Curbed

[Hypntick]

So around my neighborhood there are some fairly narrow roads, and people like to park their vehicles on the shoulder. Normally this wouldn't be an issue, except we also have a few traffic circles as well, which people park on the shoulders of also. So as i'm going through the circle, one of these cars on the shoulder opens the door and I had to swerve a bit and ended up curbing my passenger side pretty good. Knocked the front tire pretty good (curb rash obviously), but also kicked it out at a decent angle. So now when driving, have to keep the wheel turned a bit to the left in order to keep it straight. While parked I notice that it sticks out a good 1/2 to 3/4 inch more than my drivers side tire.

Called the dealership this morning to arrange a tow to get it looked at and i'm currently driving a rental (thankfully work reimburses me for those due to the travel requirements of the job). I'm more concerned however as to what I could have damaged, if popping the curb just threw that wheel out of alignment, if I bent something etc. Anyone have something similar happen to them before? I'm hoping I just knocked it out of alignment and it's a quick easy fix. Otherwise, any other thoughts as to what I might be facing?

Super pissed and i'm talking to the community owners about putting up no parking signs in and near the traffic circles, as this is not the first time i've curb rashed the car there due to folks parking on the shoulders. Also the rental is a '14 standard Focus, not a fan at all...

 

[rooSTer]

Should of called the police and file a police report..had you hit the door it would have been the driver of the parked car's fault. Its hard to tell without seeing underneath, I think you may have bent one of the control arms or rods. Best case scenario it may just need to be realigned.

 

[Hypntick]

Yeah I talked to a co-worker who is a bit more auto savvy than I am, he said something similar, about possibly a tie rod. Hopefully that's the case as I was looking at part prices via Ford and it's not that bad. Yeah I didn't even think to call the cops, just a split second choice of pop the curb or pop the driver. More of a headache than anything, just glad insurance will cover the tow to the dealer, and if it's a cheap part and easy install, not a huge deal.

Thanks for chiming in, glad to know that in the best case it's not anything major.

Tuesday was not my day with the car I tell you that much. Came out of my wife's work and someone had gone down the backs of the cars and spray painted red across them. Apparently ended at mine, so only about 8 inches of paint on it. Luckily my wife is an artist and has extremely gentle paint removers and it hadn't set in fully yet, 5 minutes and it was taken care of. That did warrant a call to the cops, so hopefully their outdoor camera caught the little bastard, haven't heard anything back from them yet. After the week i've had so far, I need a drink, my car in working order, and a business trip to the mountains so I can have some driving therapy for a bit. /vent

 

[Hypntick]

Official verdict is bent tie rod, will take 3 days for them to get one in. So i'm stuck with the rental until then, whee. Tie rod, alignment, and labor is going to run me around 300 or so.

 

[Hypntick]

Got the car back yesterday, could tell it was still pulling a bit. Scheduled my 15k maint. this morning (different dealership) and had them take a look over the alignment, they show the right front is still off by a good bit. Drove back to the dealership I had it serviced at, they showed me their print out that all was well. Going back in an hour or so to have them re-check and adjust again as needed. If they find nothing wrong, i'll be taking it to a third dealer to see what they say just to be sure. Hopefully it's just an issue with one machine being off calibration or something along those lines.

 

[Hypntick]

Got it back up on their machine and imagine their surprise, out of alignment. Much better now, at least they admitted to a possible mix up either with the tech or the machine.

 

[wspec]

Good to know it wasn't to much of an expense, I curbed mine very hard and pulls to the right off center. Only difference with mine was, I in an empty parking lot doing some 'slaloms' and smacked it pretty good. I have been driving around with it like that for longer than I wanted to, my intention is to get BC's, new swaybars, wheels and tires any day now so I was going to put the work off and do it and get alignment all at once.

 

[Hypntick]

Yeah I did a little digging on the cost of the parts that could be damaged in that area, most are fairly inexpensive with a quick repair/install time. Not sure how your dealership is, but not a single one in the city of Charlotte had an inner tie bar in stock at the time. You may end up having a few days to sit around waiting on a replacement, provided that's the damaged part.