So I'm romping it through a tunnel with PSE on, minding my own business. As soon as I exit the tunnel, I see a fairly large object on the road.

It was too close to swerve so I took it head on, heard a loud thud as I hit it, pulled over and instantly PCM showed that my front passenger side tire was -40psi. Unfortunately, a car behind me also had its tire taken out. Mercifully, nobody was hurt or wrecked.

I had the car towed to discount tire where it's awaiting a set of brand new Michelin PSS that will be delivered Wednesday.

My question to you all - should I take it to the dealership soon and get the wheel/axle/alignment looked at? The folks at discount say the wheel doesn't appear damaged, but obviously I want her to drive perfectly. I'm also weary of a service department looking to make a quick fear-induced buck.

The silver lining in all this is (i) I have an excuse to replace the stockers with PSS and (ii) there was an ice house directly across the street from where I pulled over, which made the 2 hour tow truck wait tolerable.

 

It's generally a good idea to get an alignment after you get new tires. Just take it to any specialized alignment shop, will be a lot cheaper and faster than the dealer.

 

Is the current tire wear even? If not then the alignment has to be suspect even if the pick axe hit didn't do anything but ruin a tire.

If tire wear is even then I guess you could get the new tires fitted and see how the car feels/handles. Trouble is while the car might feel ok, handle ok, alignment might be out and you won't know it until tire wear starts to take place.

Also, I don't know how many miles you have on the car but suspension does settle and it is not a bad idea to get an alignment done at least with the first set of new tires. Then one can just keep an eye on the tire wear and as long as tire wear is not a problem, and the tires don't emit any noise from misalignment, it is all good.

 

That's a good point - one should always get an alignment after getting new tires. I'll probably take it to the dealer for that and ask them to ensure that area looks good. Can anyone tell me what's market for a dealership alignment?

Joec500, I would take it to a private place if I knew a good one, but I like the idea of having recourse against a dealership/PCNA if something happens to go wrong.

 

Alignment or not it might be good to have the underside of the car looked at to see if any additional damage can be seen.

The last alignment I had at the dealer was around $175 or so..... they have them on special every once in a while. 10-20% off is pretty normal.

 

Holy crap, how does a pick axe end up on the road?

 

From less than caring truck or trailer drivers. I once came upon a wheelbarrow in the middle of the road, upside down at dusk. Fortunatly I was able to miss it, but the soccor mom in her SUV behind me didn't.

 

I get an alignment done every 5K miles, about every other rear tire change. Alignments are cheap, tires aren't.

 

This makes zero sense. Your rear tires are only lasting about 2,500 miles?

 

Glad you're OK; outcome could have been much worse.

Check out underbody and suspension for damage; alignment if needed.

Knew you had to be from TX with the ice house comment!

 

You dodged a bullet. Buddy had something similar happen with a tool like that it not only took out the tire it punched itself into the lower body structure of the frunk

 

OK, I'm typing this slow to help you understand. My rear tires last 10K miles. I have any alignment EVERY OTHER rear tire swap. Every other means in-between. Therefore, at 5K miles.

Does this help you?

 

Sorry, but that means every 20K where I come from.

 

This makes no sense. What you wrote would indicate you get your tires aligned every 20k.

Every other does not mean in-between. In means every second occurrence.

 

I gas up my car every other road trip.