1994-2002 [Subscribe to Daily Digest] |
Members do not see ads below this line. - Help Keep This Site Online - Signup
Darn, it finally happened -- I did some damage to my 9-3.
We had about 3" of very wet, slick snow dump in a few hours here and chaos ensued as most drivers didn't appear to have snow tires. Anyway, I was trying to aviod an out of control vehicle and ended up in a slide myself. Unfortunately, the Artic Alpines aren't excellent on deep, heavy snow so ABS was unable to stop me from side-slipping into a curb at about 10 mph. The right front wheel took the bulk of the hit, but the rear scraped a little too. I did a quick walk around and found no tire damage, but significant gouging over about 1/4 circumfrence of the outermost ring on the front and some curb rash on the back. Neither appeared particularly bent, although I'm sure the front is out of true. I drove it home (just a minute or so more) and didn't really notice much difference, but there was so much snow that I there was no way to tell what was going on. I looked her over again when I got back, but again didn't see anything too bad.
However, I went out again once the roads had cleared a bit and noticed something quite disturbing. The car only went straight with the steering wheel turned 1/4 left. I visually confirmed that the right front toes out quite noticably. The ride seems pretty normal, although the steering is vague and shifts variably. I don't know how much of this is a result of the slick, slushy conditions. I didn't dare take her over 25mph on the way back home, and it didn't feel like the car wanted to go that fast anyway. Cornering seems fine at low speeds.
I'm definately calling the dealer in the morning. Is it safe to drive down there (about 5 miles) or do I need to get the car towed? Any impressions on cost to repair? I can't imagine that a simple alignment would do it here, something must be bent or broken. Is there a possibility of worse handling after all repairs are made?
, Mon, 5 Mar 2001 09:26:05
No Site Registration is Required to Post - Site Membership is optional (Member Features List), but helps to keep the site online
for all Saabers. If the site helps you, please consider helping the site by becoming a member.
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
