Tire tucked in wheelwell

[mediabandit]

So i went to back out of the driveway tonight with the winter beater ( 1998 Lumina LS )to go to work and all i hear is a lound bang and then i could hear rubbing and alot of resistance,so i pulled it back into the parking space and got out and looked at it. I can see the tire tucked up inside the rear drivers side wheelwell. I looked under the car and couldn't see anything and also looked in the trunk to see if the strut had come through the tower, but there was nothing visible with a quick glance under the car, and the strut did not come up in the trunk either. I will have a look at it in the morning when i get home from work, hard to see anything in the dark, plus i was on my way to work when it happened so i had to hop in the jeep and take that instead, no time to really survey the situation other then knowing i wasn't driving the car anywhere.

Anyone have any idea on what it could be? I did replace the rear crossmember, lateral links and trailling arms at the beginning of the witner when i bought the car. And the car has worked excellent since i got it, no issues at all. we had it out yesterday to the bro-in-laws so i could install his marble floors and it worked great all the way there and back. My wife was driving on the way home last night and she did hit a bad pothole ( hard to miss here, there are so many) but i never though much of it as the car made no abnormal noises and drove just fine the rest of the way home.

So if you have any useful input i would like to hear it. Just so i can be a little more prepared for what i am in for when i get home in the morning after working 12hrs and have to fix the car. Thanks.

I never got any pics, cuz as i said it was too dark out and i was kinda in a rush to get to work.

[slick]

Betcha it was the shock.

 

However, your not really going to know until you get the back end jacked up and the wheel off to inspect everything.

 

Reminds me of a CS sedan I seen a few years back.

 

 

 

[jake91]

holy shit

[CSI_MuNkY]

Holy shit is right! Look at the lateral link, its not bent, just sheered off! Impressive that they were able to pull off the road!

 

Jamie

[mediabandit]

Ya, i will find out for sure when i get home. like you said slick, more then likely it is the shock. i am just glad it happened as i was backing it out and not when i was heading down the highway or something. mine would have looked like the one in your pics too.

[Venom]

Not to get off topic but that sedan is insane!!

 

Back on topic, I remember when I first got my CS the rear was really low, almost tucking tire, and when I replace the rear struts, the ride height went back to normal.

[meltboy1]

holy shit

X2

[White93z34]

sounds to me like the coil spring broke in a big way.

[mediabandit]

sounds to me like the coil spring broke in a big way.

 

That is what i was leanning towards it being as well, because the tire is still perpendicular and only seems to be tucked up in the wheelwell and not bend over on its side. Also there is no sign of the shock going through the tower. either way, i will know for sure in the morning when i get home from work and have a chance to look at it.

 

 

[Night Fury]

That sedan is LOLOL FAIL@!

[mediabandit]

So i just got home from work, took a couple pics of the car, but will not be doing anymore to it today, it is snowing out right now and we are suppose to get more, so i will not be putting the Z34 out in the snow to work on this car. It is suppose to be nice tomorrow, so i will wait until then to do it.

First pic is showing the height it is suppose to be sitting at:

 

 

These are a couple of how it sits now:

 

 

And i also looked in the trunk, now that there is sunlight it is much easier to see and there looks to be no damage at all to the shock tower or the upper cap.

 

 

[Brian P]

me thinks a broken spring, or spring seat!!

[carkhz316]

Not trying to derail, but last winter, on my '91 Euro, I had the strut on the pass. side pull through the mount. I was wondering why it rattling in the rear really bad, like a bad strut. Fortunately it was a weekend when it happened, and I was just driving through town when I noticed it. It would just rock from side to side in the wheel well, probably was great for shoulder wear. But, I picked up a mount and slapped it in shortly thereafter. But, x2 on the spring itself possibly being bad.

[3pt1lumina]

I'm going with a broken spring.

[mediabandit]

So i finally had time/ nice weather to get to work on this yesterday.

 

 

So, it was the lower strut spring plate that the weld broke on. When i took it apart, i also replaced the upper strut plate and the wheel cylinder on that wheel as it was no working properly.

What i did was take the tire off, place a small block of wood between the spring and put the donut on it so i could limp it out to my buddies place where i had access to a hoist and spring compressor. Then just replaced everything there. I also replaced the small brake line that goes to the wheel cylinder as it was pretty rusty.

[White93z34]

damn things get rusty up there!

[mediabandit]

ya lots of salt here, and the previous owner never had it undercoated.

[rockfangd]

cant say i havent seen that before,. Its like putting new springs in original struts to save money lol. Good lord i really hope that my cutlass never breaks like that. I would probably cry with all of what i have been through lately.

END HIJACK

[Venom]

Man I wish I had access to a lift LOL. Glad you got it figured out. Not sure if I missed it but did you check out the other side to make sure it wasnt going to do the same thing?

[mediabandit]

Ya i checked the other side while i had it up on the lift. Looks fine. It was caused by the awesome potholes, scratch that! Craters, we have in our roads now.

It definetly is nice to have access to the lift and the other tools i need, cost me a grand total of $6.00 for shop supplies... well other the the obvious cost of parts that is.

[AWeb80]

Good work Steve!

[mediabandit]

Thanks.