Is there something wrong with this?

[BobG]

Here's a picture of the left front tire:

http://img300.imageshack.us/img300/3192/bobbyscar016sn0.jpg

Here's a picture of the top of the front right control arm from the front:

http://img300.imageshack.us/img300/9016/bobbyscar018pb5.jpg

Here's a picture of the bottom of the front right control arm from the front:

http://img144.imageshack.us/img144/6753/scar021fb8.jpg

Here's a picture of the top of the left front control arm from the front:

http://img186.imageshack.us/img186/4969/bobbyscar007du5.jpg

A little closer look:

http://img300.imageshack.us/img300/889/bobbyscar008fd8.jpg

Here's a picture of the bottom of the left front control arm from the front:

http://img300.imageshack.us/img300/24/bobbyscar010zj4.jpg

Did you notice how the tire is so new you can still see the chalk marks in the tread? The rim's new, as well. During the snow storm we had last weekend, my son slid into a median so hard he destroyed the tire and dented the rim.

He mentioned the tire looked crooked after he replaced the tires (part of the problem was that all four tires were pretty worn down), but we never both had time available to take a closer look until today. I'm surprised the tire dealer didn't notice. Discount Tires has good prices, but the trade off is that the workers only know how to change the tires.

When are we going to have the contest for photos of jacked up auto parts?

 

[Astronuc]

I did something similar once doing a U-turn on a slick road. Coming out of the turn, the front lost traction and the car slide into the gutter, with the front wheel still slightly turned. The A-frame got bent. That event cost me about $250 just for the A-frame, and with other parts and labor, it was about $700-800, and that was about 30 years ago.

 

[verty]

Something is certainly wrong... you have damaged your suspension.

 

[JasonRox]

You damaged something. I wouldn't drive it. That's for sure.

 

[brewnog]

To put it technically, that's buggered!

 

[BobG]

I never thought I'd say this, but I actually like my insurance company. Prior to this year, the last time I filed a claim on my own insurance company, I was still on my dad's insurance and never dealt with them. After twenty some years paying insurance companies with no return, I've had three claims in the last year (one each for three kids).

The last claim, the one for the bent control arm and frame, has been kind of confusing, since I hadn't planned on filing a claim for something that I thought would fall far short of the $500 deductible. We replaced the rim and all four tires, then replaced the control arm. That still didn't quite bring the tire back into alignment. I don't know if you can tell in the picture, but while the frame is folded and the left side (front of car) of the bracket is bent, the back of the bracket has to be barely out of alignment. If the car were rear wheel drive and had a camber adjustment, an alignment would probably have fixed the problem. (Having that bent bracket made installing the control arm a real pain, though. We had to call in a third person - one of us could push in on the tension strut, one could push downward on the control arm, but then neither one of us could reach the bolt to slide it in.)

As it was, the only way to align that tire was to replace the sub-frame, which pushed us over the deductible. The insurance adjusters have been extra careful to make sure they're covering enough of the cost. I pointed out to them that they probably shouldn't use the overall receipts for the claim, since we bought other stuff unrelated to the accident - like they probably shouldn't pay for all four tires. They looked closer and realized I was right, but then went the extra step to make sure I wasn't getting screwed out of the sales tax and other miscellaneous fees. Not much monetarily, but I thought it showed a good attitude.

Of course, I haven't seen what filing three claims in one year will do to my insurance rates, but hopefully it will just increase the amount my kids have to give me rather than the insurance I have to pay for my own cars.