Just had all 8 control arm bushings replaced last weekend at a shop. I didn't really feel like tackling that one myself. Seemed fine - tightened the front end up a lot!

Today as I pulled into my parking space at my apartment, I heard a thunk, a screech and a rip. When I jumped out of the car and had a look, I was somewhat less than thrilled. The lower passenger side control arm had separated at the rear, allowing the wheel to thrust forward in the wheel well and hit the fender. The fender has about a 7-inch crack running 45 degrees from the point of impact, and a big chunk (tortilla chip-sized) taken out of it. Called the shop (Brake Check, actually :bb ) and they were falling all over themselves - had a tow truck there within 45 minutes to tow it back to the shop.

What should I be looking for here? I'm in the process of stripping and prepping the car for paint, so the cosmetics aren't important. I know they'll repair the suspension - no worries there, good guys. What should I expect as far as the body work? Ideally, they'd just get an estimate and write me a check, like an insurance company. I have a friend who does body work (he's going to help me paint), and I have several body projects to do (repair minor damage, stinger hood scoop) so I don't want them to just fix and repaint that one fender. Any thoughts? Encouragement?

I keep telling myself "Just thank God you weren't going 80 mph on I-10 when it happened!" Anyone else ever noticed that a lot of catastrophic suspension failures occure when pulling into parking lots and driveways? I've heard at least 5-6 stories recently...




[Modified by Ben's75, 12:38 AM 1/29/2004]

 

BEn be glad your alive and then jump the suspension's ****.

 

Holy cow. That's really scary.

I did my control arms myself, and when I did, I made sure to sandblast and inspect each one.

I'm not sure what you're looking for, as far as body work. To repair the crack is not a big deal. And since you are in the process of stripping the car, it doesn't sound so bad. It also sounds like the shop is taking care of you, and they aren't jerks about it.

Some would want to milk the shop for a complete paint, using the shop's fear of what could have happened against them. But your actual loss has little to do with "what ifs" and everything to do with the facts. I'd suggest hitting them up for the body damage caused by their error, and let it go at that.

The cost? I'm thinking around $300 (4 hours at $60 plus a little extra).

Just my opinion. Good luck with it.

:cheers:

 

Joe - that's exactly what I'm thinking. I have no desire to "milk" the shop - way against my principles. $300 would make me happy.

Cali - See, that's the problem - I'm in the process of rebuilding the suspension, but have limited tools, and can't have the car out of commission for more than a weekend, as it's my daily driver. So, I'm doing the suspension one thing at a time.

 

I doubt new bushings had anything to do with it.
Vettes have a known weak spot there. and it was most likely a coincidence.

Maybe the free tow and a discount on the reweld ...

 

427v8 - unfortunately, you are correct. Disaster has struck. I couldn't see it without getting the car off the ground, but the frame actually broke. The bracket that holds the lower control arm at the front crossmember completely separated. The guy at Brakecheck also pointed out a few other areas that needed to be repaired.

To make this saga even more fun, Mission Towing Service here in San Antonio may be holding my car hostage. After hearing the bad news about the frame, I had my insurance company tow the car to a friend's body shop. It's about 19 miles away (insurance company verified this; they have mileage limitations on how far they'll tow you for free). I just got a pizzed-off sounding message from my friend saying that the wrecker driver was claiming that it was 40 miles. I'm on hold right now trying to find out if my car was even delivered to the shop - my buddy's line is busy right now.

This dream car is quickly becoming a nightmare. I love the car, but I can'tafford the kinds of problems it's causing. Anyone in the South Texas area have a spare frame lying around, cheap? :U

Almost forgot. This seems too close - it's been less than two weeks since I had the suspension work done, and the guy at the shop admitted to me that when they did this, the alignment was done improperly. Do I have a leg to stand on in trying to hold them responsible at all? Obviously some of this damage was pre-existing - probably before I bought the car - but it seems to close to be unrelated...


[Modified by Ben's75, 11:36 PM 1/28/2004]

 

This is kind of scary. :eek:

I have a 75. I am getting close to redoing the control arm bushings as well. I have heard that the frame has weakspots like this.

On a 29yr old car you can expect problems but this sounds like a huge bummer. I have no idea if you can hold the shop responsible for the damage or not. But am interested to see how this turns out for you.

If it had occured while on the road would your insurance company have covered it? I mean if you hit a rock in the road and totaled your car they would right? If you have full coverage of course.

Is this different? Maybe you hit the curb too hard and thats what caused the suspension to break? :confused: *hint *hint


[Modified by flood, 5:09 PM 1/28/2004]

 

No, I didn't hit anything. I can think of a few bumps in rough roads that didn't feel very nice, but nothing that would have caused a failure like that. The actual break didn't occur until I was pulling into my parking space slowly. Insane.

 

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