spun out at 80....need help!!!

[gotta240]

Okay. Please dont flame me.. We were driving at 4 in the morning, on empty roads. I took a turn in mid to high 4th gear, and hit a RANDOM patch of grass in the road.... spun out, hit side of the mountain.

I broke both front tension rods(east bear)...but i don't even really know HOW it happened... the rear hit the hardest, and the front was almost untouched...but somehow they broke...

Now..heres my question..

HOW do i tell what suspension parts are bent or bad? The controll arms LOOK strait, and my coilovers LOOK strait, but how do i know for sure?

Also, i have a suspension techniques sway bar...when the tension rod snapped, the wheel went toward the rear of the car, and ripped the sway bar out of its bracket... AGAIn, it LOOKS strait, but how do i know it is strait for sure?

I cant afford/nor do i want to replace EVERY single piece of suspension on the car....so how do i tell what is bad or good? Are there any shops that have technology or machines to check parts?

thanks in advance..

mike

[SpeedMonkeyInc]

Time to start pulling things off. You know something is bent when you cant get the bolt out easy. Different than the torque required to loosen the bolt. You will know.
Its really hard to see what is bent just by looking under the car. You should be able to find this stuff pretty easy at pick-your-part junkyards for not too much money.
If new parts and a PRO alignment don't straighten things out then you bent your frame.

[mjjstang]

god all i see on this forum these days is new guys crashin their cars. it sucks sorry to hear it and good that ur ok but damn guys this isnt a joke.

[infinitexsound]

when theres a kink in the metal.... or it seems twisted.. thats how u usually tell if things are bent... mainly the kink.....

[blu808]

What the hell kinda roads have grass growing in the middle of the them?

[m0rex]

The ones you imagine when smoking grass.

[ALTRNTV]

Take pics of the things you think are fucked, then post them here.

[EchoOfSilence]

ghetto ass roads that have cracks in them and haven't been serviced in decades tend to have grass plots grow in the cracks.

Mid to high 4th gear? isn't that not 80?
anyway, i concur with akademik. take pix, post them here. good shit that you're ok

[NIK90s13]

Get an alinment. That will let you know. If it wont ''true'' up the ''pro's'' will let you know what's up. It's worth the money!

[gotta240]

thanks for the replies you guys... i really appritiatie it.

But.... I have the wheels off the car, the tension rods off, the car on stands, and the tension rod brackets off.

I have sighted strait down the control arms, and neither LOOK bent at all. I compared the left and right sides, and everything looks good. But the parts obviously arent STRAIT as an arrow when new, so its nearly impossible to see defects... Also, the SWAY bar LOOKS strait, but it has so many natural bends, that ...how would i know whats right or wrong?

And about the NEW GUY comment... I totally understand what you mean....It seems like a LOT of kids are buying cars they don't know how to drive, and wreck them.

HOWEVER- i've had this car for over a year, and i know the driving characteristics of it VERY WELL, and the suspension on this car is SUPERB.(sway bars, tension rods, full coilovers, etc. etc.). In this case, SHIT happens. This was a four lane road(two each way, with one center lane) I took the outside to inside path, and by the peak of the turn, i was in the CENTER LANE(keep in mind, empty roads, 4 am). There was a crack in the road, and a patch of grass was growing in it. My rear tires hit it, and i spun emmediatly.. I am VERY VERY VERY glad that i survived it, and my buddy and i walked away with only sore bodies. BELIEVE ME, i know i got lucky, and i am lucky...

also, yes...i'm pretty sure mid to high fourth is CLOSE to 80 mph. Maybe a lil faster... I believe the LATEST shifting point from 4th to 5th is near 95...right?

AGAIN GUYS... thank you....

[thejester03]

80 is more like high third low 4th. Hell, 2nd will get ya to 60. 4th will get me to about 110.
On another note, I have a bent rear toe arm from a similar accident, except i had throttle off over steer cause i was out of gas, but anyway, even though it has a good bend in it, it was still totaly alignable, I would worry mostly about busshings getting trashed and strut mounts. If its bent significantly, youll know.

[gotta240]

well, i guess i was going a lil faster...deff. not 110 though.....

thanks for the tips guys! Allignment shop it is....

[Omarius Maximus]

Sometimes you cant tell if things are bent by simply looking at them. Your Control arms may look straight but you sub frame may be bent. Get an alignment.

[jmauld]

Okay. Please dont flame me.. We were driving at 4 in the morning, on empty roads. I took a turn in mid to high 4th gear, and hit a RANDOM patch of grass in the road.... spun out, hit side of the mountain.


I was going to just overlook this, but come on. Seriously, does it matter that it was 4 in the morning? You were still risking your life, your passenger's life and anyone else that could've been on that road.

Then you come on here, blaming a piece of grass for your problems? YOU were the one that was driving at excessive speeds on a road you obviously weren't familiar with, or you would've known about that "RANDOM patch of grass".

If you're going to do stupid shit like this, at least take resposibility for it.

BTW, you probably would've come out cheaper paying a $300 track entry fee. At least then you would've had an instructor with you to tell you what you did wrong to cause the spin.

[Cashizslick]

Sometimes you cant tell if things are bent by simply looking at them. Your Control arms may look straight but you sub frame may be bent. Get an alignment.


The car may need to be straightened @ a body shop . . . . If you file a claim make sure they check into that.

[andrewmp6]

heres all the help you need learn to drive or ride the bus

[g6civcx]

Because the car is so old and worth so little on paper, you may not get a lot of money if you file a collision claim. If your deductible is $500 or $1,000, you may get a few hundreds at best. Plus you'll have a salvage title or at least an accident flag on your CarFax.

[-usmd-180sx]

C'mon guys, he knows his car VERY WELL. I doesnt matter if it was 4 in the morning or during heavy traffic. And didnt you guys know that going to the track is UNCOOL. Intial-D and the touge is the way to go bros!

But on the serious note, glad you made it out alive to blame the grass, cause looking on the darker side, you could be a ghost on that touge haunting it for the rest of your life... BLAMING THAT PATCH OF GRASS... C'mon man, Keep it Smart, Safe, Simple, and have fun while doing so. In other words, if you wanna take your car to the limits, and it seems you've already hit your breaking point, go to your local track and save yourself from blaming that grass again.

Next time, you can blame the fucked up pavement and the track layouts. =)

P.S. - If your first sentence and words are "Please dont flame me" then you already know deep inside that people SHOULD flame you, and the reason why this happened IS YOUR FAULT.
Food for thought - learn from your mistakes and prosper. =)

[gotta240]

ok. i knew i'd get flamed, and i'm not too upset about it....

BUT...andrew and jmouldy....fuck off you guys......

I'm not some punk kid who buys a stock 240 and tries to take turns at 100. My car was setup very well, and i do all my own work. I know my car very well... We were out at 4 in the am on a road that we knew was empty......Get off this whole "keep it on the track" bullshit. We weren't out in rush hour traffic. AND, it wasn't just some random turn i decided to haul ass through....Four of my buds were out JUST TO DRIVE.

And yes...like i said...i know i'm lucky...and shit happens... The grass IS WHAT MADE ME spin out. I saw it RIGHT BEFORE i spun out, and my buddy behind me SAW my rear tire hit the grass...its thas f'ing simple...YES, i shoulda raked every inch of that 4 lane road for defects...my bad. I could have taken that turn 10mph faster NO PROBLEM, had there been no grass.

ALSO- WHY THE HELL would i spend nearly three grand just to make my car handle better, if i'm never going to use it? Do you flame everyone that does touge? ALSO, driving once every three weeks to a month at a track event is NOT ENOUGH, driving or practice for me....Hence the midnight, backroad adventures...
anyways...sorry for the rant...its early and i just don't feel like hearing it from people who probably dont even drive their cars....

ok..im done crying...

about the insurance- that is great advice..i wouldn't report this simply because i dont want it on my record...and i'd rather just pay for my own mistake.

YES guys.. i think your right about not being able to see bends.. So the allignment shop is the next step...thanks you guys for all the replies...it is muc appriciated.

[jmauld]

No, I don't flame everyone. Only those who don't own up to their actions and try to blame their failures on something else. YOU screwed up. It wasn't the grasses fault. It pretty obvious that you are going to get out there and do same stupid thing again, next time it'll be something else that caused you to kill your passengers.

What if that random patch of grass had been a random patch of pedestrian?

I'm not some punk kid who buys a stock 240 and tries to take turns at 100. And yet, here we are. The only difference is that you've dumped $3000 of parts into your car and still don't care to learn the proper way to use it.

P.S. My car has seen a sanctioned event at least once a month for the past three years, and lives in the garage the rest of the time. My daily driver is a stock 240 and that's fine for me, since I'm okay with not driving like a tard on public roads.

[SR40DETT y0!1]

ok. i knew i'd get flamed, and i'm not too upset about it....

BUT...andrew and jmouldy....fuck off you guys......

I'm not some punk kid who buys a stock 240 and tries to take turns at 100. My car was setup very well, and i do all my own work. I know my car very well... We were out at 4 in the am on a road that we knew was empty......Get off this whole "keep it on the track" bullshit. We weren't out in rush hour traffic. AND, it wasn't just some random turn i decided to haul ass through....Four of my buds were out JUST TO DRIVE.

And yes...like i said...i know i'm lucky...and shit happens... The grass IS WHAT MADE ME spin out. I saw it RIGHT BEFORE i spun out, and my buddy behind me SAW my rear tire hit the grass...its thas f'ing simple...YES, i shoulda raked every inch of that 4 lane road for defects...my bad. I could have taken that turn 10mph faster NO PROBLEM, had there been no grass.

ALSO- WHY THE HELL would i spend nearly three grand just to make my car handle better, if i'm never going to use it? Do you flame everyone that does touge? ALSO, driving once every three weeks to a month at a track event is NOT ENOUGH, driving or practice for me....Hence the midnight, backroad adventures...
anyways...sorry for the rant...its early and i just don't feel like hearing it from people who probably dont even drive their cars....

ok..im done crying...

about the insurance- that is great advice..i wouldn't report this simply because i dont want it on my record...and i'd rather just pay for my own mistake.

YES guys.. i think your right about not being able to see bends.. So the allignment shop is the next step...thanks you guys for all the replies...it is muc appriciated.


The grass didn't cause you to crash, the fucktard sitting in the driver's seat did. Obviously you don't know your car that well, because if you did, you wouldn't be overdriving your headlights by about 40 miles per hour.

I can't figure out how your front tires didn't hit the same patch of grass. Since this is obviously the slickest stuff know to man, it should have caused you to push like a dump truck when your fronts hit it. But that isn't what happened is it. You got scared midcorner, lifted and spun like your mom around a brass pole.

And you did this with your butt lover driving behind you? It's unbelievable that he didn't ram into your car like he runs into your sphincter.

[-usmd-180sx]

Lock Please! This is getting a little too personal calling out names. Just take the postive/negetive critisim and learn from it. No point in defending youself. If YOU know that what you did was just a fluke mistake, and accidents DO happen might I add, then fuck everyone's elses comments. As for the whole touge and track thing, there is nothing wrong going crusing in the pass late at night. AT LEAST you had to SOME intelligence to do this late where nobody is around. But as goes for your friend in the back, next to you in the passenger seat, THEIR lives is in your hands, obviously, HENCE the part where people suggest u go to track events, GRANTED they arent everyday, but why push youself into crashing more, killing more, OR "gainging" skill so wildly. What are you, 18-20 yrs old? You have your whole life to be a car enthusist and learn from every experience.

And as for the whole " I KNEW I WOULD GET FLAMMED PART" FUCK YA... YOU SHOULD. You crashed, and stated that you know your car very well? Heh, go fix it yourself, go use the fucking SEARCH button for similiar accidents. Instead your posting in the TECH TALK section bitching about a little patch of grass fucking up your car? There is a similar thread in the CHAT section, but you know why he isnt getting flammed? CAUSE he isnt asking about how to fix his shit, and I might add his shit is FUCKED UP. Granted both situations, both drivers/passengers/ other drivers all survived.

In Conclusion, if you know your gonna get flammed for shit you post, then expect people to fucken Flame you.

Lock this useless thread. Please... Enough bitching about why why why, calling people out on the internet. Learn from your fucken mistakes bro. Thats fucken Life.

[McRussellPants]

No, I don't flame everyone. Only those who don't own up to their actions and try to blame their failures on something else. YOU screwed up. It wasn't the grasses fault. It pretty obvious that you are going to get out there and do same stupid thing again, next time it'll be something else that caused you to kill your passengers.

What if that random patch of grass had been a random patch of pedestrian?

And yet, here we are. The only difference is that you've dumped $3000 of parts into your car and still don't care to learn the proper way to use it.

P.S. My car has seen a sanctioned event at least once a month for the past three years, and lives in the garage the rest of the time. My daily driver is a stock 240 and that's fine for me, since I'm okay with not driving like a tard on public roads.


Wow, is your nose bleeding way up there on that high horse?

The last thing this kid needs is some dude whos still jerkin himself off because hes been to an autocross telling him he was dumb to wreck his car.

Everyone fucks around on the street, I'm all for shitting on retards that try and rolling chicane rush hour traffic, but bashing some kid for going 80 down a empty 4 lane road? Maybe I can link you some other threads where you can use hating on people as an excuse to passively brag about your awesome TRACK ONLY!!111! S-Chassis?


Cliff Notes: Quit Being a douche, and take that holier than thou shit to NICO where they think your car will magically kill everyone within 5 miles for driving 10 over the speed limit.

[gotta240]

sr20 and jmauld= once again... fuck you.

I didnt come on here saying "fuck that grass" or "i'm going to sue the city for the grass in the road"...did i? I didn't say any of that. I simply stated the FACTS, that my tire hit the grass, and caused me to spin....simple as that....

SHIT happens. I am VERY greatful to be alive...dont get me wrong..but i don't care to hear the stupid flaming from dumb fucks. And no, i'm not 19 or 20 dickwad. It had NOTHING to do with getting scared in the corner, and braking or letting off.... I've learned MANY YEARS ago, not to do that as it causes dramatic weight transfer which equals disaster.

And i'm not asking HOW DO I FIX this shit. I'm asking if anyone knew of a machine or way of determine if a part is SLIGHTLY bent, that the eye cant see. Thats all.

I'm done defending myself to you guys...i don't care anymore...

But if anyone knows of a GREAT allignment shop in socal, i would much appritiate the HELPFULL news.
thanks to those who offered good advice...
mike

[gotta240]

Oh yeah, THANK YOU MCRUSSEL PANTS!!!! well said....i wish i coulda said it that well.

And i forgot to mention... i have been into sanctioned racing since i raced for my high school in the 11'th and 12'th grade years ago. I've been to autocross events as well.... HOWEVER... i still see no wrong in EMPTY street driving...

[jmauld]

Wow, is your nose bleeding way up there on that high horse?

The last thing this kid needs is some dude whos still jerkin himself off because hes been to an autocross telling him he was dumb to wreck his car.

Everyone fucks around on the street, I'm all for shitting on retards that try and rolling chicane rush hour traffic, but bashing some kid for going 80 down a empty 4 lane road? Maybe I can link you some other threads where you can use hating on people as an excuse to passively brag about your awesome TRACK ONLY!!111! S-Chassis?


Cliff Notes: Quit Being a douche, and take that holier than thou shit to NICO where they think your car will magically kill everyone within 5 miles for driving 10 over the speed limit.
No, the last thing this kid needs is to go out there and do the same damned thing over again! If you can't see that, then oh well. I'm not telling him he's dumb for wrecking his car. I'm telling him he's dumb for not acknowledging that it's his fault.

[SimpleSexy180]

i just don't feel like hearing it from people who probably dont even drive their cars....


hahaha thats the best line ever on zilvia for me :D

[SR40DETT y0!1]

sr20 and jmauld= once again... fuck you.

I didnt come on here saying "fuck that grass" or "i'm going to sue the city for the grass in the road"...did i? I didn't say any of that. I simply stated the FACTS, that my tire hit the grass, and caused me to spin....simple as that....


:bs:

'Splain something to me, how did a patch of grass cause you to spin? Why couldn't you catch the car when you had two lanes with which to countersteer? Anybody that has "been into sanctioned racing" should know better. But you really haven't "been into" jack shit, have you. What "sanctioned racing" have you competed in, and where are the results showing that you're not just some soiled douche pounding on a keyboard on teh intarweb, not that said results would preclude doucheness.

[revat619]

EVERYBODY STFU!

He was driving. He messed up/ patch of grass/whatever. He crashed. He and his passenger are ok. In the future dont drive like this on public roads. Its unsafe. You're old enough to know this and the consequences of your actions. Learn from this mistake. Dont do it again. Now, either take your car to a frame shop and have them look at it or post pictures in here so we can accurately diagnose the damage and point you in the right direction as to how to go about fixing everything. Simple as that.

You people and your sissy la la flaming and bickering....its annoying. Cut that crap out already. Its unnecessary and quite frankly i'm sick of seeing it. You guys always piss and moan about how we're "nazi mods" and what not but then you act like those bad ass kids you see at Albertsons who are kicking and screaming at the checkout line cuz their mom wont buy them the gummy bears they want. You throw fits for everything! You dont want us locking threads constantly and pinking/banning people? Then dont act like retards and give us reason to. This crap is outta control....

:rant:

I'm gonna leave this thread open for now, but if i see anymore flaming/bickering your pinked for 3 months. No questions asked. That includes the thread starter as well. Either discuss ways to fix/diagnose the damage to the car or dont post at all. You've been warned.

[$D$]

this thread is funny. if so many people didnt crash our cars they wouldn't be worth so much money....

[gotta240]

I agree. Too bad these cars aren't being used just for LOOKS. Crashes tend to happen when people USE their cars for extreme sports.... hence the decrease in cars, and increase in value.

WEll, out of the front suspension everything looks strait, and is almost all the way back together.... Next i'll tackle the rear suspension...

I have new bushings that need to be pressed into the subframe, so i guess i have a good excuse to do it now!

[SR40DETT y0!1]

While you're at it, have you found those results yet?

[A4ORCE]

I'm still wondering how the tension rods just broke...

[gotta240]

you and me both buddy!!! I have no CLUE AT ALL. I just got back from the shop, and my car is F I N E, fine. How, i dont know. I'm just VERY VERY glad and thankful!!!

But tension rods breaking....i have NO CLUE. I think maybe the supsension bottomed out, and the rods broke because they couldnt bend that far up? i dont know... i am super confused about that... they were east bear tension rords too....