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Rising Star
Yes you’ll need to get an alignment. New tires also need to be balanced, even if it’s only one. No I would not recommend it with a spare, that’s a band aid to a bullet hole.
The body shop might not do tires, there’s mounting & balancing equipment involved and they may not do it.
What did they have to fix, just a new bumper? And where did they hit, straight on or from a side?
I’m not a mechanic but I would check alignment after getting rear-ended, just to be safe. Thought it was about the axle not the wheels, so shouldn’t matter that you have a spare on.
Yes you most definitely need a realignment done. It should be done after you have the new tire. If you have an AWD vehicle, you will most probably need to get a new set because one new tire will mess with the system. Most Tire shops will do alignment and balancing.
Thanks! We're almost at the end. I might as well take my car to the dealership or another mechanic at the end. And will gauge what they say. I live in ATL, so not much snow issues. But we do get black ice from time to time in winters (when we shut down and are a laughing stock of the nation). Will see what the dealership and the tire experts say at one of the tire shops. I'm not going to rely on this body shop.
Unfortunately, I don't think I can get the insurance to pay for tires as I got a flat on my way to the body shop and not related to the accident. They'd cut my deductible anyway.
The silver lining is that if I have to pay out of pocket, right now is probably a good time to get new tires as there are black Friday deals going on.
You don’t always near rear alignment or new tire, unless the suspension was damaged or the axle. Typically in a rear end accident, unless the damaged was extensive, it doesn’t get to the axle or suspension. What car is this?
Body shops can change tires, wheels, the whole thing. If they can’t, they get external shops involved to do what they’re not able to. But tires and alignment is pretty basic stuff.
Not sure if you went through insurance or what body shop, but body shops have a warranty policy usually. If it’s through the insurance, you can always complain to insurance about the alignment.
Picture of the damage can help see if it’s impacted or not
Thank you! Yeah, I truly get the shortage and would have been okay if they'd placed the order and delivery was taking a while. We have backlogs on computers.
But the issue was they were not actively sourcing the part until I escalated and requested copies of the POs they've placed to source my part after they received the wrong part. There was one that was dated for the day after I requested that and they received the part within 2 weeks. But from early September to 11/1, not much was done. All they did was call the dealerships to see if they had a part inventory and if not, they waited to see if multiple dealerships had the exact part that I needed in the next stock (without placing the custom part order).
Sorry, this is my frustration talking as I am just done with them, and is not really related to the question I asked.
And yes, I probably will ask another local mechanic for my peace of mind, especially if I feel something's off.
Pro
I was in your exact situation, got rear ended and needed a new lift gate and bumper, I suggested the rear wheels should be realigned and the service guy looked at me like I had 3 heads and said sir I’ve been working here for years and assure you this damage couldn’t have misaligned your rear wheels because there was no damage to the suspension, or something like that. He also said there’s no way the insurance would approve rear wheel alignment for such an accident. So at that point I backed off and took his word for it but maybe I’m the sucker, idk. I def thought one of my rear wheels was misaligned after the impact but the body shop was having none of it
Thanks, I really want to do that. But trying to gather info for 1. Safety and 2. If I can save on those costs (i.e if it's really needed, then I don't want to pay out of pocket if insurance should pay for it)
Btw, did you end up getting realignment done elsewhere? If not, did you experience any issues due to that?
Lift gate, bumper, and couple of things underneath. P.s. the body shop is refusing to replace a new tire. In that case, would they be liable?
Thank you G1! Another dumb question, do tire shops typically do them when they replace a tire? Or is that added on?
I'd do it regardless, but if they try to make me pay for something that's generally included, I'd love to know.
Thanks, P1!