Oh dear......

[Jcb]

I suffered my first "off" today. Aquaplaned and understeered half off the road meaning i've smacked the curb at roughly 30mph... Possibly more. With the front left wheel. Luckily it was an angled curb, but things still aren't ok.

I have to drive with a quater turn right on the steering wheel for it to go straight, if i let go of the wheel it veers badly to the left, the bottom of the wheel is toeing in badly, which you can see from looking at the tyres from the front and finally, it is angled slightly in at front as if i was turning right slightly, although the right hand wheel is dead straight with the wheel.

I limped home. But what now?

Obviously this is not good. How much work and/or cost do you think i'll be looking at. Is it adviasable to to drive say 10 miles to a garage I know to have it checked tomorow? Nothing is hanging off or perticulaly loose, just the steering feels awful. But there none the less.

What's worst case scenario?

[Adam]

Wheel off.
And see whats bent basically lol

Probably bottom arm, tie bar, steering track rod.

[Jcb]

Oh ****.

Any guess of parts and cost?

[Philsutton]

my money is on lower arm an if it was a good hit steering rack

[Philsutton]

about 10-15 for new lower arm and about 20-30 for a new rack

[Mike]

I reckon its nothing more then a lower ball joint :D i did the same but at 45 in a Corsa, ?4.95 later was fixed :D

[Philsutton]

yeah but corsas have crazy strong lower arms an break everything but the lower arm.

[Jcb]

Hope your right NovaSR.
Phil are those prices second hand or new? How difficult are they to fit?

[Philsutton]

new from motor factors, or they were last time I checked. I paid 15 for new rack for the corsa. How ever if doing the rack they want a exchange unit otherwise they bend you over badly.

[Jcb]

Ohhh. Every corner I take from now is going to be at a snails pace.

It felt so bad when it happened, I expected to get out and see a horizontal wheel. In saying that, maybe the insanely hard suspension made it worse than it was.

[mikey14sr]

Also have a good look at the front crossmember, as they have a habit of bending if the wheel hits something the right way, as does the mounting point for the inner end of the lower arm. The tie-bar mount can also be ripped from the front crossmember if it's rusty enough too. And if the lower spring cup of the shock is touching the inner arch, the damper may be bent too.

[Jcb]

Is it normal to feel this stupid after having an off? I feel like a ****ing idiot. I just hope it isn't a worst case scenario.

[mikey14sr]

Will just be the embarrassment settling in, should pass once it's fixed, just be a bit more carefull in the wet in future!

[Jcb]

Are wide tyres worse than normal ones in wet weather? I have pretty wide tyres and they are so good in the dry, but as soon as it gets wet they are all over the place. Or is that the same with all tyres?

[mikey14sr]

Wider rubber means the weight of the car is spread over a larger area, which in the dry means more grip, but in the wet or on ice it means there's less pressure per square inch going onto the road (effectivly less weight to make the tread cut through the layter of water) compared to skinny's. We once beat my uncle in a race back to his house out in the sticks when it was icy, we were in a fiat uno with next to no power and skinny little tyres, he was in a three door sierra cossie.......

Some tyres are better in the wet than others by design, or through use of different rubber compounds.

[Jcb]

I'll let you all know what the diagnosis is tomorow evening hopefully.

Thanks all for the help.

[Jcb]

It's not good news. It needs alot of new bits apparently. Not sure what as I'm no mechanic. What I do know is that when I hit it, the wheel came so far back that it's bent the bottom of the arch back and the wheel now rubs on the gearbox and suspension leg. Needless to say I need a new wheel. It spins like an egg.

Are most parts still available from Vauxhall?

I have a bad feeling this will cost me quite a bit.

[chimp007_uk]

once you take the wheel off you'll soon see whats wrong. i can;t see it being anything major, maybe as phil said, arm and rack arm, but arm mounts maybe. cheer up, think how much wosre it could have been, thats what i did. car totalled, but i'm still alive and unhurt :) although not everyone would see that as a good thing lol

[chimp007_uk]

don;t go to vaux! it will cost tou an arm and a leg and 2week wait! motorfactors will have it all in the next day!

[Jack]

Yep, definitely avoid Vaux. The few remaining parts they do stock will cost your soul to buy lol

Motorfactors, ebay and people breaking novas - colin smith! - are your friends :)

[Matt2107]

Don't worry about the embarrasement too much chap.
My brother did this in the wet after 3 months of driving.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v315/Matt2107/andycar-1.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v315/Matt2107/andycar1-1.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v315/Matt2107/andycar2.jpg

As for the bits I'd be inclined to get second hand parts where you can.
I'm breaking project aspirin remember so might be able to help you out with that.

[Welsh Dan]

Jack the car up, take the wheel off, post loads of pics up and we'll tell you what you need, and you can buy most of it from the for sale forum quite cheaply.

What brand+model are the tyres you have fitted?

[Jcb]

I will see what bit I need and try and get them from here. It's currently sat at the garage my dad works at. But for cost and more than likely efficency we won't buy from Vauxhall.

Hmm makes my damage look like nothing Matt. Was he ok?

I think the tyres were Nankang or something? Sounds cheap to me, but they were on with good tread when i got the wheels second hand.

[Matt2107]

He had a tiny inch cut on his hand lol
He even drove it home.

Back to your parts issue.
If your interested I've got a pair of steering knuckles complete with new bearings, track rod ends, bottom ball joints, calipers (painted silver) red dot discs and pads. All new kit and fitted to a project car... then removed and fitted to project aspirin for 40miles.

As long as your shafts are the same as a 1.2 you'd just need to pop them on and tighten it all up...

[Jcb]

Errrm. I remember something about a bottom arm being "bent to ****" and maybe (the serious bit) the chasis leg? Or maybe the chasis alone?

The CV joint too I belive. And maybe the top mount of the suspension. (Since my shocks are rock hard I think it took a beating with next to no dampening.)

And since the wheel was scrubbing on the gearbox when put on full lock, could it have damaged that too?

[Welsh Dan]

Scrubbing alone wont damage the wheel, but it will damage the tyre.

Get some pics up :thumb:.

[Jcb]

Ah I meant damage the gearbox? As in, could it have knocked against it on the impact? As for the wheel, that's well and truly ruined. It spins like an egg.

I would get pics but it's currently at a Skoda garage waiting until we can get the parts and then fix it in spare time.

[Matt2107]

Scrap the idea of the steering knuckles... I forgot they have GTE shafts.

[Welsh Dan]

On the outer end all nova shafts are the same....