trailing arms

[msmith69oldz]

I have a 99 Grand Prix GT about 135,000 miles. I was under the car today replacing all those rubber exhaust hangers and I noticed the driver side trailing arm was bent upward a few inches back from the front mounting point. I am gonna replace both of them with the Dorman ones and was wondering just how critical is it to get an alignment afterward? I mean its just a straight piece of metal with a bushing in each end right? How much can it be off? I just had an alignment less than a year ago when I replaced the struts. Thanks for any input!

[gmtech1]

Originally Posted by msmith69oldz

I have a 99 Grand Prix GT about 135,000 miles. I was under the car today replacing all those rubber exhaust hangers and I noticed the driver side trailing arm was bent upward a few inches back from the front mounting point. I am gonna replace both of them with the Dorman ones and was wondering just how critical is it to get an alignment afterward? I mean its just a straight piece of metal with a bushing in each end right? How much can it be off? I just had an alignment less than a year ago when I replaced the struts. Thanks for any input!

The question would be "what caused it to bend?" I would for sure get the alignment checked after you replace the arms. Cheap insurance against smoking a tire...

[msmith69oldz]

Yeah. Im not 100% how it happened. More than likely my dumb ass jacked it up in the wrong spot although I am usually very conscientious about where I place the jack.
I was thinking I could save the $90 it cost for the alignment as money is tight and I am not noticing any pulling or anything. Once I replace both trailing arms with nice straight new ones I figured it would be pretty close to aligned. Thanks for the response!

[Tech II]

Hate to say this, but, what if the bend was there during the last alignment? New arms definitely will call for an alignment....