Messed up my front alignment (maybe more???)

[Tinker1980]

I haven't logged in to this site for a while - my little mirage has been fairly trouble free. I just got your PM today. Glad to see you took the car to the dealer, But I'd go ahead and swap out that control arm. Metal fatigue is a harsh mistress, giving that thing a whack enough to bend it, even a little, is setting yourself up for a sudden, nasty failure at some time in the future.

I caught my wheel in a perfectly shaped pothole and did this... alignment is OK, but the car shook. Obviously. Green Country Mitsubishi, being as awesome as they are, set me up with a wheel and new hubcap, mounted my old tire and put it on the car while I drank coffee and only charged me $50.

[MetroMPG]

Tinker: nice dealership.

Good advice from cyclopathic: I'd hunt around for prices from wreckers.

Thanks for reporting back with the alignment results .

[cyclopathic]

I haven't logged in to this site for a while - my little mirage has been fairly trouble free. I just got your PM today. Glad to see you took the car to the dealer, But I'd go ahead and swap out that control arm. Metal fatigue is a harsh mistress, giving that thing a whack enough to bend it, even a little, is setting yourself up for a sudden, nasty failure at some time in the future.

I caught my wheel in a perfectly shaped pothole and did this... alignment is OK, but the car shook. Obviously. Green Country Mitsubishi, being as awesome as they are, set me up with a wheel and new hubcap, mounted my old tire and put it on the car while I drank coffee and only charged me $50.

Had a similar rim bump (hit curb in the snow). Problem is that besides a bump on edge rim is likely bent at mounting points. So even if wheel is balanced it will cause vibration which is bad for car. $50 OTD is awesome I was quoted full price for new rim + balance at Toyota dealership.

[Minihaha]

All - thanks for all the input!
Zero is running well again, tracks straight and true; nonetheless the control arm will (eventually) get replaced, but I am riding it out for now

[foama]

For doing or checking front wheel alignment, in the Teamswift forum there was a nice write-up called "DIY laser alignment".
Unfortunately that old thread from 2005 is gone, and replaced by a newer one of almost the same name:

http://teamswift.net/viewtopic.php?f...gnment#p409809


The first post summarizes the procedure.
In very short, with the steering straight ahead and on a level surface, you use a laser spirit-level held to the front rims to project onto a lathe, it being positioned right in front of the car. You mark the lathe where the laser points to. Then you take the same marked lathe behind the car and check that the laser points to the same marks on the lathe. If the same marks match when pointed either to the front or back , the wheels are essentially parallel, or "neutral" with zero toe. Thats how they should be.

[tomrad]

I haven't logged in to this site for a while - my little mirage has been fairly trouble free. I just got your PM today. Glad to see you took the car to the dealer, But I'd go ahead and swap out that control arm. Metal fatigue is a harsh mistress, giving that thing a whack enough to bend it, even a little, is setting yourself up for a sudden, nasty failure at some time in the future.

I caught my wheel in a perfectly shaped pothole and did this... alignment is OK, but the car shook. Obviously. Green Country Mitsubishi, being as awesome as they are, set me up with a wheel and new hubcap, mounted my old tire and put it on the car while I drank coffee and only charged me $50.

Definitely a good dealer. Sounds like they truly appreciate their customers. Glad you got it fixed and at a great price. Your tire was ok? No issues, vibration or anything since? How deep (roughly) was the pothole?