So I hit a curb...

[Honeo]

Ok, so basically it was snowy, slick, and I took the turn a little fast (A tight turn). I slide into the curb at about 10 mph. I know this isn't a big deal, but when I was driving home I noticed that when I put my steering wheel at the position where the car should be going straight, it pulled off to the left a bit. What does this mean? The car drives fine otherwise. But have I bent an axel? Or have a just knocked the wheels out of alignment. I think its just one wheel that's knocked out of align. I only have to turn the steering wheel about 10 degrees to the right to make the car go straight, so I don't really know what happened.

I know 10 mph isn't that fast or anything, just want to know what could have possibly happened, since I really don't know anything about cars. It's a front wheel drive car if that helps at all.

Any ideas would be appreciated, thanks.

 

[shakaka]

Yeah this happened to my friend when he was drifting.. You know way back when when you rode your bike everywhere and sometimes the wheel would get out of whack with the handle bars? It the same concept only now you need to take it to a mechanic to get it re-aligned instead of sitting on the tire and turning them -_-

 

[reddogwwa]

same exact thing happened to me, except I had to hop a curb to keep from hitting my friend.

And if it is the same thing like I think it is shak's right, you have to take it somewhere to get it re-aligned. It cost me $200 bucks to get it fixed. Best part about it is it was my moms car, and she hasn't found out yet.

Gl though, hopefully its not a bent axel. Because my friend bent his axel and that cost him 3500.

 

[Honeo]

Yeah I really hope it's not a bent axel. I hit the curb at a slow speed but you never know.

 

[sacred_user]

Same thing happened to my mom when she hit a tree (funny story actually) and she had to turn the wheel to the left or right to get it to go straight. She took it to the mechanic and was fixed in probably less than a few hours and the mechanic said it was very dangerous to be driving it like that so take it in as soon as you can.

 

[Xtern]

alignment or u might of need to replace some part in the wheels

 

[Cfrey]

alignment you could be like my friend who though it would be fun to take the Shelby and drift across the street... The whole axle broke off and we both got whiplash.

 

[Jukka]

i wouldnt recommend to drive that car until u have got that repaired. Something worse could happen like all ur wheels fall of. What then? Then u cant steer at all!

 

[stankinrange]

It's fine to drive, just get it re-alligned asap.

 

[Honeo]

It's fine to drive, just get it re-alligned asap.

Ok, thank you. Yeah I'm pretty sure it's just an alignment issue. I won't be driving it for a week because I'll be on vacation so I don't think I'll damage it anymore.

But thanks everyone for your posts.

 

[Osmosis]

Wheel alignments can be done by your basic mechanic for around $100-$200. They only take about 1 hour to do. If it's only slightly out it will be fine to drive at low speeds but get it fixed soon. The steering wheels (and ever car) will shudder slightly as well.

To snap your axle you would have to hit the curb pretty damn fast and even then you're more likely just to bend it slightly and not break it.

As for all out fully sick drifters out there, why do you think we use Race wheels and reinforced parts? Drifting puts a lot of stress on other things as well as the motor.