So I curbed my celica...Wondering when to call it and how many parts to throw at it

Did something stupid curbed the driver side front wheel hard. The car  is a 2001 celica gt-s currently has 195k miles drives well and outside of steering wheel being off by 15 degrees still drove fine--no vibrations/play or noises (only up to 25 mph limping home).  To get a feel of the value--both front seats are torn, ac works, it has a ton of rock chip up front but otherwise is a great 10 foot car.

Unfortunately nothing looks too bent or shifted which makes me scared to throw parts at it and not fix the problem

https://imgur.com/a/NDxwy3h

Plan options

1) Wheel and tire will need to be replaced @ $190 Total. Alignment will be ~100$.

2) Add inner & outer tie rods and lower control arms+ ball joints (205$ for parts). Total would be ~500 for this plan.  I want to do this since it should leave the car feeling better than I started because the control arm bushings are 18 years old at this point.

3) Add strut mount and new strut +$130

What would you do GRM?

I think you're going to have to have another go at figuring out what moved. I can't see anything in the pictures, either. But clearly something changed.

Take a tape measure to it and measure points that should be the same on both sides?

Turn the wheel full left and mark it with tape at the top or bottom, do the same to the right, and see whether the middle is still the middle (and whether the wheel seems to turn as far one way as the other)?

I don't know these cars, so I don't know whether there's any opportunity for an adjustment to have slipped instead of bending things, but I think you should try again to gather info before going straight from "Nothing is obviously mangled" to "load the parts cannon!"

Try to get the car professionally aligned without changing any parts first.  This attempt to align will help expose parts that need to be replaced.  You only need to try to align the front if the front is the only thing that made contact.  

The most likely is the control arm where it curves. 

There can be some play in the lower strut mount, especially if adjustable bolts are used.  And, the steering rack could have moved in it's mounts, as there is some play possible there too.  Before throwing parts at it, I would get the wheel replaced and an alignment.  The alignment shop should be able to tell you if anything is bent/damaged beyond their ability to align it.

Was under measuring quite a bit nothing seems off center, steers both ways and wheel range of motion is pretty much the same on both sides (measured from disc end to control arm bolt). 

I don't speak suspension very well but does camber affect toe out? (e.g. if the car went from negative camber to more positive would it cause the wheel to toe out?) I dialed in some negative camber by loosening the bolts where it connects to the knuckle and jacking up the rotor a few years ago. Seems plausible that with the curb impact camber would go from negative to somewhat positive.

Carefully measure the control arm and any other component to see if it bent and is shorter.   Replace if it did and take to alignment shop. 

Trying to get it aligned first seems like a good way to have to pay for two alignments, unless you have a very forgiving alignment shop.

Got under it again---impact side lower  control arm is maybe 1/4 inch shorter than the other side. Not sure if this is new or not but I guess I'll start here. Should I change the outer tie rod while i'm here to avoid 2 alignments? Or don't fix it if it isn't measurably broken?

Yeah, my kid did a similar stunt with my 89 Civic SI. He bent the upright (Steering knuckle), and everything else was OK, or could be adjusted. I found the problem by putting the car on jack stands and measuring the distance from the level/straight edge to the top control arm pivot.  I then compared the measurements right to left side.

The Celica is MacPherson strut, (I think) so you may need to find some better reference points, but that will get you started.

The idea of taking it to an alignment shop seems reasonable, but you will want to tell the write-up guy what you are looking for, and explain that you want to be in the stall when the mechanic is going thru the setup and measurements.

Good luck!

Rog

In reply to dculberson :

A lot of places will do followup alignments for free on the same car.  If he is upfront in the beginning (just getting the numbers and not having them try to align it if it is really off or if a problem is uncovered) perhaps they would have no problem doing it properly after he replaces the bent stuff. 

Just buy this. That stuff was probably worn out before you bent it anyway.

And if you do need a strut, I'm trying to remember if I threw out my 2k mile replacements when I put my racelands on.

Update: Very broken (car and my spirit)

Control arms went in, after alignment most things were  within range but with only at 0.5 of negative camber (with a camber bolt on which was not previously on the car) on the impact side which means something is still bent. Caster is off at 2.8 degrees compared to 2.5 degrees on my previously alignment. 

Shop noted that the power steering lines were leaking.  Drove it for a few days and power steering started puking as I got into work yesterday.  Hear a line pop as I got out of the garage and wrestled it home and into the garage. Just disconnected the tie rod to see if it was something binding in the suspension or the steering rack.  Nothing looks disconnected so a line might have to be replaced along with the steering rack

Tie rod off and wheels off the ground steering feels difficult in the center position and eases up when turning right.

Am I correct in assuming the rack needs to be replaced? It didn't feel smooth even when it was full of fluid.

I'm currently in for ( ~350)  $70 alignment at shop+power steering fluid  + $80 wheel  + $94 tire + $100 2x control arms). I think that replacing the steering rack on this car is out of my wheelhouse for this car I was looking at the FSM and it requires some engine supporting will likely farm that job out at ~450$ for labor if I go ahead with this endeavor.

Do I:

Full send load the parts cannon: Replace the steering knuckle $80, junk yard steering rack $50 + lines $60 , Strut $100,  strut mount $30, tie rod/ball joints putting me at +395 for parts + 450 for labor (for power steering), + sunk costs =  1200 all in.

Replace the power steering components and continue driving the car semi-bent (Rack 50, lines 60, labor 450)  + 350 sunk cost putting me at  910$

Put it up F/S as a donor/broken car. What do you guys think the delta would be between broken car and running car? If it's 500 and 1500 or 1000 and 2000, I'd be more inclined to put the money into the car.

WWGRM do?

SWMBO wants a larger homeowner+future family car (e.g. 2015 cr-v/cx-5/tsx wagon), I can inherit her TSX and be happy with it but I'd imagine the money we'd save on depreciation or waiting for a good deal would be far greater than the money I'd spend on the celica. I will have SWMBO's father's extra car to putt around in  in the meantime.

When all fixed, what is the Celica worth? 

In reply to John Welsh :

Not really sure, it's a 6spd with good body panels working heat and AC and is a Toyota. Clutch was done at 115k , brakes recently, shocks at 166k. Engine mounts within last 20-30k as well. So it drives really well but the seat bottoms have separated.  There really aren't many for sale but I'd imagine $2000 if I didn't have to make any excuses for it. I'm thinking it should be comparable to a gsr/prelude in pricing.

So it's worth $2k when fixed but it needs $1k to get it to that point. 

Not only needs $1k in parts but then also needs a lot of your time to get it sorted out. 

If it were me... I would list it as is for $900 or best offer. Don't so much lie but accentuate that it does need some minor fixes. For the right person willing and capable to do the work, it could be a great bargain.  Expect to only get $500 for it.  

Wash your hands of it and move forward onto the next car for yourself.  You took a $500 loss compared to fixing it and the selling it but you also unburdened yourself of the hours needed and the stresses of getting the car back to right. 

Spend $1k to sell for $2k = $1k profit

Spend $0 to sell for $500 = $500 profit but much less work needed

I'd you can't get an alignment because something is bent, and it's not the tie rods (you can normally see those) just order a knee assembly from LKQ or someone similar for about 100 dollars. Throw it on and get it aligned.

Chances are you borked the rack and bent whatever it's mounted to.  If you can afford to have it sit while you blow it apart to identify what else is bent and collect parts to fix then go for it.  I wouldn't load the parts cannon until you figure out what else is bent/borked/broke.  May be a good time to just bite the bullet and get SWMBO her mommy ride and move up to the TSX.  Depends on how much you love the Celica, totally up to you. 

I was in a similiar situation with a 92 Prelude i bought for my daughter, but that was a car i "rescued" for $400 so my sunk costs for when i curbed it were well under what yours are so far.  I was able to find junkyard parts to replace the control arms and suspension crossmember for less than $200, and a new rack was just over $100, labor was on me so in that case it was worth fixing.  Later sold that car for $1200, actually kind of miss it (even with the automatic).