Our collision center is right next door, so we do all the mechanical repairs to the cars they do bodywork on. A lot of times this means we get to see some nicely destroyed parts.

You can tell just by looking that something’s wrong. The wheel is pushed to the back of the wheel well, and it’s cracked at the rim. The driver must’ve run into a curb or something at a pretty high speed, because barely any bodywork is damaged, but the suspension on only this right front is destroyed.

The first thing I noticed when walking by was the broken axle. Not something you see every day. Then I noticed the curved sway bar link, which is supposed to be straight. It’s hard to tell, but the sway bar itself might be bent a little at the end.

On the left is the left front’s lower control arm, and on the right is the right side’s. It is very badly bent, which is very impressive. Must’ve taken a lot of force.

In my opinion this is the most impressive looking of the damage. That is a tie rod, part of the steering system. It’s supposed to be straight. It is no longer straight. Overall, by a very rough estimation, at least $1000 in parts. Definitely good you have insurance for collision repair.

-Dan