It's the age old story... went onto a round about and didn't come off!

Was only doing 15 but brakes did nothing! Snow was fresh and just compacted under my wheels turning me into a sled! 15, it seems, was to fast (never driven in snow before.. only had licence 2 years)

Front Passenger wheel has moved towards the back of the car and is now touching the wing & liner! wheels not popped or anything, not even much kerbing.. Still got steering (straight, right but not left as wheel hits arch liner) Drive and suspension. no warning lights.

But, upsettingly, I thought it had just been mechanical, went out in the day light and I've bent the bottom of the wing too, and cracked the paint! :(

Do we think it'll be cheaper to repair the wing or find a black magic spare from another fabia? They're only little, any one had to pay for a new wing, was it expensive? is Black Magic a difficult colour to match?

Thanks

Rob. :(

PICTURES ADDED!

Wheel in Arch,

Wheel Damage,

Very Twisted Wishbone!

Not quite at the right angle!

Edited 5 February, 200917 yr by reflex88
PICTURES ADDED

I would be less worried about the cost of the wing compared to the rest of the damage...

Good point!

I'm hoping it's not catastrophic though as the wheels not bent.. just in the wrong place and everything apparently seems to still work.

I bought my car with similar damage and it had bent the bottom arm, steering rack arm and drive shaft. Just to give you an idea of what you might have to replace.

Do you have full comp insurance? How much is your excess?? Might be cheaper to go through them to get it repaired, but I’d get the wheel off and have a good look to assess the damage before making the insurance aware of it.

I already called Hastings. I have 2 years no claims unprotected, so claiming could actually cost me more in the long run!

The lady advised me to get it looked at and see how much it will cost before contacting them again.. so by the sounds of it they've not noted anything. She was very good actually, very aware of the fact I stood to loose my bonus.

I actually phoned up to ask if, as it was technically an accident, I had to report it to the police (the AA saw it as a road traffic accident you see).. she sounded confused and told me no, it didn't need reporting if no other road users were involved.

TokyoPhil, Did your car drive when you bought it? Wouldn't a bent drive shaft mean loss of drive?

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Was only doing 15 but brakes did nothing! .

That might have been the problem - don't brake next time LoL

My step-mum's Peugeot 406's ABS was so sensitive to snow it would not allow her to brake anything more than very very slowly.

Hope you can get the car sorted soon.

IIRC abs does not activate until over those speeds, as the blocked wheel should dig into the snow and slow you. I could be wrong in that that speed may be lower.

I was in Holland years ago when the ESP really kept the car on the road, without it it would have slid sideways too. Admittedly I powered it with a vengeance where I probably shouldn't have though

Hope it works out for the best, and that it is not too expensive.

Funny you should say that about the ABS. I know it works cuz I've felt the pedal pump in the past..but yesterday, didn't notice it pumping much, if at all so i think your right!

No I didn't as the wheel was pushed back into the wing, it wouldn't stop drive but you'd feel a vibration through the front of the car and the steering wheel as you picked up speed I guess.

I'm not saying yours has definately done that but i'm just giving you and idea of what could be damaged. The good thing is it can be repaired at somewhere that specialises in drive shafts and the rack arms can be replaced without taking the rack off the car although it is a bit awkward to get at.

Funny you should say that about the ABS. I know it works cuz I've felt the pedal pump in the past..but yesterday, didn't notice it pumping much, if at all so i think your right!

The ABS wouldn't kick in if you've got all four wheels locked anyway because as far as the ECU would be concerned you're stationary!! lol.

The ABS wouldn't kick in if you've got all four wheels locked anyway because as far as the ECU would be concerned you're stationary!! lol.

Genius! lol!

Thanks for the heads up on what to expect... looks like the savings are going down again this year!.. and SWMBO has just booked us a holiday!

At the least I've got a spare wheel so should shave a tiny bit off, hopefully as I'm sure the wheel, though not looking bent, is toast.

Anyone know if it's possible to retrofit ESP?

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Does the tyre still hold air or was that damaged in the accident??

No, still fully inflated! lost a tiny bit of the extra edge that's there to protect the rim, but nothing structural..

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The kerbing on the wheel doesn't even look that bad, by no means bad enough to have caused the damage..so must have just clipped the whole thing at the wrong angle and wrong speed!

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If the wheel's knocked back you pretty much must have bent the chassis leg, or pulled the support arm out of the chassis I think. This could get expensive because we're looking at possible chassis damage.

Nah - the lower arm sits on a subframe - you'd bend that before you bent the chassis leg. If the wheel is relatively un-damaged then I recon you'll only want a lower arm and a tracking check.

You going to investigate the damage yourself or take it straight to a garage?

i done this last year, hit a kerb side on at about 15mph.

damage included:

2 alloys

Front hub and carrier

wishbone

track rod

Trust me; that depends on the design of the subframe, although you'd probably bend it before the chassis leg. I still think it's a job for a good bodyshop to look at first.

Don't forget it could have damaged your CV joint. A few years back I bumped into a kerb with my micra only to have it the CV boot pop off. Unfortunately I didn't notice this and a few months later all the grease had spun out and caused my CV joint to fail.

shame to hear about your damage.

I actually phoned up to ask if, as it was technically an accident, I had to report it to the police (the AA saw it as a road traffic accident you see).. she sounded confused and told me no, it didn't need reporting if no other road users were involved.

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unless you have hit something else i.e. street furnishing (sign post) or another vehicle or person then basically no. A copper said to me when i wrote my car off years ago that even through i had hit a tree there was nothing there that would need to claim on my insurance and nothing (apart from my car) that needed replacing.

I sympathise just limped my car to my local dealer and dumped in the middle of the sales forecourt which should please!! as suspected bent steering rack arm only at 5mph not good

good luck with yours!

Marcus

Thanks for all the support guys!

I was on my way to work when it happened and was only 2min round the corner heading in.. after waiting 4 hours for the AA's rescue i took the (hopefully not super stupid) decision to slowly take it round the corner to work where I could leave it.

My mechanic (Ken) is gunna collect it as soon as he gets a chance to investigate. I trust he knows what he's looking for as he's just sorted out a leon that had worse damage (went over a central reservation).. he didn't actually do the repair, it was repaired on insurance but still drove odd.. he had to do the investigation into the approved repair to find the bugs still in there and sort them.

And also, he re-built the front sub frame on my last Fabia after it became apparent it'd had a iffy repair before I bought it (all the bushes failed at once on me as well as the driver side bearing.. the PAS pump had gone 2 months earlier)..

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Pix added to original post!

I did this but was more than 15mph lol. I ended up replacing both struts, hubs, one wishbone, one driveshaft and the wheels. I didnt push the wheel into the wing though. Guess thats just unlucky. Hope all goes well and you get it sorted soon.

Edit: Also my seatbelt pretensioner..............

Twisted wishbone, and bent steering arm. Suspect a deranged driveshaft too.