i hit a curb going about 10mph on a turn, i have a very sturdy aftermarket suspension and 40 profile tires. also i didn't realize the curb was broken so i basically slammed into a 4" tall concrete spike. both tires ruptured, rims were not bent or affected at all surprisingly...not even a bent lip. surprisingly also my subframes were not even scratched, almost as if the curb was low enough to miss the frame of my car.

i don't want to get into the details of the idiots at firestone, but the driver's side tires were replaced and they didn't put the two new tires on the front or back but instead the right side of the car. the alignment guy said he thinks something is bent under my car but could not see anything and as he was doing the alignment says it is going to veer to the right.

now i'm not a rocket scientist, but i looked under the car and nothing was bent and i know my car pretty well. i also have hit things in the road, even those pesky bumps that divide the turn lane from the other lanes (the big round metal things, not the reflectors) and they made a lot of racket. the curb incident wasn't far off from those, and going ~10mph and the frame apparently clearing the curb and the rims not being affected, i don't see how anything could have messed up my alignment except that guy. but if i am missing something, please clue me in what could be bent that he can't see or if maybe two different types of tires on either side of the car could cause this veer to the right?

i will say this...the car now clears speed bumps at my work that i NEVER cleared before. i am certain the car is higher, and the only thing i can think is that the 40 profile on the new tires is certainly not as low as the 40 profile on the other tires. and that would make a veer to the right logical as well. only thing confusing is why would the alignment guy not be able to perfectly align the car unless 1. he was lazy, or 2. something really is screwed up? i am just confused i guess.
please help me with your thoughts.

 

bent is a possibility, probably a spindal. New tires are larger in dia., air press. may be higher. You have to think of things as a system. How far a the alignment reading off from one side to the other?

Alignment guy usually only want to do a toe-and-go, but lets look at the readings and then go under the car to see if any of the lower control arm bolts are maxed out in the correct direction on the side he could not obtain the desired readings before you assume he's an idiot.

 

i have it in front of me. i will scan it into a picture tomorrow at work, but for now i will throw out the numbers that i think might make sense.

front left - camber -.7, caster 6.7, toe .01
front right (same order), -.1, 5.4, .01

front, cross camber 0.7, caster 1.3, toe .02

rear is left camber -.1, toe -.11
right rear -.3, .03

all rear cross camber .2, toe -.08

what is the spindle and how would i check to see if it was bent? air pressure on tires is very similar.

let me know if you need me to scan a jpq of the alignment reading. thanks for the help.

oh, any idea why the car would sit higher now?

 

oh, and my before was

front left -2.2, 5.3, -.28
front right -1.1, 5.4, -.29

front cross was -1.1, -.1, -.57

rear left was .0, -.03
rear right -.3, -.02

cross camber rear .3, -.06

is left driver's side? maybe this before will help you analyze what the curb incident may have done to my alignment. i don't remember the specs of my alignment the last time it was done years ago, but there was no veering right before the curb incident, hence why i am not sure what to blame the veering on. thank you again.

 

no one has any clue? it seems to me like it was better before, albeit the 1/4" toe out is pretty intense. i probably need to cue it back to 1/32. looking at the before specs i don't understand how the guy could tell me something was bent and it is always going to veer to the right seeing as the caster before was the same on both sides exactly. please give me your opinion if you have any. i don't understand alignment much so would like a more professional opinion on this.

 

Read my story https://ls1tech.com/forums/suspension-brakes/1001472-what-fxck-does-take-get-correct-alignment.html
I had the same question, why would the guy not be able to get my alignment right?
But to add to it why did he get it right the very next day? same guy.

And also why did he tell me it wasn't going to make a noticeable difference to change anything and it wasn't going to cost anything, so leave it as is and drive away. But then I seen him talking to the owner, next thing I know I'm paying for a .05" change in toe which made it pull instead of lead.
My answer is because they're ******* idiots.

 

does the 2.2 and 1.1 on both sides in the before seem really odd to anyone? what does that mean?

 

The whole posts 'means' you need a competent mechanic.
And from my recent experience you might find one but he might feel like being a worthless douchebag when he works on your car I don't know.

 

yeah but the 2.2 and 1.1 were the before specs, and seems to be the only thing that doesn't match up on either side (since the 5.4 and the .28 matches up on both sides in the before scenario), and since i hit a curb, i'm wondering if the 2.2 is what got messed up.

of all the knowledgeable suspension guys i know in here i am really curious why no one has a technical answer to this question. i just want to make sure i know what to tell the guy when i make him fix it, because right now he's telling me something is bent so bad he can't line everything up. seems odd when almost everything was lined up fine before he touched it.

 

you're not telling them to do anything. They're going to do what the hell they want no matter what.
Why should they listen to you give specific numbers? Do you really think they're going to dial in your numbers?

I was more to the point, I told the shop I took my car to, in almost these exact words, I've had it aligned two times so far and it still leads to the right, please make it stop leading right.
Guess what, I left there and it was pulling to the right--worse.

I had to go in there with a 5 minute speech to motivate this ****** to just make it stop pulling, make it drive straight, thats all I want is a correct alignment.

Good luck throwing numbers at the guy, thats just going to **** him off worse. Maybe he'll use the classic 'radial pull' and make you buy new tires.

Sorry I just dealt with this the past two days and I'm fired up about paying for incompetence.

 

I think you should look under the car at the camber and caster bolts. Tell me where they are in the cutout on the left and right sides in relation to the outside of the car.

Then I think we can tell you if you can get it closer to what it needs to be.

 

i do not know where the camber/caster bolts are nor do i know what cutout you are referring to?

if i take two pictures of the underside of the car from the front, will that suffice?