Front end fun

Soooo, just got four new tires, pads, rotors (had to find that little star end to remove the calipers) and alignment. Well, turns out they cannot align the front left wheel, they cannot adjust the camber/castor at all. They couldn't tell me why, just they couldn't. Now this is from Town Fair Tire. When driving, it pulls ever so slightly to the right with no hands on the wheel. When I turn left it makes a slight squeak intermittently and quickly two or three times, and when I turn left I hear one or two soft clunks. Just curious as to whats up and how can I get it to adjust for alignment???

Alignment doesn't cause squeaks or clunks. If something is making noise, it needs to be addressed separately.

As for alignment, camber and caster cannot be adjusted on the Riv, no. However, you can install an eccentric bolt into the upper strut bolt position and create adjustable camber. Caster would have to be adjusted by moving the entire strut around at the mount, which is fixed.

You have before and after spec sheet of the alignment?

Pulling to the right a hair is normal if you consider the degree of road crown.

Abaddon wrote:

Alignment doesn't cause squeaks or clunks. If something is making noise, it needs to be addressed separately.

As for alignment, camber and caster cannot be adjusted on the Riv, no. However, you can install an eccentric bolt into the upper strut bolt position and create adjustable camber. Caster would have to be adjusted by moving the entire strut around at the mount, which is fixed.

You have before and after spec sheet of the alignment?

Pulling to the right a hair is normal if you consider the degree of road crown.

Hey Abbadon, is it true or not true that if there is no frame or body pan damage you get the Riv back into alignment with new factory springs and new control arms? (and 0-degrees toe) Please comment

Albertj

Bottom is before, top is after.

The castor is what is really wonky, so I'm very interested if doing the control arm might fix this.

albertj wrote:

Hey Abbadon, is it true or not true that if there is no frame or body pan damage you get the Riv back into alignment with new factory springs and new control arms? (and 0-degrees toe)  Please comment

Considering nothing is bent, one could lose a lot of angle with worn out bushings or sagging springs. If anything, the LCA would correct a caster concern far more than a spring would. A saggy spring would affect the camber (which in turn affects toe).

Trevor, that alignment is awful. No wonder the car feels like it goes to the right. They left it with negative toe on the RF, and positive toe on the LF. This put the steering wheel "centered" to the left, causing a "pull" to the right. It's quite minor, though. We're talking a 5/100ths of a degree difference.....I'd be able to tell. Plus, a car will pull to the side with the least amount of caster. In your case, the right. One degree isn't all that much of a difference, but pair it together with negative toe, and negative camber on the LF pushing the car to the right....it's just all wrong

I'm willing to bet that if you had an eccentric cam bolt installed (or make the upper strut hole bigger), you could definitely get the camber back to somewhat normal, and the caster would follow suit. However, judging by the difference in camber between sides, I would suspect that something in the LF is bent or worn out. All it takes is one good hole to bend a strut. Even the slightest bend can toss an alignment off a ton. The most MAX negative camber I could even get out of my Riv was -.5* without making the holes bigger. It was physically impossible on a GM strut. That being said, most aftermarket struts already have an oblong hole on them. You don't even need an adjustable bolt. All one has to do is raise the front end off the ground and loosen the strut bolts to adjust the camber. Lookin at that printout, that shop has a decent Hunter machine, so there are no excuses if this is the case.

I think I was able to get just under -2* with eccentric bolts. That being said, with things being that far out I would almost put money on something being bent. Does the wheel wobble at all when jacked up? Grab it at 9 and 3, wiggle back and forth. Same deal with 12 and 6.

I'll give it a look when I'm over this horrid flu, hopefully this weekend or early next week.

speaking of horrid, you should resize and invert your signature pic

Jason wrote:

speaking of horrid, you should resize and invert your signature pic

" Asgard"

And mess with perfection????

Fixed, now back to the topic please.

Trevorusn wrote:

The castor is what is really wonky, so I'm very interested if doing the control arm might fix this.

You can't replace the bushings in the control arms, so if they are old enough you have to replace them anyway whether or not that fixes the instant problem because the rubber (in the one bushing) gives out (the other bushing IIRC is nylon, someone check me on this).

albertj wrote:

Trevorusn wrote:

The castor is what is really wonky, so I'm very interested if doing the control arm might fix this.

You can't replace the bushings in the control arms, so if they are old enough you have to replace them anyway whether or not that fixes the instant problem because the rubber (in the one bushing) gives out (the other bushing IIRC is nylon, someone check me on this).  

On my 98 one is nylon the other is rubber, er whats left of the rubber after 16 years of salt

albertj wrote:

Trevorusn wrote:

The castor is what is really wonky, so I'm very interested if doing the control arm might fix this.

You can't replace the bushings in the control arms, so if they are old enough you have to replace them anyway whether or not that fixes the instant problem because the rubber (in the one bushing) gives out (the other bushing IIRC is nylon, someone check me on this).  

He has a 95. He can replace the bushings. But it needs a press.

Karma wrote:

He has a 95. He can replace the bushings. But it needs a press.

Can be done with a Ball Joint Press. I do them all the time without taking the control arm off the car. Just leave it attached by the ball joint. I use an impact gun, so doing it in the driveway with hand tools might be nearly impossible.

Karma wrote:

albertj wrote:

Trevorusn wrote:

The castor is what is really wonky, so I'm very interested if doing the control arm might fix this.

You can't replace the bushings in the control arms, so if they are old enough you have to replace them anyway whether or not that fixes the instant problem because the rubber (in the one bushing) gives out (the other bushing IIRC is nylon, someone check me on this).  

He has a 95. He can replace the bushings. But it needs a press.

Lemme scrape the egg off my face... dude you ought to replace those bushings every so many years... why didnt we think of this earlier... for me, I have to replace the arms, I will be due for them in 2-3 years.

This is all extremely helpful, good to know the bushings for my 95 are seperate, but it brings up another question I was hoping didn't exist...what is unique front end wise on 95s from the rest of the lineup?? Struts, tie rods, bearings all the same??

"what is unique front end wise" The whole kit and kaboodle,pal