Rear wheel hit the curb while making right turn.

[manoftaste]

Happened this morning. Rear right wheel bashed off the curb and I felt a kinda hard rubbery bounce on the rear of the truck. No metal noise etc. Just had the alignment done last week (when the steering column was replaced under warranty).

No scratches on the rim, thank God. But there was a three to four inches long slightly thick layer of black powdery stuff just on the outer edge of the rim, which I just wiped off with my finger, and no scratch under the layer.

Checked the air pressure after a few hours and no leak so far. No visible damage to the tire really.

Worried about the causing any other damage etc. Have an appointment tomorrow morning for all four wheel' alignment or alignment check and wheel balance etc. Will have em look at suspension components etc. as well.

I have noticed one thing though but it could just be in my head. On the 4x4 suspension display on the nav screen, I noticed that the front axle is showing ever so slightly titled sometimes even on the freeway. Its the right side thats titled upwards toward the upper limit horizontal line. Its the kinda thing that happened a couple of weeks when I had the rear right tire flat. But while on the freeway, aside from TPMS warning the way I noticed that I was rapidly losing air was looking at the 4x4 screen which was showing the front axle tilted up on the right side.

 

[mbw]

You are getting another alignment after you just had one? Any particular reason you are running into the curb?

 

[Kaaae]

How fast were you going? I have slipped of several curbs without any issue. As long as you didn't pop a tire you should be fine.

 

[manoftaste]

You are getting another alignment after you just had one? Any particular reason you are running into the curb?

Getting another alignment after hitting the curb. No particular reason for hitting the curb except that there was a car to my left in its own lane waiting for green and that I cut right a little short.

 

[manoftaste]

How fast were you going? I have slipped of several curbs without any issue. As long as you didn't pop a tire you should be fine.

Wasnt going fast at all, just normal turning speed. Its just that I felt that the bounce off was a slight jolty but rubbery. No metal sound at all.

 

[Kaaae]

I'm sure that was just the pinching effect from the tire between the curb and your wheel. I doubt you need an alignment after that.

 

[PaulLR3]

All summer we drive on an unpaved access road on the way to a drive-on beach. This road often has huge holes that really beat on the suspension and toss the LR3 around. Every fall I take the LR3 in for an alignment before I put on the expensive Nokian winter tires. I am amazed that I am always told that the alignment was "just a little off". I doubt you need an alignment from your incident, these trucks can tolerate a lot of abuse.

 

[manoftaste]

Thanks all.

So i got the truck back and was told that all was within green, but they said that they still fine tuned it even more.

As I drove home after work that evening (local streets, freeway, and then back to local streets), I noticed that the steering wheel is off centered (turned to left) by quite a bit when the vehicle is being driven straight ahead. If I try to keep the steering wheel straight, the vehicle wants to go to the right side.

I am familiar and understand the concept of road crowning etc, and hence the resulting slight shift in the steering wheel axis, but such is not the case here. The steering wheel actually is physically and visibly off by quite a bit while driving on a leveled surface.

I know nothing about the wheels alignment process but I hope that the actual alignment of the wheels is fine and that its just that the steering wheel was initially not set straight when the alignment was performed.

Truck goes back to dealership monday, meanwhile I am gonna avoid going on any long trip this weekend.

 

[Count Laszlo]

Usually during alignment the need to readjust the steering wheel. Your alignment sounds fine, but your steering wheel sounds like it wasn't adjusted and should be. I once had my BMW aligned, by BMW, and when I got the car back the steering wheel was cocked to the right by at least 25 degrees. Dumbest thing ever. I even asked them if they test drove the car after alignment and they said yes. Then I asked the SA if the tech had eyeballs. Anyway, brought the car back in and they realigned the steering wheel.

 

[manoftaste]

Took the vehicle back. Shop foreman immediately noticed the off steering few secs after the drive. Picked up the car at the end of day, same thing. Steering cocked to left again, with very slight improvement from before.

Brought the vehicle back today. Service director drove the car with me, said that it was only slightly off by a tooth. He then drove with his alignment specialist. After the road test he said that its very little off and it could go the other way if they tried to fix it again. I asked that it was fine before so want went wrong this time and that if it was a miss and hit deal? He said yes it is.

He said that he could not keep going back and forth and then asked me what to do. I said lets give it one more shot. Lets see what happens when i pick it up again.

The steering is clearly off centered. This whole thing is just laughable. The service director is really a nice guy but i just dont think they are getting it.