I recently had a 4-wheel alignment done on my '85 Camry, got the before & after printout and everything. It was all good.

I've heard that hitting a pot hole or deep bump in which the car first drops down and then hits something hard on the way up is more likely to knock out the alignment than hitting a raised bump in the road, such as a speed bump or a raised connector plate. Is this true, and why is it?

Also, can turning at high speeds knock out alignment (or tire balance)?

Earlier today, I was driving kind of fast (75 on the highway) and there was a small curved hill. Most drivers who aren't familiar with the road tend to slow down at this exact section of road, but I've gone over this hill and executed this curve countless times at 70-75 mph without incident. However, today, there was a cardboard box in my lane, so I had to swerve, at high speed, on a hill, around a curve (so my swerve was accentuated) to avoid hitting the box. The conditions were otherwise good, the handling was fine, the tires held the road, and nothing of greater significance happened, thankfully. I know I shouldn't be driving that fast, so it's good that I didn't drive off the road, but what about the alignment? Should it still be ok?

Any kind of bump ( speed bump, curb, pot hole etc. ) can knock the alignment out in various increments. The bigger bump or harder the hit determines how much the adjustments slip, the parts bend or the tie rod/ball joints crush. You can also damage the strut towers. High speed turns torque the frame as well as suspension parts and can also change alignment and pop the tire beads given the right conditions.

As far as whether you hurt anything, only you know the exact conditions you were driving under. If you have doubts, just have a check made on it.

It's usually potholes and bumps, over a period of time that effect alignment. If you were to hit an extremely deep pothole or slam in to a curb, then the alignment can be effected instantly. High speed turns shouldn't harm the aligment, unless you hit something while making the turn. If it were the case that high speed turns greatly effect alignment, every time a car was used for autocrossing, it would need an alignment. Many sports car owners autocross their car on weekends and then drive them normally the rest of the week, without constant alignments. The only way a high speed turn could effect tire balancing is if the wheel were to loose a balancing weight during a turn. That rarely happens in normal driving. You should be fine.

Mike

The weakest links are typically the steering rack tie rods, which can be bent when the front wheels are forcefully kicked into a toe-out condition. What appears to be the next weakest links are the sway bar links, though it would have to take very aggressive maneuver coupled with a nasty pothole to create damage to them...but they are relatively small compared to the swat bar itself. Next would be the upper strut rods or the strut mounts or the bearing plates. Finally the lower control arms. In all of this, bent rims from a hard impact can also cause instability not to mention tire damage.