Xantia, hit curb, top of wheel leaning in?! eh?

[romie]

Heya,

So, yeah. This is odd.
Hit curb with passenger side front wheel at around 5mph sliding on ice whilst going around a roundabout.
Wheel was turned round to the right.
And silly me, I had the brakes on at time, (yes.. I know, I know, is probably why I hit it at the time - will try not to do it again).
Anyway..

Result, outer wheel rim caught curb and pushed the rim in.
Also the whole wheel was pushed back in the wheel arche an inch or so.
So, changed wishbone and wheel.
But then I noticed after putting a spirit level against the wheel horizontally, that the top is leaning in 5-10mm or so more then the bottom, (or the bottom is out further than the top?) (negative camber?)

I rolled the car forward and measured again, and again the same leaning in from the top angle was present.
I took the wheel off and it's the same if I put the spirit level against the brake disc.

The other front wheel is vertical when a spirit level is held up against it.

Doner vehicle I think was another N reg Xantia 1.9TD but a saloon model. After this issue, I need to go back and get the VIN number off the doner vehicle to make sure it has the same part number as my old part.

I would have thought that the bottom would be leant in, not the top?
Any ideas on what would cause this or a procedure of what to measure and how?

Cheers guys, Romie

Xantia estate N reg 1.9TD 234kmiles

[Hell Razor5543]

You know Citroen, very little they do is logical. But that is why we love them (well, most of the time!).

[Peter.N.]

Bent strut?

Peter

[romie]

mooooorning fellas,
Cheers Peter, to measure that, I suppose I need a vertical surface along side the car, then measure top and bottom distances away from that, then do the same to the other side and compare?

Or I suppose I could just measure the distance from strut to rest of bodywork and compare against the other side? Is this the simplest way?

.. Then depending on if the strut is bent, just replace strut?
.. or if its the mounting point of strut to body, wonder if I can put a chain and block onto the top and try and pull it out? Anyone done this?

Cheers, Romie

[romie]

(I'm still confused to why the top of the wheel is further in towards the car instead of the bottom of the wheel?) :/
Anyway, I'll get on to measuring strut distances tonight... Ta

[citronut]

its unlikely you bent the strut as it would have had to be a far old wallop to do that, then you would have probably bent the sub frame in the process,

also the arms on your car should be the same as the one you fitted,
unless maybe someone had fitted the wrong arm on the car you took the second hand one from,
or it wasn't a TD but possibly a V6 or the likes?????

[romie]

Cheers malcolm,

I checked the wishbone citroen part numbers from the VIN of and mine and other car and you were right, the doner car is exactly the same. So it's not that.

It might be this component..



What's that thing called?

Anyway, I'll have to try measuring the angle on that and comparing to the otherside as soon as I can get some daylight to play with :/

Still wondering why the top of the wheel is further out than the bottom from a curb hit?

Anyone seen one of these bent?

Cheers, Romie

[JohnD]

What's that thing called?

Front pivot & hub?

[Old-Guy]

Excess positive camber after thumping a kerb? Wierd!

You're sure the car was standing on a level surface (with the wheels straight ahead) when you checked? If the front suspension is compressed more on one side than the other then the camber angles won't be the same.

In any event, I'd check the road wheel is still true (if it wasn't a write-off).

[citronut]

maybe you have bent/pushed in the sub frame were the arm mounts,

to bend an arm it takes quite a wallop

[romie]

Think I can see how it went when looking at the bent rim again.

The outer rim is folded in towards the tyre a bit.
Tyre was still inflated but distorted enough to feel it through the steering wheel.

So the impact happened when going around the roundabout with the wheels steering right, but sliding straightish towards outer curb.
As only the outer rim is the bit that folded in, (and possibly took all impact), maybe the wheel rode up the curb on it's outside rim just enough to lever the bottom of the wheel away from the car in some way? :/

If this is the case then I wonder what bits would have bent?
Strut and 'Front pivot & hub'? Or is one more likely to go before other?
(I still need to find time to measure)

If this is the case then I suppose I can't put old wheel and wishbone back on and just force it back in some way?
Bottle jack? Chain and block? Sledge hammer? Slide it into a curb doing some sort of J-turn?
Or replace some combination of strut and Front pivot & hub? Hmmm, is there a major mission in replacing these? Spose I need to drain the Citroen blood to replace strut?

Damn

[citronut]

no you dont drain citro blood when replacing struts, but just de/pressurise the system

as i said above check the sub frame were the arm mounts

[romie]

Hmm, had a look again underneath.

Bit difficult to see a point where I can take reference from to measure and compare both left and right sides?
Any ideas?

I suppose if I try and mark a mid point on the chassis somewhere, just where both of these sub frame arms, (the ones that hold the control arms), join the thicker main chassis.

Think I'm going to need one of these 'lie on your back wheelie things' and quite tall axle stands for this :/