.2CL Type S with 240k miles.

I was driving behind a pickup truck In the fast lane of the expressway when out of nowhere he darts to his left and then right. With only a second to respond, I realized he was dodging some chairs on the expressway. I dodged to my left but my car lost control and I slammed into the concrete barrier. After skidding to a stop, I gathered myself and drove across 4 lanes to the nearest exit. Luckily there was a car shop near by which I managed to get my car to.

Upon checking the damage, somehow the whole left side of my car was untouched. The rear driver side wheel, however, was pretty janky looking.

The repair guy said that 2 of the control arms were bent and need to be replaced. He told me that's all he can visually see, but we'll see if there is anything else wrong after the repair.

I'm looking at $425 for the repair and $75 for an alignment.

As it is now, I'm waiting for the parts to arrive. I've attached a picture comparing the damaged control arms to the undamaged side.

What do you guys think, how likely is it that the control arms are just the beginning of the problems? And how'd I do on price, seems pretty fair for this sort of work.

 

Wow, that is crazy, surprised your car didn't sustain more damage.

 

You could do that job yourself in under two hours and save half the cash. It's just undoing four rusty bolts. Pretty sure new arms come with bushings in them, so it's just a remove and replace job.

An alignment afterwards is a must. It'll let you know if anything else got messed up.

 

I'm surprised you didn't bend all four arms on that side, judging by how bad the two are.

 

Yea, I'd do it myself but I'm out of town for a month and have no jack or stands. Plus if it needs an alignment, I'd need to get it back to the shop.

And even if I did have the tools, I'd need to get it towed from the shop to the house that I'm staying in.

Bye bye monies

 

Yea me too, unfortunately I wont be surprised if there is more damage than those 2 arms. How is it possible that the rear wheel took 100% of the damaged from nailing that concrete barrier.

 

Glad you are ok man,

IMHO they are going to find some more bent stuff for sure..

How fast were you going and how close to that truck were you?

I've jerked my CL-S out of the way of something in the FWY at 65 before and the car just followed the wheels

 

I've decided to try the repair myself, I figure why drop $500 if there could be more repairs needed.

I was traveling about 70 and about 2 cars length away.

The repair guy suggested getting a salvaged "knee" and replacing the whole assembly that way we could be sure there are no other damaged parts. I opted not to do that because a few things online said to stay away from used control arms.

 

^ not a bad idea.. also for sure you will need a new wheel bearing if you do not replace the rear knuckle (hub)

 

Do yourself a favor: Spray liberal amounts of Rust Buster on all nuts and bolts that you will be removing. Do this at least a few days before you start work. Doing more than once can't hurt, and may just help. Rusted suspension work can be a real nasty torture. I recommend good quality impact sockets and a decent 1/2 inch impact gun for removal.

 

An alignment will tell you lots about if there's more damage. Just replace what you see then go for the alignment.

 

You might have bent that wheel as well...

 

So get a tire balance while you're at it.