Tomorrow I'm replacing my front rotors, bearings, seals, and pads.

I won't have to realign my steering will I ? Only when I change my struts right? I just had my alignment done a few months ago and it's still perfect....

Thanks!

 

right

 

yeah i dont think its needed when doing general brake repair.

 

Cool, thanks!

 

If your putting in new wheel bearings and the old ones were worn out and loose, I would recomend an alignment. If they were just a little worn, then it should be fine!

 

Actually they are not worn at all, they look and feel great, they had been replaced at 60K when my struts/shocks/springs were replaced. It's just that when I do a repair I do a complete repair and do it right the very first time and I'm replaceing the seals and the bearings so so I have the extra peace of mind that they are new.

Thanks for the tip!

 

I don't think you need a re-alignment even if you change the struts. I think the only time you would need to worry about a re-alignment is if you change the tie rods.

 

No because if you were to swap struts and not get it perfect, you camber/castor would be off so you would need an aligment...

 

changing the struts will not need another alignment. they are bolted to the spindle. and there is no movement at that point. you might get a minor change in camber. the adjustment point is the strut mount at the top. so long as you do not loosen the three bolts on the mount ( which there is no need to).

 

Even for that reason I'd check SAI angle and camber just to make sure. That will definitly tell if the IA is out (bent or ruined components).

CastER can not be changed, but more or less measured (it can be changed but is difficult esp. in cases requiring contol arm shift instead of strut adjustment). You sweep for caster after adjusting front camber. That is unless you have an aftermarket strut tower that allows for more positive caster. Even if you'd want to then setback adjustment would be an issue (as it already is in most cases anyway).

 

i'm not following the caster cannot be changed part. unless you are refering to the replacing of the struts. because all you do is slide the strut mount forward/backward to do the change.

 

Slide the strut forward/backward?? There is no sliding to be done to adjust caster. Our strut towers don't have the provision for vertical shift. I have a pic of mine below and you can clearly see that the holes are only horizontal. You could cut away at the tower I guess but that would jeopardize the stability of an already weak element.

 

These provsions you speak of for "vertical shift" as you call it are already in the tower. Look up in your wheel well and you will see them. On some cars it is necessary to lengthen these slots in order to get a performance alignment. Just be sure to use a quality strut mount, high quality bolts, and make sure the tower is not rusted or detriorated.

 

Ok, yes it can be adjusted, but not enough to make a difference or even pay attention to. It can only go maybe a half of a degree. The slot IS NOT THAT BIG. The bolts can only move left to right. Not back to front.

 

I finally got a chance to scan the diagram for you of our strut towers. You will notice the bolt holes are only elongated side to side. This leaves MAYBE a full degree of adjustment for caster but even so Thats not enough to even consider an "adjustment".

 

The slots are as long if not longer than the slots in the strut mount. I have aligned many of these cars for racing and everyone I have done has had these slots.

 

As mentioned earlier, these slots can also be elongated to provied for more caster if needed.

These slots though are plenty long enough for an adjustment. I had mine done this weekend and my right caster is 3.6* (just under 4* is desirable) and the left caster is 2.4* (left camber is always preferred lower due to road grade).

 

I already mentioned this. Your caster changes as camber is set. There is not that much change to be done as far as caster goes on these cars. stock caster setting is 3.0 and it doesn't venture very far from this. BTW- the adjustment of the left caster is not only unneeded most of the time but that great of an setback throw off is killing your front steering geometry. I can only imagine how bad it pulls

 

you can move the strut mount and get a camber change w/o a caster change. i do this all day long 5 1/2 days a week. because i own a suspension/alignment shop. so, your caster doesn't change as you adjust camber on our cars. and caster changes alot there is as much as +/- 1* from center of the slots. i don't where you come off with it's not enough to make a difference. you use caster to offset road crown. usually only to about .50* higher on the right. with burnoutrpm case i agree 1.2* spread is a bit much. but whatever works to make it go straight.

http://www.fl-thirdgen.org/alignmentspecs.html

i made this page getting the specs from my hunter p611 alignment machine. as you can see from 82-86 they used 3* +/- 1* 87-92 they moved it up to 4.80 +/- .50*

 

Hey nice to see you again mrr23. We ran into each other on another thread a while back comparing notes about perfomance alignments. I tried nicely to help this guy out and tell him about the functional caster adjustment GM built into these cars, but he refused the advice, thats the best I am willing to do.

 

hey dave. i guess you can't get them all to understand. with him, being a mechanic and a student. may need to fire the teacher.

 

LOL. you guys crack me up. Tried to help me out eh. mrr23 I appreciate the help and no I don't think any teachers need to be fired. Its just my own naive fault! I'm only 20 and I'm doing (or was doing) alignments at sears auto. A lot of the cars we aligned didn't have caster adjustment on them (strut type). I told you that it was only a minimal amount. 1* in my book isn't very much at all and sure doens't warrant the statement that a performance caster change can be done. I have to admit that I've never done an f-body alignment but from what I could tell caster couldn't be adjusted. We almost always set caster the same on each side unless otherwise requested. 1.2* is overkill in most any circumstances. Something isn't right with that.....maybe its the roads in your area.

 

in most strut cases, there is no caster adjustment. on front wheel drive cars is that case. you would use higher camber on the right to compensate for road crown. you cannot see the caster slots in the thirdgen cars because they are under the strut mount in the fenderwell of the car. in the northern and midwestern states, the roads are mostly flat. so, a same side caster works. in the southern states, where rain is a big concern, the roads are slanted to the right side. this is to drain the water off. in this case, you make the caster about .50* higher on the passenger side to compensate for that.