Hey everyone, long time no see! (or talk for that matter)

For those who want to skip to the "tl;dr' version, scroll down.

My mother has been the one and only proud owner of a 2005 MCS. I've been taking care of maintenance and wear and tear items, but yesterday my Mom presented me with one that has me a little nervous.

She said she "hit a curb, but it was head on."

Now I'm not sure exactly what happened, but there is damage on the wheel where it clearly struck the curb. The impact took a nice big chunk out of the wheel. The tire is pretty chewed up too so they will both -without question- need to be replaced.

She also says it pulls to the right. Last year, a AAA tech didn't tighten down all the lug bolts on the front driver wheel causing it to hang on by one, and only one, lug bolt. Now imagine driving given the aforementioned circumstances. She drove it for 3 days before she asked me to come over to look at it. She said she didn't notice any noise and didn't realize anything was wrong. When I got there, it was clear the wheel was just hanging there by one lonely lug bolt. I'm just thankful it didn't dislodge while she was driving.

Anyway, the point of the story above is this: If she is telling me that the car pulls to the right, it must SERIOUSLY pull to the right. I haven't driven it yet but I can tell something's not right.

Thirdly, when standing in front of the car basically facing the driver's side headlight, it is obvious the camber is drastically off. There is far too much negative camber. Standing in front facing the rear, the front driver's side tire looks like this: \

Here's the "tl;dr version:

Car: 2005 MCS
Alleged cause: Driver stated they hit a curb but was "head on."
Symptoms:

1. Car pulls to right
2. Tire wearing on inside tread
3. Way too much negative camber. Looking head on, it looks like this: \

I appreciate any input you guys have. My SA at BMW said (over the phone without even seeing the car) "You should file a claim with your insurance company 'cause hunnny, this sounds expensive."

Thanks again everyone,
William

P.S.
Here's a pic from way back when. She's seen some abuse since then otherwise I'd have a more current picture. If/when I get a chance to pop the wheel off I'll snap some pics.

 

Ouch...
Bet you bent/broke a few suspension parts at the very least...
One good thing is it kinda drivable...doing very much may worsen any damage or even be dangerous...so i would limit driving to carefuly driving it to the dealer/shop.
Bet it will be $$, so a claim may be a good idea.

 

If the impact caused that much negative chamber, you definitely have structural damage. Insurance claim because anything less will be expensive (especially if it went so far as to damaged the strut tower). So here's a list of what could have been damaged: strut tower, shocks, control arm, knuckle, tie rods, frame -- basically a lot. Frame work would be the worst of it. My bet is on frame and/or tie rod as a minimum.