legacy603 Posted October 11, 2014 Share Posted October 11, 2014 So I replaced my drivers lower control arm on my 97 legacy and my body is twisted about an 1/8 of an inch to a 1/4 inch can I run this thing straight with an alignment or is it totaled and tips would be great thanks in advanc Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AdventureSubaru Posted October 12, 2014 Share Posted October 12, 2014 Alignment helps but wont necessarily overcome a tweaked body. Body shops can pull bent stuff straight again. cutting and welding is a cheap option if you can do it right. If it's not off by a lot, the worst case scenario is that it will eat through tires faster than others. I used to feed my old off roading toyota truck a slow and steady diet of used junkyard 31x10.50-15 tires since it was permanently out of alignment. Went through a junkyard set about once a year but that was with heavy use. If it still drives without trying to run you into a ditch etc, it's not beaten yet. Do you have any pics of where things are bent? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fairtax4me Posted October 12, 2014 Share Posted October 12, 2014 How can you tell the body is twisted? There are what's called "Datum" points in many different places on the car and body shops use those to measure how "bent" the car is when straightening bent frames. This is the only reliable way to say how much the frame is bent. If the body of the car is visibly bent, which parts are bent? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
idosubaru Posted October 12, 2014 Share Posted October 12, 2014 Best bet would be to post some pictures so we can see what you're talking about and how bad the damage is. some of us have repaired lots of Subarus and they always do basically the same things just to varying degrees - so we can tell you exactly what's going on if you give us more information. i've repaired a number of wrecked Subarus - including totaled/salvages which had to be recertified by the state to be able to ever register/tag them again. what exactly is wrong - so far "body is twisted 1/8 to 1/4"....that tells us almost nothing. hard to say. 1/8" to 1/4" is such a small amount i seriously doubt you need to do much of anything...but again you need to tell us what you mean. highly doubt your "body" is truly out that much. you can have one particular bolt hole or small area that's off by a little bit....but everything else is spot on. in those cases - it's meaningless. minor stuff you can usually work around and it's not a big deal. you can most likely get an alignment and you're golden. if it is truly bent beyond simple at home stuff (i highly doubt it) you can get a quote for some time on a frame rack to straighten it out. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
legacy603 Posted October 12, 2014 Author Share Posted October 12, 2014 I wish I could upload a pic but it won't let me with my phone and its not to bad out of shape but it took me forever to line up the new control arm however I did notice that my front bumper is pusehed in on the passenger side my wife had gone off the road in to a ditch and hit the other side hard she is OK but the car is in rough shape Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
idosubaru Posted October 12, 2014 Share Posted October 12, 2014 google some other pictures online and post a link to the bolts that were hard to line up. for instance: http://repairguide.autozone.com/znetrgs/repair_guide_content/en_us/images/0996b43f/80/22/f8/0f/medium/0996b43f8022f80f.gif pull up a pic like that and tell us which bolt/part you had a problem with. drink some coffee, use those neurons a bit, and you can help us help you! honestly suspension bolts/parts are often hard to line up because of the suspension being loaded by struts pushing down - sway bars pushing back up - and the weight of various items. lots of suspension parts are hard to line up even on brand new vehicles. come along or tow strap wrapped around a tree will pull that bumper out easily. loosen bumper mount bolts in frame rail (it's only like 2 14mm bolts each side next to engine) and pull the bumper out. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
legacy603 Posted October 12, 2014 Author Share Posted October 12, 2014 Well after some work I got the control arm in just waiting to tighten everything up now I'm just putting in the new CV and tie rod ends then trying to line up the fenders and looking for a hood and bumper cover Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
legacy603 Posted October 12, 2014 Author Share Posted October 12, 2014 Well after some work I got the control arm in just waiting to tighten everything up now I'm just putting in the new CV and tie rod ends then trying to line up the fenders and looking for a hood and bumper cover 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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