Here's my problem.
I brought my GTA in for installation of my new Kumho's and the shop told me I was gonna need $731 in shocks, struts, center link, and idler arm. Whatever! I replaced the center link and idler arm for $80 in my garage. Anyway.....
I brought the car in to a different shop after the cl and idler and they were able to "align" it. This thing now instead of pulling this way or that continues to pull strictly to the right. The boneheads at the shop told me that it's probably the tires needing to wear in. I've never heard of that before. Have any of you or are they blowing smoke?
They also mentioned that they're gonna have to adjust the camber by removing the upper strut mounts, drilling to widen the holes, and then readjust everything. This comes to only 40 bucks a side.
All the numbers on their alignment sheet are showing within spec. Including the caster/camber. So I see no reason why this car should be pulling all the time.

Help?

 

Viper Killer,

The shop may not just be "blowing smoke". It is important to align the wheels with true tires. If the tires have taken a "set" or worn oddly from misalignment, it is possible that some of the steering issues are due to uneven tire wear. That makes it very difficult to get a good alignment since the forces imparted by the tires resting on the turntables can skew the results.

As for the struts, if yours are not holding the specs, drilling new holes may only be a band-aid. Find out from the aligner just which way the struts are leaning. If the holes need to be drilled laterally instead of fore-and-aft, the strut towers may have moved from hard cornering. If this is the case, you may be better off visiting a frame shop, having the body alignment checked and corrected, and consider installing a strut tower brace (see the Steve Spohn ad at the top of the page). This brace can prevent the strut towers from creeping and make it possible to align the front end without making it into a ThirdGen version of Swiss cheese.

 

I now have brand new tires all the way around.
Looking at the pass side strut tower mount I can see that it's all the way to the edge of the plate whereas the drivers side is nearly lined up in the middle.
The guy at the shop told me it would need to be moved laterally to get proper alignment.
Something else that might help....While under the car I noticed that part of the frame was welded on the pass side at the very back of the a-arm. You thinking tweeked frame?

 

It's possible the car may have been curbed hard or our "illustrious" asphalt roadways presented a pothole that trashed the lower 'A' arm alignment. Don't you love it? If the mounting has been obviously rewelded, I would check with a frame shop for body alignment before doing another wheel alignment (like Branning's in Roscoe).

 

Would brannings check for free?
I've never had to have a frame checked before. If it is bent would it be expensive to fix?

 

Post the alignment specs. A car can still pull when it's within spec. Swap the front tires (left-right, right-left) and see if it still pulls to the right. If it pull the other way, the tires are the problem. If it still pulls to the right, something on the car isn't right.

 

they are probably telling you that the caster is way out of spec. it's possible the the subframe is bent, but i'd be checking the body mounts and control arm bushings before i'd be getting into grinding the strut mounts/wheelwells.

 

As for the struts, if yours are not holding the specs, drilling new holes may only be a band-aid. Find out from the aligner just which way the struts are leaning. If the holes need to be drilled laterally instead of fore-and-aft, the strut towers may have moved from hard cornering. If this is the case, you may be better off visiting a frame shop, having the body alignment checked and corrected, and consider installing a strut tower brace (see the Steve Spohn ad at the top of the page). This brace can prevent the strut towers from creeping and make it possible to align the front end without making it into a ThirdGen version of Swiss cheese. [/B][/QUOTE]

I would suspect (correct me if im wrong of course), that the strut on that side of the car could very well be bent or otherwise damaged besides being worn. You may or may not be able to visually see with the vehicle on the ground, but if the strut was indeed damaged by road hazard of some sort it could cause the camber to be so far out of wack.

Perhaps replacement of the struts could help you avoid redrilling the strut mounts and get you back into spec?
If they're old struts (?) it may be worth the while to try this first anyways!

 

Alignment specs:


The wonderful weld on the lower arm:

My pass upper strut mount. Notice it's to the edge. Goodyear said they'd need to drill it farther to the outside of the car (laterally). The drivers side is almost completely centered.


I'll be visiting a frame shop this week and have them check it out. I'd rather have a straight frame for the power I plan on pushing.