Hey folks,

Long time lurker first time poster here. Recently I hit some 8-10" rocks on the highway, bent a wheel and pinched a 6" hole in my sidewall.
Got new tires all the way around, the old wheel still holds air but is slightly off balance, moved the bent wheel to rear to avoid steering shimmy.

I've got a 2011 GT w/ the Brembo package

I had Ford perform an alignment after the new tires and asked them to check for bent/damaged parts because I hit so hard. They said everything was fine but I'm not certain they are correct.

Alignment specs are as follows:

Front Driver (side that blew the tire):
Camber: -0.2 (Range: -1.5 to 0.0)
Caster: 7.0 (Range: 6.4 to 7.9)
Toe: 0.05 (Range: 0.00 to 0.20)
SAI: 17.2 (Range: NONE, Ford doesn't publish stock SAI values)
Included Angle: 16.9 (Range: NONE)

Front Passenger (Hit rocks but wheel and tire were fine):
Camber: -0.9 (Range: -1.5 to 0.0)
Caster: 6.5 (Range: 6.4 to 7.9)
Toe: 0.07 (Range: 0.00 to 0.20)
SAI: 11.7 (Range: NONE, Ford doesn't publish stock SAI values)
Included Angle: 10.8 (Range: NONE)

Front cross alignment:
Cross Camber: 0.7 (Range: -0.8 to 0.8)
Cross Caster: 0.6 (Range: -0.8 to 0.8
Cross Toe: 0.11 (Range: 0.00 to 0.40)
Cross SAI: 5.4 (Range: NONE)

My issue is with SAI and Included Angle being off almost 5 1/2 degrees between sides. Everything I've found on the net shows when this value off by more then about 1 degree by each side, something is likely bent. I've double checked with my Ford dealer and the alignment tech basically said there's nothing they can do since Ford doesn't puplish the SAI and IA ranges for the Mustang, and they've visually inspected and found no issues.

Any advice on how to proceed? This will be handled under insurance IF I can actually prove there is a problem (which I can't unless I can find stock SAI and IA ranges)
Other folks Mustangs on forum posts show measured SAI values of ~15.0 ±0.5 degrees for both sides.

 

This shows a pic of a fully extended S197 strut length.


http://www.vorshlag.com/product_info...67687c0791a65c

Assuming you subtract a couple inches for compression from weight, and add a couple inches from bottom of ball joint to bottom of strut, lets for argument sake say it is 20 inches (probably more like 22).

That means if you are 5 degrees more on SAI on one side than the other, either the lower control arm mount or the strut tower have to be 1.5 inches off, in or out, vs the other one. If control arm was bent that much, camber woudl also be out. Seems unlikely strut tower/control arm mount was made that far off. Worse case I would take it straight to a frame shop. I don't believe an estimate for evaluation is that expensive.