What did I do today? I did a big dumb. Though I'm not all too mad about it.
Sliding around in a snowy parking lot and didn't see the little island curb in the middle of the lot. I've done a lot of driving and sliding in snow in the last year or so, but It finally caught up to me I guess. Left fore/aftward lateral arms are bent, the bolt mounting them to the knuckle is bent, and the wheel is bent a little.
Quite a bit of silver lining though. The alignment shop told me a few weeks back that the bushings and struts in the rear were worn and sagging, and they couldn't get it exactly within spec, so I was going to need to do rear suspension anyway at some point anyway.
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The other silver lining? The whole thing was caught on video. So I have that to look back at fondly. At the end of the day, you live and you learn.
I do need a bit of help with parts though, if anyone is willing. I'm replacing both sets of lateral arms and both trailing arms at minimum. The fore/aft (front/rear) lateral arms seem to have different part numbers in the Mazda catalog, but RockAuto only appears to have what they describe as 'Rear Rearward" lateral arms. Wonder if they are all the same and I can just buy four? I don't see a 'Rear Frontward" option. They also specify with/without drum brakes - does this matter? I'm guessing not. I'm open to performance options for all of these parts if they are available, higher quality, and not too much more expensive.
Also, I will need to replace the lateral arm bolt (that connects lateral arms to knuckle). RockAuto doesn't seem to have it. An OEM one is around $27. I might be stuck with that though.
Thanks for the help and feedback! Pulling the rear crossmember now to get to that one front lateral arm bolt (arg!)
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