Hey everyone,

Last night I was driving home from work. There's a large roundabout that I drive through every day and I usually take it a little quickly to enjoy the awesome handling characteristics of the miata. Anyways, this time was different. Like an idiot, I was using my phone while driving. Came out of the roundabout, weight transferred, I wasn't paying attention and lost control of the car. Mounted a decent sized curb and stopped in the median. By extreme luck I didn't bend or crack my wheels and my tires didn't explode, my alignment wasn't thrown off and the car drives fine. That's not to say there aren't any issues though.


I banged up the frame rail support pretty bad and bent backwards the cross-member brace right before the rear axel.Also, my transmission seems a little bit louder when I shift, although it actually feels better?

I acknowledge that this accident was completely and 100% my fault and I own up to it. I am just asking advice on how to go about fixing the damage that I've caused. Also, as far as the rear cross member goes, is there an aftermarket brace that anyone recommends? I'll try and get some pictures today.

Thanks,

Chris

 

In for carnage pics

 

Where is this magical curb? My transmission has always been a bit notchy, I'd like to improve the shifting feel.

 

In that case . . . you drive like a *****.

 

But did you get the text sent?

 

I was like... had a fraction of a lag, nice! J A J A jaaa

** Oh man, grab a six pack and wrench on, embrace as if the glass is half full. You can do it!

 

Sometimes the things that happened yesterday definitely still matter.

 

Especially if that thing was, ya know, mounting a curb. And now we've come full circle jerk.

 

In all seriousness, did you get under the car check it out? Any leaking/visible damage to the transmission, driveshaft? The rear brace is cheap and easy to replace. You likely scraped a lot of the undercoating off the frame rails and scraped them into the metal. If so, I would sand any rust that has formed and prime/undercoat any spots that you may have opened.

 

Adding to that, you should still get your alignment checked out even though it tracks straight and drives fine. There might be a subtle change that isn't enough to impact driveability but could wear your tires unevenly. It would also be a good indicator of whether or not the "frame"/unibody is tweaked. Can't get within spec using known good suspension and steering parts usually = tweaked metal.