Tire Alignment Damage

[wyseguy79]

Long story short, I managed to drive my car into the median in the rain tonight and it appears that my left front tire is no longer aligned with the right front tire. When the steering wheel is in the straight position, the right tire is straight and the left tire kinda veered off to the left. Very little rim damage thank god.

My problem is obviously the alignment is now off, to drive the car straight, I have to have the steering wheel turned at least 90 degrees to the right. But the service stabiliatrack warning is up. I know the warranty wont cover this, since I caused the damage but is the dealership the only place that can remove that error message? I figured taking it to a local shop to get the tire realigned might be cheaper then going to the dealership, or am I completely wrong?

Wanted to seek the wise advise of the Camaro forum. Thanks for all your input.

[b1gr3dmachin3]

I live in vegas too, LOTS of rain today...sorry to hear about your car bro!

[CHMSC]

Get an alignment, if the light is still on act dumb and let the dealer fix it under warranty

[K32 Camaro]

Originally Posted by CHMSC

Get an alignment, if the light is still on act dumb and let the dealer fix it under warranty

+1 Except try getting an auto zone to delete the code first and see if it comes back.

[wyseguy79]

Originally Posted by CHMSC

Get an alignment, if the light is still on act dumb and let the dealer fix it under warranty

That's what I was thinking too. I wonder if the dealership will see the faint damage on the rims and tell me that I hit something.

On a side note is there any consumer tool or pc software I can buy to reset it myself?

[blazzin1]

Man, if you hit a curb and your alignment is visibly off now, you obviously bent something...a front tie rod or something. You need more than just an alignment, you probably need some parts replaced. Take it to the dealership. Shit happens sometimes!

[wyseguy79]

I have a feeling the price diff between parts and alignment is gonna be drastic.

[Norm Peterson]

Originally Posted by blazzin1

Man, if you hit a curb and your alignment is visibly off now, you obviously bent something...a front tie rod or something. You need more than just an alignment, you probably need some parts replaced. Take it to the dealership. Shit happens sometimes!

What he (↑↑↑) said. Never mind how I know or how long I've known.


(I'm betting on it being at least the knuckle - sometimes aka "spindle")


Norm

[caverman]

Originally Posted by blazzin1

Man, if you hit a curb and your alignment is visibly off now, you obviously bent something...a front tie rod or something. You need more than just an alignment, you probably need some parts replaced. Take it to the dealership. Shit happens sometimes!

I bet you're going to find out it's more than just an alignment if it's visable to the eye that they are off.

You can try the alignment first but just be prepared for them to come back and tell you that you need parts to fix + the alignment.

[myold88]

You have suspension/collision damage. I bet the dealer spots it as soon as they can't get it aligned if not sooner.
No warranty claim here imo.

[ca2010maro]

Get the alignment done first... Had this happen to me last month. Goin around a turn goin 60 went into the curb, busted the whole lip off half the rear wheel. Stabilitrak lights went off. Got a new wheel and alignment and its good as new

[Norm Peterson]

Originally Posted by caverman

You can try the alignment first but just be prepared for them to come back and tell you that you need parts to fix + the alignment.

An honest alignment guy/shop will simply tell him that he's got bent parts and that he can't/won't align it until they are replaced.

Toe that's visibly bad to somebody who doesn't have any known undercar repair experience and results in a steering wheel that's a quarter turn off can't be anything but bent parts.

But at least nothing's broken . . . yet


Norm

[wyseguy79]

Its at my local tire shop that I use with all my previous cars to get examined. They have always been good to me in the past.

I guess while its in the shop I will go to the dmv and register it. Lol didn't even make it 30 days without messing something up.

[Iwantone2]

Just as long as it gets fixed properly is all that matters!

When my tire lost an argument with a curb, I just went straight to the dealership. They had the car for a while to make sure that there was no other damage besides the alignment being off.