RexSeven
RexSeven Dork
12/27/10 4:17 p.m.

Yesterday I was heading into work in my Mazdaspeed3 during the massive blizzard that hit Mass. when I pulled into a store parking lot to take a phone call. A coworker closer to work came in for me so I turned around to go home when a snowplow beared down on me. I put the car into reverse to avoid it when I smacked into a rock on the side of the parking lot entrance. The lip of of my drivers-front steel wheel is bent a little along with some cosmetic damage to the front drivers side door, front fender, and side skirt. Now the car starts to shudder when I drive over 55mph and it meanders slightly to the right when I leave my hands off of the steering wheel. I'm hoping the mechanical damage is limited to the wheel being bent out of round and the alignment being out-of-whack, but I haven't had a chance to check it or get it checked. Anything else I should be concerned about?

grimmelshanks
grimmelshanks HalfDork
12/27/10 4:41 p.m.

couldnt say for sure but id bet its just the wheel and alignment

triumph5
triumph5 Dork
12/27/10 4:48 p.m.

probably just the bent rim

novaderrik
novaderrik HalfDork
12/27/10 4:48 p.m.

alignments don't go out of whack unless something gets bent- hopefully it's just a tie rod and not the spindle or a control arm..

914Driver
914Driver SuperDork
12/27/10 7:49 p.m.

Swap the wheel for the spare, got wobble?

An alignment is due no matter what.

RexSeven
RexSeven Dork
12/27/10 9:47 p.m.
914Driver wrote: Swap the wheel for the spare, got wobble? An alignment is due no matter what.

I figured as much on the alignment. I haven't had a chance to swap out the affected wheel and I don't want to touch it anyways until the adjuster arrives. There's no snow in the forecast and the roads have been plowed so I think I will be alright to drive my all-season-shod RX-7 to work starting tomorrow. I didn't notice the vibrating until today because traffic was crawling due to the snow yesterday. I think I can hear some rubbing at full lock when parking the Speed3, so it probably is a wheel bent out-of-round.

ddavidv
ddavidv SuperDork
12/28/10 5:50 a.m.

A bent wheel lip isn't going to cause rubbing. I vote bent lower control arm, that's what I typically see.

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