So let me explain. The above is a diagram of our car's alignment. The green is good. The red, well, it isn't so good. I added the yellow "tire" to illustrate the problem. It is an over-exaggeration but it gets the point across. Let me start with when I took the car in.
I took our car to "Firestone" mainly for an oil change, and a general tune-up. Over $600 later I took it home. The tires were wearing funny. I noticed the outer edges of each tire were wearing out faster than than the rest on each tire. I knew we needed new ones soon but was planning on keeping them on a bit longer. The guy took me out and showed me the wear on them and explained why it was. Which was because of the alignment problem. I asked him how the alignment could be off so bad. He asked if we ran over a curb or something. It took me a while, a few minutes at least, and than I remembered...
The alignment problem started way back in September of 2008. We were going to visit Amanda's family in Royal City, WA when I decided it was fun to clobber a coyote. We turned off the highway and were less than a 20 minutes away from her parent's house. A coyote then thought it would be fun to jump out in front of us. What did I do? Well, I didn't swerve. No sir. Most animals decide to take a sharp left or maybe a sharp right but did this smart coyote do either? NO! He decided he would rather keep on a straight path and be BULLDOZED by a new 2007 Toyota Corolla! DEAD ON too! We hear a "clunk" and than a minute or two later, another "clonk" in the back passenger side of the car. It was late, around midnight or so. I kept on driving, thinking what good would it do to stop anyways.
That night I check it out. I didn't see anything but some hair underneath the car. The next morning Amanda's Dad noticed that the bumper was damaged. The damaged occurred under the bumper, where it is hard to see. (Thank-goodness.) With tape and some Gorilla Glue Amanda's Dad was able to fix it for us. (Thanks!)
Well, now I'll take you back to "Firestone". It is now April, just over half a year, when we discover the real extent of the damage the crazy coyote inflicted on our car. I asked how to correct the alignment problem and for how much. He said that they could put some shimmies into it to help straighten it out a bit, which would help but the number would still be in the red. (Refer back to the first paragraph.) This would cost around $75. Or, we could buy the whole part and fix the problem for a mere $400. The guy at "Firestone" said that if it was his car he would just shimmy it. Anybody care to put their 2 cents in? Please leave a comment.
We don't drive much anymore. Work here is close enough that I walk, now ride a bike thanks to Amanda's Papa. (Thanks!) So the car is usually just sitting. Because of this I decided to forgo both options for now and keep a close eye on things.
Quick up-date on becoming a Utard. Sadly, our Washington Tabs expire this month. This will force me to switch license plates and become a full fledged Utard. VERY SAD DAY! Well, let me show a little more optimism. It won't be too bad if I don't stay a Utard for long. I can experience being a Utard for a while, but hopefully only a very small handful of years.
