The pothole bent my rim, but that is fixed. Front drivers side wheel. I am getting an alignment tomorrow. It may be just a placebo effect, but the car feels more loose and rough over bumps. The steering wheel does not shake or anything on the highway. I looked at the suspension after changing the wheel, and couldn't spot any damage. I'm going to have them check the front tomorrow as well, but would like to know what could have happened so that I don't get screwed.

 

You could have damaged it, yes.

 

You most likely knocked the snot out the alignment, which would make the car feel quite a bit wacky. I'd definitely have them check the suspension very closely. Tie-rods, etc.

 

You bent or broke something.

 

Possible.

...or:

 

Well I got it checked out today. Nothing was broken or damaged, but the alignment was out. Thanks guys.

 

how do you get it checked out? like what do you have to look for?

 

Have a tech throw it on the alignment machine, check the alignment, the tie rods, and the suspension components in general to see if anything is bent/broken.

 

also some measurements can be done when the alignment is performed to check the spindle/LCA. Many times the bends aren't big enough to be easily spotted by eye. In theory the suspension is meant to take certain amounts of abuse when going straight. (65 and pothole likely surpass the threshold). just don't slide sideways into that pothole...or you'll get to learn the value of your suspension.

 

FYI I heard on the radio the other day if your car is damaged by hitting a pothole or something like that if your the first to contact the city about it they dont have to pay for the damage to your car because they didnt know about it but if the pothole has been reported before and they didnt fix it then they have to pay for the damage. So what you do is call one day with a little bogus info then call again with your correct info and get fixed on the city. Who knows how true it is, heard it on the radio.