Rookie here: Alignment Issues

So I have a 06 salvaged tacoma with my front driver side alignment that just can't seem to be aligned right. Bought some 20" wheels with nitto terra grapplers and put them on the truck. Love the way she looks but having issues with the tire making contact inside the wheel well/front driver's side (same place of frame damage) I took it to the shop to get looked at and they think that possibly replacing the upper, lower control arms and the shock MAY fix the issue. with brand new parts and labor they're quoting like 2.400. I decided I'm not gonna pay that much for just one corner of one end to have new parts. They couldn't quite tell me how much it would be if they received used parts but the labor would still come out to 3-400. I decided to do some searching of my own, seeing if I could at least take care of the shocks on my own, the truck's got 77k so they need replacing.

1. do 6" fabtech 2.5 coilovers require a lift...just from reading other forums I feel like I should stick with bilsteins, but these fabtechs seem pretty badass. used without information on mileage or anything like that, but still seem pretty badass.
2. any ideas on air suspenion on the rear, good/bad/ugly? I'ma kinda liking the firstone airbags, they seem cheap enough and efficient to have a pretty decent effect on saving the ride and maybe the tires
3. I'm mechanically retarded but I believe I've just learned that coilover shocks are quite a bit different from struts. I have no lift, nor do I PLAN do do any offroading but I would still like to stick with coilover shocks: good/bad/stupid.

could use some good advice, thanks
some pics of the damage attached:

 

What size tires? What are the wheel specs?

 

tires: 265/50-20
wheels: 20x9.5, +10offset

 

I would not go with what this shop is telling you. Why replace the shock? Probably does not need a LCA either. The problem is probably from a tweaked shock tower that basically makes the UCA more inward than it should be. The LCA is adjustable.

I think your fix is to either straighten the shock tower or a cheap workaround might be to add a small wheel spacer to that side.

 

Need more info:

What are your alignment numbers?

Is the truck pulling to one side?

How do you know the alignment is off?

Your frame horns look like poop so it looks to be in a front end collision. Are your LCA (lower control arm) mounting tabs bent? (they attach the LCA to the frame).

Your 20" wheels are causing your tires will rub (IMO).

Bilstein > Fagtech (IMO)

Plenty of members have front end parts in here so DO NOT BUY NEW. Heck I have a good set of UCA's just sitting in my spare parts pile.

You are correct struts and coil overs are totally different. You do not need struts on your truck.

Why air bags? Are you hauling weight? If not get a Wheelers 3 leaf progressive AAL if you want a small rear lift. It rides great on/off road.

 

looks like his horn has been horned for sure.

 

The shocks need replacing anyways because they're worn. I think I'll go ahead and have the UCA changed and leave the LCA alone like recommended. I've heard bad things about spacers so I don't think I'll go that route. Thanks for all the help man!

 

I'll get you the alignment #'s tomorrow, I just missed the shop hours to get them done. I got the alignment done (NTB seemed to have the best deal for half off regular alignments and warranty for 6 months) before putting on the new tire and wheels to make sure I was not going to have a flat on a trip I was taking. I already bought the tires at the beginning of the year so I definitely needed the wheels to match. The alignment did not seem to be off, but NTB said the impacted side was corrected as much as possible but there was some other issue (related to the damage) that was keeping it from being completely correctable. They gave me a rough estimate of possibly 13-1500 or so without quoting. I mentioned that I had an issue a few years back with the tire rod and replaced that. The guy said "well that's good that means that's just one less thing to replace when trying to fix it. Anyhow so the alignment is off because NTB stated that they couldn't completely correct the alignment when I had it done.

I'll take some more pics of the mounting tabs and put them up. Definitely front end collision, the rusted areas I think are remains of what seems to be where the battery blew up in the collision. I plan on taking that wheel off and getting to that whole area with gritty sand paper and clearing out the rust and painting over it.

Yes after I got the new wheels I had to remove the front mud guards (that I actually ordered a while back) because the tire was rubbing. The problem is that it's only the one side that was wrecked. I do remember there being a difference in the tire well spacing even a few years back on that same side. It just wasn't a big deal to me until I got the new wheels and tires. Now just make sure that the $ I spent on the tires don't get wasted, I'm making sure that end is correct as much as possible.

Thanks for the recommendations for the shocks. I just ordered some Bilstein 5100's today for $330. That was the cheapest that I found and seemed like a good deal. Had to order coils separately for 40-55 total with shipping.

Let me know what I might need to do about the UCA that you have and hopefully I can take you up on the offer. I hope to be able to do the shocks myself. Control arms I'll have the shop do.

I was thinking airbags I guess just because the video I was watching about them seemed to (at the time) be a decent fix for my worn shocks in the rear. I'll definitely disregard that idea just because I don't really haul anything.

OK gotta eat dinner with the misses, I'll get back to the thread tomorrow. Thanks again my friend!

 

BTW the coils I bought did belong to a 4x4 with less than 10k. Cool/not cool? The seller the truck was lifted but didn't say by how much. I'm thinking cuz mine is 6 lug I should't have an issue, and the spring looks like its the same size that is on my truck now

 

can someone please post a link for the wheeler 3-Leaf Progressive AAL?

thanks

 

So I got the frame worked on and that helped with putting the wheel in a more centered position...not to mention the alignment is doing better. The mechanic did mention that there is a slight bend in the LCA but if there were any other issues to bring it back. I will bring it back sometime in the near future but because they messed up the running lights somehow and now my driver side headlight is getting crazy condensation. the tire makes just very little contact after I get a nice thrust after I put my mud guards back on. I got bilstein 5100s and am looking to adjust the circlip to the highest setting that way I'll have no problem with contact. After that I think the problem will be rubbed out enough to look into mods...I wish. Need more greens for that to happen. I appreciate all of your help. When I get her finished up I'll post a few more pics.

Alignment Specs:

BEFORE
Left Front: - 0.1 Camber
2.2 Caster
- 0.14 Toe
Right Front: 0.1 Camber
2.4 Caster
0.16 Toe

Total Toe: 0.02
Steer Head: -0.15

AFTER
Front Left: -0.1 Camber
2.2 Caster
0.02 Toe
Front Right: 0.1 Camber
2.4 Caster
0.01 Toe

Total Toe: 0.02
Steer Head: 0.01......All of this is Chinese to me, but my measurements are all in the green!

 

doing some studying

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vkVLBOnAifc