Buying a wrecked car - Best way to check how bad the suspension is messed up?

Hi everyone,

I am supposed to go pickup a car tonight that looks like it was rear ended and pushed into a guardrail or something.

I have some fun ideas for this car, hopefully to include being at the challenge, but I mostly want to make sure that the suspension isn't so messed up that it would be hard to get things in alignment.

Suggestions on checking this? Take it for alignment and see what they say?

FYI, I am buying the car either way. If it is too bad I am going to pull the motor and scrap the rest.

Get under the car and start measuring! The easiest way is to simply start with suspension bolts and measure front to back and across between different points. If you get more than about 1/2" of difference, you may have problems getting an alignment.

Here's some pictures. Once I verify that it's not too bad to "kart" then I'll start a build thread.

Well! This should be fun.

I attempted alignment myself. When i couldn't get it in spec, took it to the alignment shop. They confirmed my diagnosis, and i replaced parts.

jstein77 wrote: Well! This should be fun.

Fun is the entire goal of this car.

Dusterbd13 wrote: I attempted alignment myself. When i couldn't get it in spec, took it to the alignment shop. They confirmed my diagnosis, and i replaced parts.

Makes sense.

The part that is going to suck is having to let it sit for probably 2 weeks at least till I get the current car in my garage over to the scrap yard and replace the exhaust manifold on the miata. So I'll be in suspense for a while till I know if it will work for my purposes or not.

Doesn't really look too bad. Check for wrinkled mounting points.

I had one that was like that, upright ended up being bent a bit, and I couldn't see it until I replaced the parts....