More suspension questions

[konigmx688]

Didn't want to jack that other guys thread with somehting completely irrelevant, but I have a few questions that I am finally getting around to asking. First, what is the difference between these two? The right one came off of the drivers side front and the left, normal looking one(at least to me) came off of the passenger front. And then a couple close ups of each.






And finally, I have gotten 4 different opinions from around town for a wheel alignment after getting new shocks/struts/springs. Half say I need an alignment and the other half say I don't. I'm tempted to do it to be on the safe side, but I don't have a lot of cash right now. So you, mx6.com, tell me what does or does not need to be done.
Karma to helpers!!

[dmark101]

did these come off of the same car!? i ask because they don't look similar and the front struts from our cars should look like mirror images of one another. i would say that passenger side spring/strut assembly looks more like what they should both look like.

as for the alignment issue i will say this:

any time you make any kind of repairs or modifications to the suspension, you should consider having the alignment checked, just to make sure that everything is within specs. some people will say that it's not necessary, but i'm not one of them. i wouldn't relish having to fork out $400-500 for new tires just because i wasn't willing to spend a small fraction of that for an alignment.