On my way to Phoenix yesterday. On the I-10 near Palm Springs at 70 mph at 3 am., a rock or chunk of concrete appears suddenly in front of me. It was a perfect match to the asphalt in the dark so I didn't see it until it was too late to avoid. It hit the underside of the car between the license plate and my seat, missing the tires. After noisily bouncing over it, I took a quick glance. Fortunately it appears it didn't cause serious mechanical damage. The splash protector in the front under the engine is beat up. The driver's side front wheel well plastic tore loose and shredded against the tire. They're pretty well destroyed. Other than that the car seems ok. I finished the one-day trip to Phoenix and even got a little better gas mileage than the same trip last week. I'll have the mechanic put the car on the lift Monday and do a better damage inspection while replacing the broken plastic. If those splash guards are the only casualties of that encounter I consider myself extremely lucky.
Parked the car on level ground and the clearance above the tires is different by an inch or two in the front. The driver's side is sagging a touch compared to passenger side. I'm guessing maybe a damaged shock/strut? We had planned on replacing them before our trip cross country this summer anyway so hopefully that's all it is. These shocks and struts already have 147k on them. For all I know, it was sagging before I hit this rock and hadn't caught it.
I'm hoping it's something that simple. They need to be replaced, though, after that many miles. It should help on our 5,000+ mile trip as we load the car with luggage, ice chest, two sets of golf clubs, etc., etc.
That reminds me of a very similar accident in 2012 where I saw 3 rocks about 1ft in size in the roadway, only after the car in front made an abrupt lane change. I had no time to change lane or even stop. Just managed to move a bit so that rocks did not come under tire. It ended up me having to change cross member and transmission, as the housing got cracked, with one from salvage ( I only had liability insurance on the car since it had over 150K miles then). It cost me 2600$ then. But then I have almost 200K more miles at 355K, which brings me ahead even after spending the money. I drove about 40 Miles to mechanic after the accident. Initially i did not see any obvious fluid leaks. But the transmission fluid was leaking a bit. The car was tracking straight as well, though the steering position had changed by about 30 degrees, since the cross member got hit. Any change in steering position for you?
Not that I noticed but the car seemed a little less aerodynamic at 70 mph the rest of the trip. I attribute that to the flapping pieces of the splash guards still attached to the car and waving in the wind. I will have the mechanic check things out thoroughly under the car tomorrow though. We're only a month and a half away from our long summer trip and I don't want something like that showing up 1000 miles from home or in the middle of the hot desert. Thanks for sharing your experience.
As I indicated earlier, it's going to the mechanic tomorrow. He's not there weekends so it can't be done any sooner than that. In the meantime it's not being driven and instead sitting in the driveway.
Something similar happened to me last week. Front drivers side tyre took the damage and I lost the hubcap! luckily no other damage.
They are still evaluating the damage but so far all they have found are the front splash guard and the one in the driver's side front wheel well need to be replaced. That and alignment since the steering wheel is no longer perfectly level across. I had planned on new shocks and struts before our long trip anyway so It's ok if they took a hit. He's going to replace them with KYB shocks and struts. That's the preliminary findings from first glance. They have the car on the rack and are performing a much more thorough inspection right now. He'll call me later with the findings.
Good news! No further damage! Even the front splash guard only tore loose but can be reattached without buying a new one. The alignment, wheel well splash guard replacement, shocks and struts will take care of it. It also appears it wasn't a rock after all. They found quite a few bits of animal fur on various pieces of the bottom of the car but there wasn't enough to identify what it was. My guess is a truck killed whatever it was and I hit the carcass. It must have been laying with its back to me so I couldn't see the head or legs. Most likely a coyote out there.
Did they resolve the steering wheel? You were saying it was a little off-centre? Or you were just spooked?
When I lived back east and was driving up to Toronto with a friend we had a similar event occur with a deer passing under my friends Pontiac Grand Am. When it was going under the floor boards and we could feel it, he asked “was that insulation”? After pulling over and looking under neath, we saw the carnage and drove to the border. That was a long stop at customs . Glad it worked out in the end for you.
Just picked up the car and drove it the 19 miles on the freeway coming home. The new shocks and struts actually raised the clearance in the wheel wells and changed the ride in a positive way. They wear out so gradually I hadn't paid much attention to how much the old ones had sagged, both front and rear. The toe on the wheel alignment had been thrown off (they gave me the printout) but it straightened up perfectly. Plastic pieces reattached or replaced as needed. I'm very happy with it. In two weeks I'll have them do the 150k service plus the PCV and brake fluid change. After that it will be a full Prolong maintenance on the battery and we'll be ready to head for the East Coast and back.
The 150k service you are planning won't affect your trip, I would actually do it when you return. You should do any major services unless it's really needed, especially right before a trip
We're not leaving until the end of June so I'll have 5 weeks and 4 or 5 one day trips of at least 200 miles on it by then.
