Tie Rods and Front End Alignment
04-26-2007, 03:32 PM
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Tie Rods and Front End Alignment
To make what could be an extremely long story... I'll try to cut it short and give you the details.
Went to get alignment done at NTB on my 99 Accord, they told me to replace drivers side inner and outer tie rods. So I headed to Advance, ordered the parts, and stuck them on a few days later. Took it back to NTB and had my alignment redone. No problems.
Now, one month later, I'm driving in a parking lot, about to turn into a parking spot and I hear a pop, feel my steering wheel jerk a little, and notice when I try to back into the parking spot that I can't move... cause both of my tires are pointing in opposite directions. Jack the car up to see my inner tie rod ripped out.... (on the side with the ball/knuckle joint...) and the threads on that side of the tie rod are bent and twisted...
So I remove the inner from outer tie rod, and then remove the jam nut so I can get the boot off the piece..but the jam nut has been tightened past the threads and is virtually impossible to turn. Managed to get it a few rotations to see metal shavings from where it was turned too far...
Would NTB be to blame for this? For possibly threading the jam nut past the threads as well as loosening the inner tie rod to the point where it was able to pull itself apart?? I'm not so thrilled with them in the first place considering I rotated my wheels a few days after the alignment was done to find that two of the lug nuts were not even hand-tightened on the same wheel the tie rod ripped out on...
And what should I do about this? Advance said they'd defect out the tie rod for me, and I have a 1 year alignment with NTB... but if this had happened anywhere other than a parking lot, I might be in a hospital right now as opposed to typing this message...
Went to get alignment done at NTB on my 99 Accord, they told me to replace drivers side inner and outer tie rods. So I headed to Advance, ordered the parts, and stuck them on a few days later. Took it back to NTB and had my alignment redone. No problems.
Now, one month later, I'm driving in a parking lot, about to turn into a parking spot and I hear a pop, feel my steering wheel jerk a little, and notice when I try to back into the parking spot that I can't move... cause both of my tires are pointing in opposite directions. Jack the car up to see my inner tie rod ripped out.... (on the side with the ball/knuckle joint...) and the threads on that side of the tie rod are bent and twisted...
So I remove the inner from outer tie rod, and then remove the jam nut so I can get the boot off the piece..but the jam nut has been tightened past the threads and is virtually impossible to turn. Managed to get it a few rotations to see metal shavings from where it was turned too far...
Would NTB be to blame for this? For possibly threading the jam nut past the threads as well as loosening the inner tie rod to the point where it was able to pull itself apart?? I'm not so thrilled with them in the first place considering I rotated my wheels a few days after the alignment was done to find that two of the lug nuts were not even hand-tightened on the same wheel the tie rod ripped out on...
And what should I do about this? Advance said they'd defect out the tie rod for me, and I have a 1 year alignment with NTB... but if this had happened anywhere other than a parking lot, I might be in a hospital right now as opposed to typing this message...
04-27-2007, 08:05 AM
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Its really hard to prove that they're to blame...mostly because you installed them and they just did the allignment. Also, most shops don't guarantee any alignment if you're lowered (I don't know if you are or not).
