Long Island Legacy Posted August 3, 2009 Share Posted August 3, 2009 What is the best way to determine if a control arm is bent. I pretty sure I bent mine RH one when I had a off track excursion with my car. By the looks of it i cant tell if one side looks different then the other but my steering wheel is not centered when the car is going straight. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PeterJMC Posted August 3, 2009 Share Posted August 3, 2009 +1. I went over a curb or should I say parking garage island... ... and would like to know if I bent my A arms too. I know my alignment went out of whack but my A arms look pretty straight. I guess I could put a straight edge to it and really find out if they are straight but are they really straight from the factory? Surprisingly my 18" Prodrives weren't bent. I hit and I went over that thing at what must have been 10mph. The Fumoto valve lost use of it's arm but held the oil in the pan without problems. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Long Island Legacy Posted August 3, 2009 Author Share Posted August 3, 2009 by the visual inspection everything looks okay besides the fact that my alignments is deff off. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MadMontie1 Posted August 4, 2009 Share Posted August 4, 2009 if your lower control arm is bent, your wheel will likely look further back in the wheel opening on one side versus the other. damage to the lower control arm is generally something you can see if you have both wheels off to look. if it is only slightly bent, you may need to have the vehicle up on a lift so you can measure off some points to tell; such as from the lower ball joint to the bolt that holds in the lower control arm on the subframe. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bolksey85 Posted August 4, 2009 Share Posted August 4, 2009 Any pulling of the vehicle one way or another is also a sign. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Long Island Legacy Posted August 4, 2009 Author Share Posted August 4, 2009 Any pulling of the vehicle one way or another is also a sign. I have this problem, when my wheel is centered I get a hard pull to the right. to get the car to go straight it needs to be slightly turned to the left. Sound like a tweaked control arm? could it be bent just so slightly that I cant see it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
schwinn Posted August 4, 2009 Share Posted August 4, 2009 I'd imagine an alignment shop can tell you where the problem is. It could be a bent tie rod, or the arm... either way, they can tell you that... and either way, you need to get an alignment... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
j0ebert Posted August 4, 2009 Share Posted August 4, 2009 There's a good chance it just put your toe way out of wack... see what an alignment shop says. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Long Island Legacy Posted August 4, 2009 Author Share Posted August 4, 2009 I hope that's the case. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bolksey85 Posted August 5, 2009 Share Posted August 5, 2009 I have this problem, when my wheel is centered I get a hard pull to the right. to get the car to go straight it needs to be slightly turned to the left. Sound like a tweaked control arm? could it be bent just so slightly that I cant see it. Something in the front end is tweaked. Could be control arm, could be tie rod. Whatever it is, don't wait too long because it will quickly eat up tires and can become dangerous to drive. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Long Island Legacy Posted August 5, 2009 Author Share Posted August 5, 2009 when the car is off and i jossle the wheel there is a clunking./clicking noise from the wheel that was impacted. Sounds like a tie rod issue to me Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
schwinn Posted August 5, 2009 Share Posted August 5, 2009 Yup, sounds like an inner tie rod or bushing issue... tie rods are weak. Have it looked at soon Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Long Island Legacy Posted August 5, 2009 Author Share Posted August 5, 2009 Yup, sounds like an inner tie rod or bushing issue... tie rods are weak. Have it looked at soon hmm does anyone have the part # on the inner tie rod? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kmount Posted August 5, 2009 Share Posted August 5, 2009 It is hard to tell if an a arm is bent. we bend them all the time on our rally car...hold them up to one another is like the only way to tell Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Long Island Legacy Posted August 6, 2009 Author Share Posted August 6, 2009 Okay Update!!! When I jossle the wheel there is a clunking noise coming from the Tie rod. With the wheel removed, i was banging on the tie rod and it made the same noise. Like something is loose but I cant seem to find out where. ??? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
schwinn Posted August 6, 2009 Share Posted August 6, 2009 Inner tie rod? Usually located within the boot on the steering rack... so it's not immediately visible. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
05gtlimited300 Posted August 6, 2009 Share Posted August 6, 2009 inner or outer? if its outer replace it with the whiteline roll center kit. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
captainobvious Posted July 4, 2013 Share Posted July 4, 2013 I think i have a slightly bend control arm. My swaybar is pushed slightly back and keeps eating the urethane bushing. The drivers side is perfect and the car just had an alignment as well. But the swaybar i have , whiteline 22mm keeps wedging the bushing and ripping it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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