L200 Steering Issues

Hey everyone,

I've got a 2002 L200 that is having a few steering issues. Let me start from the beginning; I got into an accident about a year ago where I came around a corner too quick and the front, right tire slammed into a curb.

I hit the curb pretty hard where it badly bent the control arm. I ended up having the control arm, strut, and knuckle replaced. I believe that's everything that was originally replaced.

I also had new tires and brakes put on it around the same time. After everything was all fixed, I noticed it was still not handling like it had before the accident. I noticed it hit some bumps a little harder than it should, too. I didn't have it aligned because it still seemed like it was in pretty good alignment. But, I continued driving it and noticed that the tires were wearing more quickly than they should have on the front.

So, a couple months ago I went to a tire shop to have it aligned. They found that the wheel bearing on the front was broken and replaced that, too, in addition to the alignment.

Ever since getting it aligned, it has driven even worse. I took it back to the tire shop, and they changed one wheel to the other side because they thought maybe the wheel had gotten bent in the accident and it would help out. It seemed like it did at first, but it didn't. After a couple weeks, I went ahead and purchased a new wheel to replace the other one. That didn't seem to help, either.

But, ever since getting the wheel bearing replaced and having it aligned, it has driven horribly. It's absolutely terrible when I go over bumps in the road or over curbs; sometimes it's not bad, but other times it's really bad. Sometimes, when you are stopped and take off, the steering wheel tends to pull off to the other side. When I change lanes or turn onto another road, I sometimes have to pull the steering wheel back to the opposite way that I'm turning.

I've noticed sometimes that when going over a bump at a certain angle (only had this happen two or three times since getting it aligned), the car will kind of making a grinding noise--sounds like it is coming from the front, left side (opposite side of where the wheel hit the curb). Also, here in recent months, I've noticed that the brakes squeal even when I press softly on them...it doesn't do this all of the time. ABS also activates sometimes in medium braking situations, especially on a bumpy road.

I'm thinking that the strut on the driver's side possibly needs to be replaced? Maybe it was a bad alignment? I really don't know...

I don't have too much time to keep taking it back into the shop, as I'm a college student and have an IT job where I work 20-30 hours a week. So, I'm hoping that somebody could maybe point out something to me.

Thanks!