Anyone ever bent the suspension taking an incline driveway too fast while turning?

[Kumba]

Just recently got back from Georgia. Was pulling into a 7-11 here with a somewhat inclined driveway and the tire decided to go up and introduce itself to the fender. Ended up taking a chunk out of the tire and pulling the lip of the fender Down. That in and of itself is nothing a new tire and a little love with a baseball bat and hammer won't fix, but that leads me to this question:

Has anyone ever bent the suspension from taking an incline drive too fast? This is the first time I've ever seen the car bottom out to where the tire got into something. Granted it was 2am at night but the drivers side tire was definitely sitting lower compared to the passengers.

While in Georgia I went to a barber that has a dirt parking lot with a pot hole right after the concrete ramp. It was kind of humped and I couldn't see it but the car did bottom out pretty hard there. Perhaps that bent something, but I wouldn't expect that to get into the control arms or anything.

Another possibility is that the adjusters on the Stance shock on that side came lose and it lowered itself. Have to see if I can find the ride height measurements I took and check all 4 corners.

Maybe it's a sign that I should just go get that CTS-V or Raptor I've been thinking about... Hurmmmmmm.

 

[1LoudLS]

Maybe it's a sign that I should just go get that CTS-V or Raptor I've been thinking about...

well duh...

 

[G-RELL]

my fender did the same....

pulled i bit down right at 12 o'clock on the fender (same time a incline)...

 

[Kumba]

Mine's pulled more at the 11 o'clock position. I guess I just never hit an incline hard enough but I find that hard to believe. The driveway at my old office had such a steep incline that the car would tripod when you turned onto it. Ohh well, I haven't fixed anything on the car in a while so guess I was due.

 

[RigsLS]

Too many cheeseburgers!

 

[G-RELL]

soo true

 

[Telco]

More like the installation of lowering components. The OEMs build these cars so it's almost impossible to bottom out the suspension if the correct components are used. When you install lowering springs, you have to understand that you must either make other modifications to the car to keep from damaging it when you bottom out, or must accept that from time to time you are going to hit something HARD unless you are careful and pay attention at all times.

I feel your pain though, lowered my truck a couple of inches using torsion keys and every now and again it bottoms out hard when I hit an unexpected bump. After I move I plan to install a set of lowering spindles (I don't know the correct name of the part on a 4x4 that is a spindle on a 2x4) and will be putting the factory keys back in. This will let my truck ride at the same height it is now, without the suspension bottoming out.

On the LS, you'll either need to select front wheels that allow the tires to tuck in under the fenders (giving it a funny car look with skinnies up front and fatties in the back), or will need to redo the fender opening for the tires (the correct way) so you won't drop the fender on the tire when you hit a bump with the wheel turned all the way in one direction or the other.

So far as hitting hard enough to actually bend suspension parts, that takes a HUGE impact to do and if this happened as a result of road damage you could likely address it with the entity responsible for road maintenance in the courtroom to pay for the repairs to your car. Good luck with it though, because it'll likely take a long time and might wind up costing you more than to just fix it yourself. If this is the case and you go to court, it's likely that there have been a lot of complaints made about the road damage which might help if you can get proof that these complaints were made. A threat of a lawsuit though, would be enough to get the road fixed so when you drive there again you won't break your car.

 

[Kumba]

It was a driveway going into a business. It was downhill on the other side of the concrete entrance ramp from the road and there was a dirt pothole I couldn't see. So came over the bump at maybe 10mph and didn't see it and the car slammed down hard on it. I'm putting it up on a lift tomorrow to see if anything bent. That was the hardest I've ever had it hit before.

Maybe it's just a coincidence, but I take an incline driveway and the drivers tire, the side that bottomed out hard, got into the fender. I've had the Stand adjustable shocks on the car for over 2 years now and never had the tires get into the fenders. I've literally taken some driveway inclines at 10mph while turning where the car tripods and didn't have this issue.

I'm due for a suspension overhaul anyways so I'll just make a shopping list tomorrow. I know I'm due for toe links at a minimum out back, plus a wheel bearing, so it'll be fun to see what else looks worn out. I do miss my handling

 

[Kumba]

Looks like the issue is that the extremely hard hit I took on that drive way blew out the front drives side shock. So it's doing little to no dampening and also letting the ride height sag more. Guess I need to contact Stance about a replacement or rebuild.

On a plus note, the Lincoln dealership right by my house has a Mechanic whose daily driver is a 2005 LSE. He is who I had crawling all over the car and he said that the front shock is just weak. That he's done it to his Ls before taking too big a ramp as well. So I guess I know where I will be taking my car in the future. I also told him I am going to stalk him in order to steal his Gen2 solid red tail lights.

 

[Telco]

the Lincoln dealership right by my house has a Mechanic whose daily driver is a 2005 LSE.

Congratulations, you have won the "luckiest guy on the board" award! Imagine, a Lincoln technician who knows what an LS is!

Seriously, congratulations on that, and I am glad to hear that what you broke is an easy fix.

 

[Kumba]

Congratulations, you have won the "luckiest guy on the board" award! Imagine, a Lincoln technician who knows what an LS is!

Seriously, congratulations on that, and I am glad to hear that what you broke is an easy fix.

LOL, yeah, I had to take the service writer over and point to the car and say "Whoever drives that car is who I want to exclusively work on my car, I don't care how long it takes". About 30 minutes after I left he called me back so that Earl (the guy with the Black '05 LSE) could go over my car. Good guy and it was nice to not have to explain what half the crap that blows up on an LS is. He has his lowered on 20's and did something similar a while ago. Had to buy a new shock and roll the fender.