I have a 4cyl 2005 Honda Accord LX with 53,200 miles on it. I have only driven about 18,000 miles on a set of Michelin Primacy MXV4. I have rotated the tires and the wear on all four tires is good.

However my right tire does not look like it is centered in the fender well. The left tire is centered. There is evidence that the previous owner may have hit a curb on the right side.

Is it the Strut or a Suspension part?

I am thinking that if someone did hit a curb in my car back before i owned it. Then It could be like a bent control arm or something under there.


Suggestions? I posted a picture to show you what it looks like.

 

The strut doesn't control that fore-aft positioning. That would be the lower control arm or the structure at the inboard end of the LCA. Or less likely, the upper control arm.

 

That is what i was thinking. I guess I will just have to take the tire off and see.

I was going to replace the strut with new ones. What time would you replace them?

Was looking at Gabriel Ultra (Strut and spring) What do you think? Well and i guess a new lower or upper arm.

 

Gabriel Ultra's are a good unit to put on + they have a lifetime warranty from AutoZone and Advance.

 

Might be hard to see even when you take off the wheel.

A Helm shop manual should have a big set of measurements across different points of the floorpan & subframes. That's how a shop would evaluate whether the unibody structure is bent. IIRC, you don't need the specialized "body repair" supplement; this is in the general repair manual.

 

Well you are right taking off the tire, its hard to say what it is. Should i replace the struts wile i am under there or should i just take it to a mechanic?

53,000 miles on the original struts. $89 a strut.

 

That's pretty early for struts to go bad; I'd just replace them only if you have any bouncyness to indicate bad shocks.