Disasterous First Day
 

Well I picked up my 2002 Boxster S this morning. This is my first Porsche and I was so thrilled. It was a 40 mile drive home on the freeway, which felt great. When I got closer to home and hit the city streets I was amazed at how smooth the tranny is. The engine purs and the car just feels right.

I stopped on the way home to pick up a few things when it happend...

As I made a left hand turn out of the shopping center I I slammed the left rear tire into the curb :eek: .

I pulled over immediatly. I was in a state of panic, as you can imagine, but was so relieved that there was no body damage that I didn't even consider the wheel itself. It ripped some paint off the wheel :( but I decided to drive home and take a closer look.

Right away I could tell something was wrong. I stopped again and the left rear wheel is leaning outward about a 3/8 inch :mad: I am so furious at my self right now. The car made it home ok, but anything over 45 is all over the lane.

Should I have this towed or am I ok to drive this at low speed to the shop?

What a way to start...

AZDan - Congrats on the purchase............Sorry about the mishap.

I had a similar thing happen to me about a year ago.

I suggest you tow the car so you don’t risk any more damage.

First thing first, have the shop do an alignment to determine if you have any suspension damage. Hopefully not.

I'm certain your alignment is all out of wack and if that’s the worst case you are in good shape. About $150 and your right back on your feet.

What kind of wheels are on the car? If the wheel is in bad shape you could possibly look at a new set of Replica wheels that will set you back only about $900 including tires.

Good luck. Keep us posted.

James

Depending on the severity it may not need alignment but a check is a good idea. There is no doubt that the wheel itself is bent, you can send them to be retrued and painted or just find a new wheel. Don't sweat it in either case, could have been way worse.

post a pic of the wheel and tire. If its just curbing it can be touched up to look new. If its cracked well time to buy a new one and ditto for the tire if there is sidewall tearing.

Wow you must have really hit that curb hard! I did the same thing on an unlit driveway one night. Brand new RA-1's and pinch! time to order a new left rear. $250 and a week to wait. grr....

Don't kick yourself about the alignment, its probably a good idea to do one as soon as you get the car. I doubt the previous owner had it done if he knew he was selling...oh and let us know how much they charge you for the alignment.
They should not charge you more than $200. Aligning a Boxster is no more difficult than aligning a Honda S2000. Try to find a speed shop with a good reputation if they hit you with one of those $350 quotes.

Tow truck is on the way :(

Speaking of a Speed Shop. Does anybody know of any in NY,CT, or NJ where I can visit and try the Recaro or Sparco seats before buying them?

Thanks

Don't feel so bad. A few years ago I bought a Lincoln for my old man. I took it out for the first test drive on the highway, hit black ice, then the concrete guardrail, costing $15,000 dollars in damage. I towed it back to the dealer at night time and left it in the lot.

Well the flatbed just left. I didn't have a chance to take any pictures of the wheel but it still looks solid. There is a 180 degree arc of paint scraped off the edge but no clearly visable warping (I sure there is though).

It's headed to ******************************** in Tempe, AZ. I spoke to them on the phone and they said they have the machine to retrue the wheel on site. Assuming an allignment is ~$200 what could I be expecting to retrue the wheel and get it repainted?

Also, what other potential suspension damage could have been done?

Man I was really looking forward to some top down driving this weekend :(

I think I paid $150 to fix a dent and repaint. But that was a small shop with low prices.
Hitting a curb should just be an alignment. I wouldn't freak out about it.

Reminds me of the first day I brought my new boxster home...I left work early and decided to cruise a bit, went down a street and stopped for a railroad crossing signal and had a POS mini-van lock it's brakes up behind me to stop...thought my first trip may have been the last.....better luck next time...

In the first few days of ownership i got hit and during all that i was forsed to run over a curb that is over a foot tall causing some damage under the car....and on top of that the guy ran away before i even steped out of a car.....i looked more or less like this :troll:

Ouch! Now I don't feel so bad for pulling into a parking lot and hearing a little scrape the first day I got my car. Luckily nothing was damaged, but I swear that parking lot curb didn't look high at all. Glad you decided to tow it and not risk further damage.

I hate to break it to you LB but I'll bet a fifty spot that if you look far enough under the front bumper cover you have a record of the incident, fortunately, nobody ever looks down there, except a madman like me with irrational love of his vehicle. I know this because it happened on my original cover. The key is to go really slow on those high curbs, then all you have to worry about is being struck in the rear by someone dialing a celly.

I didn't stick my head that far underneath, but I'm sure there's some evidence of what I did. I've found it helps to enter driveways and lots on an angle, and so far I haven't done it again.

man, i hear those scrapes on daily bases in my car hahah.


Dan, any news on the repair? hopefully it just an alignment.

Not yet. ******************************** got the car just before they closed on Friday. They won't have a chance to assess the damage until Monday.

Well the damage report is back and it's as I suspected. I really did slam into that curb hard. :eek:

The control arm took some damage (bent). They are replacing the trailing arm assembly and the track rod. $701, ugg. With an alignment the total so far for the wheel damage is $840. They had to send out the wheel and I won't know if they can repair it until tomorrow. Does anyone know what a replacement 17in Turbo wheel would cost if they can't repair it?

Note to self: Ignoring curbs in the large SUVs I've been driving for a decade is ok. Ignoring them in a Porsche... NOT ok.

I hope they aren't fleesing you, a bent control arm seems like a very hard hit. As for the 17" turbo twist, it's a common wheel. i would advise getting it repaired if possible because any wheel off of ebay may need the same treatment as the one you are checking on repairing.

They're beautiful, but they are aluminum. It doesn't take much to bend them.

Well the impact was almost flush on the side (fishtailed into it) so I'm not to surprised. Poor driving on my part really. Should have seen all the loose gravel. Would have been ok in a larger vehicle if the tire hit the curb but the wheel took the brunt on the blow.