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Hi. I was travelling on a motorway at just under 80 km/hr when I accidentally drove over a large rock with the left front tyre ( the rock wasn't visible on the road and I soon passed a car with a left front flat tyre, which I assumed was caused by the same rock).

As I continued on I noticed a vibration through the steering wheel at about 80 kms, but it disappeared at 90-100 kms. When I slowed down to 80 again, the shudder reappeared.

I have a couple of questions about this mishap:

1. When I got home, I noticed the left hand part of the front bumper had split. Could this have been caused by me driving over the rock?

2. Should I get my shock absorbers checked/replaced? (My car is a 2003 Mazda Demio with about 140,000 kms on the clock).

3. Are there any other checks I should be doing after such an incident?

Many thanks.

Michele

Hi Michele,
If the rock was large enough it could damage the bumper before you ran over it, however the bumper may have moved it to the side on impact, so I would have expected to see more damage under the bumper.
The wheel itself may be bent, cracked or just lost its balance weights. The tyre could have sustained damage also. So might be best having a tyre shop look at the wheel, tyre, and alignment.
The shocks are designed to withstand impacts from the road, and I wouldn't expect they would need replacement, unless worn out/ leaking.

Thanks for your advice. The rock wasn't large enough to hit the bumper and there is no damage to the bumper except for the split. I will definitely have the wheels, tyres etc checked out. Luckily the two front tyres are relatively new and I guess if they were worn, I may also have had to deal with a flattie.