Alignment and Suspension Issues!!! Please Help!

[turbosmartevo8]

I recently got my car back from a body shop. They did a great job on all the body work, car looks sexy and paint is matched AMAZING!

Ok, now on to the real topic. My car doesnt drive right. They had it for two months and had plenty of time to pay attention to detail. The frame wasnt bent at all, no chassis damage. They replaced my R/F Lower control arm, and My powersteering pump and pulley and belt. (other than that it was body work..wheels & tires). Also, the wheels I have are Gramlights 57 Maximums and require that little ring to fit the wheel on the hub properly. That being said..here is my problem:

When im just driving around if i let go of the wheel the car pulls to the left. Ok, i figured the guy who aligned the car didnt know what he was doing...no biggie... The car definatley doesnt handle the way it should (it has stock suspension). And I also noticed that when "getting on it" under Full Throtle, the car then begins to pull to the right!! This doesnt really make sense to me. The only thing i can think of is the pulling to the left is some alignment issue, some measurment off or something slightly bent that someone who doesnt know what to look for could easily miss. As far as the pulling to the right....Could the new powersteering pump have anything to do with that?! Also, Im hoping they got the wheels installed right...I assume messing up with those could be a big issue. In any event, Im taking my car into WestEnd Alignment in Gardena, CA to have him check it out. He comes highly recomended..and hes gonna look over my entire car and let me know whats messed up. Until then, If anyone could shed some light on this for me it would be greatly appreciated! Thanks in Advance.

[Fourdoor]

Under hard acceleration weight shifts from the front to the back, so if your suspension alignment is all jacked up, it may pull to the other side under acceleration than it does for normal driving. If a good alignment doesn't cure both problems we can try and come up with more ideas at that point

Keith

[evoRSTroy]

you were apparently hit in the front passenger side of the car? assuming that's why those parts were replaced....

you probably have some other suspension components bent along with the control arm. tie rod end, even the strut could be bent, those two parts would definetly cause the problems you are describing. some body shops don't always catch those parts being broken. some shops alignment machines also won't carry the specs for cars such as evo's, so the tech might look to a similar car for specs (such as a lancer) and could have caused an issue that way as well.

Hopefully you get it taken care of!

[Jazzie604]

the good news is that whatever the problem is, it should still be covered under the insurance claim. Make sure to get it back to the shop immediately so that they can get back in touch with the insurance agency and get things fixed.

[turbosmartevo8]

Thanks guys, im bringing it into a "collision specialist" who are familiar with evos. I will definatly bring these ideas to them and see if i can get it taken care of. I will post my findings as soon as i figure them out!!!

[Noob4life]

The frame wasnt bent at all, no chassis damage. They replaced my R/F Lower control arm

Hold up. The arms were bent, but the frame was not? Tell those techs to get under the car again, dollars to donuts your subframe has been tweaked. It takes a heck of an impact to bend arms, and there's a very good chance the frame was bent as well.

Post up your post-repair alignment sheet if you've got it, that will give us a good idea of what you're dealing with. Also, what caused the car to be in the body shop? Front AND rear damage?