Alignment and bumpy roads...

Trips

Well you should avoid potholes at all times they can cause bend rims or damaged low profile tires and if the pothole is deep enough at a brisk speed will cause the tire and shock to rebound the second it hits the outer part of the hole causing most of the damage this all depends how big or deep it is the Impact also leads to damaging the tie rods that are connected to the rack and pinion. If your not used to a sports car with low profile tires and worrying about potholes then I understand why your asking this basic question

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kannibul

No, I understand the whole idea behind avoiding potholes, etc...

However, I had the dealer check my alignment because I thought it was off (camber, actually) - and it was. They said - seriously? A new car, that has alignmnet issues on 3 of 4 wheels, could be attributed to a few bumps and not having driven over a single pothole?

I guess I'm trying to wrap my head around how a few bumps could knock the alignment off on a car, without bending or breaking something...

Modshack

Couple of things actually. First, assuming your alignment is spot on from the factory Makes you a very optimistic guy.. In reality they have but a few minutes on the assembly line to get all 4 wheels adjusted. Sometimes they do, sometimes they don't. My New Corvette had 3 of the 4 wheels out of spec.

Secondly, most lower suspension arms are bolted to subframes, which are in turn bolted to the chassis. Taking a hit to a wheel can shift the subframe slightly therefore throwing the car out of alignment.
A shifted subframe will take 2 wheels out of alignment, not just the one that took the hit.

Consider Alignments a normal maintenance item. Good idea to get one done when new by a quality shop who specializes in alignments, then get it tweaked once a year if you live in an area plagued by bad roads. The money you save on tires will generally pay for the alignments ....

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kannibul

I guess my point of view is that nothing should shift, short of a failure (be it a bend, break, etc)...it's been something I've been wondering about for a while. I mean, how much force is needed to knock the wheel out 1deg - or cause the camber to move...

I just find it strange the dealer blamed it on roads, rather than it could be out of spec because Nissan didn't do it right at the factory - it just got me thinking about it again...