Hit a speed bump pretty hard, what kind of damage could I have?

[Dankk]

I recently got a new car - a 2015 Kia Forte5. Love the car, and since it's an order of magnitude nicer/newer than my old clunker, I've been trying to baby it and drive a lot more carefully than I usually do.

...So of course I hit a poorly-marked speed bump way too hard the other day. Now I'm worried I broke something. Just my luck.

What should I check for? I don't see any leaks. Steering still seems fine. The speed bump wasn't a *huge* one, but it was big enough that there was a pretty loud "KER-THUNK" as I went over it. I don't think I actually heard any scraping though. I was going maybe 25mph.

What kinds of things can be damaged when you hit a speed bump too hard? Should I just have a mechanic look at it to put my concerns to rest? I'm not really a gearhead. Thanks.

 

[MongGrel]

If it didn't bend a rim, probably just maybe threw the alignment off.

Why are you worried you broke something ? Seems would be a reason.

No leaks and it steers like it should you probably don't have to worry.

 

[jlee]

If it didn't bend a rim, probably just maybe threw the alignment off.

Why are you worried you broke something ? Seems would be a reason.

No leaks and it steers like it should you probably don't have to worry.

Yep. If the steering wheel is straight when you're driving straight, you have no vibrations when driving, and if it doesn't pull to one side when driving, you're probably just fine.

 

[thedarkwolf]

speed bump? You mean ramps?

 

[gururu2]

the suspension takes the hit. if it doesn't feel any rougher when you drive around then probably all is ok especially since its new. most people drive over these things 20-25 mph when they really should be going 5-10 mph.

 

[razel]

Lots of good info already posted. One thing I'd do is next time you get new tires or whenever you end up at a tire shop, have an alignment done. Ask for a discount if you're already having them do any tire work, I think I've only been denied once.

 

[JeffMD]

Yea if you don't notice leaks or obvious differences in driving, it pretty much just hit your mounts and suspension. Even then if your suspension absorbed it, it did its job. If any mounts took a hit, it just would have cut into the rubber ring and worst case is the life of the mount is made shorter (some of these are common replacement parts at 150-250k miles).

 

[thomsbrain]

It's certainly possible to bend control arms (if a Kia even has control arms) on a big hit, but I'm guessing your car is a-ok.

 

[996GT2]

Check your shocks/struts in a few weeks and see if any are leaking. Leaks may not happen immediately. I had a leaking strut after I hit a bump in the road that I couldn't avoid. Ended up replacing both front struts as its not ideal to just replace 1 side.

 

[silicon]

i would inspect the strut towers where the struts bolt into the frame. these can be punched upwards sometimes. Check the steering feels the same, that there are no clunking noises coming from the frontend and that the brakes work correctly. maybe a wheel alignment would not hurt either. at least then you know nothing is bent of out of whack.

 

[Dankk]

Thanks guys. I might end up just scheduling an appointment with the mechanic and having them look at my suspension so I can stop worrying about it.

 

[mizzou]

bent rims are probably the #1 damage resulting from potholes/bumps. Your suspension is probably quite robust, more then you would think. The tires and the things that connect it to your suspension are the weak points.

 

[Lean L]

I hit a massive pothole last year around Feb at probably 40mph. This was at night so the water hid it perfectly. This thing was probably 8 ft long and 7-8 inches deep with lips that protruded out to form asphalt knives.

It jolted the whole right side of the car and sounded like a small gunshot when the front wheel was forced over the end of the pothole.

Pulled over as my tpms light immediately came on. While I checked out the damage, 3 other cars also pulled over citing tire damage.

Suspension was fine, rims were fine but I did pop a tire. The incident cost me $120 for the cost of the old tire and replacing it with an identical used one (FWD + non locking diff)

I think you should be fine. The lighter the car, the less likely it is to take suspension/rim/tire damage.

I hit potholes hard all the time when I had a corolla. Never had an issue.

 

[BurnItDwn]

So, its been like a week, any problems with your rim found? or all is well?

 

[who?]

The internal structure of the battery may have been damaged.

 

[Dankk]

So, its been like a week, any problems with your rim found? or all is well?

Just looking at the rims from the outside, no, I don't see any issues. Even if I did have a bent rim, I would probably feel it while driving, right? As long as I'm driving on a smooth surface, it still feels like a smooth ride. The tires in general seem to be fine AFAIK.

Still haven't spotted any leaks either. At this point I'm thinking I should probably just not worry about it.

The internal structure of the battery may have been damaged.

Okay... now you guys are just messing with me. Really?

 

[Bubbleawsome]

It's probably fine. If it didn't immediately pop a tire and you don't feel anything weird the most damage that probably happened was a tiny bit of extra wear. That's what all that stuff is for anyway.

It's incredible the amount of abuse cars can take really. I had a kid in a driver's ed class hit a low point in an intersection fast enough to jerk the steering wheel out of her hands because it was at a slight angle. The car (a ford expedition) was actually fine and the instructor drove us back without issue. IIRC the instructor got it checked out (alignment, general checkup) but nothing big enough to contact parents about, so costs were <$500.

 

[NAC]

I'm always amazed at how slowly people drive over speed bumps. You have to be going pretty darn fast to damage the suspension. Especially people with giant trucks and jeeps and big tires - vehicles designed for off road which the owner thinks need to be babied over a speed bump at 5 mph.

 

[MongGrel]

The internal structure of the battery may have been damaged.

Maybe he is messing with you on his own, or he's just really clueless...

 

[XavierMace]

The internal structure of the battery may have been damaged.

He should probably check his blinker fluid too.

 

[BurnItDwn]

Okay... now you guys are just messing with me. Really?

This is anandtech. People are always friendly and helpful. I think you have just hurt all our feeling by making such an accusation