If nothing else on a vehicle is damaged can you get a true front end alignment reading if one of the wheels is bent? Is there any alignment equipment that will give you a true reading if a rim is bent?

 

how bent is your wheel

 

The inside has about a 4-5" flattened area. Not totally flat, but untrue about 4-5" across one area of the inside. Excluding any other area that is not visible to the naked eye(possibly has other damage that is just not visible).

 

if the outside of the rim isn't bent then the alignment is right what issues are you having and i would have the rim replaced

 

This is pretty much a dispute I am having with a local garage. This deals with an FJ cruiser. It was heavily damaged in an accident in the left front suspension. The shop replaced both control arms, knuckle, strut, pretty much all that can be replaced excluding tie rods/sway bar. They say "After this work they got the vehicle within alignment specs. Upon receiving the car, I noticed several major things that was not repaired...Mainly the inner fender crushed in from the tire impact. They're trying to tell me that it has been wrecked again after picking it up in the exact same location within a day of picking it up. Part of their evidence is that it will not align now ....-7 caster LF. They have supplied me with the so called original alignment(a faxed copy) showing where it did align after there work. There other evidence is a bent rim. It is the same rim from the original assesment,(I have proof)+a broken axle,(It is not). I am trying to figure out how an why they coming to this conclusion. I know it probably has frame damage. But why wasnt this caught to begin with. I can only think that the service writer thought the vehicle was repaired and accidently let it go, and they are now trying to cover it up somehow in fear of losing their job.

 

The rim I am refering to above was bent and damaged(as shown from there original assesment). But it was reinstalled on the vehicle. My thought on this was that maybe in some farfetched way that they did "temporarily" get a good alignment with a bad wheel. My understanding is that an alignment sheet is close to impossible to fudge. But they are lying or being deceived somewhere.

 

-7 is a lot i would say the frame is bent and they need to replace the rim. was this an insurance claim

 

Yes. The only problem is that with the garage saying that it is a new and seperate incident,(Totally BS), the insurance company is now refusing to pay without filing a seperate and new claim under collision.....which will cost us. The incident is presently being covered under comprehensive...as agreed to by the insurance co. .....which isnt costing us.

 

holy crap i would call the insurance company and tell them they didnt complete the work what insurance company do you use did you sign for the fj without looking over it i just dont see how the insurance company isnt making them fix it

 

I agree,

If the shop didn't fix it right, well the insurance already wrote them the check? If I were the insurance company I'd be really pissed off that they didn't fully fix it right the first time?

You can do 2 things, get a second opinion or tell them you will file it with the BBB.