indications for alignment - not just pulling to one side?

[NissanMaxima]

Hi all:
On a road trip under poor visibility from near white-out snow conditions, we hit something resulting in a front tire going completely flat by the time we were able to safely exit the freeway. The impact seemed moderate and the puncture was in the sidewall of my new all-weather tire. Later, at Discount Tire, it was discovered the alloy wheel had a slight bend on the inside edge either from the impact or perhaps from driving on a nearly flat tire. I was able to find a reputable shop for that repair.

The car seems to track just fine and the steering wheel is straight. I've always judged needing an alignment by whether or not the car tracks straight down a straight stretch of the freeway but after reading all the parameters involved in alignment, I now wonder if this the penultimate guide. Some sites say to watch for uneven tire wear, of course, leading me to all the more believe misalignment is not always evident in the "it drives straight down the freeway check". After a moderate impact along with rim damage potentially associated with the impact as I've described, is it worthwhile having the car aligned? With the new tires, I would hate for this to induce uneven tire wear but don't want to spend money unnecessarily either.

TIA for any input.

 

[FordBroncoVWJeta]

When the Trailblazer was bought a couple years ago. The used dealership put on new tires. Those tires where gone in 10K because of the alignment. Steering wheel was straight and it drove fine.
Some places have free alignment checks.

 

[Pew]

The toe could still match from driver side to passenger side and be altered from "safe" factory limits (toe wear kills tires like crazy.) Although, to me, that's highly unlikely in your case if the impact was on your driver side and somehow your passenger side alignment was screwed up to perfectly match your driver side. I honestly wouldn't worry about it too much if you don't notice your car dog walking around the highway where it once didn't.

 

[Wolf359]

Any time I hit some big potholes where you feel the whole car basically shook, it usually throws off the toe which is what they normally adjust anyway. Car still seems to track straight but sometimes you can feel it's slightly off from before. I get them aligned all the time. I just do a 3 year alignment warranty at Goodyear. I think it's like $179 for 3 years and they usually do some promo with $25 off. There's several other chains that offer various length alignment warranties from lifetime to the same 3-5 years. I think NTB and Firestone are two other places that come to mind.

 

[Donald]

I would ask about an alignment check. And get the rim repaired. There are places that fix alloy rims. Some mobile.

 

[NissanMaxima]

Thanks Donald... Discount wanted to sell me a replacement rim but the place they get them from was able to take care of the slight bend. I knew curb rash could be repaired via refinishing, but not bends.

 

[geeman789]

Suspension components are VERY TOUGH. It takes a huge hit to bend something and throw off the alignment. And usually, it will show with either a pull to one side, or a suddenly crooked steering wheel when driving straight.

 

[ARCOgraphite]

I would just keep and eye on the tires for abnormal wear - liek feathering of teh inside or outside margins.

One a week when you park cut the DS wheel all the way to the left then you can read across the tire.

TYPICALLY if it steers well -- the alignment is good.

Many (most actually) shops will just muck things up - don't waste your time or dollars needlessly.


AFA suspension components being tough, The stamped steel LCA on unibody strut cars are easily bent by curbs and potholes.
This is what throws of the toe. So you'll see the caster move slightly.

Also the pivot bushings cam be damaged. The polymers are getting large and soft to reduce impact harshness to the sacrifice of steering precision.

 

[antonmnster]

Every once in a while I'll hit a pothole big enough to cause alignment issues. When it's good, it's sublime. When it's off, the car feels extremely sketchy, especially if the rear end is off.

 

[ka9mnx]

I doubt you will have an alignment issue with this incident.