Help.. Got in accident

[Kyle Jilbert]

Well.. Basically roads were wet and I took a corner too hot... And hit a pole. Actually not as much damage as I thought, but I'm not covered for a collision like this, and I've put a lot time and money into this car so I don't want to part it out or sell it to a junkyard or anything. In in high school, so I'm in a super tight budget but I want to do some of the work my self to save money.

These are the best pics I have at the moment I'll try and get better ones tomorrow. I drove home from where I crashed (only a minute drive on a back road) and the alighment seems real bad and the steering wheels super shaky, an alighment after everything is fixed should fix this, right?

It looks like what I'll need is the radiator support, radiator, bumper reinforcement bar, and bumper. Doesn't look like anything else is damaged to me but what do i know. I'll need a shop to weld the rad support on, but everything else I should be able to do myself

What do you guys think? Does anything else look damaged? How much do you think I should expect to pay overall if I'm doing most of the work myself except the welding?


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[dancam]

Looks easy. Headlight and hood are not damaged? Brackets below headlight? No a/c?


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[daperez13]

The damage does not look too bad on the pictures but unfortunately, we cannot really tell you what is or isn't damaged. The pictures do not depict if there's damage elsewhere other than what's being shown. You can try to take it to a body shop, get an estimate and see what they say. Generally, they'll list most of the parts they plan on replacing so you can get an idea.

The alignment is a bit concerning because you may notice that it's not the same as before the accident. Will you will need to inspect everything that's related to it and fix/replace any damaged components. You should be able to do a lot of the work yourself but this stuff is not easy, you need a lot of leverage to straighten out the frame and get things to align.

 

[Kyle Jilbert]

Looks easy. Headlight and hood are not damaged? Brackets below headlight? No a/c?


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Headlights are fine, but the brackets underneath them are bent. The hood doesn't sit flush on top of the right headlight probably because of the radiator support(?), but looks fine otherwise.

And no I do have ac, so I guess that would be my ac condenser that's damaged instead of the radiator, my bad


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[Diana Nam]

that crash bar can be removed, you can get another one for cheap. I don't even have one on my car, find these parts new or used are all over the Internet and your local junk yard and etc...

 

[HeX]

This is a valuable lesson I hope you learn: If you cant afford unexpected repairs then drive more carefully.

The crash bar should be cheap and easy to find at a junkyard being that your in California. In the meantime, I suggest you get some rope or a long chain, tie the crash bar to a buddy's car, then have them slowly pull until its as close to straight as you can get. After that you can install another crash bar because your straightened the mounting points enough to fit it on, in theory of course. You might get lucky enough to fix the bends well enough off that until you can afford a professional repair.

My concern for you is the affected steering. From the impact angle, I would guess you may have bent the chassis which you cannot fix yourself. Make sure to inspect the control arms, rack & pinion and where the steering column connects to it. Post some pictures of all that when you can. Good luck.

 

[Kyle Jilbert]

This is a valuable lesson I hope you learn: If you cant afford unexpected repairs then drive more carefully.

The crash bar should be cheap and easy to find at a junkyard being that your in California. In the meantime, I suggest you get some rope or a long chain, tie the crash bar to a buddy's car, then have them slowly pull until its as close to straight as you can get. After that you can install another crash bar because your straightened the mounting points enough to fit it on, in theory of course. You might get lucky enough to fix the bends well enough off that until you can afford a professional repair.

My concern for you is the affected steering. From the impact angle, I would guess you may have bent the chassis which you cannot fix yourself. Make sure to inspect the control arms, rack & pinion and where the steering column connects to it. Post some pictures of all that when you can. Good luck.

Here's some more pics of the frame damage, I bought a new crash bar and hammered the mounting point into as good of shape as it'll get to where the crash bar will actually fit around it and bolt down.

I'll get pictures of the suspension later, I looked at it briefly and it looks fine, I'll drive it around in my neighborhood later today and see if it feels funky


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[NeedsMoreLow]

So is the radiator fine then? I hit a deer not long ago and it punctured my radiator no problem.


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[Kyle Jilbert]

So is the radiator fine then? I hit a deer not long ago and it punctured my radiator no problem.


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Yeah, radiator is fine but AC condensed is crushed




New crash bar installed and lights in, now the headlights don't line up correctly with the hood or fenders , and the hood doesn't stay locked shut(hood latch?)

Also fender doesn't line up with passenger door.

Think the frame is bent? Would this even be worth repairing or just parting out the car?


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[NeedsMoreLow]

View attachment 26962

New crash bar installed and lights in, now the headlights don't line up correctly with the hood or fenders , and the hood doesn't stay locked shut(hood latch?)

Also fender doesn't line up with passenger door.

Think the frame is bent? Would this even be worth repairing or just parting out the car?


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It very well sounds like a bent frame. For what it's worth, the hood latch is probably just bent backward. You can bend or hammer it back into place if that's the case.


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[Diana Nam]

you can always tweek the hood and fender to fit nicer again