I need some help guys.

I have a R53 JCW with stock JCW suspension.

I hit a bad pothole about a month ago: hit with front and rear driver's side wheels. The impact broke the rear lower adjustable control arm on he driver's side. I replaced both lower rear control arms with Hotchkiss and had the car re-aligned. The guys at the shop (local shop, not dealership) told me that I had +1.4° camber that they could not correct and told me the only option to get negative camber back was to install adjustable front camber plates. The front camber of the other side was ok. So, I have a few questions:

1) What could be damaged on the front suspension that would give me positive camber? What part(s) could be replaced to fix the issue outside of going to adjustable front camber plates?

2) If I do need to go with adjustable front camber plates, what should I be looking for?

Any help would be greatly appreciated

 

It could be a number of things. You might have bent your lower front control arm, damaged the control arm bushing, broken the strut top bearing or bent the frame. I would check the control arm first: It's designed to bend in a heavy impact.

 

+1 with Eric's advice.

I'll share a story... about 2 years ago I was driving my 1975 MG Midget to work, I went across a railroad crossing (the same one I cross every day) as I crossed it the car shuttered with a loud "CHURNCK!" I mentally noted the bang and drove onto work, but I noticed the car was acting a bit... "wonky". At work I look at the car and noticed the driver side was sitting about four inches lower than it should. I checked the suspension but didn't see anything, so I planed to look into it when I got home. Jump ahead to getting back to the house later that day and pulling into the garage, I slide the floor jack under the car, raise the car, and I discover the left rear leaf spring had sheared through 4 of the 5 leafs...ouch! Oh, but wait it gets better... after repairing the rear leaf spring, I notice the right front feels like a bearing is going. I pulled the wheel and hub and discover the outer bearing has exploded, it disintegrates as I pull it out. I inspect the rest of the suspension and see the lower A-arm front bushing housing is broken... WOW! I'm lucky the left front didn't leave the car while I was driving home.

The rule of thumb I have always used is, if you hit a pothole or bump hard enough to bend a wheel, you can bend or break suspension. In this case, I underestimated the damage because I did not bend a wheel.

Best of luck.

Motor on!

 

Is there any thing that would stand out on visual inspection to be broken / bent / damaged?

Thanks

 

Very strange in deed. I also echo what was stated above. Check everything out that you can to see if there is any further damage that was done.

 

I have the same problem. Replaced the control arm and bushing, and hub. Going to try shocks next and upgrade while I am at it.

Jamed

 

Should also check that the Strut Tower has not mushroomed causing the camber to change. You might need to pound the tower back into place and add strut tower stiffeners (various options are available). Search for mushrooming in the forums.