New Tires but car hicups to the left

[mega87]

I have just gotten a set of 4 new tires (Potenza G009) on my 97 v6 camry and after the mechanic guy came up to me he told me that my left front strut was bent, but it was not badly bent. He told me that I would not feel any difference in the drivability of the car. So when I got home just now I was driving on the highway about 55mph and all of a sudden my steering wheel turns to the left like as if it's trying to pull the car to the left but then it does a quick and very wierd shift back to the right. I almost got into an accident because of this so I really do not know what to do.

The mechanic told me also that when he tried to do the front alignment he could not get it done all the way it was till off because of the bent front left strut.

I am wondering could it be that this is why my car does a sudden slight turn of the wheel when I am just driving straight?


I really need some advice on what should I do? Replace the strut and the strut mount or should I replace my whole front suspension with new struts and mounts?

[Cyorke]

Yes this will definitely cause you to have alignment problems. Depending on how it is bent you can have either the caster or camber out or both. Either one os these can cause the car to pull to one side or the other. At the least you will probably need to have the strut replaced and would recommend doing both on the front at the same time.

[mega87]

Well thanks for the reply Cyorke , I really appreciate it, but when I went to the mechanic today in the morining HE took me back to the garage and checked out the strut and looked at it carefully taking his time he relized that what they told me yesturday was not true my strut is not bent. I actually have worn out lower control arm bushings and the wheel on my driver side is moving side to side even, not so bad as on the right side but the left side is shot and I need a new pair of control arm bushings.

And on the side note. HE did also notice and showed me that I have some tranny fluid running along side there and it some how got inside the bushing peice and he told me that could have worn out my bushings, is this true?

[Cyorke]

Well I guess that is good, at least you dont have to replace the struts only to find out that is not the problem. Would have sucked to spend money needlessly.

Yes it is very possible that the leaking tranny fluid could cause the bushing to be worn. OIl of any kind can be very corrosive to rubber bushings. You will want to take care of that leak aslo to prevent it from happening again in the future.