alright i need help, so i hit a massive pothole couple days ago that completely ripped of my mudguard and some parts of my nismo V2 bumper. After that my alignment completely changed. So i took it to my shop, and told me that my ball joints, knuckles, and camber arm all broke. I was lucky that my rim didnt break, (i guess the saying volks are strong really proved a point). But my main problem is what is a knuckle and ball joints. And also there seems to be some frame damage, and i was wondering how the hell does that happen with a pothole. Thanks in advance.

 

did your wheel fall off? if not those parts cannot be broken. Bent yes, broken NO.

THe knuckle is the central part of the suspension....everything goes to this....including the wheel...the bearing (hub) is in the center (plus or minus) of the Knuckle (spindle)

The ball joint is part of the Lower control arm...IIRC. can be pressed out, but if you broke one, you broke both.

THe LCA is the part in which the bottom of the shock attaches...the ball joint is at the meeting point of the LCA and the knuckle. I'll try to find some Z specific pics

here's one
http://www.350z - tech.com/w/images/3/31/Service_Manual_Suspension_001.jpg erase spaces between the hyphon and 350z/tech

THe part that has the lug bolts on it (noted as "front axle") is the knuckle.

On the wheels....make sure to get them spun on a balancer...if you injured the suspension as bad as you say you did, then you bent your wheel as well...Suspensions are meant to hit potholes while going straight...there is something missing from your story

 

i actually havent seen them do work my suspension yet, but from what they are telling me, they know for sure that the front camber kit is bent. My Wheel didnt fall off but it was stuck at negetive 3 alignment. They said that i damaged my knuckle, so most likely bent it and damaged my ball joints. My car was lowered on coilovers so maybe that had something to do with the suspension?

 

Honestly I'm not comfortable attempting to diagnose this one w/ the limited/strange info avail. You'll have to put some trust in the shop I guess...since they have the "luxury" of having the car in front of them (my disclaimer saying I could be wrong.)

My guess is they are at least partially right...but something is seriously wrong if you screwed all that up on a mere pothole...unless it was a pot crater.

Might have dislocated the ball joints (for lack of a better term). when you lower the car, you put the ball joint at an un-natural angle which does make such behavior more likely to occur. one of the many things that lowering/raising your car/truck/SUV does...which so few ppl understand. have also seen balljoints sheered off in such instances as well. (lots of rednecks around here like their lift kits, lots of Ricers like cutting/torching springs as well)

sorry went on a slight rant.

front camber kit? I'm assuming you are referring to an aftermarket upper A arm? If so, replace that first...then see if the knuckle is bent...often the weakest link takes the hit...and often aftermarket is synonymous with weakest link.

I will recommend again to have them rebalance the wheel....and watch it when its on the balancer to ensure its not bent.

Next time straddle the massive holes in the road.

 

thanks a lot WTX, actually it was the OEM front camber kit that got bent, so im going to get an after market front camber arm. I will make sure they balance the wheel, but from what i seen it looks fine. I wish i could have strayed away from that pothole but i didnt even see it. It was dark and it was late, and i was on the freeway. I knew it was a pothole because i heard a huge THUMP! and in my mind i knew i was fcuked. I wanted to stop and see but being that it was a pothole on the freeway it seemed pretty risky.

 

Making me love Texas roads right now.

no such part as "OE camber kit"....camber isn't adjustable from factory. regardless break out the check book.

 

WTX350z you are a genius. I went to go look at my car and the subframe damage wasnt caused by the pothole, but i guess by the previous owner at my expense. Its fairly slight to say the least though. The balljoint they showed me just was a bit looser which isnt really a huge factor, because an 04 350z isnt to have the tightest balljoints anyways. Mainly my front camber arm got destroyed which is why they change alignment, but whats great is im getting an adjustable arm that comes with a new balljoint. Im just relieved that it wasn't as bad as they made it be. They are going to realign everything, and everything should be good. But just a question, would u recommend getting moonface roll center adjusters? i think if i had that, my camber arm would be more leveled for a less likely chance of me bending my camber arm again? thanks!