Broken Axle???

1922

was driving home from work last night, being very careful, crawling along, no problem. turned into the housing estate entrance and the ****ing ice caught me!!!

front left wheel belted the kerb and the car hoped onto the kerb and down again. nursed it home and into the driveway, just!!!

looking at it again today, the tyre never deflated which surprised me. The alloy looks bad though, badly dented and cracked. Not much movement in the wheel either. No huge hassle moving the steering wheel but the damaged wheel doesn't move much. When both wheels should be straight the damaged one isn't!!! Will get it to my mechanic next week!

Any suggestions what damage i've done?? 2002 Mercedes C220 CDI Coupe

Avns1s

Sounds like the steering linkage or the tie rod end is broken. Is the wheel standing "vertical"? if yes, then it is possible that there may be little or no damage to the suspension. You really need to get someone in the know to look at it.

1922

oh ya the wheel is still verticial, i drove it into the driveway and could drive it out again when necessary, it is just at a slight angle and maybe only moves 50% as much as it should

lifer_sean

You almost certainly bent one of the suspension arms, based on your description. You'll need to get the bent arm replaced and the steering alignment checked afterwards.

BTW, there is no "axle" as such in most modern cars. Independent suspension on each wheel.

JustLen

Did exactly the same thing myself a few weeks ago (wet roads and 'enthusiastic' driving caught me instead of ice:D)

Turned out bent wishbone, cheap(ish) fix. Just DO NOT try driving the car, will only worsen the problem

johndaman66

JustLen wrote: »

Turned out bent wishbone, cheap(ish) fix. Just DO NOT try driving the car, will only worsen the problem

Like JustLen I'd be inclined to be thinking wishbone too.

1922

thanks for the advice gents much appreciated

i wont be driving it, can't really

happy christmas

Tragedy

Same thing happened to me, dad fell badly on ice, driving over to drive family to hospital while he got ambulance, into an 18" kerb at about 10mph going around a corner. Front right of the bumper is scored(but not cracked in any way, half of the alloy is scuffed on the outer rim with one gouge.

Car was pulling to the right enough that I needed to keep the steering wheel angled at about 15degrees, swapped front wheels around to see what the damage was and if it would help.

Nothing cracked, broken or loose - did I get away with just tracking damage?

alo1587

Tragedy wrote: »

Same thing happened to me, dad fell badly on ice, driving over to drive family to hospital while he got ambulance, into an 18" kerb at about 10mph going around a corner. Front right of the bumper is scored(but not cracked in any way, half of the alloy is scuffed on the outer rim with one gouge.

Car was pulling to the right enough that I needed to keep the steering wheel angled at about 15degrees, swapped front wheels around to see what the damage was and if it would help.

Nothing cracked, broken or loose - did I get away with just tracking damage?

Probably bent a tie rod or track rod end on the steering.Tracking would probably sort it.Get a mechanic to check for damage first though

Tragedy

alo1587 wrote: »

Probably bent a tie rod or track rod end on the steering.Tracking would probably sort it.Get a mechanic to check for damage first though

Bah humbug, was hoping I could do the tracking first and see if that fixed it, but if it didn't I'd end up going twice.

Thanks