Whats this? Should it be this bent?

http://www.showoffyourcar.com/cars/TOYOTA/13732.JPG

Hit a tad of black ice last night, and now the car pulls to the right so badly it's not drivable:woot: :woot:

So my question is, what is this and should it be bent like this? If not then how much will it cost to fix?

Chris

Um mucho bento and nope its not meant to be

Jesus Christ!!!

i wouldnt drive it, iirc it costs £158 for a new Lower Control Arm from Steve Manley at Oxford Inchcape Toyota!

What did you hit after the black ice?

wtf, tell the full story, that sort of damage..ouch

i just had to get one of them! bent mine exactly the same! not big job tho. i bought a brand new one. but found one second hand for £117

Nice

Kind of embarrassing really.

We went out for a curry in Notts last night with some friends, on the way home, about 11 'o clock we were on a bit of dual carrageway so I thought I'd be really clever and undertake him:idea: . Not going mega fast, about 50 (he was driving a smart car), aproached a roundabout going downhill, started braking. Nothing happened apart from ABS going crazy, no steering and no slowing down

Then just glided over the bit that guides you onto roundabout:ecstatic: Oh how we laughed

Then just kind of limped home feeling like a right plonker:no:

lol. unlucky. there is nothing you can do when the abs is doing its stuff. its bloody good but sometimes maybe too good. sounds like you have got off lightly!!!

thats doesnt look too safe

If the ABS is doing its "thing" you aint got no grip with or without it you are sliding into destiny. a dented arm is getting off cheap it could be a helluva lot worse.

can't you just bend it back?

I know its not the text book way of doing things but would it work.

did you get no other damage???? u lucky &£&*&%$£$%^

Stress in that type of metal would almost certainly result in failure of the component if you bent it back. Its cast metal and as such very granular. Distorting it in the fashion you have done will have caused shears across the grains. Picture those funny sand pictures you can buy move them about and the grains inside shift. same thing happens in cast metals. Weak points will be generated and only small forces will cause complete shearing across grain structure resulting in cracking and probably complete snapping of the component.

Laymans terms NO you can't bend it straight again unless you use some serious heat treatment.

glad your ok . just put some more lead on the wheels

glad your ok . just put some more lead on the wheels

Nope just put a big chock of wood under the accelerator pedal

Is it cast though, Bry? I was always told that cast doesn't bend, it just snaps.

well its not machined thats for sure. Its not cast iron like you are probably thinking. It'll be a form of cast mild steel. The surface is strong with a finer grain a bit like a skin but underneath it'll be very sandy in grain structure.

Yeah, I've just been reading up about it. I always thought all cast ferrous was cast iron. Seems I was mistaken.

I remember smashing old cast iron baths with a 14lb sledge in my dad's scrapyard. They shatter like glass if you hit them hard enough.

try smacking an anvil directly with a hammer I'd wear safety glasses though.

you might want to get that hub carrier checked too. also allow for having the alignment redone

Could be a steel drop-forging. I'd be surprised if a cast part would take that kind of bending.

OH ok I was just generalising. Drop forging is just pressurised casting and the grain structure in both cast and forged materials are very similar albeit drop forged molecular structure will be tighter packed.

Whatever it is, it's f*cked

-Ian

...on the PLUS side, it's good to know that there is considerable margin of damage there before it gives up.

Well built the Supra, I bet another make would have left you stranded with the wheel hanging at a weird angle.

(I do hope that the 'bend it back' posts were meant to be funny )