- Jan 4, 2001
- 41,596
- 20
- 81
Yet-another-f'd-up-my-car thread.
Driving slowly along a snowy road (plowed, but not completely), probably less than 20mph, then I see ahead, the road is starting to drift shut - the opposing lane is sealed up, with my lane starting to close. I tried to slow down a bit, tapping the brakes. I realized that "hmm, car is not slowing down, wheels are locking up" and I tried steering into the drift a bit, but the car went right instead - it went into the thick plowed snow by the side of the road. Started digging. 20 minutes later, my shovel broke apart; 5 minutes later, someone in a pickup drives up, with a chain.
I apparently hooked the chain onto the wrong thing - now the back tire faces to the left about 2 degrees. So yes, I know, I'm stupid. And I don't think I should say this either, but I discovered later that, I have a towing hook on the back of the car too. Never had to use it before though, so I didn't know it was there. And I know little enough about cars that I wouldn't have thought to look for it. The guy had to yank the car out, and drag it about 40-50 feet before I could finally move on my own (once it actually made it back onto the road), and turn around.
So flame on there.
- Now the IDing part:
What is bent is a horizontal, but angled piece, on cross-section, it probably looks something like a horseshoe. Apparently it's a wheel support of some kind (oops). Any idea what it's "technical" name is, or what I should look for in spare parts catalogs for a pricing idea?
The car is a 1997 Hyundai Elantra GLS.
Pic of the thing, taken from the back of the car - the crossbar is circled; on the bottom of it, near the left, you can see the notches left by the chain; that entire area around the notch is bowed backward (toward you in the pic), due to the sheer force exerted on it. The tire in the pic is of course the one that's misaligned, facing to the left slightly; it's the rear left tire.
Pic taken with a Kodak DC3200.
Driving slowly along a snowy road (plowed, but not completely), probably less than 20mph, then I see ahead, the road is starting to drift shut - the opposing lane is sealed up, with my lane starting to close. I tried to slow down a bit, tapping the brakes. I realized that "hmm, car is not slowing down, wheels are locking up" and I tried steering into the drift a bit, but the car went right instead - it went into the thick plowed snow by the side of the road. Started digging. 20 minutes later, my shovel broke apart; 5 minutes later, someone in a pickup drives up, with a chain.
I apparently hooked the chain onto the wrong thing - now the back tire faces to the left about 2 degrees. So yes, I know, I'm stupid. And I don't think I should say this either, but I discovered later that, I have a towing hook on the back of the car too. Never had to use it before though, so I didn't know it was there. And I know little enough about cars that I wouldn't have thought to look for it. The guy had to yank the car out, and drag it about 40-50 feet before I could finally move on my own (once it actually made it back onto the road), and turn around.
So flame on there.
- Now the IDing part:
What is bent is a horizontal, but angled piece, on cross-section, it probably looks something like a horseshoe. Apparently it's a wheel support of some kind (oops). Any idea what it's "technical" name is, or what I should look for in spare parts catalogs for a pricing idea?
The car is a 1997 Hyundai Elantra GLS.
Pic of the thing, taken from the back of the car - the crossbar is circled; on the bottom of it, near the left, you can see the notches left by the chain; that entire area around the notch is bowed backward (toward you in the pic), due to the sheer force exerted on it. The tire in the pic is of course the one that's misaligned, facing to the left slightly; it's the rear left tire.
Pic taken with a Kodak DC3200.
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