MorphiasX

Ok, sunday i was on my way home from work, and it was pouring rain (wierd summer weather) and as i was making a left turn a guy cut me off by cutting across from the left turn lane of the same road (he was coming towards me) to make a right turn. I had nowhere to go but straight since i couldnt finish my turn, so i went straight into a curb and telephone pole. The pole didnt do anything at all except scratch the primer on my bumper (i LOVE my bumper now, btw... Its a custom steel bumper i made if you dont know) but the curb messed my suspension up something fierce. The driver-side hit the curb first, so it took more of the impact. It now pulls pretty good to the left, and at full crank my 32x11.50r15 BFG AT KO's rub in the back of the fender well on the metal where they did not before. The impact honestly didnt seem that hard though... Anyways, i went to discount tire today to see about getting an alignment, and i told them about the incident (probably shouldnt have), and when they pulled it up onto the rack they told me that i had bent my upper and lower control arm, and knuckle on the driver-side. To show me this they showed my that when you look at it straight on, looking at the gap that is formed by the thing the bump-stop hits, and the thing right behind it (dont know what it is called but its on the bottom outer edge of the lower control arm) the gap was different from side to side. Also, they said my upper ball-joints were sitting at different angles, which i couldnt seem to notice, but they swear they were. Also, they were able to stick a finger between where the idler arm connects to the relay rod and the other steering bar that sits behind it, and they were not able to stick a finger between where the pitman arm connects to the relay rod and the other steering bar, which to me should be fine seeing as how they are different parts. I looked at my neighbors truck (92 4x4) and everything looks the exact same, which i highly doubt his is bent to the exact position mine is.

Sorry for the long post, its hard to explain. I really just want to know what you guys think, i really think that the shop was trying to BS me to get money outa me. Im going to a different shop tomorrow morning and im not telling them about the incident.

94x4

Take it somewhere else that's not local, stay quiet this time and let them tell you what's wrong with it.

It's always best to get a second and even third opinion about things.

jimbo74

something probably is bent.... but it can be somehting as simple as knocking stuff out of spec..... caster can make the wheel sit further back in the wheelwell and a sudden impact can do it as well

my mom bapped a curb in my dads ranger, it pulled fierce... i got the tires replced today since it needed new tires and realized the rf tire that she hit, has a seperating belt.... no pull after the new tires....

2ToyGuy

I would definately take it somewhere else. I love Discount for their tires ( I get 70k on 50k guarantee tires!), but other than that, IMHO, they suck. I have had to go to that manager just to get them to quit running their Mexican friends in before the people that were there first and have been waiting an hour in the 110* heat...The joys of living in a border town...
But yes, second and even third opinions are a very good idea. Just to be safe, and not to get charged $400.00 for a $20.00 repair or alignment...

Marc

I bent my frame awhile back. I took it to an alignment shop and they said they couldn't align it but suggested I take it to a frame shop that also does alignments.
This frame shop had the ability to tweak the frame while it was on the alignment machine. My alignment has been perfect ever since.

mastacox

It seems like it is more likely that you just bent your steering a little, something an alignment SHOULD fix...

Perhaps your torsion bar needs to be cranked a little to match the other side?

2nd opinions are good.

mastacox

Did you hit the curb more straight on (so your tire drove up on to the curb) or more sideways (so your sidewall/rim pushed against the curb, and then kind of bent on top of it).

The second case is the only situation where your control arms or steering knuckle would have been damaged; if you just drove up on to the curb, well, I doubt that did serious damage, I do that kind of thing for fun Of course, I'm not sure how fast you were going either.

4RUNR

Of course they did. Hitting a curb then having the wheel rub the body can't possibly mean something is bent. Like, totally unrelated things, ya know.