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Hit a curb... Alignment is off big time.

2456 Views 3 Replies 4 Participants Last post by  Speed Freek
Long story short, it was raining, I was making a left turn, I have crappy tires & some "unintended" acceleration :silly: and BAM hit a curb (Drivers Side).

Steering wheel was off, and there was kind of a shimmy when driving.

Next day I take it to the shop to see what I messed up & check out the Alignment Specs and this is what I got (only posting angles for left side):

Camber 2.08 (Specified Range: -0.75 to 0.75)
Caster -1.40 (Specified Range: -0.54 to 0.96)
Toe 2.88 (Specified Range: -0.03 to 0.17)

He adjusts the toe on both sides to re-align the steering wheel & actually make it driveable (no more shimmy). We do notice that the lower ball joint is gone for sure.

I bring her back home and swap out the Lower Ball Joint the following day. So, I take her back to check the alignment and here are the specs after the Lower Ball Joint is replaced:

Camber 1.77
Caster -1.65
Toe 0.33 (adjusted this way temporarily for driveablilty reasons)

So, its still off. It already has alot of Camber/Caster shims on it (from factory), I'm thinking one of the Control Arms is bent, but which one (or both) or maybe something else?:shrug:

I did notice the distance from the lower ball joint to the spindle on the right side is approx 2cm where the left side is 1.5cm. Any ideas/suggestions?
1 - 4 of 4 Posts
using a straigt edge and a tape measurer,
compare the damaged side to the stock side on the arms..

If you have positive camber, you mite have popped out a few UCA shims..
then invest in some better tires and slow down in the rain..
bent the tierod?
Make sure you didnt bend your wheel , but tie rods bend easily as do the lower ball joint as you stated.

After that I would look at the LCA.
1 - 4 of 4 Posts
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