Nissan Repair: Front suspension, 2005 nissan altima, nissan altima

Question
I have a 2005 Nissan Altima 2.5-SL.  I have had the car 1 year and recently bottomed out on the curb cement as I was pulling into my driveway, scraping the front left suspension.  Since then the car pulls to the left and the steering feels really loose both in general and particularly when I make right hand turns.  I don't hear any noises, but when I go over any type of bump in the road it is as if the front left is not absorbing any of the bounce.  I do hear a scraping noise when I go over speed bumps on our street, where I did not before over the same bumps.  I took it in to an alignment shop and they said they fixed it, although there wasn't much wrong with it.  They also filled my tires and they said I was probably feeling the imperfections in the road because the tires were low and cheap (Continentals).  I didn't quite believe this but admit I don't know much about cars, so I went with it.  However, now all of the problems still persist.  Can you help me pinpoint what the problem is so I can get it repaired properly?
Thanks!
Nicole

Answer
Nicole,

You either have a blown strut, the gas has leaked out of it, or a bent lower control arm.  If it were me I would take it to the dealer and have their alignment mechanic check out the issue.  I am not saying to let them fix the problem but they can diagnose it when you tell them what happened.  I would bet the strut needs to be replaced and the control arm does too.  A couple of hundred in parts and a hundred in labor along with another hundred in the alignment and you should be done.  But this is from an independent shop.  If Nissan does the work it would be a couple of hundred more.  But, the thrust here is to let the guy know what happened so when he puts it on the rack he can look for the damage and give you an estimate.  Your choice where to get it repaired.