Drove over a snow covered curb. Possible damage?

Hello all,

This evening, I accidentally drove the Mini over a median in Bellevue (one of the things in the middle of the road). It was covered by snow and looked like a small snow drift, and I didn't realize that it was there until the front wheels hit.

Went over it not straight on but at a 45 degree angle at about 10 miles per hour or so.

Wondering potentially what damage I just did from this idiotic move.

- Alignment seems okay - car tracks straight and doesn't pull to either side.
- No leaking fluids noted upon inspection with car running.
- No visible scrapes to front airdam (but will check in the daylight when the snow has melted off)
- Drive axles seem to operate okay - no clicking or popping sounds from the CV joints.
- Exhaust system seems okay - no excess noise that would indicate damage there.

Anything else that I could have potentially screwed up that I'm missing?



Edited by swpars - January/18/12 at 8:57pm

No warning lights from the TPMS. I'll check for any sidewall bubbles, but the 175/65-15 stock tires seemed to soak up driving over what was probably a 5 inch high freestanding concrete/asphalt curb pretty well.




Edited by swpars - January/19/12 at 6:43am

The OEM ContiProContacts are currently on the car. Review & pricing at first link below:

http://www.discounttire.com/dtcs/findTireDetail.do?c=1&rcz=98040&ar=65&rf=true&rd=15&rc=WASINT&cs=175&dVeh=dVeh&tc=CONHH9&yr=2011&pc=26143&cf=false&vid=019414&sw=false

I would not recommend buying these tires. They are noisier than the Blizzaks that are on the car right now and seem to have a worse ride than the Blizzaks.

When they wear out (and I hope they do soon!) the Yokohama AVID ENVigor seems to get decent reviews, and costs less too. Not many choices in this tire size.

http://www.discounttire.com/dtcs/readReviewsTire.do?dVeh=dVeh&ra=findTireDetail.do&rcz=98040&yr=2011&pc=43476&ar=65&rd=15&vid=019414&rc=WASINT&cs=175

Running the ContiProContacts on the Countryman and very satisfied with their performance.  Gave them a good winter workout last few days - no issues at all and we went out of our way to find difficult situations - Icy hills, unplowed roads, deep snow etc.  Have a long trip to denver (summer) and a couple fall trips to Idaho on them and no complaints.  Some of it may be the extra weight of the Countryman but there is no comparison between the nes Contis and the original runflats on the R52 and R53.

Hopefully nothing is bent - wise move th have it checked out.

Just drove the car to Federal Way and back. Seems to operate just fine. No pulling in the steering, no funny noises, no warning lights, no fluid leakage since the last time it was driven.

Still going into the shop that works on our other car (Signature Independent in Kirkland) on Monday to make sure nothing got messed up that isn't immediately obvious.

Back in the late 90's, a high school friend hit a curb going sideways at close to 30 mph in his E30 325ix. He bent a tie rod and a control arm and was barely able to limp the car home (I was a passenger during this incident - teenage hoonage on icy roads gone wrong).