Rim hit, alignment situation.
 

Ok well here's the problem. About a year ago a girl hit me in my front passenger side. She hit my rim, corner light, and bumper. Well the rim was only scratched a little. Shortly after that the car broke down. I just got a new motor in and here is the probelm.

My boot was busted and the CV joint was bad so I went ahead and changed the axle on the front passenger side. Well got the car runinning and it pulls bad to the right. When you hit a bump or uneven spot in the road it will yank in that direction. I figured my alignment was bad due to being hit and the new axle.

I took it to TopLine tires to get an alignment done. Well they call me back and say both my tie rods are bad. Then I tell them I put in the new axle etc etc. Then they call back and say it could be the LCA, or a bent frame, and the tire is pushed in some.. Basically they don't know and told me I would have to take it to a body shop.

Ok so what does it sound like it could be to you guys? What do I need to check and look for?

Re: Rim hit, alignment situation.
 

it needs time on the frame machine. it only needs one hour time. but all shop owners are assholes. and they will write you up for three hours.

200 - 350 bucks tops. its the entire shock tower and cradle thingy. dont know what its called everything is prolly pushed in.

it could either get mega fucked if they pull it wrong. or if your lucky. ittl stay intact. and ull be good to go.

Re: Rim hit, alignment situation.
 

How would the frame be bent that bad just from a bump?

Re: Rim hit, alignment situation.
 

well. we had a customer come in. he slipped on some ice. and spun out. and his front passenger side tire hit the curb. the rim was just a little dented. but the entire shocktower assemby/cradle was bent. even tho the rim was just slightly bent. and it kinda still held air.
theres alot of force involved in collisions.

the force of the hit was enough to send his shock tower so high up. even tho it was for a split second it put an imprint in his hood.

Re: Rim hit, alignment situation.
 

The girl didn't directly hit me. She came over and kinda glanced off me.

Re: Rim hit, alignment situation.
 

think about this. your car weighs mabey 2500lbs and so does hers. thats 5000lbs and if you are going 25mph and she is also. Thats a 50mph impact. so 5000lbs and 50mph is going to do some damage.

Re: Rim hit, alignment situation.
 

That what I just said. She just scraped me, she didn't hit me direct.

Re: Rim hit, alignment situation.
 

very true alot of mass builds up alot of momentum and creates a decent amount of force.
ive seen a couple of accidents like that where someone is stopped and they get sideswiped and the insurance company claims the car as totaled, even if it still drives, cause the cradle is twisted. They were junk cars.

Re: Rim hit, alignment situation.
 

In my situation it was different. We were going the same way. I was going about 30 and she was doing about 45. So it was a sideswipe at about 15mph minus the speeds.

Re: Rim hit, alignment situation.
 

compare both lower control arm and A-arm.

Re: Rim hit, alignment situation.
 

lol. stop arguing about how fast you were going. and how big of a hit it was. and all this other none sense.

you cant fathom how much force was actually hit on that tire. even if it was a scratch on the rim.

i got caught without snow tires so i spun out with my truck last winter (damn camaro rims ::)) and my rear end clipped a telephone pole it didnt do much damage to my car. infact. barely any. but when i looked at the telephone pole. i flipped out. heres what it looked like

http://img220.imageshack.us/img220/4660/pole8sv.jpg

the pole has broke. and the top part shifted almost 4 inches off the bottom part. from a small tap. going about 15 mph.

ive called the phone company/cops/electric company now more than 50 times to tell them about the pole. and its like right next to a dealership. and its been almost a year. (winter is upon us) and they still havent changed it. i hate detroit.

so yeah dude. the amount of power created from a crash. even if it was a tap. is high enough to ---- a telephone pole like that. one of those thick ass wooden ones. now imagine if that telephone pole was a cars front tire. going lets say 15 mph? i dont know the physics behind it. but i think its safe to say double the force would hit the rim/shocktower assembly. now if i had hit that pole at double the force. ----. i would have snapped that thing clear off.

just take it down to a local body shop. get a free estimate.

make sure you pay nothing, and dont sign anything untill you know what your paying for/what there gonna do.

and since its a drivable car. take it to a couple shops. get a couple different estimates. you got nothing to loose.

Re: Rim hit, alignment situation.
 

if the car is pulling when u hit bumps it's called bump steer. something is bent. like said above take it to a bodyshop.

Re: Rim hit, alignment situation.
 

ur castor is fucked ...that would cause your wheel to move farther back to your fender which causes a pull...and u being in an accident i wouldnt doubt it...try getting an alignment first b4 jumping to conclusions that your frame is bent...although it could be...but check ur alignment first...cuz it sounds like u got alot of positive castor

Re: Rim hit, alignment situation.
 

lol. he tried getting an alighnment. and the shop told him they couldnt do it cause he may have a bent frame.

Re: Rim hit, alignment situation.
 

that sux :6

Re: Rim hit, alignment situation.
 

Then again I went to Top Line which I trust about as much as a crack headed leprechaun

Re: Rim hit, alignment situation.
 

You need to check over Your upper and lower control arms, steering knuckle and spindle and see if anything is bent. Sounds like the alingment shop cant do anything for you because your steering axis inclination, camber or caster is out of wack and those are non adjustable angles on hondas. Which means you have a bent suspention component.

Re: Rim hit, alignment situation.
 

What exactly do I need to look for? I mean obviously if there is something bent on one side and not the other or brake, but anything else?

Re: Rim hit, alignment situation.
 

:y

Re: Rim hit, alignment situation.
 

Dang, reading comp owns me haha.

Just going to take it to a body shop and let them check it out. Guy said he would do it for free.

Re: Rim hit, alignment situation.
 

yup. and remember. DONT PAY A GOD DAMN THING TILL YOU GET MORE THAN ONE ESTIMATE

atleast 3. from reputable shops.

Re: Rim hit, alignment situation.
 

lol thats the problem. I called the shops in the area and they all tell me to call this one place. He must be good cause that where eveyone recommends.

Another question though. I had to take the girl to court and won $1800. The estimates from her insurance company and collision place included an alignment (they just figured it was a alignment problem). Well now this has turned up. Can I take the girl back to court again to sue for more money to get this problem fixed since it was just masked by a bad alignment.

Re: Rim hit, alignment situation.
 

No rim scrape is going to cause frame damage. If you slide into a curb then maybe. You probably just bent the rim and that wore the tire rod ends and the axle out and maybe something else.

Re: Rim hit, alignment situation.
 

1800 sounds hella plenty enough to fix it. what year is your civic? i mean.. fxing the frame damage like i said... being on the conservative side.. lets say 500 bucks.. that leaves you with 1300, the entire shock tower assembly with all the control arms. shock. tower and everything. more than likely wont cost you more than 1300 to buy and to have put in.

now where you %$$$#@^#@$^ up is where you accepted cash. you got fooled into beileving u got a good deal. what you should have done. is told them u dont want the many. and that you want them to do it. then you should have taken it to the dealer :y and he would have charged them up the ass. but you would be buying yourself a piece of mind. knowing it was done right :y

but since you signed papapers im assuming its not going to be easy to be like. um. yeah dudes. its not just an alignment.
but what you can do is get a lawyer and sue them. and tell em they didnt even get the car properly inspected. and the car needs more than an alignment.

take the car to another alignment place. is what i forgot to tell u to do. that alignment shop might suck ass :l and u dont want to do all this for nothing ::)

Re: Rim hit, alignment situation.
 

Well here was the situation. She hit me about a year ago (91 Civic Hatchback SI mint condidtion moded). Well she admitted to us and the cop that she did it. She would never contact her insurance company. So we did, and they (Allstate) said she had to be the one to file the claim. So they finally get ahold of her and she lies and says I hit here. Well after about a month of phone tag they basically say too bad she said it was your fault click.

So I go and file a law suit against her. Take the estimate from my shop and her insurance. Her insurance estimate was $1300, my shops was $2500. Of course her insurance company wanted to use junkyard parts and my shop wanted new. Well we go to court, she gets cought in a lie and looses. I get a judgement for $1700 (other $100 and some odd dollars were for court cost).

Well now I have all the body work done and finished, but when I went to get an alignment they said they couldn't do it cause something was f'ked up.

Then again I did slide into a curb (very slow inpact, maybe 5mph) to avoid a truck about 3 years ago, but it wasn't pulling or anything.