- 24,344
- Midlantic Area
- GTP_Duke
About a week ago, we had a minor snowfall - 1" or so. I was driving to work through it with zero problems. I was almost at work when disaster struck - as I drove around a curve into the shadow of our building, the road went from clear to black ice. Instantly the old Neon headed staight for the outside curb. I stomped the clutch in and babied the brakes, trying desperately to stay away. No luck. WHAM! 2600 lbs of car and driver came down on that poor right front wheel.
Busted the rim, probably irreparably. Luckily I have a spare rim in the garage. But the car's got about 5 degrees of positive camber, and MASSIVE toe out. I figured I bent the control arm. No such luck - here's where owning a factory race car comes back to haunt you.
The strut is bent and needs to be replaced. On a normal Neon the struts are about $60 each. On an ACR, they're about $200 each. And, of course, even though the left one is fine, you can't replace just one.
Parts alone, including front tires, is about $500. Add $200 labor and $100 for alignment and mounting the tires, and I just made an $800 mistake. The only good thing is that by shopping mailorder I can actually upgrade to the Koni adjustable struts from a later ACR for about the same price as the OEM non-adjustable struts would be. But that's a slim comfort.
Busted the rim, probably irreparably. Luckily I have a spare rim in the garage. But the car's got about 5 degrees of positive camber, and MASSIVE toe out. I figured I bent the control arm. No such luck - here's where owning a factory race car comes back to haunt you.
The strut is bent and needs to be replaced. On a normal Neon the struts are about $60 each. On an ACR, they're about $200 each. And, of course, even though the left one is fine, you can't replace just one.
Parts alone, including front tires, is about $500. Add $200 labor and $100 for alignment and mounting the tires, and I just made an $800 mistake. The only good thing is that by shopping mailorder I can actually upgrade to the Koni adjustable struts from a later ACR for about the same price as the OEM non-adjustable struts would be. But that's a slim comfort.
I would say subtract the $200 for labor because replacing a straut should be something you can do and then add in an alignment charge from a professional though which should be less then the $200. . . Remember everyone makes mistakes like this, you had no clue the black ice was there. . . Kinda like when my old car got crushed, I didn't know that parking where I parked would results in diaster. . .
