1990 Camry Steering Problem

Wow,..that's a lot of force which your car took and as such may have sustained some serious damage. Hitting the front wheel has knocked your steering geometry out and the least thing it will need is a thorough examination of all steering/suspension components that side. If the car was pushed up the kurb, the other side may have suffered similar damage.

While breaking both drive-shafts seems unlikely, such a shock can brinnel or cause small indentations in ball and roller bearings at the wheel hub, CVs, steering rack and in some cases the differential.

If it was my car, I'd rebuild the suspension replacing the wheel (which maybe buckled) and its hub, plus the driveshaft and lower control arm c/w attachment harware to the subframe.

Test the strut for binding to ensure the shock ram is not bent. In this case the strut will not fully extend after compression.

Jason

Thanks Jason,

I took the wheels off and saw tire marks on the stabilizer bar on the impacted side. The stablilzer bar seems to be slightly bent. Otherwise, there is no "visible" damage. The boots on both sides were broken, but that may or may not be due to the impact.

At the time of impact, the steering wheel is at full right. What have to get bent in order for the wheel hit stabilizer bar?

LLC

The garage said both front axles are broken and

Did you find a body shop that specializes in correcting frame damage? They will probably have laser guided frame straightening and a jig with hydraulic presses to correct frame alignment. Not saying your frame is tweaked, but if you find a shop with that level of equipment, it's a good indication that they can also examine suspension parts, swing arm, axles, steering linkage, sway bar, struts, etc. Have them make a thorough evaluation (even if you have to pay for the service) and get a firm written estimate and a guarantee that all affected items will be corrected. At least, that way, you'll have a firm starting point from which to decide.

was

brinnel or

CVs,

c/w

case

In a word,.the lower control arm and its inner bushes. This is where the most obvious damage would be. Just inspecting it may not reveal any obvious distortion.

As I said,..I wouldn't trust the integrity of the whole side as such an impact can theoretically cause stress fractures.

I hit a cement driveway once in a Valiant which was bridged over a deepish culvit. This produced substantal visible damage and invisible. The obvious stuff was the wheel rim, stub-axle (bent and binding), lower control arm badly bent (made out of rivetted sheet metal unlike the Camry which is cast iron from memory), upper control arm (the car was not macpherson strut like the Camry is which has no upper control arm) The stuff which crept in later was: the wheel bearings had been brinneled and got noisy over the next

10,000 miles. The steering arm which links the front wheels together (sort of like the rack in a Camry) was bent making a proper wheel alignment impossible.

Jason