Did this change my alignment?

Pulling away from a pharmacy window, my drivers side rear tire brushed the curb. It felt like it slight pushed the car to the right a bit. I was just pulling away, so very slow. It sounded really bad and I couldn't bear to get out and look at the wheel. But to my surprise, the huge lip wheel protector saved the day, except for a very small scratch - could have been much worse with different tires. Anyway... Could this have messed with the alignment of that rear wheel? I would rather spend $100 on an alignment than chew up that $350 tire.

Quotes source post: 7487981

And there is your answer.....

my "guess" is no..... but it isnt my $350 tire

Most likey not since the tire itself absorbed the impact and flexed during the rubbing of the curb.

Quotes source post: 7487981

No way this did anything to your alignment. Cars are subjected to many more G's of force on the track and when strapped by the wheels for towing. No alignment problems there. The slight push you felt was probably just the wheel rolling up on the curb and actually moving the car. No worries here. I wouldn't even sweat it for another minute. Don't bother with the alignment either unless your car is due for one anyway. -td

Where are you getting a $100 alignment for your P-car? Even my indy charges $250.

As td stated, this would not affect your alignment. Do you "feel" anything different in the track?

Quotes source post: 7487981

Based on my experience with my 02 Boxster I'd say "yes". Did similar thing -- brushed the curb of an island in a parking lot early in the morning still dark and driving through an unfamiliar lot -- and while not even the wheel was touched and the tire side wall showed no real damage other than of course some scuffing from the curb, tire wear on that side over time became uneven and when it was time to replace the tires I had an alignment done. Besides the usual adjustment the toe on that side (passenger's side, rear) was out more so than the other side. My experience is while all alignment settings are critical toe is particularly so. Over 230K miles of driving and countless tires and a few alignments to go with those tires and paperwork from everyone has convinced me. I don't get an alignment every set of new tires but when the old tire wear patterns are uneven I do get the car aligned. And tire life is very good. While it is true the car experiences consider side loadings from cornering the loads build up and decay gradually (relatively speaking). If the loads are too great the tires break loose. In this instance the load was almost instaneous and the car at slow speed had all 4 tires in good contact with the ground and each offering maximum grip and resistence to any movement to one side from the brush with the curb. I would be frankly surprised if an alignment didn't find anything amiss. To me the few dollars an alignment cost is worth the peace of mind knowing the car's alignment ok and that very expensive tires will not suffer an timely end due to misalignment. Now if the tires are near the end of their life you could continue to drive the car provided the car's steering and general road manners don't indicate anything's wrong (arising from the curb brush or anything else) until the tires need replacing and *then* have the alignment checked with new tires on the car. Lastly, I'm a bit troubled by your "$100" alignment. I would not trust my Porsches to any shop that offered $100 alignment unless it were at a dealer's service department offering a discount on alignment with the purchase of new tires, which sometimes my dealer offers, well nearly so. Close enough anyhow and frankly any discount is better than none. Sincerely, Macster.

I'd like to get a $100 deal on an alignment. I'm getting mine done at RUF next week and it's $169, which is $30 less than the local dealer. I seriously doubt you did anything to your set up, especially if the wheel is in pretty good shape.

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thanks for the all of the reponses on this one. There's a new shop in the area that specializes in corvettes...before any comments come up, let me explain. First, I would never have them do any work on my 996 other than an alignment and wheel balancing. All of their equipment is brand new, even the building. The alignment machine is one of the high-tech in-ground versions that any lowered car can use, but I don't recall the name of it. They are used to modified cars (albeit vettes) and I have used them to align my RX8 with success. They will align to whatever spec you want and let you sit in the drivers seat to get an even more accurate alignment. They are very careful and I can be in the shop area with no issues. Unless there is something very special that needs done to align our Porsche's, why not use a shop like this for an alignment? I've only owned the 996 for 6 months and have not read too much about our suspension alignment techniques, so if I am way off base here, please let me know. The local and highly recommended p-car indy doesn't have this type of alignment rack (older school version). But I would trust him for motor and tranny work for sure after being in his shop. James

$100 alignments, $350 tires..... some nice bargains there..... If it makes you feel better, get the alignment.... hell, get a new set pf tires too.

nothing wrong with using that shop... in my area the 6speed guys with thier lambos and ferraris go to dicount tire.... no kidding! I guess they "know how" Still I use another guy because he sets up the Pcar racers for the area and there is another really hot alignment guy, but he is in direct competition with my Fav indy, so I dont even go there. - I guess I forget some parts of the country dont have all the right shops(like the shaking wheel thread where his RUF shop is really far away) if you never had it aligned, it wont hurt to get a baseline alignment anyhow....

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I haven't priced the rear 285s, but they must be around $350. Luckily I have a friend in the tire industry (very large distributor) and buy at his employee rate. Hopefully when the time comes, the Pilot's will be less than $350...not there yet.

Maybe, maybe not. The tracking is one clue like mentioned. Or just have the alignment done.

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I'm sure they're careful.The question I have is do they know what they're doing. Porsches ain't, if you'll pardon me stating the obvious, the same as Corvettes. A Porsche has its own alignment procedure. I watched a Porsche tech aligned my Turbo and it was a ballet as he adjusted one setting and then adjusted another as the 1st adjustment had moved a related setting out of adjustment and the 2nd adjustment compensated for this, brought the other setting back to correct. All the time he had his eyes on a display -- see pic -- that gave good and clear readings of what was going on even changing color to signal a good setting (green) and a bad setting (red). Several times the tech would bounce the car's front end up and down to resettle the front tires and suspension/steering components after an adjustment to ensure the steering wheel still properly centered. I've seen several cars aligned, my Boxster my Cayman S and various other cars but watching my Turbo get properly aligned was quite something. Impressive. And the car felt wonderful afterwards. Sure, the alignment was off when I brought it in but the difference was like night and day. The tech shared with me that the car had one of the best baseline alignments he'd seen. No huge adjustments needed to get the settings right. And he told me the alignment settings that he had no control over (like caster) were on the money and equal from side to side. Granted the result is what counts, not so much how one gets it, within reason of course. So if shop you take your car to can give you an after printout (and I like a before printout too) that clearly shows the settings are on the money or are set they was you like then nevermind. Sincerely, Macster.