So this is a post I never wanted to make, but I suppose it was only a matter of time.
A few nights ago I was driving along some roads, all gritted and clear. Came over a small bridge to find on the other side was a random patch of sheet ice. Ended up losing it and hitting a curb almost head on at about 15mph. We bounced off and came to rest a few meters down the road. Another car was following us and didn't bounce off the curb, took out half a section of fence and a road sign whilst setting their airbags off. Only for another car to come over and hit him while we were trying to get it out of the fence.
Luckily no one was hurt (Somehow), but my car isn't in the best of shape. It's getting recovered by four ashes soon so we can get a better look at the damage. Managed to limp it back to a pub car park that night and it's been sitting there since.
I tried to get some pictures to show the damaged but couldn't get the wheel off due to a jammed locking nut. As far as I can tell the damage is as follows:
- Major curbing of front nearside wheel with cracks in surface paint to left side of spoke, potentially further damage I can't see judging by the impact.
- Near side wing crack near brake vents, presumably from where the wheel hit the fairing and over stressed it. The black vent itself was loose so I took that out but that seems largely undamaged.
- Nearside front anti rotation link bent.
- Potentially a bent control arm/wishbone too, haven't been able to get any pictures which show enough to tell...
- Messed up subframe - control arm mounting point
All of that results in my front near side wheel being centered about 4-6cm too far to the rear (Yes I lost the center cap in the crash too):
The only thing stopping it from being drivable is that the tire rubs against the wheel arch so you can't really steer too well. The wheel still seems to roll fine and the camber looks fairly similar to the undamaged side. Car pulled pretty heavily to the right while we were limping it back to the pub.
So all in all a nice expensive night. Obviously I can't show too much in case insurance gets involved (Really trying to avoid that) and they start getting funny about pictures/videos.
I suppose I'm looking for advice on what might need replacing/repairing and how much it's going to cost. Going to be having four ashes take a look at it as I don't want to try and do it myself and miss something important.
