Car crash, steering gear question
 

Ok, I never did trust the old, hard Falken Ziex 502's on my car, and they finally slid out from under me on a wet road.

Anyway, long story short, the car slammed a curb pretty hard at low speed, somewhat sideways.

He's the problem: both front wheels are still in good alignment, however the steering wheel now has to be tilted ~30* to the left to point the wheels straight. Does anyone know what this could be before I start randomly tearing into the car?

My bent wheels aren't a problem, I have some S5 TII's to replace them. :)

Bump.

how do you know the alignment of the wheels are still good?

Looking at the front wheels, neither are noticably bent in any direction, and the car is still perfectly stable when the wheel is held 30* to the left. I would assume any problem with the alignment would be very obvious if it took 30* to correct for it.

Is it possible for the steering rack or column to skip a tooth or something?

Well if your wheel needs to be turned 30 degrees then the alignment is off 30 degrees ;) It sounds to me like it "skipped a tooth" just loosen everything up and slip the steering column out of the rack and try putting it back in straight if you still have problems work it out from there.

Well, if you think about it that way.:o:

Will do, I'll try that first.

Check for a bent tie rod on the side that hit the curb.

Check for a bent tie rod on the side that hit the curb.

bent tie rod

I'm pretty sure that its a bent tie rod from the sounds of it.

that said, when I reinstalled my steerign column a few months ago, I misaligned by one tooth and have been off by about 30 degrees since. Its such a hassell to remove the steering knuckles that I'm just going to save up for an alignment and have the shop deal with it.

Else, the entire rack shifted.
You can eyeball this by looking at the steering rack from the top in the engine bay.
The steering rack should be centered in the mounts.


-Ted

Well, I had a look at it today. The tie rods are fine, as is the rack. I slipped out the intemediate shaft of the steering, and reconnected it a tooth to the right, and now the steering wheel is only off about 15*. I'll repeat the procedure in a couple days to get it to an even 0*.

I put tires on a couple S5 TII wheels I have and slapped them on the back, to replace the bashed LR wheel and the RR to keep it even.

The left rear lateral link is bent pretty good, that's what is causing the odd pulling in right turns and about a degree of positive camber. That'll be replaced in a couple days when I can scrounge one.

After that and a four point alignment, it should be good to go. :)