mgmuscari

I'm regretting deciding to go to campus today in this miserable weather, especially since the meeting I was supposed to go to ended up being canceled. Adding insult to injury, I ended up spinning out into a curb on my way home.

My rear right tire and rim are both wrecked, and although I managed to limp home on them I knew something else was up... I took the wheel off to find that the brake caliper was shaving metal flakes off the rotor. Pictures below.

Besides replacing the brake rotor and hardware, what else do I need to be checking here? Bearing? Axle? C-clip? Diff? I just put Moser 31-spline axles and a brand new FRPP diff in this car last summer, I will be extremely pissed off if I just ruined them. This is pretty much the worst day I've had since I got the car.





FWIW, the car drove straight and I didn't feel any vibrations (kept it under 20 though). I could hear a quiet squeak which I'm guessing was the rotor getting shaved down.

droptop302

Put the car up on jack stands and take the rim off, put car in gear see if axle spins straight if not its bent

mgmuscari

Thanks, that's what I was thinking... wasn't sure that it would be something I could see visually. It looks to me like the impact might've just knocked the rotor out of alignment... is that something that can happen without damaging the wheel studs? I'm hoping I can get away with a new rotor and fresh pads.

TrimDrip

The second pic is of the caliper or the caliper bracket?

mgmuscari

That's the caliber. They're the red anniversary edition cobra brakes (M-2300 is the model number I think).

So I have it up on jackstands now, and I ran it for a minute in 1st gear last night... there's definitely a wobble on the passenger side, but what sucks is that I think there's a wobble on the driver's side too. I had the wheels off, though, so I guess it's possible that it was just that the rotor was loose - I think I'll try again with the rotors torqued down.

What are the odds of differential damage, if both axles are bent? I would be really surprised if both got bent, since I was doing less than 20, and these are forged steel Moser 31 spline axles. The diff is a FRPP 8.8" traction lock.

PNYXPRESS

When I popped a curb, I ended up needing a new axle and caliper mounting bracket, as well as, a new rim, and I wasnt going any where near over 20 mph when it happened to me.

stdyhand

I would make sure the rotors are torqued down and then look at it for wobble. To have bent the axle, especially both, you would had to have hit the curb really hard. It's not unusual to bend a wheel and maybe even damage the rotor and caliper. To bend the axle requires a harder hit or at least a really bad angle. I doubt you bent both but you def want to make sure.

PNYXPRESS

Its not that hard to bend an axle on these cars when catching a curb, escpecially when running 17 in rims. He hit on the edge of the rim which gives it pretty good leveage against the small diameter axle and then puts a force of at least 2700lbs on it.

mgmuscari

I'm going to pop off the rotor hats tonight and see if I can measure any significant runout on the flange with my dial indicator. I will be pissed if the axle is bent, given that's it's a thick forged Moser unit that I put in less than a year ago. Is there any chance it can be repaired at a machine shop?

I'm hoping that it's just the rotor that's bent, or the wheel studs. PNYXPRESS has a good point about leverage, though.

How much runout should I be looking for on the flange to consider it excessive? I should expect some just due to endplay, am I right?

EDIT:

FWIW, the front end smacked the curb first, but I'm lucky that there was a bunch of dirt there - my front fascia dug into it and I think that's what spun me around. There seems to be nothing wrong with the steering geometry, and I didn't bend either of the rims up front, so I guess I got lucky. By the time the rear end swung around, it wasn't going so fast that it threw me out of my seat or anything. I'm hoping for the best right now...

droptop302

GOOD LUCK