Rebuilding Front Suspension

[WartHog]

I need to rebuild mine. I don't have a lot of $$ (do any of us? ). What would be the best way to go? I want to keep my Sportlines, but other than that I'm open. Any help or direction for a good street/strip (mostly street) setup on the cheap will be appreciated.

[Mase]

Are you having a problem with it now?

With the front end you have sway bars, control arms, k-member, tie-rod ends, springs and shocks, strut tower bar, etc.

I quess the best would be a bigger sway bar and strut tower bar, maybe shocks. Then i would look at control arms.

[WartHog]

Looks like I played I didn't explain the "why" and "what." My tires are wearing real bad on the outside and the car is shaking some in the front. I did get an alignment when I put the springs in. I do have "stocker" shocks @ all 4 corners too.

[Mase]

How long ago was the aligment done and the vibration is it there all the time or only at certin speeds.
But you might also have a tie-rod end or ball joint bad.

[WartHog]

Probably @ least 2 years ago. I feel the vibration most @ highway speeds. Also, seems to pull to the left some too.

[Mase]

I would start by having the tires balance to see if that helps but you most likley have something devoloping some play or you knocked the aligment out.

[WartHog]

Thaks Mase. I think I'll start with the balance and also an alignment. May save me some $$ for now.

[VetteC5RFrEak]

If possible, load the weight on the front end by placing the wheels on wheel ramps or something. Then crawl underneath and have someone rock the steering wheel back and forth (steering wheel unlocked haha) and look for movement at the bushings and whatnot.

Lift the front end in the air and do some wiggling of the tires. Grab 3 and 9 0'clock and wiggle the wire. If possible, have someone else do it while you look at the tie rod ends to see if there is any movement.

Then, with the wheel still in the air, grab 12 and 6 o'clock and wiggle up and down. Again, this is helpful if you can have someone else do it while you look at the ball joints. You can also use a prybar of some sort underneath the wheel and lift the wheel up and down to get better movement out of the wheel if there is any. If the wheel has play in it while wiggling it up and down, but the ball joints don't move, then check the wheel bearings.

That'll give you some idea of what could possibly be worn out in the front end. As far as your tires, do you corner hard? My alignment was setup perfect (I did it in class, so I seen the specs myself) and I still wear the outside of the fronts, but that is due to me cornering harder then I should.

If you do take it in for an alignment, try to watch the computer screen and look at the specs while the alignment is in process. When I was in my suspension/steering class last semester, I heard plenty of stories of guys who would get the car within specs, hit print, then tighten everything down. When you go to tighten things down, sometimes they move and then will be out of spec, but the customer will never know because the printout says otherwise.

[WartHog]

Good info there Chris. I surely appreciate it. Never would have thought about the part about the mechanic tightening the suspension up and having the parts shift while he did that. I imagine that can happen pretty easily.

[92camaroLT1]

if you are having issues say something to the shop when they are aligning the car they should be able to tell you if something is wearing out

[WartHog]

Tru Dat Sean. Thanks.

[Etown_RS]

What are the specs on your allignment, Chris? I corner the hell out of mine and don't have any funky wear as long as I keep the allignment checked and tire pressure right.

[Mase]

Any time a shop does an alignment they will or they should check and make sure everything is tight since a ball joint or tie-rod end being lose will cause the alingment to go out and you cant align the car.

[Greg Norris]

also something to note...

make sure the shop aligns the car as it will be when driving. a lot of places set it at 0* at a standstill which then turns to positive camber when driving due to the natural lift of the car while in motion.

[Mase]

Hey Jim any idea who you were planning on having check the alignment?