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Hi,
Car. BMW 328 F30 2014
Had a low speed, minor accident and broke the lower control arm. Car was not drivable and had to be towed. Picture attached. Tow driver didn’t hold the wheel properly and hence it stretched out as seen in picture, but was straight after accident.Insurance totalled the car in anticipation of major damage as BMW collision gave a large estimate without even tearing it down. But to me car looks perfectly fine and hence considering to buy it back from insurance as a salvage.
Here are the questions after I inspected car jacking it up.
1) steering moves smooth with no noises. Can there be damage inside steering rack because of collision as well as towing?BMW recommends to replace steering rack per their SB as there was damage to control arm.
2) wheel rotates fine without any play or noise. Can There be bearing damage?
3) looking at wheel resting angle shown in picture could it have damaged the struts or mounts? What’s normal range of struYes.
4) subframe looks good without any cracks or bend on visual inspection. Can there be damage to it which are not visible?My plan is to change control arms and do alignment as first step. But want to know community’s thoughts on case anyone had experience dealing with similar repairs. Control arm breaking is very common on these cars as it’s made up of aluminum. I learned it can even break on hitting curb at low speed.
Thanks Bulletguy
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