jaykay968911

[jakkay968911]

Anyone know what might cause a rear lower control arm to suddenly break and crack in two? Left side broke and the right side was bent upon inspection. 2005 Carrera with 40K miles.

[White987S]

Is this your car, or a car you recently inspected?

Maybe the car fell off a lift/jack stands.

[Loren]

Speed bump, hitting a curb, bad jack positioning... come to mind.

Any marks on the old one?

[jakkay968911]

yes Loren there were marks on the lower control arms that the repair shop described as caused by contact with tow hooks. They said at some point the car had been towed from the lower rear control arms. I did hit a pot hole doing about 80 -90 mph while traveling on I-40 in Arizona and thats when the break occured. Almost lost control, but PSM saved us I believe. Just wondered if any related suspension components would be effected. Had two Indy shops look over front and rear and found nothing else wrong. I did have a four wheel allignment done in Kingman AZ. I am kind of apprehensive to put it on the highway again although it did feel fine at speed for the 1900 miles back home.

Thank you for the response.

[White987S]

So maybe the prior towing compromised the control arm's integrity. Then, you hit a pot hole doing +80 MPH, and all hell breaks loose. You got lucky.

If your car is holding a quality alignment, and 2 indy shops gave it clear bill of health, just enjoy the car.

[jakkay968911]

Thank you for the reply White987S,

I agree about being lucky. The car jumped over an entire lane and narrowly missed a metal guard rail. I was anticipating a spin out and possible roll over. It was amazing how quickly the car slowed down and straightened out. My wife praised me for my driving ability, but I told her to give the credit to the PSM for us being here today. It could have gotten very ugly.