itlynstalyn

My car was pulled into and it knocked the passenger wheel out of alignment while also taking a chunk out of the sidewall and damaging my front fender and scraping my bumper. It also damaged the rim slightly around the lip.

I went to get it aligned yesterday morning and have a new tire installed on the rim to replace the old one since it was leaking air pretty rapidly. They called me a couple of hours later to let me know it was done.

Unfortunately I couldn't pick it up until the evening. When I got there and paid I signed everything and then noticed in fine print "customer states he has camber issues however he wants _______ to do the alignment."

This was obviously not the case and I never said that whatsoever. The only thing I did state is that my driver's side tire was wearing unevenly because of the misalignment and that I was well aware of that.

I got into the car and left considering there was nothing else I could do because it was late and their workers had left for the evening. The car's alignment is still seemingly off for some reason. The steering wheel is definitely not aligned with the tires to begin with, and they put a noticeable amount of negative camber on my passenger side wheel for some reason. It definitely wasn't like that before even when the tire was damaged.

I have no idea how to go about this, considering the shop is saying I authorized them to align it even though it couldn't be done perfectly. Sorry for the novel, any input would be appreciated. Thanks.

S2Koupe

what does "pulled into" mean?

so the wheel was physically pushed in some kind of accident?

sounds like you have a bent control arm to deal with, at worse.

uneven tires also contribute to driving misalignment. it wouldnt show up the alignment results on the rack. so if they straightened the alignment to specs, the tires would still make the car out of alignment.

do you have a printout?

itlynstalyn

Someone turned into the front of my car while I was driving. I've looked at everything with the wheel off and nothing looks bent at all. There was a broken sway bar end link, but I think that had been there before.

Even if something was bent it still doesn't explain why they put negative camber on one wheel when there wasn't any there to begin with. Would negative camber on one side make it pull that way or the opposite way?

My steering wheel is at a slight angle to the passenger side tire when the tires are straight, but there is a little bit of play in the steering wheel. It seems that they didn't hold the wheel in place when they were doing the alignment.

S2Koupe

bent control arms are not necessarily perceptible by eye.

a broken swaybar link is a good indication something bad happened...

and no, their work doesnt makes sense. and you arent happy. so go back and ask for their clarification and see what they can do. you are still entitlted to customer satisfaction.

or bite and take the car somewhere else.

api36

I had the exact same issue awhile back.... My toe link bent slightly.... Also the camber dials bent a little from all the shock that the toe link took to them. Check the dials. they're gonna be bent. If you hit the bottom of the wheel, you're toe is gonna be damaged more than likely. Check your sway and control arms as well. I was driving with one side more cambered than the other as well.

itlynstalyn

What did you end up doing? I checked the dials and they looked good. I'm obviously not a suspension expert, but I definitely couldn't see anything bent. It was a relatively low impact. The front fender took the brunt of it.

If they don't agree to help I may just end up doing a chargeback and going to someone with a little more experience like Song's or West End.

itlynstalyn

I just spoke with them and they claim that I "probably have a worn coupler" on my steering rack and that's why the steering wheel isn't lined up with the alignment.