hit a curb in the snow... should i get it checked?
 

hi everyone,

so with the snowstorm today, coming back from the grocerys, I turned into a corner too fast and hit a curb with my left front side wheel, i think the speed was about 25km/h, so far after hitting the curve, there are no symptoms from it... the wheels are a little bit scratched on the edge, but doesn't seem like it's bent... should I get this checked out at all or do you guys think it's fine?

Re: hit a curb in the snow... should i get it checked?
 

At the very least I'd pull the wheel off and have a look at the control arms. Check for cracks and excessive play. They should be solid, no wiggle-room.

While the wheel is off, check it out for cracks and dents.

If you don't find anything obvious, slap the wheel back on and consider yourself lucky, but continue to pay attention to any steering issues and weird sounds coming from the area in question.

You're probably fine. :)

Re: hit a curb in the snow... should i get it checked?
 

thanks for the input, i might get that checked out, btw i found one symptom but im not sure if it's related to the accident or not at all, when i turn the wheel to the right, it comes back straight pretty fast, but when i turn it left, it seems like it takes more time to come back. I might just be feeling that way but im not sure. Would this be related at all?

Re: hit a curb in the snow... should i get it checked?
 

i would recommend getting it checked out in that case

Re: hit a curb in the snow... should i get it checked?
 

That is a pretty good hit so you may want to throw it on an alignment rack and have it inspected just to be safe. On a VW of a similar year that hit could have bent the lower control arm or the tie-rod so you have have tweaked something. The car should return to centre the same turning left or right so you may have adjusted things a little so it is worth checking. The last thing you want is to have a failure when you are at speed and things are under more stress but a quick visual inspection and an alignment rack should let you know if there are problems.

Re: hit a curb in the snow... should i get it checked?
 

Thanks guys, Do you recommend an independent audi mechanic or should I just go to Canadian tire?

Re: hit a curb in the snow... should i get it checked?
 

Given that choice it would be an alignment shop or an independent shop that can align cars and specialize in Audi. I would try to avoid the dealer if possible because their prices are pretty steep and I would avoid Canadian Tire at any cost. I would just expain the accident and have them do a quick check and make sure nothing is bent or broken. If the car doesn't pull one way or the other the alignment is far out so there may not be a problem.

Re: hit a curb in the snow... should i get it checked?
 

Thanks very much corrado guy, Im not sure if my mechanic can do alignment but I'll ask him tomorrow first thing in the morning. The car barely pulls to one side or another, but I want to be sure. :p will post the results tomorrow, hopefully it's not too costly?

Re: hit a curb in the snow... should i get it checked?
 

The costly part depends if anything is damaged, I'm more of a VW guy so I don't know how these cars are designed to be hit. On the VW models the control arm is designed to bend and then the tie-rod and if it is a hard enough hit you can damage the wheel bearing. The angle at which you hit the curb will make the difference, if it was just a light kiss then there will be little to no damage but if it was a hard hit (body/car jarring) then you may have more damage. The rim usually sees the brunt of the hit so if you just have scuffs on the rim and sidewall then there is probably little to no physical damage to the car.

If your mechanic doesn't do alignments then he can take 10 - 30 minutes and do a quick check and then use their recommendations to decide whether it really needs an alignment.

Re: hit a curb in the snow... should i get it checked?
 

Thanks very much, I'm guessing these cars are very similar to VW's, my rim is left with scuffs on the edge which almost looks identical to ones you get from kissing the curb when parallel parking... the angle was almost parallel to the curb but wheels aren't bent or anything, just scuffs.

Re: hit a curb in the snow... should i get it checked?
 

If there is damage to control arms your steering wheel will be off, so you would know right away. Is it?

If it is not you do not need to check anything with the mechanic.

The real problem is with your differential. Nobody will be able to tell for sure. If there is damage to it you will know in a week or so when it falls into pieces.

It appears the you forward speed was 25km/hr. What was your estimated "lateral speed"?

The damage happens when you slam on your brakes and hit. In your case the wheels were turning at the impact point so the force was distributed evenly among many parts. Also you have aluminum wheels and aluminum is pliable. It acts as spring cushioning the impact.
So for these reasons I say that you do not have damage.

Re: hit a curb in the snow... should i get it checked?
 

Adam: I'd say my lateral speed hitting the curve was around 10km/h or less. I hit the curb with my wheel and tire parallel to it, it's not pulling to either side, is the damage with differential common with this type of accidents? I'm not familiar with the mechanical terms especially wjat the differential does... Help?

Re: hit a curb in the snow... should i get it checked?
 

Do not worry With 10 km hour there is no damage Just forget about it

Re: hit a curb in the snow... should i get it checked?
 

haha okay, thanks for the input adam!

Re: hit a curb in the snow... should i get it checked?
 

If you hit the curb hard enough to push your your knuckle in which means bending the control arms you can compress the inner and outer cv joints and once they are fully compressed the drive shaft will push right into the differential housing. You have to compress the driveshaft to do this which is a pretty hard hit and I don't think you would be wondering if this were going to be a problem.

In accidents like this it depends which way the mass of the car is moving in relation to the curb as this will dictate how much damage there will be. If you are coming at a curb at a 45 degree angle at speed it is obviously going to either take the wheel off of the car or try to bend it under it. If you brush the curb at a one or two degree angle then you will probably do nothing to the car. The more you increase the angle of intersection the more damage the car will likely receive. Judging by how you describe the hit it doesn't sound like your car has taken much of a hit.

I kid you not, I was driving behind someone who totally side-swiped a curb while driving at about 50 - 60 kph and then jumped up onto a curb then proceeded to almost take out a light standard only to jump back down onto the road to side-swipe the curb again. Pretty much nothing but brake lights and elbows but they didn't even break stride or stop to see if the car was damaged. If cars can live through things like this then I don't think you will have any problems.

In side hit accidents you really need to worry about wheel bearings, tie-rods, control arms, and it is a hard enough hit you can also bend the frame or impact the driveshaft and take out the transmission/diff.

Re: hit a curb in the snow... should i get it checked?
 

He may have torn seal on the bearing at worst. It would show a year from now

Re: hit a curb in the snow... should i get it checked?
 

thanks again corrado guy, as you mentioned that the less angle the wheel meets the curb, the less hit it'll be. I was thinking that after the impact. I've searched on other threads and found many horror stories with huge bills regarding accidents like this... most likely not gonna be my problem i'm hoping. I will take it to the mechanic just to be sure and will post results tomorrow.

Re: hit a curb in the snow... should i get it checked?
 

My son recently did the same thing with our Honda. Had a damaged rim and bent tie rods. Cost to fix it which included two new tires and a new rim was $1K. You def knew something was wrong. The steering wheel was shaking violently when driving. If you are experiencing no symptoms I would let it go for now. On the other hand it for peace of mind have it checked out the next time you get your oil changed or similar.

Re: hit a curb in the snow... should i get it checked?
 

mikeh: will do as told. thanks for the input!

Re: hit a curb in the snow... should i get it checked?
 

Brave boy! Everybody does it one time or another. You didn't give him hard time.. Did you? What tires do you have on the Honda?
Ps Like father like son You did not join the Police because you are afraid Sometimes I am not pleased with my 15 year old going 160 and yet I think where did she get this from. She saw the picture of 911 that you posted and she wants it no doubt! We appreciate the picture as this is the first time when we heard the word Please Dad in 2 years.

Re: hit a curb in the snow... should i get it checked?
 

Results: Took it to the mechanic, he says everything looks fine and im very lucky. Thank god!! I'll slow down a little bit more from now on. Maybe we should name this thread "awd is not invincible in the winter" :p

Re: hit a curb in the snow... should i get it checked?
 

I am glad to hear Told ya!

Re: hit a curb in the snow... should i get it checked?
 

That's great to hear and nothing is invincible in the snow but a Quattro comes close. Make sure you have proper Arctic condition snow tires and not all seasons because all seasons are designed for all seasons but they are not designed for all conditions.

Re: hit a curb in the snow... should i get it checked?
 

corrado_guy: funny that you mention the winter tires.... This is my first winter with the A4 and I thought all seasons would last me okay over the winter cuz it's a quattro... but i guess wrong. I think I'm gonna stay with all seasons this winter, but actually consider winters next year.

Re: hit a curb in the snow... should i get it checked?
 

I don't know about where you live but in British Columbia it is a law that you have Arctic condition snow tires for winter and if you are in adverse weather and get in an accident you will not be covered by insurance. All season tires are not winter tires so take it easy in the snow and on black ice or you could find yourself in more trouble. The tread design and rubber are not formulated for snow or ice so you will not have full control with these on the car. I have 3 cars with 6 sets of tires and rims so each car has summers and winters so I can get the most out of each set.

Re: hit a curb in the snow... should i get it checked?
 

And this kind of crap makes me love ALBERTA.

It is not enough that they slammed you with PST now they had to come up with some idea how to get more money from BC people so they ordered everybody to spend $1,000.00 on tires, so they can pay for Coquihalla.

It is absolutely insane when I think about your taxation system, and your prices are ridicolous. I spend 30 days a year in BC and I put aside twice the money that I would spend in Alberta during the same period of time. They get you everywhere with double or triple pricing. Gas is ridicolous too. A week ago I saw $1.46 per liter. You truly need to get this Sara Palin to change citizenship and become your next premier, because next thing you know they may charge you with tax for living and breathing!

Re: hit a curb in the snow... should i get it checked?
 

You do not have to slow down that much, but I would suggest to make it a habit to pump your brakes often to check the surface. The drivers behind you will adjust.

I hit the curb once a year on average, but this is the price that I pay for my playing with snow and driving offroad or on the side of the road, so I budget for it.

The worst that happened to me was rear wheel bearing that lost its seal and the damage surfaced 6 months later.

On the Jetta however the wheel pushed the differential to the other side and it was at the speed of 30 km/hr lateral.

One thing to remember when being in this situation is to steer straight at the curb. This way you will avoid the damage.