Wife may or may not have slid on ice into a curb

From what I can see, the front driver wheel looks as it it is setting farther back (towards drivers feet) than it should be. also there is a noticeable rubbing or vibrating sound coming from that area at higher speed (30 mph or higher)

Shop says the think the front left lower control arm is bend, causing the wheel to set farther back than normal, and that the noise is a bad wheel bearing...

Long story short, they want $1200 to fix it all... Advance Auto Parts has the lower control arm with ball joint and wheel bearing for under $200, so I cant see paying $1000 for labor


Ive done a little searching, and from what I see the job shouldn't be too tough with the right tools...

Any suggestions or pointers in getting this job done on my own?

Thanks in Advance!

 

If she hit the curb hard enough to bend the control arm, there could be (and likely are) other parts damaged as well.
You might want to invest 25 bucks in a Haynes manual and read through the pertinent parts to determine if you and your tools are up to the task. It's worth having even if you decide to hire the job done.
Have you contacted your insurance agent to see if it might be covered?

 

Found a local, family friend mechanic to take a look... his evaluation was that the hit was hard enough to push the subframe back, which may have caused some of the issues...

He said he unbolted it, straightened it to within 1/8-1/4 of an inch, and bolted it back in...

Had it aligned at another shop, and now atleast the thing drives straight..

HOWEVER, there is still a slight issue...

After about 30mph, there is a noise (grinding/rubbing) coming from the driver side front wheel area. And when braking, the noise gets extremely loud and heavy vibration.

From what i read online, it looks like a bad wheel bearing could be the culprit...

Any input on whether or not this sounds right? if so, how hard are these to replace on an 06 Sebring Touring?

Need to do this on the cheap, myself if possible.

TIA!

 

To tell if it is the wheel bearing you can jack the one wheel up off the ground leaving the other one on the ground. Then put on the e brake and put the car in gear roll down the window and give it gas if the niose gets loader and more high pitched with speed then the wheel bearing is bad. Slowing put on the brakes to bring it down to speed and place it in park, You can do this with each side to see which side is bad. The caliper also may have been bent during the collision, while you got the car jacked up spin the wheel and listen for drag from the breaks.