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Front end collision damage

Tiny
PABROPICASSO
  • MEMBER
  • 2011 MINI COOPER
  • 1.6L
  • 4 CYL
  • 2WD
  • MANUAL
  • 80,000 MILES
Hi all,

I'm curious to know if anyone can point me in the right direction as to roughly what I would need to fix my car.

The front left wheel is bent at about a 80 degree angle (bottom part jutting outwards). The collision happened exactly at the left headlight, as shown in the photos. Other than that, I'll have to replace the hood it looks like and the bumper.

The car runs just fine and drives; only problem is I can't go straight. If anyone can help me with giving me an ideas of the possible issues I'd greatly appreciate it.

Thank you
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Wednesday, May 13th, 2020 AT 12:32 AM

4 Replies

Tiny
PABROPICASSO
  • MEMBER
  • 3 POSTS
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Wednesday, May 13th, 2020 AT 12:34 AM
Tiny
MOTOR MASTER
  • MECHANIC
  • 279 POSTS
Hello my name is Dave.

The most likely suspect will be the lower control arm, most of the time when damage of this type happens it damages the lower control arm and not the structure it is attached to. If you are lucky this will be true in your case. The other part you have to be concerned with is the tie rods, both inner and outer however the inner's usually survive damage of this nature.

My suggestion would be to first jack the car up as high as you can, put a jack stand under the car and look at the arm and see if it is visibly damaged. The arm is readily available from your local parts store. If you do end up replacing the arm and/or the tie rod(s) make sure you have it aligned once you are finished with your repairs, as long as it can be a aligned then you're good to go.

Here is a link to our tutorial on replacing the lower control arm and bushings, while you won't need to replace the bushing it contains the information you will need to replace the arm.

https://www.2carpros.com/articles/lower-control-arm-bushing-replacement

Please keep us up to date on your progress and thank you for using 2CarPros!
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Wednesday, May 13th, 2020 AT 4:34 AM
Tiny
PABROPICASSO
  • MEMBER
  • 3 POSTS
Oh wow, thank you so much Dave! I will have a look at it over the weekend and report back.
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Wednesday, May 13th, 2020 AT 6:32 AM
Tiny
KEN L
  • MASTER CERTIFIED MECHANIC
  • 43,514 POSTS
Please do MOTOR MASTER is one of our best and we would like to see what it will take to fix it.
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Friday, May 15th, 2020 AT 12:00 PM

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