Front suspension problem / accident

My wife ran into a curb while turning a corner, she didn’t go up on the curb but rather scraped it enough to eat up part of the rim (driver side). Now there is a nasty grinding noise underneath. It happens when turning left (which is the direction she was turning when she hit).

I drove picked her up and took the van home. I removed the tire and noticed that the bushing that attaches the sway bar to the strut is rubbing on the drive axel. I’m not sure if I am using all the correct terms but I made a quick drawing of what I saw. I’m not sure if the sway bar is bent or if the struck is broken. If I crank the steering to the left, the strut really tilts inward.

Here is a drawing of my issue. Hope it makes sense, the highlighted area is rubbing. Hopefully this is an easy fix :)


http://home.covad.net/~robp82/caravanissue.jpg

It sounds like she either bent the sway bar or link. The links are not too expensive and are not hard to replace. I would also check to make sure the strut is not damaged but I think replacing the link should cure the issue. One other thing you may want to check is the mount where the sway bar attaches to the frame. She could have broken the bolts that secure it and that is causing the bar to move toward the remainder of the suspension.

Welcome to AF!