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The dealer finally got a look at my front end problems. Here's the breakdown:
-Wheel bent/damaged, unrecoverable
(I'm sceptical, it still seals fine -- held pressure since Sunday -- and all bizarre driving characteristics seem to be caused by the extreme toe-out. I didn't notice any jerking, wobbling, or bouncing from that side, however this could have been masked by the other problems. I did get up to 40mph on the way to the dealer and still noticed nothing too unusual. I don't care about the gouged flange, so if it will work fine for the rest of the snow season, I'll keep it.)
-Tie rod bent, sleeve broken, must replace
-Alignment mandatory
->Labor (est): 3hrs
->Total cost estimate: ~$650
Parts are being ordered and will be installed tomorrow.
Of course, that includes the exhorbitant dealer charge of $220 for a new wheel and whatever they want for mount+balance. I found a used one for $125 plus shipping, so I'm having the dealer rotate the damaged wheel to the back in the mean time. Needless to say, they were not happy about this but I think (hope) they will comply. I'm going to make sure that the wheel is really unusable before I buy a new one.
I am not reporting the accident to insurance either, it's just not worth it. It looks like this'll cost less than I expected, but it's still a heavy price tag for a mistake that wasn't my own. That's life.
Also, some of you may remember my little directional-tires-mounted-backwards issue a while ago. The dealer noticed that the one rear tire was still backwards (since this couldn't be corrected by rotation) and chewed me out when I told them not to fix it. He said (and I quote) that "that tire will come apart on you," citing safety issues. I didn't inquire any further. Any truth to that? No one on this board brought up any safety issues other than some reduced performance in certain situations, esp. hydroplaning. They made it sound like the tires were going to break-down rapidly. That brings me back to my reason for posting that issue in the first place; I was worried that bad directions would cause reduced tire life. If so, I need to get the original installer to replace them.
It never rains, but it pours.
, Thu, 8 Mar 2001 12:31:13, Thu, 8 Mar 2001 12:33:32
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