I have an 05 tC. I just got it outta the body shop for some fender work on the front driver's side(idiot clobbered me changing lanes). Low speed impact(1-2 mph), minimal damage. Anyway, I get the car back home and look at the work more closely. The passenger front wheel(which the body shop never went near) is about 1inch off center, toward the back of the car. I went to the dealer and he says that there is no way that this could be a warranty issue and that the car is damaged. The worst I have ever driven through is 1-2 inch deep potholes at ~ 40 mph. The car should be able to do that. So, I go back to my body shop guy and he says that the wheel had to be installed in that position originally. If I had hit something that moved the wheel that much, the steering wheel would be turned way off-center, and the car would pull to the right noticably. My car has neither problem. It drifts with the crown in the road and the steering wheel is dead-nuts center.

I'm just tring to find out if this is a common thing or not. I haven't heard anything before, so.... Just let me know.

 

Ya, I was going to ask if it pulls or anything like that. It could just be the way the fender lines up with it now for some reason. If that's where the work was done - they might not have touched the wheel, but it sounds like they're changing the lines around the wheel.

Worst case, I'd take it in and have them check the alignment.

 

That's just it. the alignment is fine and the fender hasn't moved. The fender work was done on the opposite side of the car. Very minor work. I just havent checked out that side of the car that close till now(trying to compare the new work with the old.

 

Throw up some pics so we can see what you're talking about better. I just looked at mine and I don't see anything that concerns me. Did the body shop do any alignment?

 

No alignment. Just body work. The guy only tapped me. just barely bent the panel. I don't have a digital camera or I would post pics. Sorry. I just don't take pictures ever, so I haven't broken down to get a digital camera.

 

I'm the same way bro. I borrow my girlfriend's camera for everything. Sorry I'm no help.

 

its part of the accident, it coud have affected teh other side of the body.

our cars are a unibody deisign and the frame is soft, designed to absorb impact (which in turn transfer it through out the car easier).

you should take it back to the body shop and have it checked out because it coud be somethign they missed or something they MESSED

 

funny you mention this. I had the same exact issue on my matrix. however this was after an impact..about 10-15mph. the car was hit in the rear and then we went up on the curb, with the passenger wheel taking a bit hit. fenders and wheels replaced, 1/4 panel...but i guess the passenger wheel wasn't attended to. I noticed it much later after the body repair and alignment because there was a slight pull to the right about 4-5 weeks afterwards. brought it in, best they would do is a wheel alignment which seemed to solve the problem for another few weeks...then slight pulling to the right. and on extreme turning, the tire hit the back of the wheel well.

body shop guy tried to told me this 'off center' thing was normal to account for the crown in the road. i don't know squat about mechanical, but i figure if that was the case it would be a millimeter or two, not a full inch. so i'm not buying it. but i didn't want to fight it either on a beaten car. so i took my lumps.

3 weeks later i picked up a tc. end of story.

 

i think its goin to b hard for us to help u without pics. i dont think this is a normal problem.

 

Are you sure it is the wheel, or the fender making it look that way? Measure from front wheel center to rear center on each side. If they match, then you may have a fender off. If it put enough force on the front clip, it possibly (I say possibly, it may not be) could have transferred some of that force to the other side. If the wheel base is the same on each, measure from the front of the front fender cutout to a good spot on the rear, like the center of the rear wheel. Then do the same from the rear of the front fender cutout. Do the same on the other side to see if the fender itself is out of wack. I doubt too that it is the front wheel itself. If the whole fender is off I would expect to see a gap off near the door as well unless it simply compressed the fender cutout just a bit. Also compare the measurement of the bottom of the fender cutout on each side. One of the above measurements should give a clue as to what is off.

 

The wheelbase is shorter. Everything else is within an 1/8 of an inch. the wheel base is off by 7/8 of an inch. I'm gonna take it back to the body shop and have them look at it. it's free, so why not, right? The more I think about it, the lower arm/ball joint would have to have shifted. And then stayed magically aligned of re-aligned itself. Since I doubt either happened, I need to get under there on my own and see what's up. something like that should cause an obvious bend in something.

 

did the strut tower nuts loosen up and bend the studs?

 

i'll check, but on most cars the lower nuts are tightened to 125-150 pound feet.(my last car was 139). if that was the case, i would be getting a random pull one way or the other all the time, from the alignment floating around. i don't think this would be it, but you never can tell. i'll of course check the upper nut too.