02_ZincYellow_GT

My car is an 02 GT that is completely stock (except a short-throw shifter). It has 109k miles, mostly from commuting. I dont beat the car and I take pretty good care of it.

Last winter i spun out and slammed my right rear tire into a curb going about 40 mph. The hit was hard enough to smash the wheel and rip the rotor disc off the hub (I have pictures if you think this might help). The body shop fixed the body damage and replaced the entire rear end, minus the shocks, control arms, bushings, etc.

I've put 18k miles on the car since the repair, and i'm seeing major problems now. Here are the main issues i'm concerned with:

1. Both of my rear tires are now bald (after only 18k miles. The front tires are still good). The majority of the wear is out the outside; the center and inside are not worn as bad.

2. When I change directions (forward to reverse, or reverse to forward), I hear a "clunking" sound coming from the rear end (this appears to be caused by some play in the differential, but I'm not totally sure. The body shop says this is normal, but the original rear end never did this). I also hear the "clunking" if I'm coasting and then I start to accelerate. Likewise, if i'm accelerating and then I get off the throttle, then it clunks.

3. When I hit big bumps in the road, the back of the car jumps to the right. Sometimes it jumps so much that I think I'm going to lose control of the car.

I want my car fixed right, and I don't think they fixed it right. The body shop claims their work is good, so I'm now in the beginning stages of a battle with the body shop and insurance company. I've already scheduled an appointment with a reputable automotive shop to get a second opinion, but I wanted to get some input/guidance from other knowledgeable people too.

Any ideas/suggestions/input etc. would be GREATLY appreciated!!

1999 GT

is the rear diff leaking at all? and have you checked the fluid or had it changed recently?

99mustanggt

Control arms may be bent.See if they will recheck them for you,if not just upgrade to better ones,its probably not worth the hassle to argue with them.As far as the rear clunking,could be it has to much backlash or maybe even a bad U-joint.

02_ZincYellow_GT

The differential fluid is okay, and the U-Joints are also good. If the control arms are bent, then I would likely have these problems? I'm not a suspension guru, but I suspect a hit that did this much damage would also bend the control arms, right? If they are in fact bent, is it likely that the alignment shop would have caught the problem?

Edit: here are some pictures from after the accident.

dimebag

They should have yea but well we know better.

I'm almost sure its a control arm or bushing problem

02_ZincYellow_GT

Thanks for the info. I'll have another mechanic look at the control arms.

02_ZincYellow_GT

**UPDATE**

I've taken the car to an automotive repair shop and another body/frame shop.

The auto repair shop confirmed there was an issue, but they weren't positive what the problem was. The 4-wheel alignment revealed that there was more than 1 full degree of "toe-in" in the rear end. They said the toe isnt adjustable, so they were suspecting that the rear end was damaged (how can a straight axle rear end have "toe-in"?). They also found some damage near the torque boxes (where the lower control arms mount to the chassis), so they referred me to body/frame shop to have that problem investigated.

The frame shop said the chassis was in spec, and they didnt note any other serious damage. They also suggested that rear end was bad based on the alignment.

So, today I took the car back to the company that did the original repair work. They agreed to put another "used" rear end in the car. Unfortunately, I don't have much confidence in these guys, so i'm going to be looking over their shoulders. Is there anything else on the car that I should tell them to change (control arms, bushings, shocks, axle dampers, etc.)? Is there anything else I should be looking at?

I'm really frustrated with these guys and I just want my car to be fixed. I REALLY appreciate any advice you guys can give me. Thanks in advance for the help!!

teej281

If you are worried about other things such as the control arms and such, just replace them while youre there so you have a piece of mind that its not the parts, but the labor, that is the problem. And dont get crappy parts either. Get some good stuff like maximum motorsports lower and upper control arms and get your torque boxes welded and reinforced since youre gonna be there. And subframe connectors wouldnt be a bad idea either. And make sure that when they do the rear end install that they use factory hardware. My friend didnt use the stock hardware and his rear end made noise until he switched back to stock stuff and now there is a lot less noise apparently from what he told me. It was like a clunk noise when he let off the gas too and it was because of the bushing bolts for the control arms, or that was his diagnosis and is what he fixed.