Unpleasant sways from the rear wheels

[thegreatdane]

My car went over a big curb and into the ditch about a month ago. The damage was limited everything considered though. The rims except from one was damaged, the rear bumper got cracked, the 2" exhaust was torn off and unfortunately the rear end got wacked a little out of place. It's getting straightened up one of these days though along with some rust work. So its fine.
However after the accident the rear right wheel has been making a noice like the bearing is bad. I cant feel any play though. When i make hard turns to the left the noice increases. Yesterday we got a lot of snow so the roads was really slippery and when i went above about 40mph the rear end would begin to sway pretty bad if i didnt correct the wheel all the time. Actually i almost went into the ditch again because the car suddenly started sliding sideways on a tiny shit road with ~45mph but i managed to straighten it up again. Luckily...
Any suggestions to what has been damaged? The upper control arm looks ok.

[AZmike]

There are three links in the lower rear suspension that could be bent. Be sure to check the link mounts too. I'd remove the rear wheels and look for differeneces between the two sides. Measuing the hubs location relative to the rest of the car may help point out which parts are bad.

[thegreatdane]

Good idea, thanks.

[smufguy]

the first thing to get bent on the side hit to a curb with ur rear end (of the car of course) is the lower control arm. I would say its much better idea to go and pull out the whole rear wheel hub, upper control arm and lower control arm from the junk yard. You will need to remove no more than 5 or 6 bolts if im not mistaken. Straightening on a bent rod on a 14 year old car is just not advisable, unless they find a way to make it stronger or back to the wy it was. Even if you bend it back, u will notice the slight imperfection. My friend's 94 corolla had the same problem and he got it straightened from the dealership where his dad used to work and after a couple of weeks, we could notice the sway in the rear, its more like an ocsilated sway going back and forth upon correction.

Anyway, i would suggest, you are better off getting the whole rear set up from a junkyard. It should cost you no more than 100 to 150 bux and u can do it yourself. It would be the same or even more for a rebend shop from a mechanic and ur not gauranteed by that. :cool2:

[thegreatdane]

Yea you are right its one of the lower control arms thats pretty bent. I found out the other day. I've got a spare control arm but i'm not sure if it will work perfectly, because on the control arm thats bent, theres a wire running to the ALB brakes and i dont know if i'll be able to fasten the wire on my spare control arm because it's not from a car with ALB. But i'll probably put it on this weekend anyway.
As to straightening i up, that might not happen anyway, because it will probably not be worth it, to get it repaired so that it can pass inspections in march. (both rear side-members are completely corroded...)

[smufguy]

Wow corroded huh? talk about having fun in Denmark. Well best thing to do is. Get a new one or a spare one and bolt it up, get an alignment. come home, jack the car up and coat it with rubberized under body coat. It locks out moisture and salt and prevents corrosion.

Dont worry about fastening the ALB wire, U can always zip tie it, Trust me, Its not gonna go anywhere. If ur scared of it. Get those Metal hose tights and tie around it.