crabbing??

[saxo_boi]

about 4months ago i had a small crash while driving my car which involved me hitting my back rear wheel and a bit of the bottom of the side of the car on a kerb, no other damage was done to the car apart from this. as a result i got a puncture also. so i changed my wheel and kept on driving, now 4months down the line many people have told me that my car is crabbing (going sideways) now i have got somebody else to drive my car and i can also see it, its as if my back wheel want to go left! but every person has asked me whether it affects the handling of the car and it doesnt, i really dont feel a difference in the drive at all. i was just wondering if anyboyd could give me a bit of knowledge about this problem, also whether anybody knows how i would go about getting this fixed and a rough estimate on the price as i am expecting this to cost me a large amount of money. i would be grateful if anybody could help! thank you!

[Loosehead]

Well first get the tracking adjusted, sounds like the wheel concerned has been knocked out of line. Any Kwik fit type place should be able to do that. If they cannot line them up then the chassis is twisted, from what you say though this is unlikely. Unchecked this will also wear out the tyre concerned quicker that the others, effectively your back wheel is trying to continuosly go a dfifferent way to the other wheels and being continually dragged along, hence crabbing. You will also be using more fuel.

[pj200010]

Suggest you ask for a 4 wheel alignment! Most alignments are only done on the front.

[KebabMeister]

A bodyshop will be able to provide 4 wheel tracking.  Basically they'll check the front alignment and also the rear alignment using a special jig.  I went on a course for one and it was a tad confusing!  They'll be able to advise on the cost of adjusting the rear alignment and as long as nothing is bent, it shouldn't be too bad.

[dilligaf]

Unfortunately if your car is "crabbing" tracking will not rectify it
Tracking ensures all four wheels are pointing ahead and at the correct castor angle but does not rectify the fault of the rear set of wheels being out of line with the front set due to the body twisting.. Go to a good body shop with laser equipment , explain what happened , they will give you an answer within minutes.
Good luck .

[Loosehead]

Dilligaf, I think just hitting the one wheel on the kerb has pushed that one out of line so crabbing is still possible, from what saxo says I don't think the body is twisted, well not from that impact anyway.

[KebabMeister]

Laser equipment?  Wow, how times change... we had the latest equipment (1995 ish?) and that was just cable and optica to check 4 wheel tracking and castor - the optics were used to check if the vehicle was crabbing or not.

[saxo_boi]

also i forgot 2 say that on 1 side the wheel is about a centimetre awayfrom the arch and on the other it is more like an inch. i take it ive pushd the axle over or something along those lines, would this be the right thing to assume? so i just go into kwik fit and explain what happened and they will tell me whats wrong? also one other question, could it be as serious that i have to have the rear axle replaced? im thinking this would be a fairly big job and proberly quite expensive? but as i havent a clue, its really just a guess!