Hi guys, I don’t know much about cars so I’m here looking for help.
I have a 2005 Subaru Legacy and recently have been dealing with the car steering to the right and steering wheel shaking at highway speeds. I got my car serviced at a Subaru Express service for an alignment and when I left, the car still veered to the right and the steering wheel was still off centered. I mentioned this to them, and they offered to realign my car and also balance and rotate my tires for free. My brothers and I had suspicions they didnt properly align it the first time so that’s why they were willing to do the other services. A day goes by and I’m told they can’t complete the alignment because something about a suspension part being seized and they need to replace both of my rear control arms. First question, should they have found that out the first time they did the alignment?
I told them my brother would replace them himself so I went to pick up the car. They still completed the balancing and rotation. As I was driving home, the wheel still is shaking… I inspected my tires when I got home and I am almost positive they didn’t rotate them since the rims are all on the same spots.
So, next question. Let’s say they actually did what they said they would, what would still be causing my steering wheel to shake? If it’s because my tires are unevenly worn, that’s fine. I just don’t like being lied to. Are they actually servicing my car and my car is doomed or are my suspicions validated? Any help is appreciated.
I’d find another shop. Check out Google and Yelp for ‘Subaru repair’ in your area, I’ve had good luck with that. I wouldn’t want to take my car back to a shop that couldn’t get it fixed.
You got into an accident two months ago and have been driving for two months with pulling and shaking going on and then instead of getting the car inspected for collision damage ypu take it someplace and ask for an alignment.
You don’t know what is wrong with your car and neither does anyone else. You car has to be examined for the collision damage first.
internet has funny stories.
i got in accident.
ins is taking to long to fix car
so i am driving it as is
went to shop and they want to replace parts
ins may or may not have paid for it.
so, i left without fixing it
still pulls? hmm, wonder why
Shaking could be an out of balance tire or bent rim. You cannot determine this by eyeball and rotation of the tires will not cure it although the symptom may change a bit.
The steering wheel off-center means that quite likely something in the suspension is bent. Wear should be checked before doing an alignment but bent suspension or steering components will not be so easy to detect unless it’s pretty bad.
We do not know what the alignment printout states nor do we know where and what kind of collision impact there was so it’s impossible to make much of a wild guess.
Yes. How do you send a car that you can’t perform an alignment on out the door while charging a customer for an alignment?
What do you mean by this?
could be a bunch of stuff, ranging from broken bands in the tire to broken/loose suspension components.
Why is the car still on the road? When you get in a wreck and insurance covers it, the car should go straight to the body shop and not leave until it’s repaired. You drive a loaner car in the meantime, which should also be covered by insurance.
I went to a mechanic right after the accident to determine any damages. He assured me that the damages were only cosmetic, so I kept driving it. The other person in the accident wanted to fix the damages out of pocket, which I admit is stupid on my part to agree with that. A month goes by and she never payed. Alignment problems started about 2 to 3 weeks ago so I started the insurance process and the claim is being complicated since she changed her story. So, accident or not, I just was asking whether or not this service center was playing me because of multiple times where they said they would do one thing but didn’t. Thank you for the ones who answered trying to help.
I wasn’t sure if the rims also get rotated along with the tires. I checked all tires and they are all at their original spots, and I know this because of certain scuffs on the rims tell me so.
Ah ok. If there are marks on the wheel that tell you the wheels are in the same place, then they didn’t rotate the tires. Except in very unusual circumstances, you don’t rotate only the tires, but the wheel/tire combo.