Quote:
Originally Posted by Cobalt
They can bend but it is odd to have happen. If in a huge impact odds are they will crack more than bend or both.
You can straighten them but you would need to anneal them say 550+ degrees F for at least 3 hours then you need to straighten them right away. They would need to be solution treated and aged afterwords to strengthen them. Problem is they could warp again if not quenched properly after the solution heat.
X-ray or Penetrant inspection on a part like this will only show cracks and not bends.
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Cobalt, you must referring to the aluminum trailing arms when you refer to "they" and the process of unbending them, but actually in my question above I was referring to the mount points' propensity to bend (or be catastrophically "re-positioned"). What is the likelihood of a curb impact so devastating that it not only bends the banana arm (trailing arm) but also dislocates the banana arm mount point? Perhaps this dislocation I am referring to is the feared torsion tube bend or kink? I can replace the banana arm (trailing arm) but much more difficult to fix would be a torsion tube replacement (bad job with OK result) or body tweak fix on frame machine (worse job and never perfect results). For some reason not yet ascertained my wheel is a good 4cm-5cm too far inward, yet parallel to the other wheels (note, it's not parallel when car is on a lift...it hangs down somewhat more than the other wheel, like a wasp foot....perhaps that's a clue?).