Expert advice please on these photos
Discussion
My car developed a fault in the wet I felt a pull and suddenly the car veered across the road and spun sliding the nearside of the car side on into a parked car. When I got out of the car I noticed the drivers offside wheel was next to me and had come off. I have since had photographs taken of the wheel and I attach them (6 photos). can anyone advise in their expert opinion on what was the probable cause. thank You.
Mod edit to reveal all the photos
sweedy10 said:
My car developed a fault in the wet I felt a pull and suddenly the car veered across the road and spun sliding the nearside of the car side on into a parked car...
...can anyone advise in their expert opinion on what was the probable cause?
...can anyone advise in their expert opinion on what was the probable cause?
I'm not an expert but you aquaplaned and smashed your car to bits on a parked car?
Not going to pretend to be an expert but the bend on this wishbone (circled) looks like impact damage that inturn has fataly fractured the alloy and destroyed the outer components (ball joint, track rod).
If i was to guess it would be an impact akin to hitting a kerb head on at speed.
If i was to guess it would be an impact akin to hitting a kerb head on at speed.
Need some background to this.
For a wheel to break like that, is pretty huge.
The steering arm has clearly broken and with rusty ends, suggesting it has been in a bad way for quite some time ? Or how old are the photos from when the incident occurred ?
And then the wheel/hub etc has got ripped off the car during the incident.
Has the car ever had any maintenance or inspections by even a half competent person ?
When you say it "developed a fault"...does that mean it happened over time, or instantly ? Did you hit a buffalo or something ? Or a huge sink hole ?
Bizarre for that part of the hub/steering arm to fail without having had some sort of direct impact. I would doubt the wheel itself failed first leading to it
It is pretty impressive damage. Are there any marks on the other part of the wheel to suggest something maybe cut into it over time causing it to fail ?
For a wheel to break like that, is pretty huge.
The steering arm has clearly broken and with rusty ends, suggesting it has been in a bad way for quite some time ? Or how old are the photos from when the incident occurred ?
And then the wheel/hub etc has got ripped off the car during the incident.
Has the car ever had any maintenance or inspections by even a half competent person ?
When you say it "developed a fault"...does that mean it happened over time, or instantly ? Did you hit a buffalo or something ? Or a huge sink hole ?
Bizarre for that part of the hub/steering arm to fail without having had some sort of direct impact. I would doubt the wheel itself failed first leading to it
It is pretty impressive damage. Are there any marks on the other part of the wheel to suggest something maybe cut into it over time causing it to fail ?
That must have been an enormous impact! Suspension parts torn off, and actually broken. This doesn't happen in the sort of side swipe implied above. But if it was at the time described in the OP, or previously, with subsequent failure leading to the incident, cannot be said from the pics.
John
John
Hi I am new to this but thank you for looking and replying .. can you see all 6 pics? and to confirm - the tyre was off and the wheel looked like that - a local vehicle garage looked at these and concurred that the lower ball joint bracket has snapped off causing the drive shaft to come out .. and then all the rest - so thank you - has anyone seen a wheel that looks so split ? could that have been a weak weld as the original cause or would you expect the ball joint to remain and everything else in situ ? Thanks again.
The balljoint has not snapped off. It has been ripped out of the arm by whatever circumstances the car found itself in.
Whether that was your impact with something else, you hitting something or a large body of water that caused you to lose control.....but you can be 99% certain the balljoint didn't just get like that randomly driving down the road.
The actual driveshaft is largely irrelevant. Main point is the broken wheel, steering arm and less so the bent wishbone/balljoint
If the steering arm broke first, it could lead to the rest getting ripped apart. the wheel is perhaps the strangest part of the failure.
Whether that was your impact with something else, you hitting something or a large body of water that caused you to lose control.....but you can be 99% certain the balljoint didn't just get like that randomly driving down the road.
The actual driveshaft is largely irrelevant. Main point is the broken wheel, steering arm and less so the bent wishbone/balljoint
If the steering arm broke first, it could lead to the rest getting ripped apart. the wheel is perhaps the strangest part of the failure.
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