Broken lower control arm

jjmwilkinson · #1 11-28-2010, 10:16 AM

Not really sure where to put this but I just have a question. In the early afternoon on monday I hit a sheet of black ice (if I wouldve stopped at the yellow light I wouldve gotten rear ended by a Honda that was tailgating me in the ice) and since the straight thru lane of this intersection has a slant left I was turning and just slid straight into the curb, not going more than 15mph.

So all in all, I pretty much screwed up my passenger front wheel and I ended up snapping the lower control arm. I'm just wondering about how much I'm looking at for a repair or if it's totaled (second time the arm has broken, it was re-welded last time).

tl;dr: hit curb in the ice and snapped lower control arm. Repair price?

MooDib · #2 11-28-2010, 10:20 AM

Same sort of thing happened to me in my Focus. I think it cost me about $600-700 but that was at a military base mechanic shop. Dealers were quoting a little over $1000 I believe.

jjmwilkinson · #3 11-28-2010, 10:22 AM

Thanks for the quick reply. alright that is definitely less than what i thought it was going to be.

01_ranger_4x4 · #4 11-28-2010, 10:25 AM

EDIT: thats not the lower control arm pictured, thats the lower control arm mount and its a welded on part of the frame. from what i can tell in the picture is should be able to be re-welded but that doesnt mean the frame isnt bent. def bring it to a reputable frame/ collision shop to be checked out.

jjmwilkinson · #5 11-28-2010, 10:31 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by 01_ranger_4x4

if you can change it yourself you can get a used one from a junkyard for about $50-$75. be sure to check everything else over to be sure there is no other damage. those control arms are strong, its very possible it bent the frame when it broke.

I'll look at it and all the stuff it would take to change it out. if its an easy but long process i could do it, but if its challenging then ill probably just take it in because i dont want to take it off and not be able to get it back on.

and 5 or 6 years ago my dad was rear ended while he was turning left and it pushed him into a high curb and broke the same control arm, but it was just re-welded and reinforced, but they are never as strong again. And there is damage to the frame, but its not cracked, just a little bent.

01_ranger_4x4 · #6 11-28-2010, 10:45 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jjmwilkinson

I'll look at it and all the stuff it would take to change it out. if its an easy but long process i could do it, but if its challenging then ill probably just take it in because i dont want to take it off and not be able to get it back on.

and 5 or 6 years ago my dad was rear ended while he was turning left and it pushed him into a high curb and broke the same control arm, but it was just re-welded and reinforced, but they are never as strong again. And there is damage to the frame, but its not cracked, just a little bent.

see my previous post, i edited it after you added the picture.

jjmwilkinson · #7 11-28-2010, 10:50 AM

Oh, alright. Thats what i thought it was, but when i was getting the tire remounted and put back on I had Les Shwab do an alignment and thats when they found the broken mount, but the guy kept saying the control arm broke.
But thank you for verifying that.

jjmwilkinson · #8 12-03-2010, 07:36 AM

Well my dad got a call back from the place that my dad and I took it to for an estimate and when they got it onto the lift they saw the frame was cracked. I'm not sure how bad the crack is yet. But today they are putting it on the frame rack. So hopefully it turns out fine. But I'm preparing for it to be totaled.

sgtsandman · #9 12-03-2010, 10:06 AM

I doubt it will get totaled for that. Even with a frame crack they should be able to repair it unless the crack is in a real bad spot or the frame is so rusted it can't be repaired.

As far as welding what you showed in the picture, it shouldn't be that big of a deal. The wheel and tire will probably cost more than rewelding that piece.

terryduanemiller · #10 12-03-2010, 02:49 PM

depends on where you/did take it. I could get it back in it's correct location, and re weld for (ball park figure) $200

jjmwilkinson · #11 12-03-2010, 11:15 PM

We took it to a place called car stars on highway 99 in lynnwood. We took our Subaru there when it got hit and they did a great job fixing it back up and for a good price too. So I'm pretty sure they will fix it because if they didn't want to fix it or didn't want the liability if it broke. I doubt they'd even look t it further when they found the crack.

jjmwilkinson · #12 12-08-2010, 07:41 PM

Well, it turns out the frame is cracked, and we took it to a place that pretty much just does car welding, and the place where it cracked is too thin to even think about welding back together. So it is totaled. that's 2 cars in 2 weeks for me.

terryduanemiller · #13 12-08-2010, 08:03 PM

get some one to section it, or form a plate