so....
Several weeks ago, I was headed-home from work late, around 8pm-ish. We've got a "roundy-round" newly installed on the back side of the commute, in an area where there is not enough traffic to warrant a stoplight, or even a stop sign. So of course, being how I am, I like to go around that thing SIDEWAYS......

So the other night I've got some goof in a BMW trying to race me on the road leading-up to it. I ignored him.... 'til we got to the "Roundy-Round", and then I nailed it....

But I did it from the outside lane. And when the car started rotating, as it normally does, I realized I was much closer to the curb than I expected. Now, at this point, I could've backed-off the gas, let the wheels hook-up, and missed the curb... but the BEEMER woulda passed me.... so I stayed on the gas and bou nced it off the curb! (I really thought I was more mature than this....but apparently I was mistaken)

end resault: two bent wheels, out of alignment.
I replaced the wheels easily enough from Ebay. But the alignment is a diferent issue. I've bent something. We've got it as close as possible with the adjustment available, but I know when snow starts flying I'm not gonna be happy with it.
And now I can't get my JTIS to work properly.

HELP!
looking around under the car, I can see no signs of bent trailing arms, etc etc. Nothing seems broken. No cracked paint.

I'm betting I bent the wheel / hub carrier.
Any of y'all have any experience here?
help?

 

first, my congratulations on that monumental win... did you spend your prize money and mount that trophy in your living room?

I know, im just razzin ya, but I am sorry you ended up with some bent suspension for your heroics. Not sure what you bent, but more xtype guys will be along soon to give you some ideas.

Reinstall JTIS if you have an issue with yours, can't hurt.

 

Which wheels did you bend, exactly? Both the front and rear passenger side?

 

exactly!

The front re-aligned fine. the rear is out still a couple degrees of positive camber (the bottom of the wheel kicks INWARD)

 

WOW! That HURTS!

It would hurt more, if I weren't the guy who coined the phrase: "Sometimes mean is still funny"......

 

You bent something hoss. Thermo is our resident rear suspension expert and maybe he will chime in. You could have a small bend in any number of rear suspension bits, including the axle shaft, hub, control arm, etc. Sorry I can't be of more help without looking at the thing myself, it's one of those "a-ha" type things. You'll know it when you see it. Grab a straight edge and measuring tape and start looking for an anomoly. It's gonna suck.

I gotta give ya props for coming clean about how it happened. Way to man up.And for getting your X in a 4 wheel drift. No small feat unless you have bald tires on an icy road. You either got some skills or are a completely reckless idiot. I'm sure it's the first one, eh?

 

It's all about the "Flick". That and the fact that mine is a 5-spd, so some clutch-work is all it takes to deliver the goods. The car actually rotates quite predictably once the back is loose. It's the front starting to scrub that makes you glad you've got power to those wheels!

I like to think I'm skilled, and I have a fair amount of racetrack experience. But in the end: I'm still a reckless idiot for doing it on public roads.

 

jag-ooo-r, I would venture to guess that you have bent the rear sway arm (the large lower arm, the one that supports the coil spring). Granted, was the tire toed in? If so, I would venture to guess you bent the support for the lower/forward arm. I would doubt you bent the hub as this would cause bad grinding sounds as the bearing eats itself and it won't last long in that condition. As for the spindle, if you bent that, YOU ARE THE MAN!!!!! You will have bent a lot of other things.

I really doubt you bent the inner support for the rear sway arm as this is a pretty stout piece and any sort of bending of this would be fairly visible. Thinking about the underside, the most likely part to bend that wouldn't be too obvious is the mounts for the forward/lower arm. But, like was mentioned, it should cause the toe for the rear to be way out (tire facing towards the center of the front bumper). Then adjusting the rear swing arm would fix the toe but cause the camber to be way out. If the toe was fine, then I would be looking at the upper control arm. It is possible you pulled on those mounts and bent something. Granted, you would be the first with a positive camber problem.

If by some chance you bent the upper rear control arm, if you replace it, could I get the old part? I am looking for one that I can do some measurements on without having to dismantle my car. Looking to see if a part I found would be a viable substitute that would then give us about +5/-1 degrees of adjustment for the rear camber.

Wish you luck. I would start with the lower/forward arm mounts, then the upper arm mounts, then a bent rear sway arm.

 

I hope you get some "learnt lessons" of that . You know you wouldn't beat law of physics whether you like physics or not .
Anyway, good to see you're ok . I hope your X Type will be soon in its glory condition too . For the best results you need electronical devices to measure the correct figures .