Answer: On most vehicles they do. Here's why: MacPherson struts are more than overgrown shock absorbers. They're an integral part of your vehicle's suspension. They replace the upper control arms and ball joints and serve as the steering pivots for the front wheels. When the strut assembly is unbolted and removed from the vehicle, the original alignment of the suspension is lost -- unless the position of the camber bolts and upper strut plate are first marked so they can be reinstalled in exactly the same position as before. But this only works if the same original strut is being put back into the car. If the strut is being replaced because it is leaking, damaged or worn out, the dimensions of the new strut will usually vary enough to cause a change in wheel alignment. So wheel alignment should at least be checked to see if adjustment is necessary (which it usually is). On some import cars, the struts are "rebuildable." The housing has a removable nut that allows the old guts inside to be dumped out and a new cartridge installed. On these vehicles, it should not be necessary to realign the wheels after rebuilding the strut.

Answer: The most common causes of steering looseness include worn tie rod ends, a worn idler arm or center link (on vehicles without rack and pinion steering), a worn steering gear or a worn steering rack.
Normally, your steering wheel should have no more than about a quarter inch of play. Any more means something is worn or loose and needs to be fixed. Warning: Don't put off having your steering looked at because a failure of a critical component could cause loss of steering control! The inner and outer tie rod ends should have no perceptible looseness. Worn or loose tie rod ends are especially dangerous because if one pulls apart you'll lose steering control. Worn tie rod ends can also cause rapid tire wear. If you have a rear-wheel drive vehicle with conventional steering (not rack and pinion steering), the idler arm should have no more than the specified amount of maximum play. Refer to a manual for the specs and recommended procedure for checking it. Checking idler arm play usually involves pulling on the arm with a specified force and measuring how much the arm deflects. If your vehicle has a lot of miles on it, the steering gear or rack itself may be worn. On conventional steering boxes, there's usually an adjustment screw that can be used to take some of the slack out of the system. With rack and pinion steering, though, adjustment is usually little help because the rack develops center wear. If the pinion is adjusted to compensate, the rack may bind when turned to either side. The only cure for a center wear condition is to replace the rack with a new one (an entire new rack assembly). Sometimes the steering will feel loose because of a worn U-joint coupling in the steering column. Loose or worn wheel bearings can also make the steering wander and feel loose.

Protect the inside too: When an aluminum wheel is mounted against a steel brake drum or rotor, the different compositions of the two metals often lead to electrolytic corrosion. Aluminum is the more reactive of the two, so the wheel can corrode and "weld" itself to the rotor or drum making removal very difficult. To prevent this from happening, the face of the rotor or drum (or the back face of the alloy wheel) should be painted. Another alternative is to apply a light coat of lithium, silicone or synthetic brake grease to the back of the wheel where it butts up against the rotor or drum. Another problem that sometimes plagues alloy wheels is porosity leaks. When an alloy wheel is cast, microscopic pores and voids may be left in the metal that allows air to slowly leak out of the tire. High pressure casting techniques have reduced, but not entirely eliminated, this problem. So some alloy wheels are painted or coated on the inside to help seal the metal. If you've experienced this kind of problem, and your wheels are not coated or painted inside, they might need it.

Answer: Part-time four-wheel drive (4WD) allows a vehicle to be driven in the two-wheel drive mode for ordinary highway and everyday driving (which reduces drivetrain friction and tire wear for improved fuel economy and tire life), and allows it to be switched to four-wheel drive when extra traction is needed (as when driving off-road, on gravel, snow, ice or mud). Vehicles with part-time four-wheel drive may have manual or automatic locking hubs on the front wheels that must be engaged to change from two-wheel to four-wheel drive. With manual locking hubs, you have to get out of the vehicle and twist a knob on both hubs to engage the front wheels. On some vehicles, the hubs engage and lock when the vehicle is driven backwards momentarily. This saves getting in and out of the car but prevents you from shifting to 4WD on the "fly" (on the go). On other applications, the front hubs do not disengage and turn the front driveshafts at all times. Vehicles with part-time 4WD also have a "transfer case" that splits drive torque between the front and rear axles. On some vehicles, the vehicle must be stopped or going slower than 2 mph before the transfer case can be shifted from 2WD into 4WD. On others, the transfer case can be shifted on the go regardless of speed. On Jeeps and similar vehicles, you can also select 4WD low range (4L) or 4WD high range (4H). The low range is for creeping along at slow speeds while driving on rough off-road terrain. The high range is for driving at faster speeds on snow covered pavement or gravel or mud roads.

Full-time four wheel drive, on the other hand, is just what the name implies. All four wheels are constantly driven by the engine to provide maximum traction. This type of setup is used on some performance cars to enhance handling traction. Most such vehicles have a "viscous coupling" in the drivetrain or transfer case that allows a certain amount of "give" in the drive torque between the front and rear wheels. This is necessary to compensate for the different speeds at which the front and rear wheels rotate when turning a tight corner. Note: Four wheel drive does not necessary mean that all four wheels will provide constant drive traction. Unless a vehicle has limited slip differentials, it's possible that either wheel on the front and/or rear axle may lose its grip and spin while its companion just sits there. That's the way standard differentials work. Even so, with four-wheel drive, you will always have at least one front and one rear wheel turning at all times -- which should be enough to pull you through.

Answer: The car's tires squeal while you are making the slightest turn. It is embarrassing because you are not the type of person that intentionally squeals the tires. This problem is typically one that gradually becomes noticeable. The probable causes are: 1. Low tire pressures. 2. Worn tires.

Answer: Everything seems fine while you are driving your car except when you go around a corner, and then you hear a clicking noise from one side of the car. Pay attention to when the sound occurs, as it is very helpful when trying to identify what is causing the problem. Normally the problem begins gradually, but the noise may go unnoticed. As the problem gets worse, the noise gets louder. The probable causes are: 1. Loose brake pads. 2. Worn wheel bearings. 3. Worn CV-joints (normally the outer joints). 4. Loose wheel covers, which are sometimes called hub caps. 5. There is a large stone, a nail, or some other hard object caught in a tire.

Answer: Most bumpers on late model cars are what they call "composite" bumpers. Instead of a massive hunk of chrome plated steel, the bumper has become an integral part of the car's "energy management" system. The outer covering is usually colored plastic designed to blend in smoothly with the lines of the vehicle (for enhanced aerodynamics as well as esthetics). Underneath the soft outer skin may be a waffle-like layer of plastic honeycomb, styrofoam, and/or a fiberglass or aluminum bar. When such a bumper takes a minor bump, the "give" in the soft plastic outer skin usually absorbs it without causing any visible damage. But when it takes a harder hit, the plastic eggcrate, styrofoam or reinforcing bar may be heavily damaged -- yet you can't see the damage from the outside. If you crawl under the car and look up behind the bumper cover you may see broken bits of plastic hanging down or other obvious damage. In many cases the only way to truly evaluate the extent of the damage is to remove the outer skin. Why do the auto makers make bumpers this way? Because that's the style today. Chrome bumpers are out. Molded, soft bumpers are in.

But there's more to it than that. Government crash standards require vehicles to be capable of sustaining minimum impacts when tested against solid barriers. The standards are really a joke because many that supposedly meet the government standard result in hundreds and sometimes thousands of rupees of damage in minor accidents. The reason this happens is because the bumpers are designed to self-destruct and absorb energy in a collision -- which is just the opposite thinking from the purpose bumpers originally served which was to protect the vehicle, not necessarily the occupants.