How I avoided a horrific crash on the road

[printcraft]

That right there is exactly why Indiana needs to bring back yearly vehicle inspections.

[video=youtube;PFxEQav5CKA]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PFxEQav5CKA[/video]

 

[Leo]

Having that much rust damage on suspension parts is pretty scary. Even some of the new cars, like the rear suspension on small SUV's look weak and spindly even when new, I always wondered how they would hold up in the long run. Chicago area is really rough on cars due to LOTS of salt used by highway crews. In 1976 I put a VW van on the lift when I worked at the Sears garage in Calumet City. The rusty subframe rotted through and failed, dropping the van on it's back window with the back legs of the rack stuffed 3 feet into the interior. He was lucky that didn't happen while he was driving. He was also lucky Sears settled with him, the forman said the guy got a brand new van out of the deal.

Some cars don't get rusty. I changed out the original factory shocks under my '97 Grand Marquis in 2011. Everything came apart with simple hand wrenches, I didn't need a torch, air chisel or even penetrating oil. Of course it was from Abiline, Texas. No rust, just lots of dust.