HELP! Ran over a water main cap.. bent wheel and front end damage

Title says it all.. This water main cap was flipped over right int the middle of the road and I hit it doing about 40. There was a car in front of me and I didn't see it before it was too late to turn. Maybe it flipped over when the guy in front drove over it but I'm not sure.... Hitting it was pretty violent to say the least, the cap had some decent weight to it and like 4 inches tall. My radio fell out, mirror went crooked and even my fuse box covers came off. I didn't make a police report and when i went back to see what was written on the cap it was gone... looked everywhere up/down the street. Luckily it happened a street away from home, drove it back at walking speed. Don't know if its worth my time calling the city/gas comp/water comp etc. My car is also fully covered but I don't know if something like this is normally covered.

Wheel is bent, tire unmounted itself, suspicious amount of play on the cv axle and who knows what else... Going to take a better look in the am when the suns up. What else could have been damaged that's not obvious (tie rod/ball joint/control arm/stabilizer link etc) Just want to be thorough.

Here's some pics to clarify:




WORST NIGHT EVER.. all help/input is greatly appreciated.

Lol. wtf.


Get the car towed home and jack it up. You should be able to identify any bent parts if any.

There is a good possibility there is cv axle damage though.

Hopefully your shocks absorbed must of the impact instead of going directly to the control arm and tie rods.

Have a lookie at one side of the car that's undamaged and then compare to the suspected side.

DonJulio said:

Lol. wtf.


Get the car towed home and jack it up. You should be able to identify any bent parts if any.

There is a good possibility there is cv axle damage though.

Hopefully your shocks absorbed must of the impact instead of going directly to the control arm and tie rods.

Have a lookie at one side of the car that's undamaged and then compare to the suspected side.

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Slack in the cv joint? There's supposed to be some right? The upper control arm smacked into the body right under the strut mount too.

There's supposed to be no play in the CV joint. Its attached by a lock nut. Its also locked in the trans by a ring which doesn't move all that much so if you have play something is wrong. What do you do to feel play in the joint? Is it at the joint itself or the she axle?

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osiris19 said:

There's supposed to be no play in the CV joint. Its attached by a lock nut. Its also locked in the trans by a ring which doesn't move all that much so if you have play something is wrong. What do you do to feel play in the joint? Is it at the joint itself or the she axle?

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Whole thing too to bottom has like half an inch of play if I rotate it back and forth

A little play should be there, but not a half inch. If the LCA, UCA, and the tie rods are still straight then just pop out the axle and replace it. Between that and a new wheel you're maybe out $160-$200. Sucks, but it happens.

Take it in for an alignment. Explain what happened and they should be able to tell you if you bent anything. They won't be able to tell you what you bent though.

After checking your suspension , did you get a chance to check if the wheel is just bent or cracked?

Merlins Beard said:

Take it in for an alignment. Explain what happened and they should be able to tell you if you bent anything. They won't be able to tell you what you bent though.

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This does not make any sense??? lol:lol: Bring it in and they should be able to tell you then you say they wont be able to tell u?? wtf?!?! hahaha..why even bother in:lol:


Sorry bout your car man...i had the same situation happen to me..but i ran into one of those seams thats a point when going into a highway..it was so dark and yellow lights everyday and raining extremely hard..that when i hit it at 40 the whole coil over itself busted through the engine bay...the weird part everything was fine just had to get an alignment...and was fixed, but left the hole in the bay that i would need to get welded..

So i hope everything for you is just as easy :thumbs up

They can tell you something is bent because the angles will not be level, but they won't tell you what exactly is bent. They probably will those. If the angles are off, the numbers will be significantly away from spec and the mechanic can pinpoint where its bent.

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LsTeg97 said:

This does not make any sense??? lol:lol: Bring it in and they should be able to tell you then you say they wont be able to tell u?? wtf?!?! hahaha..why even bother in:lol:

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They can say if something is bent due to the suspension geometry being out of tolerance.

They can't say what you bent because they do alignments and won't examine all the components.

Makes sense to me to spend $60 to find out if you have anything bent instead of just looking at it and guessing.

Good luck fighting it with the city. Don't wast your time or money.
I fought mine and I hired a lawyer. The city gave up after 2 years. DOT took off the pavement and no sign or orange cones, etc. Manhole was sticking way to high it crack my JDM 4-1 down pipe, took out my Skunk2 cat-back plus the muffler.

Merlins Beard said:

They can say if something is bent due to the suspension geometry being out of tolerance.

They can't say what you bent because they do alignments and won't examine all the components.

Makes sense to me to spend $60 to find out if you have anything bent instead of just looking at it and guessing.

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hmmmm...good info man...i did not know that...Thanks

Try insurance anyways. At the worst, you'll be in the same situation you are now


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