Wheel leaning in at top.Help

[Mexman]

Hi, my lad unfortunately had an accident in his 2013 Seat Ibiza and bent the wishbone, steering arm and bottom ball joint, after hitting a stone wall with the front corner.
I have replaced all of the above parts but having now put the wheel back on, the top of the wheel leans in quite noticeably, like negative camber.
I can barely fit my fingers in between the tyre and strut on this side, but on the passenger side, I can with ease....
Does this point to a bent strut possibly?
I can't see any bend visually but to be honest it wasn't something I was looking for before bolting everything back up.
Thanks

[C. Grimsley]

I would say it will be the shock, are these like the earlier cars where the shock is the complete up right?

Carl

[Mexman]

The strut is almost vehicle on these, yes.
I can't see any damage or cracked paint around the strut top mount, nor can I see any kinks or damage to the subframe.
The wheel is also sitting some 6mm further back than the undamaged side.

[Mexman]

• almost verticle

[PaulKemp]

Most likely he has bent something, if not the strut mount area then subframe or chassis members where the bottom suspension connects.
Careful measurement of each side from a known reference point middle or rear of car should show if one side is further back than the other

[battered]

As above, he has bent the anchor points for the wishbones etc. I did this once hitting a rock on the verge. You will need to get a geo check and maybe get it jigged straight or replace subframes depending on what's damaged.

[russell_ram]

Camber on Ibiza/Polo is adjustable. The 'holes' connecting the hub to strut are slotted. If you have had the hub to strut bolts out or loosened them then you'll need to reset the camber - ideally you'd do that as you've fitted new lower arm etc and most likely need tracking geometry reset anyway. This is more likely than bent subframe/lower arm mounts - the arms etc are deliberately sacrificial to try to stop that happening.

"The wheel is also sitting some 6mm further back than the undamaged side."

Just noticed this bit of your diagnosis - something else is badly amiss if that is the case.

Edited by russell_ram on Tuesday 9th May 09:35

[battered]

Obviously none of us have seen the car, but I'd say that if you can see the thing isn't straight with the naked eye then it's a long way beyond what you can adjust out using the slotted pickup points. I still think it's very likely that the anchor points are bent, and you'll only get this by a geo check.

[Mignon]

Mexman said:

* almost verticle

closer but no cigar yet....

[battered]

Almost ventricle.

[E-bmw]

Almost vehicle.

[Dogwatch]

Vertical or not it is sounding like a body shop job rather than a simple replacement of bent bits.