There was a thread posted about bumpsteer a week or so ago. I am wondering if this is causing a problem with my car. It always drove and handled wonderful, until we got an un-expected snow and I hit a curb, HARD with the right front. It was hard enough that it took 8 inches out of the rim, and moved the whole wheel back about 1 1/2-2". We replaced the wheel, strut, and did some cutting on the strut tower. It looks and drives find on smooth roads, but anything with grooves, or pavement changes/irregularities, it's VERY twitchy. The steering wheel appears a bit cocked to the left also. I did have an alignment done, they said they couldn't see anything obviously bent. Is it possible that I bent something we can't see? BTW, I do NOT have super-wide tires on this thing.

 

Its a good chance you did bend something. Take it to another shop and get a second opinion.

Did you bend anything on the K-member? Since you moved the wheel back, I would look there first.

 

also check the steering box. I did the same thing over my winter break when i slid into a curb but i wasn't goin that fast. i only managed to scratch my rim a little, slightly bend the spindle and mess up the steering box. it also gave me a good excuse to upgrade the struts and shocks and it rides like normal again

 

Yeah if the wheel moved inward then its like a 99% chance something is messed up. I would recommend a front end rebuild kit, around $300 from Spohn (moog parts). That kit will replace just about every steering component in the front of the car. If you are getting bumpsteer, then its possible the accident could have messed up the tie rods or maybe even the tie rod ends. If the angles are all jacked up it could make you feel the bumpsteer effect. Its also possible other parts like the centerlink have been damaged. If I were you I'd just do the whole kit and replace all the front bushings while you're at it. Good luck!!

 

What is the general consensus on that spohn steering rebuild kit?
Is it a pretty good deal, and would the end result be worth it [on a 12 yr old car] ?

 

definitely worth it, i thought it was like around $340 from spohn. you can price out the parts seperately at www.rockauto.com and it comes out to around $300 w/o shipping i believe. And also if you're not going to be doing a lot of abuse to the car the PSC kit is also around $300 but comes with ES bushings, this is the kit I plan on going with for my daily driver