Long story short: slid into and over a curb during the winter and had a slight pull to the right afterwards. Wasn't major so I didn't deal with it at the time - rim was fine, no cracks or bends, and the tires weren't wearing badly. However, I just had an alignment done and yes, the left front was way out of spec (the tire that took the hit), but now the car's pulling much more to the right than before. And I can definitely feel something off in the steering & suspension.

I searched and found some threads on bent knuckles and such, fearing that this might be what I've done. However, didn't see anyone actually reporting back on having it fixed.

- Has anyone had this fixed and what did it run you? Dealer or do-it-yourself?
- Can a competent alignment shop compensate for the pull, i.e. mitigate the need for the new parts/labor?
- Ramifications if it's a bent tie-rod or something along those lines? Any way to diagnose myself?

Thanks.

 

The shop that did the alignment should have told you if there was something wrong with the suspension...

Most places won't do the alignment until you get any issues taken care of first...

 

Was thinking they would have found something was up - surprised they didn't say anything so I'm taking it back in for them to check again. Wondering if they just did a half-a$$ed job on it.

 

Have them give you a print out showing the before and after alignment specs of the car.

The tire place supposely gave me an alignment when I bought my tires, and said they did after I asked them (damn tires plus). I later (like two weeks, didnt hit any potholes or anything) went in to get it corrected when more competant staff were present and they gave me a before and after print out which they didn't do the first time and said 'your car looks like it hasn't been aligned in a long time'.

 

I do have the print out from the alignment, and it looks to be in spec based on what I can understand of it. That's what's driving me crazy.

I did have one tire replaced, and they suggested perhaps the added tread on the tire (again, left front) is pushing it right but I've never had this happen before and there's plenty of tread on the other 3 tires. On top of that, I did rotate the tires yesterday and put the new tire in back...same problem with the old tires up front.

Thanks for the input so far.

 

Quick update - shop was able to put the alignment almost back to perfect, so I'm happy with that. Unfortunately, the steering now feels real "floaty" - feels like it wanders and is hard to keep centered. Also getting quite a bit more torque steer than I used to...

Ah well, at least I'm not going down the road sideways any longer. I'll run it out a bit and see if it persists - if it does, it may be time for me to start looking. Always had alignment issues with this car, and driving enjoyment is the most important thing to me.