right ok then let me make a suggestion
do NOT drive that car again you have no idea whats wrong under there. a lot of the parts to do with suspension and sttering are cast. this is for several reasons, cost and ease of manufacture, relative precission(some parts are later machined) and strength. it is the strength that i want you to think about, generally the stonger a material is the less malleable* it is so it it tales a big hit then you can end up with a fracture (partial or complete), imagine hitting a piece of copper (malleable) with a hammer, if 'squishes' but then hit a small stone with the same force and it cracks or turns to powder. allow me to list a few of the parts in most suspensions that are made of non malleable materials (cast items)
track rod ends
some ball joints use cast lower sections
the hub housing ( i forget the name)
etc
so from this you can see that even though the car may still steer and the like it may be on the verge of falling apart **
what you want to do is raise the area of the car that is damaged, remove the wheel, and look for any bent materials*** then replace the wheel and check for any play (if you need a hand doing tis then just say so and ill post it up) then raise the other side of the car so that both front wheels are clear of the ground and turn the road wheel from lock to lock and feel for any rough spots. then look up at the shock and see if it looks benty or if its leaking.
the terrible handleing could be caused by a very bad alignment because the tyres are fighting each other and thus its tring to turn kleft and right at the same time.
if the tyere that you have been given is only a loan to get you through the weekend then put as few miles on it as possible as the bad alignment can cause abnormal wear****
however if the tyre that has been wrecked was only average and especially if it was getting a little thin then nopw would be the perfect opertunaty to upgrade your tyres (front 2)
could you please decribe the damage on the wheel or get a pic of it and where it is on the wheel ( im planning a post on tyre fitting and balencing and how its done but i dont know where to put it
) then i can explain what caused the damage and this gives you some ammo when you confront them (i.e. if there is a scratch in the surface round the edge then its the "foot" that has been set too close, this is the item that 'peels' the tyre over the edge of the rim)
please remember that your car can be fixed and theese things happen *****
and one last thing
your suspension is the most important system on a car and any malfiunctions within it can cause adverse effects in other areas such as brakes and steering because if the suspension isnt operating properly then the wheel may not track the road properly and thus the tyre cannot grip, which is a bad thing
*the term malleable is used to describe the moulding or deforming properties of a material and low maleability means it cracks instead of bending
** i have had customers come to places where i have worked complaining of steering problems after touching a kerb and upon inspection there are huge cracks in some vital elements of the suspension so much so that i once took off a track rod end and snapped it with my hands
*** on a malleable item theese can be found by looking for cracked paint
**** i have seen cars on performance tyres (read : soft) with terrible alignment eat up a pair of tyres in less than 200 miles of normal driving
***** on the second day i had my licence it snowed and i figured id have a little play but i choose to do it on a back road and ended up hitting a kerb rather hard (changed the wheel fron straight to a 45 degree angle) althought all that needed to be replaced was the wheel (not the tyre) this was at about 35 mph and a 2" kerb. the second time i killed a wheel i hit a patch of diesel on a round about while it was raining and hit a 4"kerb at aroud 15mph however this time i needed to replace the bottom arm, ball joint, wheel, tyre, and the upper half of the strut bearing, and get an alignment (i didnt the last time)
Well your lucky everything is ok, I met a kurb and bent one of my alloys 
