HELP I've hit a curb with my starlet!!

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Starlet-supra

Member +
hey guys, sad day here for me over this damn bad winter. Anyways ill skip right ahead into what happened with my poor starlet.

My front winter tires are very bald, and unfortunately took a corner and when i turned my wheels nothing happened my car went straight for the curb. I was going maybe 20km/hr (12mph). Anyways i hit the curb with my front driver side wheel, and the wheel was turned when i hit it, anyways soon as i slid into it, it made the usual bad sound, and right away my steering wheel got bent :( . Anyways what scares me the most, is the fact that my steering wheel is bent, however the car drives perfectly straight and normal. I am quite worried because im not sure what to do and if i should get an allignment done or not. Like i said the car does not shake, and when i let go of the steering wheel it sits crooked while the car is going straight however the car does not pull right or left when i let go of it. Allignment here is expensive and i got one done 2 weeks ago. I turned the wheels both ways and it seems like i couldnt see anything that could of gotten bent

I turned the wheels full lock, and went in circles and the cv axles dont make any noise

However at eye ball, the wheel that i hit the curb with, did seem like it gained a tiny bit of positive camber to the wheel. HELP what should i do in this case??

Could it be possible that something got bent? Would an allignment fix it? I dont wanna waste money if and allignment wont fix it. The car does not make any weird sounds while driving neither, like i said car drives exactly as it did before i hit the curb, however the only difference is that my steering wheel is bent
 
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weeJohn

weeJohn

Lifer
Of course you should get it checked out, the steering wheel is out of alignment so something has been knocked out. It could be a bent track rod, bent wishbone, damaged steering arm, but whatever it is it needs looked at to see how serious it is.
 
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Starlet-supra

Member +
when i came home today, i took both of the front wheels off, and put the car on jack stands.

Anyways, i looked from all sorts of angles at the tie rods and the bottom a-arms, and nothing seems to be bent or out of place. I have the car booked in tomorrow for an allignment, so hopefully my friend will be able to fix it from an allignment. From the looks of it the wheel that i hit it with, would need to have the toe, and camber adjustment. Anyways will report back tomorrow
 
weeJohn

weeJohn

Lifer
Did you run the Starlet boot part number through the cross reference on the Toyodiy site? Its very unusual for Toyota not to fit the same part to a lot of their models, it could be on a USA Corolla or Tercel.
 
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Starlet-supra

Member +
weeJohn said:
Did you run the Starlet boot part number through the cross reference on the Toyodiy site? Its very unusual for Toyota not to fit the same part to a lot of their models, it could be on a USA Corolla or Tercel.
Click to expand...

i was searching for the whole cv axle which doesnt fit, however just the boot may fit
 
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Starlet-supra

Member +
also one more question, is there truly no way to adjust the camber on the front of the EP82 gt turbo starlet?? I was told by my alignment guy that my camber cannot be adjusted, and my front right wheel has 1.0 degree of camber
 
5e colin

5e colin

Member +
top mount camber plates

and camber bolts on the bottom

i think tuning developments sels them camber bolts ??????


the link works fore me kid ??????
 
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Starlet-supra

Member +
5e colin said:
top mount camber plates

and camber bolts on the bottom

i think tuning developments sels them camber bolts ??????


the link works fore me kid ??????
Click to expand...

hmm okay, and today i tried changing my rear brake pads on the starlet, and the caliper piston would not let me push it in. I think its seized :( what shall i do in this case? Get it rebuilt or order a rebuilt one?
 
weeJohn

weeJohn

Lifer
There is a bit of movement in the stock front shock to hub bolts that could be throwing your camber out, if you get a patient allignment guy, he might be prepared to loosed them off and set it correctly that way.
 
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Starlet-supra

Member +
weeJohn said:
There is a bit of movement in the stock front shock to hub bolts that could be throwing your camber out, if you get a patient allignment guy, he might be prepared to loosed them off and set it correctly that way.
Click to expand...

okay thanks, i will let him know for next time. It does not affect me that much, because the car now drives beautifully. I mean the steering wheel sits straight, it drives in a straight line, nothing wrong, so i will save it for next time and make sure to let him know
 
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Starlet-supra

Member +
Tercel said:
You definitely bent something. You won't be able to get a full 1 deg of camber out of the shock bolts by loosening them. You'll need to buy some camber bolts like these:
http://www.energysuspensionparts.com/proddetail.asp?prod=MOOG-K90208
Also, Paseo axles should fit the starlet no problem, unless your starlet has factory LSD.
Click to expand...

thing is, i do not know what got bent, because, i took a look and so did the allignment guy, and nothing seems to be out of place, if i had to guess, it is probably the lower a-arm that got bent, even though it doesnt seem to show any signs of it being affected
 
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