I was driving through some country lanes this morning, and I came across a guy who works for the highway agency stuck in the hedge. I tried to help him push his car out, but it would not move so I attempted to tow him out. BIG PROBLEM!!

I could not find a towing hitch so I attached it to my strut brace, thinking it would be okay. It wasn't okay. I am going to need a new strut brace for certain, but I know there is a MAF sensor (or something) near that area. After doing it the car drives fine apart from a slight rattle and there is a little bit of smoke/steam from under the engine part - the highways agency man thought this was normal.

What do you think from pictures (no need to tell me I am an idiot, I realise that now)

oops.

smoke/steam from under the engine, is this still happening now?

Oh my word. That wasn't clever.. LOL. Ah.. The things you do, to be kind!

Well, it's damaged, and i don't see it having any effect any more. As it needs to be stiff?

Clutch? Any nasty smells?

Emily.

The big problem with strut braces (and the reason some insurers dont like them) is that they do work very well at pushing things out of alignment.

Take the car for a wheel alignment check.

A friend wrote off a Corrado by hitting a bollard at 10-15mph. Rather than pushing one wing the strut brace distorted the whole front end of the body.

You will probably be OK because it looks like the strut brace you have isnt actuall yvery good at bracing the struts.

Put it down to experience and get the alignment check done ASAP.

EDIT: There is a screw in towing eye which can be fitted when required.

Yes!!! Get your alignment check out before the track day. "High Speed Cornering"

The hook for towing in the octy is with the jack, then just unclip the plastic cover at the back and screw it in.

If i were you i wouldnt bother with the track/airfield day.. not until youve had it thouroughly checked over..

i KNOW that the seatsport brace can change the suspension geometry (which is why i have an adjustable one) so that could have done all sorts of things... including strip the bolts on the top-mounts.. which is a very bad thing!

Right, I will get this wheel alignment thing done today if I can.

I was only trying to help :(

I am not sure how much structural damage I can have done because the strut brace bent like a drinking straw as soon as any towing started to happen.

Am I the world's biggest idoit :( ?

The towing hook screws in to a hole behind the fog light surround.

I would remove that strutbrace asap! It looks like it could be pulling your struts inwards.

The steam/smoke may becoming from around your oil cap, as it doesn't look to be in right.

It looks like you have ****ted the oil filler cap , and pulling the strut brace like that could distort the suspension geometry

Right, I will get this wheel alignment thing done today if I can.

I was only trying to help :(

I am not sure how much structural damage I can have done because the strut brace bent like a drinking straw as soon as any towing started to happen.

Am I the world's biggest idoit :( ?

Dont worry too much about it - so long as the insurance company know about all of the mods I'm sure they'll pay out if they write it off.

Is the brace pushing against the oil filler cap?

As advised get the brace removed asap and get wheel alignment done asap, just hope you done anything too expensive. I expect at least the fixings for the strut brace bolts will be damaged so you may have trouble fitting a replacement. Something else is definetely bent though or the brace wouldn't still be attached, due to the way it's bent the distance between the strut tops is now decreased so it's possible you may even have bent the shell.

The towing hook screws in to a hole behind the fog light surround.

I would remove that strutbrace asap! It looks like it could be pulling your struts inwards.

The steam/smoke may becoming from around your oil cap, as it doesn't look to be in right.

If the strutbrace has pulled the struts in then it will have to have a full geometry check on a jig, and not just a wheel alignment check.

Also as Colin has mentioned the top mounts could also be damaged.

Please do get it checked by a body shop with the correct equipment, as none of us want to see that car rolled at a meet.

The filler cap seems to be pushed forward by the bent strutbrace.

Get that strut brace off that car now and throw it away. I would have used the towing eye on the back of the car, or found the one for the front left of the front, and screwed that in.

PS: before taking risks with uncertain things with your car, there are LOADS and loads of Briskodians you can phone up to advise you before going headlong. Even the man who's van was in the hedge should have used some common sense and stopped you from trying to pull with your strut brace....

My thoughts too Eddy. For the brace to have bent to that extent, there must have been some "give" in another area. :(

Oh, and I got towed off the santa pod strip by my strut brace too - Was a last resort due to me having no front towing eye, and I was just being pulled along on the flat with no real stresses on it. Still went for a four wheel alignment check too though, even after that.

This is what a 4WA result looks like.. i had this done yesterday and it wasnt cheap... See lots of numbers=lots of things to go wrong

Even the man who's van was in the hedge should have used some common sense and stopped you from trying to pull with your strut brace....

But remember that most people have no idea what a strut brace is nor do they know how to tow.

Dont worry too much about it - so long as the insurance company know about all of the mods I'm sure they'll pay out if they write it off.

Write my fabia off? Do you want me to cry?

No of course I dont want you to cry.

Reading that back it does sound pretty dismal, but you need to be 100% sure that the car is "as insured" when you take it for a check-up.

See my previous comment about a friends' Corrado.

EDIT: You're lucky that the car is quite new so the write-off value will be quite high (this means that if you need to claim, they can spend a good ammount of money on repairs and not write it off)

I think everyone is just erring on the side of caution (rightly so) to prepare you for what *could* be a expensive mistake.

i'd like to hazard a guess that the wheel alignment hasn't been changed at all by that... after all a good strut brace is designed to bend like that when a lateral load is apllied to it like trying to pull something with it..... a strut brace only adds torsional rigidity to the chassis (side impacts).....

i'd be more worried about the steam that is coming out..

Looking abck at the photos is seems that brace is just a tube welded to two L shaped brackets. If its just the uprights of these brackets that are bent then you could be OK (but that also means its a pointless mod as it should be strong in that direction)

i wouldn't try to undo the bolts on the strut brace as they will be under tension from the strain of the bent strut brace , get someone to cut it in half with a hacksaw , thus releasing the strain , bolts should come undone easier then and not risking further damage to the shocker top mount threads , i agree with everybody about getting an alignment check also .

I was driving my stupid alcoholic neighbours to work as they have had both their driving license taken away for being drunks. Does my head in as it is a 30 miles round trip.

Anyway, I was wearing my PJs and did not have any shoes on when I was trying to help :(