After putting on new tie rod ends on my 94 Formula I took it to an alignment shop. Came back and the wheel was off to the left. Took it back. They fixed it but said that it was a "band aid" solution because the REAR was out of alignment! HUH? Never heard of that before, but I beleive they are right.

If you just look down the edge of the tires in the rear the driver's side is clearly toe'd OUT and the pass. side is toe'd IN. Obviously, the rear has no alignment settings (that I or they knew of) so something's out of whack- like the axle is twisted slightly sideways relative to the body.

The car has never been hit hard. Once it got rear-ended (lightly- they nosed under the rear of my car) and the muffler went forward and bent the panhard bar, but I replaced it with a new one. They never cam close to bending either of the trailing arms, and everything under there LOOKS to be in good shape- no bend links, no shot bushings. The car has 120K miles on it but near as I can tell it's been like this since I bought it 90K miles ago.

Ideas?



[This message has been edited by Damon (edited November 19, 2001).]

 

Bottoming it out hard can bend the place the LCAs bolt to enough to move them...

Also, if the Panhard bar is bent or twisted or whatever, it can make the axle move to one side or the other. It bolts to that big bracket thing under there, which moght have got bent.

Plus, rear ends aren't always made perfect; I've seen more than one where one or both axle tubes weren't in the center sction straight.

Maybe a frame shop could put it on their jig and measure stuff and find what's out of kilter.

------------------
"So many Mustangs, so little time..."
ICON Motorsports

 

If it's relatively minor you can put adjustable LCAs on to correct it.

 

i had to get my rear axle aligned when i let my friend drive my car and he crashed into a corner side walk at full speed...
Completly destroyed my right front wheel and tire, bent the spindle and snapped the engine crossmember right where the control arm connects... it also destroyed the right rear wheel and tire...
when it was all fixed i noticed mt rear end was sittin kinda funny...
sure enough it was outta alignment, they fixed it though...

 

Damon, maybe I can return the favor, call Mike @ http://home.talkcity.com/OceanBlvd/sstylez/index.html

we were talking about this same subject, he said it was pretty common for the rear to be off, and he recommended adjustable panhard bar and have the alinement shop adjust the rear to match the front. drop him a line, the guy is cool and very helpful, tell him Nack sent you

[This message has been edited by SLP-GTA (edited November 19, 2001).]

 

i run an alignment shop. my rear was .29degrees left of center which showed a thrust angle of the same amount. thrust angle is the direction the rear is pointed in relation to the geometric centerline of the car. this is what causes cars to "dog leg" or look like the rear is to the right/left of the front when looking at it from behind. also you can tell this by looking to see if the left tire is closer/farther from the fenderwell than the right. i fixed this by buying the lakewood adjustable panhard rod from summitracing.com for $83.95. now my rear is .01degrees. as close to zero as i can get. the car handles alot better with the rear end centered. ever notice when you corner, it would turn better one way and not the other? the rear is offset to one side causing that.

 

Yep, that's about right. The rear may very well not be centered. Not sure why this would be the case since it's never been hit near the rear axle and it's at stock ride height, but that sounds like the problem. I'll check out the adjustable panhard bar. Thanks to everyone.

 

they came from the factory not centered. some left some right. when i ran super shops i norlando, each car we sold rims and tires to would ce closer to one side than the other. also, the stock panhard rod is thin stamped steel. they flex easily and bend causing the rear to offset to one side or the other.