my 97 taurus has an alighnment problem. The passenger side tire will not get into allignment because either the spilndle or one (both?) oth the controll arms are bent. Does anyone know of a way to check which of the control arms are bent? I am assuming it is one of the arms and not the spindle since it seems more likely that one of them wouldbend then the spindle.

The only way to tell is to put it on an alignment machine and measure the camber and caster of that wheel. If the bottom control arm got bent from a force in the front it would measure negative castor (wheel behind center line up and down) which would make it pull to the right. IF it got hit from the side there would be too much positive camber (top of the wheel towards the outside of the car) and it would wear the outsaide of the tread. A bent spindle would surely make toast of the bearing so if it isn't making any noise it wouldn't be that. Any place that does alignment work should be able to answer your queston.

Thanks. The bearing isn't blown, and the car pulls to the left. I'm not sure how to interpret your email to figure out where to go from here. Which control arm would i replace, or do I need to replace both of them?