Hit curb, steering wheel crooked

update

took car in for alignment, dude noticed that left front control arm (corner that took impact) was slightly bent. He was able to get it all back in spec, it was like double what one # should be (forgot what reading that was, but was 7 instead of 3.5ish). He said that the steering wheel was lined up (indeed it is), corner back in spec, but the car would still pull to the left as a result of the bent lca. It drives near perfect at the moment, doesn't pull to the left very much, sometimes not at all. He claimed to notice paint chipped on lca where it was bent... I'll check that out myself to try and verify the bend. as pictures show, everything was covered in ice when I initially looked.

 

i'll attempt diy lca install and return for another alignment. took advice of ashoe, m&O is really good- thanks.

------------------------------------------------------

 

Well... I feel foolish

 

slid in to a curb at about 5 mph on the inch of snow we got last night in fort collins. surprised I slid out on that and not the other several instances where there has been several inches of snow on the road.

 

anyway, after a loud bang and coming to a halt (did not pop me over curb, lot was going slightly downhill) I got out and inspected. Wheel looks fine, maybe a little curb rash or something. I can't see the back of the wheel to check for bends but I feel no wobble. Car drives 90% straight but pulls to left a bit, like other cars in past have done when bad alignment or tire low.

 

Hit the front left, wheel was angled a little so not a direct flat against curb deal but probably did push hard towards passenger side on axle.

 

I know a shop will have to check it all out but I'm curious as to what parts I could have damaged so I don't seem entirely clueless. Steering wheel is cocked slightly to the right to go straight- wish it were as easy as putting tire between legs and twisting handlebars like on a bike lol.

 

Any input appreciated.

http://legacygt.com/forums/showthread.php?t=71116&highlight=curb

 

searched curb and found dozens of threads, sorry for post but feel free to console me or give some advice if it's happened to you

you prolly bent a tie rod. get it looked at.

so the bushing or whatever as seen in most of these pics is ripped upwards, I assume this is a part of my problem maybe. the rim looks flawless on the back side (no dings,dents) front is pretty curbed, maybe 6" and pretty rough too.

 

last pic shows why my diy investigation was worthless. icetastic

the bushing is fine. the tie rods are the fisrt to ben when hitting a curb. you have no pics showing them so i cant tell you it they look bent.

anything observable in these photos? I didn't know exactly what to shoot

 

thanks for your time.

It's probably going to be hard to tell in pictures exactly whats wrong. If you're unfamiliar with the area i would suggest going to M&O tires for an allignment. They have always been good to me.

Could be a control arm issue, too. And +1 on hard to tell unless it was super obvious like the tie rod was bent like a tree branch.

That bushing looks worse then the normal bad LGT front-control-arm-rear-bushing. Probably worth replacing.

 

Nothing else tremendously obvious. Just compare the two sides. Concentrate on the control arms and tie rods. Do you have a straight edge to check against the tie rods?

 

Use a tape measure to measure the position of the wheel in the wheel arch - front/back/top etc, Also put a straight across tthe fender arch and use a tape measure to figure out how far in the top and bottom of the tires are. All the numbers shoul match side/side.

 

Last time I jumped a crum like that the affected wheel was 1" closer to the rear of the fender arch then the other wheel. The control arm was bent.