Hello,
I need some advice please.
I slid into a kerb two weeks ago when it had rained in theUK and froze into black ice, it was treacherous. I slid into a kerb at 5mph (nomore) and damaged my driver’s side wheel (RHS in the UK), tyre needed replacingand it had bent the suspension arm underneath the driver’s side – which neededto be replaced. All the work was carried out by a local body shop who arereputable.
Yesterday I collected the car and took it for a drive. Iwent straight to the Motorway (M1) since this is where most of my journey timeis conducted. (I have 120K on the car, dealer serviced until 70K, but now I doit myself – where possible).
I noticed that the car was gradually pulling me into themiddle lane (so pulling right in the UK) towards the driver’s side. It was NOTsevere, but became worse the faster I drove (as would be expected since thespeed accentuates any pulling to one side).
About ½ mile from the exit, the tyre pressure gauge came on…..brilliantI thought, this is what is causing it to pull to one side. So I headed straightfor the local garage to check the tyre pressures. I put in 2.3 bar (33 psi) asindicated in the fuel filler flap. But surprisingly they were all within 1-3psi of each other. So I topped them up to 33 psi and set off again. But couldstill feel it pulling to the right hand side.
So I headed back to the body shop to complain. The mechanicwho had repaired the car came to see me and told me he had driven it thatmorning and that it was fine, at which I disagreed. We then took the car for adrive together, where upon a straight piece of road he also noticed that thecar was very slightly pulling to the driver’s side. He commented that it mightbe due to one new suspension arm having new bushes and the other side beingoriginal. We headed back to the garage and they lifted the car on the ramp. A prybar was then used to push around the suspension arm looking for ‘play’ in theleft hand side suspension arm. The right hand NEW mount had zero play, but therewas a slight amount of play but nothing I would consider as being worn or needreplacing in the older left hand suspension arm (original – never been replacedto my knowledge).
Because the tyre had been damaged, it had been replaced withthe same brand, same size tyre on the front driver’s side and I questioned ifthe wheel had been checked for roundness. To discount this from the equation Iasked them to change the tyres fromfront to back (all 4 wheels and tyres had been upgraded to 18” only 4 months agoso they are not knackered).
The mechanic was 100% confident that replacing the left handsuspension arm bushes would cure the slight pulling to the right hand side, butstated this wouldn’t be covered by the insurance since this component wasunaffected by the accident. My argument was of course, prior to the accidentthe car drive perfectly straight with no misalignment therefore my car shouldbe repaired to a state returning it to its former condition.
My question to this forum is:-
If as in my case I have replaced the right hand side lowersuspension arm with a new component (including bushes and ball joint) but theleft hand side has not been renewed would this cause my car to pull to theright hand side?
I am not saying that the mechanic is wrong, but I am notconvinced a minimal amount of play in the left hand side suspension arm couldcause the car to pull to the right whilst driving.
What are your thoughts please about how worn bushes can affectthe car pulling to one side?
Last point – the body shop have quoted me £95 for a completenew lower left hand arm + a cost yet to be confirmed for geometry alignment (Ithink they mean 4 wheel alignment here)…..it isn’t money I’d like to spendfollowing Christmas but if it needs to be done then I will get it done – but shouldn’tthe insurance company pay for this?
Look forward to hearing from you.
Chris
