Techno Duck

Well to make a long story short, i went into one of my favorite turns a little bit to hot, didnt realize there was a fresh patch of sand laid down due to an accident earlier and the rear end broke loose (rear tires are also completley bald). Anyhow the car oversteered and i slid right into a curb. I believe the drivers side wheel hit first based on the skid marks after i went back to see what exactly happened.

Anyhow aside from a slightly cracked valance (it was cracked already) the car is completley fine. I threw the car up on a lift at a friends place and everything appears fine, no cracked control arm, bent struts...etc. Wheels are not bent either. However the steering is waaaay off right now. I have a feeling i may have damaged the power steering rack in the impact. The steering wheel sits at about 1/4 of a turn to the right while the car tracks straight. Also when bringing the car lock to lock.. the usual affirmative 'stop' you feel when the rack reaches full extension feels kinda strange..its almost like i can bring it past that stop and it feels a little 'mushy'..hard to explain. I am not loosing any powersteering fluid however.

I am almost 100% sure its the rack thats damaged.. but was wondering if anyone had a similar experience with this kind of thing happening.

Not to broken up about it, **** happens and its my own fault.

JohanvdWalt

If you were from any other country I would say find a nice busy section of road, take it up to top speed and if it feels unstable weaving through traffic you should probably have it checked out at the next service.

Since I do not like being sued I would rather advice you to have it checked out immediately though.

ehall

check your tie rods and alignment.

Luis de Prat

I'll second ehall in that you most likely have a bent tie rod.

Also, if the rear wheels hit the curb at all, you'll be hearing some grinding noises from the back in short order, i.e. the rear wheel bearings will need replacing on the side you hit. Good luck.

Techno Duck

Hey guys, thanks for the info. The rear did not hit the curb at all thankfully.

I am going to check everything again later today with a fresh mind and some sleep behind me. I will give the tie rods another look over.

From the procedure on Clarks-Garage it dosent seem terribly difficult, however i am wondering if its 'do-able' to change the entire tie-rod assembly with the rack still in the car?

I will report back with my findings later today.. .

924RACR

Quite possible you shifted the rack in its mountings. But readily adjusted with tie rods. Check also for bent rims of course, and the other critical items are possibly bent control arms - front and/or rear. BTDT on all of these parts. A really bad hit in the rear can not only bend a rim, it can also bend the rear control arm and even shatter CV's. The front right control arm is the only original one on my racecar, and I suspect that won't last much longer.

jeff522

You may have lost a balancing weight on on of the rims.I lost one once and I had to keep the wheel turned to track strait.What clued us in to the problem,In hard braking the car would track strait.One thing to remember very small changes in alignment,or very minamal bending of front end components can have dramatic results.Eye balling it may miss the problem.

ibkevin

It's easy, just be sure to disengage the assembly's tang from the rack before trying to unscrew it. In my case I had to cold chisel it.

Techno Duck

Have the car up on ramps going over everything again, honestly i do not see anything wrong.. but the steering is defenetley outta whack. I exaggerated a bit when i said it was off by about 1/4 of a turn. Its more like it points at the 1:00 position instead of 12:00 when the wheels are straight.

Another thing is my drivers side wheel, which i believe hit the curb first and was probably pushed outwards by the impact seems to have much more toe-out compared to the passenger side wheel. Or atleast when the passenger side wheel is eye'balled straight on the lift, the drivers side wheel sticks out pretty noticably. I dont really understand how this could happen without something visibily being broken or bent.

I am going to take a slow ride around the block and take both wheels off to further inspect everything..and if i cant figure out whats wrong will bring it to a indy Porsche shop on monday to see if they can figure it out.

I checked the power steering rack and it is still secured to the crossmember.

If anything i just hope it knocked the alignment outta whack. But i may end up changing the both tie rods anyhow just to play it safe, they arent terribly expensive.

Luis de Prat

Sounds like you just need an alignment. Hoping you're lucky!

Techno Duck

Oh believe me, i hope i am lucky also. I am a little pissed i was reckless enough to let this happen, but a combonation of bald tires, coming in way to hot and the sand was my own recipie of trouble. I am just happy i did not do any serious damage to the body (i hate body work). I was entirely expecting to see the entire front valance ripped off.. but to my suprised it chipped off some of my Krylon spray can touch up from last week and cracked the inside a bit more. Other than that.. everything was alright... didnt even crack the fog lenses!

Here is a picture showing how the passenger side wheel appears to be tracked straight, but the drivers side looks way off. I dont know the circumstances of this photo, where the steering wheel was...etc. I plan to double check this later when i get back to the shop and have the car up on the lift again.



I am not entirely sure how the toe out could have been knocked out of whack so badly.. i thought the toe was set via the threaded tie rods? I doubt the impact was enough to make the rods 'skip' the teeth on the threads. Its entirely possible it was like this to begin with because i did change the control arms last week and did not get a wheel alingment yet. But then again the steering lock to lock feels a bit funny like i mentioned in the first post.

Jfrahm

The front control arm rear bushing/eccentric has probably shifted. If it is loose it can be moved around a bit. You could upgrade to 968 bushings and get a new alignment if that is the case.

-Joel.

mein51

I'd go in for an alignment and maybe get your wheels re-balanced. That way you will know where to start with replacing stuff if you need to.

Techno Duck

I greatley appreciate all of the info. I am going to try and adjust the caster block a bit as Joel said.. it is possible it shifted.

That above picture is most likely with the steering wheel straight, i just double checked this with the front end on jack stands.

I am going to take the car in to get a alignment done hopefully monday or tuesday depending when they have time.. hopefully it just needs an alignment done. Ill explain my story and see what turns up. I figure they will be able to better tell me what the problem is anyhow with the car up on a lift and being aided by the comptuer alignment.

jeeper31

Jon,
Hope it all works out. We do have an outocross on sundady and you are the persistant one!