When I took my car in to get the front end aligned, the guy told me that they aligned it three times trying to get it right. He told me that my rear axle was not straight and that it was sitting in kind of at an angle. What are some possibilities other than the frame possibly being bent? Also, does anyone know of a good place to get good used rearends for these cars?

Thanks in advance.

John

 

Your rear end should only be out of wack if you have an improper adjustment on aftermarket adjustable LCA's. The frame could be twisted a bit but these cars do not have a stock adjustable rear end.

 

Thanks for that...the car seems to be driving fine and my dad said that the times that he has followed me, he hasn't noticed it looking like anything is wrong. Should I leave it be for now or take it to a frame shop and have it looked at?

 

It never hurts to have a fram shop look at it. Do you have any doubts that the car could have been wrecked? Does anything hint to that like filler, bondo, or wierd paint? How did that guy at the shop know your rear end was at an angle. A shop cannot allign a rear end suspension like this and they should have told you that right away.

 

I worked for an alignment shop for a short stint and from what I know unless it is a real high end shop they would have no way of judging your rear end alignment to the front end alignment. either or, the rear end alignment should not have a drastic affect on how the front aligns. I would try taking it to another alignment shop and asking their opinion. if anything i would say the front end may have been hit and one of the rails maybe out of wack

 

The guy that I bought the car from told me straight up that he had been in a wreck in the car. He works at a body shop and they did the repairs on the car. He said he was hit in the right rear quarter panel.

 

you may have a bent frame. as an alignment tech, I'll tell you from experience that while most decent alignment guys can tell if the rear is crooked, just about the only way for a 3rd gen rear to be fugged up is a bent subframe/frame. the LCA's (being non-adjustable) don't vary in length. the only way to change the distance between the mounts and the rear is to move a mount, or bend an LCA. look for messed up/bent parts. that's what your alignment guy should have done. (he must not be too hungry, cuz he wasn't interested in making any money). also, look for the mounts to look funny... smashed, bent, crinkled, anythiing. also, take it to another shop. most places will check your alignment for free, and like the other guy said, on a live axle car, the rear has nothing to do with the front alignment.

 

The housings are almost never perfectly straight from the factory. Plus, they can bend, so the rear end itself may be tweaked.

Nearly all alignment machines nowadays have heads that they hook onto the rear wheels since many newer cars have alignable rear wheels. So if the rear wheels don't point in the right direction, it will show up.

A bent LCA in the rear will also make the rear sit at an angle; and a bent panhard bar will make it sit off to one side. All of those things are possibilities in a wreck. The panhard bar is amazingly fragile; you can curb the right rear of the car at 5 mph and destroy it. BTDT.

 

Thanks for the help guys...I will have someone at work take a look at it and see what they find.

 

rb is right on the money. good luck with your car, man. i hope you get the problem ironed out.