I talked to an alignment shop today and I was told that it's very likely that I bent something, and it would be a waste to do an alignment until I figure out what it is.

This happened in wet weather. Rear end got out and I overcompensated. When the tail snapped back in the entire car jumped to the left and smacked a curb. I hit the wheel flat against the curb, the angle was minimal but it hit pretty hard.

Symptoms....

Car goes right when steering wheel is dead straight. I have to turn it left to keep the car straight.

Under braking the steering wheel moves a tad, pulls right with more force. Exaggerating the already off center steering wheel by forcing me to further turn the wheel further to the left to keep the car straight.

Steering wheel vibration at highway speeds.



Symptom #2 makes me think that I may have bent a strut. As it compresses it may be the cause of the whackyness with the alignment.

Another possibility that I can think of is a tie rod.

Steering rack seems to be unaffected. Still operates like it should, with no leaks.

Any ideas? What's the weak link in there? Anything else I should closely inspect when I can get the car on a lift?

 

i bent tie rod end when that happen to me last year, but it was like 30 degrees off...easy to notice ;o))

hIGGI

 

Tie rod arm or lower control arm.

 

I've bent a strut just like that, and messed up my ball joint too. No doubt it's one of these or more plus the above. Sorry bro =(

Steve

P.S. Noooooo, of course I wasn't practicing my "dorifto" when I broke my strut....

 

go to firestone and get their lifetime alignment. if they say they cant do it because something is bent then you still have as many alignments as you want. if nothing is bent then you still have as many alignments as you want.

Justin

 

it could be the screws, if you look under neath you'll see 3 screws holding the rotor so the lugs dont go completely facing the ground. i was driving for a month without one of those screws, everytime i stopped the car would just swerve to the right. to stop i had to downshift and e-brake

 

OMG! That's AWESOME!! Lol, how did I not know about this? What's the catch? Could I go get my car aligned 20x in a week? How much is it? This is way coo.

Steve(Goes through alignments like a hot knife through butter =P)

EDIT:
I found this on Firestone Alignments...
One of the best deals for any car owner in Most of the United States is the Firestone Lifetime Wheel Alignment. Where as many alignment/ tire shops will only honor the "lifetime" policy for the life of a given tire, or disqualify your vehicle for a lowered sport suspension, Firestone Service Centers honors their "lifetime" policy for the life of the vehicle, even if you had your suspension modified (as long as your car can climb the ramp of the alignment lift). Whether this includes ownership transfers or not, it is still a great deal. You pay once and you can have your wheels aligned every 5000 miles. Most Alignment shops will charge from $45 and up for a single alignment. You can actually purchase a Lifetime Alignment from Firestone for as little as $99 during special sale periods. Though I have heard that some Firestone Service Centers on the continental U.S. does not recognize the policy on "dropped" vehicles, no such problem has been brought to my attention for the Hawaii Firestone Service Centers.

 

Mykl,
Most likely you bent a tie rod end. It's not that big a deal and should be fairly cheap to fix. If you don't fix it soon your front tires will have a severe wear problem.
Too bad your not closer to ATL. I'd check it out for you on the alighnment rack at work.

Later,
MIke

 

Ha, i did this also in my 89 GTU, bent the spindle like 10 degrees and bent my frame even more, even after getting it straighten it still was bent.

 

damn Mykl, having a little bit of bad luck with cars lately huh? j/k sounds like a tie rod to me, or a control arm.

 

Don't forget to have the tire inspected. Hitting a curb can cut the cords, causing the vibration. Western Washington's roads (including Interstates) suck. Potholes bigger than busses, lots of raised seems, and badly worn railroad crossings. My parents have a bad habit of hitting all of these, and curbs. Every three or four months they complain about a mysterious vibration and misaligment (especially at highway speeds). It always turns out to be severed cords in a tire, or two, or three, or four. If this has happened, you can get the car driving straight, and it will still have a vibration. Just get it inspected by your tire shop.

 

This happened a month or so ago while I still had the WRX so it wasn't really urgent that it be fixed. Now that the 'vert is my only car I need to do something about it.

I don't mind replacing the tie rods, struts, and control arms if need be. I just hope I didn't hit hard enough to damage the frame.

I had the car on a lift to change the oil and have the tires balanced since I took a bit of metal off the rims. I inspected everything and all seemed fine, but I didn't take a lot of time to really look at details.

RexRyder, what are these screws you're talking about? I have two screws that secure the rotor to the hub when the wheel is off on each side, but all the screws are missing. Another thing I meant to take care of, but never got around to.

As for the tires, they're expendables so if they wear excessively I'll just get new ones. When I had them off the car they appeared to be fine.

My luck with cars hasn't been very good lately. I wasn't out goofing around when I did this, just in a hurry while it was raining.

This thing may have to wait another month until my arm heals so I can get to it. It's held together so far, I don't see why it shouldn't for a while longer. Except now I'm irritated that I can't do anything about it.

Thanks guys!

 

Hey bro whats the link so I can go see how you wrecked th WRX? That really sux dude. I've been haveing bad luck with cars as well. I bought my GTU and then it broke. It took me 8 1/2 months to get it fixed and then four weeks later, I totalled it against a pole, doing the speed limit mind you. Now I'm with out car and have to get friends to take me places. This blows major donkey *****.
Charles