broken car

[steveb8189]

Had a bit of a misshap today right behind another SCN member (who's name I don't know)- cheers for stopping by the way.

Basically I was going round a corner (maybe a little fast but nothing stupid) and the rear end stepped out. Tried to correct it and it swung all the way back cracking the rear left wheel into the curb.

The only thing I can put it down to was that I had literally just pulled out of the car wash and I guess there was a lot of shampoo/ polish or something on the tyres.

Either way, the rear wheel has been pushed completely out of alignment- the whole hub wobbles around and the wheel is trashed. Only just drivable the mile home at about 5 mph

Any ideas what sort of cost i'll be looking at for a potentially broken rear axel or any other ideas what might be wrong- no abvious damage under the car.

 

[benjiwales]

firstly bad luck fella, that's a bummer
secondly any pic's? need to get the wheel off and have a good look
maybe someone on here is breaking a beeza......

 

[rashcupra]

wellit is a simple job so labour shouldnt be too much of a kick in the balls but youre probably going to be kicking out a good £1000 id imagine i do accident repair but i never see the bills but this is my guestimate good luck with the repair mate

 

[steveb8189]

thought it might be expensive but didn't realise it would be quite that much.

here are the pics I took on my phone just afterwards- slightly blurry as my hands were shaking considerably!

 

[rashcupra]

will be new rear axle, wheel, tyre, shock absorber, bearings ect so £1000 unless your confident enough to tackle this yourself (it is an easy quick job!) just pay for parts and geomatry check at the end

 

[skott101]

You could be lucky and it just be the stub axle which bent... that's available from scrap yards for about £20 and it takes about an hour to change (even with no experience of mechanics).

If it's not the stub and it needs a whole new rear beam you are looking at about £80 to £120 for a second hand one and a mornings work to change it.

I think rash's estimate which includes shock absorber and a new wheel bearing is overkill. If you do it yourself i think £200 will eat it (not including the alloy if that needs changing). If you source the bits and take it to a local garage £400 to £500.

I had exactly the same problem with my 100PD and did the whole job myself for less than £150. If you need advice on how to tackle it yourself, contact me. Good luck!

 

[rashcupra]

yer but your quoting second hand bits and if he is exsreamly lucky and has only bent the sub axle then it wont cost much. but from exsperience it doesnt take alot to bend the rear beam! IF he's taking it to a garage which he most probably IS then he will be paying around what i quoted.

i work in insurance work so we just change everything that could have been effected


from what steveB8189 quoted

"the rear wheel has been pushed completely out of alignment- the whole hub wobbles around and the wheel is trashed"

so skott101 the repairs are NOT going to cost £150-£500 as the alloy its self could kreep into your estimate then you have to have the car tracked up!

but skott101 is right the shock could be left out my first estimate as it is protected rather well in the beezer rear setup

but you cant quote a car from a picture need to get the wheel off and have a look to give you a better guestimate

 

[m0rk]

certainly wouldn't bother buying a rear beam from salvage.... it's likely that will have been bent too.

I'd probably just claim off insurance, and get the best possible job done

 

[Nath.]

also at a quality insurance repair place you would get 2 rear dampers fitted as dampers should only be fitted in pairs (right Rash)

 

[rashcupra]

not shocks nath you only need to replace springs and brake pads on both sides shocks can be indipedantly replaced well that what ive been doing and work collegues for years

 

[steveb8189]

Cheers guys for your comments. Not confident enough to do the work myself, so debating whether to take it to the local garage or the dealers. Probably still won't bother claiming on my insurance as it's a £500 excess and I don't want to lose my NCD.

If I took some more pics would you guys be able to diagnose a bit more? And if so, what should I take a pic of?

Thanks again for your advice.

 

[skott101]

OK i think i need to reply to a few things concerning my post (and others) and the general attitude of people posting on here of late.

1st off i was trying to be helpful and only suggested rash's attitude of replace the whole rear of the car was at least belt and braces and at worst a waste of money. Rash, it stands to reason that if the alloy costs £500 to replace then obviously my quote will be way off. My point was it doesn't need to cost the earth to do repairs that can be tackled at home. As you said you can't accurately quote repair prices based on a picture so stop taking things so personally, accept people have differing opinions and stop posting bitchy replies.

As for this attitude of if it's done at an accident repair centre via an insurance company it will be as prestine as when it left the factory is a myth. I've seen some horrendous bodge jobs done by "professional" accident repair centres.. things like panels fillered instead of replaced, bad panel alignment, bad colour matches and primer showing on sprayed panels, incorrect body panels fitted and plastic parts being fibre-glassed up rather than being replaced. I'm not suggesting every place is the same, but don't think that every accident specialist is as professional as what's quoted on here.

The 2nd thing which i want to mention and has bugged me for a while is peoples general attitude towards people posting on here. I was under the impression this is a help forum. Here to help people with the experience we all have. Over the years i have been a member of this group i've seen a decline in helpfulness and an increase in attitude that annoy new members and stop them re-posting because they feel intimidated by members with 2.5K posts telling them to do better searches or stop asking stupid questions.

If people post on here it's because they need our help, they do not deserve to get lynched by over eager and over zealous members with too much time on their hands posting "do a search". I accept it's monotonous to keep covering old ground but there are certain people on here that need to take a step back and a deep breath and realise they are not the voices of the SCN and do not need to reply to EVERY SINGLE POST. If you don't want to cover something someone has written, someone else will. Either that or learn what manners are and be polite.

Sorry to hijack the post but this has been bugging me for ages and needs to be mentioned.

 

[porki]

Steve, gutted to see this in the rear view!! hope you get it sorted out... i'll not be giving it beans coming out the car wash again!!

 

[Nath.]

not shocks nath you only need to replace springs and brake pads on both sides shocks can be indipedantly replaced well that what ive been doing and work collegues for years

I must be behind the times then, I always thought dampers/shock absorbers should be a pair too

never mind, I'm sure the dampers will be ok anyway, hope the repair bill is more like £250 and less like £1000

good luck chap

 

[Poverty]

will be new rear axle, wheel, tyre, shock absorber, bearings ect so £1000 unless your confident enough to tackle this yourself (it is an easy quick job!) just pay for parts and geomatry check at the end

I had something similiar from my accident and Ive done some reading up on it and apparently if he takes the subframe out there could be a chance that the chassis "pings" and he could not get a rear subframe back in as the chassis is bent, and it would have been the subframe holding it in place, is this a easy fix do you know?

Apparently my rear left is out by a mm.

I got quoted about £500 to £600 for mine to get fixed.

A brand new rear beam is £300 from stealers.

 

[rashcupra]

skott101 i understand your point but with out us regular poster you will have to rely on other people that maybe dont know alot on the subject i was only giving my opinion and i felt you came across as being RASH IS WRONG I AM RIGHT! and i admit i dont like being told im wrong but im not a keyboard warrior just when i have a spare few mins at work or while at home il log on and try and offer my advise and for me being a regular scn'er a repost is very annoying as there is a search BUTTON AND THERE ARE PLENTY OF REPLIES to there question there a;ready why wait for a reply ! other wise whats the point in having the search button there! im always the first person to give newbies a welcome and a and try to make them happy and give then them same introduction i had and i find the people that come on with attiude are the people that are talked off using the site! anyways anyway ive given my opinion too now.

poverty the only way you will find out the rear beam is a straight swap for a new part without any tweeking is to take rear beam off and see but im sure its fine if only 1mm out if the bolt holes dont no longer line up then the car will need to be jigged straight.

 

[Poverty]

Is jiggingg straight a fairly easy procedure?

Im gonna get my car down to a alignment specialist once I have paid next years insurance. Want to find out for sure whats bent.

 

[bizzaboy]

OK i think i need to reply to a few things concerning my post (and others) and the general attitude of people posting on here of late....

As for this attitude of if it's done at an accident repair centre via an insurance company it will be as prestine as when it left the factory is a myth. I've seen some horrendous bodge jobs done by "professional" accident repair centres.. things like panels fillered instead of replaced, bad panel alignment, bad colour matches and primer showing on sprayed panels, incorrect body panels fitted and plastic parts being fibre-glassed up rather than being replaced. I'm not suggesting every place is the same, but don't think that every accident specialist is as professional as what's quoted on here.

The 2nd thing which i want to mention and has bugged me for a while is peoples general attitude towards people posting on here. I was under the impression this is a help forum. Here to help people with the experience we all have. Over the years i have been a member of this group i've seen a decline in helpfulness and an increase in attitude that annoy new members and stop them re-posting because they feel intimidated by members with 2.5K posts telling them to do better searches or stop asking stupid questions.

If people post on here it's because they need our help, they do not deserve to get lynched by over eager and over zealous members with too much time on their hands posting "do a search". I accept it's monotonous to keep covering old ground but there are certain people on here that need to take a step back and a deep breath and realise they are not the voices of the SCN and do not need to reply to EVERY SINGLE POST. If you don't want to cover something someone has written, someone else will. Either that or learn what manners are and be polite.

Sorry to hijack the post but this has been bugging me for ages and needs to be mentioned.

skott101, I totally agree with your first paragraph.
A few years ago I owned a Pauxhall Astra that got rear ended. It was with the "approved accident repair centre" for 4 weeks!!...

When I got it back, the rear doors CREAKED when you tried opening/closing them, and they never lined up properly with the rear quarter. Real bodge job!

Did I also mention I also found alot of over-spray on Black trim areas too?? Terrible!
However I went off the Brand long before this incident - but that sealed their fate.

RE: the following paragraphs - the change in attitude "over the years" of people's helpfulness/hospitality - perhaps this is the general change with society today!?

So as a result this change in attitude rubs off on these Internet forums as well, with people appearing less helpful, with less / no time to help others!

A few years ago you break down and the car behind will stop and lend a hand. These days you break down, and risk being attacked/your car trashed... just look at the front pages of the news... alot has changed.

Who knows, just a general observation?

 

[Poverty]

Its labours fault

 

[rashcupra]

alot of people dont know what goes on behind the scences of acident repair the cars should be Quality Checked before being delivered back to the customer and i wouldnt say it was the labourers fault as they are probably being rushhed to finish 4-5 cars a day trust me I KNOW your always going to get cowboy accident repair centres tho!

anyways steveb send some pictures of the car with the wheel off and looking into mechanical area and a pic from underneith should give us a better view