Is a wheel alignment necessary after shocks and struts are installed?
Plastic, copper or whatever it's made of, buy a cap for it. Depending on the material, you'll either be gluing it or soldering it. Home Depot also makes a good cap for copper pipe that does'nt require glue, just stick it on the end and tap it with a hammer and you're done. I can't remember what the name of them are, but they'll know a HD.
do it in pairs 2 front or 2 rear and shocks maybe not but replacing struts you need an alignment for sure
struts - yes they actually connect to a spindle. and you have to loosen the alignment bolts to remove them, which influences alignment. you can try and retain alignment by match marking things, but it's unlikely it will be spot on. shocks - no they typically bolt onto an a-frame in a saddle and do not influence alignment. --------- if it has independent diff in the rear, then a four way alignment is needed. or, at least a rear alignment.
Depending on the suspension setup it would be very wise to to have it checked, and on some suspensions you do not have a choice but to align. I have do this type of work for over 17 years, just changing shocks on a car can change the ride height which almost always will change the alignment.
Could you be any less specifc? Is water shooting out of the pipe? Copper, Steel, PVC ? What size?
