Major toe-out, steering wheel upside down

[Gtin]

Well, when the steering wheel is pointed almost down the wheels are "straight" the left hand driver side wheel points nearly straight ahead, haven't pulled a string across it so I'm not sure where it stands, I think I can see some toe-out but it's hard to be sure (i knew it needed an alignment before the accident but never checked it so I'm not sure where it was before) the right hand passenger wheel is straight enough to go down the road but has a noticable amount of toe-out, enough that I can look at it and tell something isn't right, but not enough that I would expect the steering wheel upside down.

Taking off the wheels revealed one thing I already knew, this car needs a complete suspension and steering rehaul, I've got a broken boot on my driverside inner tie rod end, a loose sway bar linkage on the passenger side, cracked bushings on both sides of the sway bar, and a bit of play in both of the ball joints connected to the control arms. Add that to my steering rack not holding fluid and my blown struts that love to give off big clunking noises on bumps and I'm looking at a lot of money hopefully spread over a period of time.

But, nothing looks bent, the rack is straight, the tie rods show no obvious bends, and the strut towers mirror each other on both sides. The pinch bolt was in fact loose, I was able to turn it with a ratchet with nearly no effort, there was no "breaking it loose" it just unscrewed like it was never properly tightened. I've got it out right now considering dropping the subframe to disconnect it, straightening the wheels and putting it back, adjusting the tie rods in and driving it til this weekend when I'll go to the junkyard (can't afford new parts at the moment) and replace the entire steering assembly hopefully regaining power steering. I've got some pictures I'm gonna attach. I believe the first one is the passenger side where I hit and the second is the driver side

[tryingbe]

How are the front control arm bolts and nuts?

[Gtin]

All control arm bolts at the subframe are tight and the bushings look to be ok

[Gtin]

The lug nuts on the the passenger side were also sort of easy to remove in comparison, but I'm sure that's a result rather than a cause of the problem

[mrbrian200]

Is the steering rack still attached to the subframe on that side? It's position doesn't look right to me, like shifted toward the rear. If I'm right it would make the effective length of the tie rod shorter which would toe-out the wheel.
I'm comparing to pictures of the right wheel well area on other s70s (wheel off with the car jacked) I'm searching google images. I'm not sure though.. It might just be the camera angle playing tricks.

[Gtin]

I believe it is, I looked at it from under the car and it didn't look out of place, but I was mostly looking for damage too it, I'll definitely give it a second look in the morning though

[rspi]

You should also see if the wheel hub is still good. On older parts a little bump or hit can wipe it out.

[tryingbe]

The rubber strut mount can be torn and in piece and it is not easily noticeable just by looking. Bounce the car and and down and see how much movement the strut center has.

[jimmy57]

I take it from his post where he said, "so I got out and looked around some more and I have visible toe-out on the wheel that hit." that he might have parked with strg wheel in straight ahead position and that impacting side wheel is pointed out. The threads on inner tie rod or the slight bend on outer both would make points for bending on compression. The steering knuckle (spindle arm) could bend but they usually are tougher than tie rod or tie rod end. If the rack bent it will make for some obvious steering bind. I think his heater for shop and pull the wheels plan will reveal the cause.

[mrbrian200]

You should also see if the wheel hub is still good. On older parts a little bump or hit can wipe it out.

I thought about that too. Looks like some hub designs (older?) the outer race may be separately fabricated then pressed into the rectangular plate (with the bolt holes) and anchored with a some sort of compression ring or circlip. Explaining to Gtin: If that's the case then yes a strong hit could probably knock the bearing out of alignment in relation to the flat plate with the bolt holes.

If the wheel is obviously toe out by just looking at it with the correction at the steering wheel being 180 degrees (!), it's gotta about inch or more toe out. An experienced mechanic -in person- should probably be able to spot your problem within a couple moments once the wheel is removed.