Alignment Check
01-12-2003, 11:08 PM
#1
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Car: 95 E-150 & 07 Kawasaki ZX-6R
Engine: A slow one & a fast one
Transmission: A bad one & a good one
Axle/Gears: A weak one & a chained one
Alignment Check
Well my dad paid for brand new rear tires for me..which is totally awesome. He must be in a good mood or something! Anyways, that's $150+ I have to spend now for the car. I told the tire place to do a front end alignment..but due to other issues, I only got my rear tires today..alignment is tomorrow at 5 pm or so...as soon as I can get it in. It's just a front end thrust alignment. Now..my steering wheel is off, but I still have a holy sh*tload of play in the wheel. Only new part is the idler arm. When they're doing it, is there anything I should have them look for? Every other time I've had my front end inspected as part of just standard checking, no one's ever told me I needed anything replaced or anything was going bad.. Thanks guys...hope this fixes it!
01-13-2003, 02:18 PM
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Car: 1986 Firebird
Engine: 2.8 V6
Transmission: 700R4
Might want to find another tire shop. 
There's a ton that can go wrong... for instance, remember my quote? The upper strut mounts went bad! Granted, I have 245,000 miles on my car (I actually caught the odometer as it rolled to 45,000 today!!), so your upper strut mounts shouldn't be shot yet. But balljoints & struts & center link would probalby be the common wear parts, along with the idler arm, but you replaced that already. A ton of play in the wheel might also be a torn/worn out rag joint. There's a piece of fabric in the steering link between the steering wheel and steering box. If this gets old/worn out, you get a loose steering wheel, even though the alignment might be perfect. Do a search for "rag joint" on the suspension board for more info.
There's a ton that can go wrong... for instance, remember my quote? The upper strut mounts went bad! Granted, I have 245,000 miles on my car (I actually caught the odometer as it rolled to 45,000 today!!), so your upper strut mounts shouldn't be shot yet. But balljoints & struts & center link would probalby be the common wear parts, along with the idler arm, but you replaced that already. A ton of play in the wheel might also be a torn/worn out rag joint. There's a piece of fabric in the steering link between the steering wheel and steering box. If this gets old/worn out, you get a loose steering wheel, even though the alignment might be perfect. Do a search for "rag joint" on the suspension board for more info.
01-13-2003, 02:26 PM
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Car: 1991 Camaro RS Vert
Engine: 350 S-TPI
Transmission: T5
Axle/Gears: GU5/G80/J65
Damn, my 91 has like 165-170k miles and that wheel is still tight. No play.
I just hope that stuff goes out WAY later down the road. Not right now.
I just hope that stuff goes out WAY later down the road. Not right now.
01-13-2003, 06:18 PM
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Car: 95 E-150 & 07 Kawasaki ZX-6R
Engine: A slow one & a fast one
Transmission: A bad one & a good one
Axle/Gears: A weak one & a chained one
Well got alignment done..they didnt mention anything bad but I doubt they were very thorough..couldn't believe how busy it was for a Monday. Took about 2 hours before I got the car back...
Steering wheel is dead on ***** centered..I started veering to my left when I got the car on the road. That tells ya they fixed it.
Steering tightened up a little, but that's because of the grease...still has play in it.
Argh.
Steering wheel is dead on ***** centered..I started veering to my left when I got the car on the road. That tells ya they fixed it.
Steering tightened up a little, but that's because of the grease...still has play in it.
Argh. 
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