[beachnut]

I hit a brick or a block of wood on the freeway about three months ago. It was one of those things were I was following the guy in front of me too close, he missed it, I had no time to react. I ran over it on my front passenger side. Made a helluva noise. Later that night I checked everything out and nothing looked damaged except it did look like maybe the outer tie-rod had a scratch on it, but hard to say. The car tracked straight although my steering wheel was like 10 degrees tilted right. Like an idiot I let my hellacious busy schedule keep me from getting an alignment until I realized my passenger front tire had cupped inside and was thumping out of balance ... so, I get two new front tires and off I go to the tire shop last Friday Now onto the real problem:

After the tires were changed out, the car was on the rack forever. I go out to the shop and they're having camber issues on the front passenger side, it's like -1.10 with is *technically* still within spec, but right at the upper range. They could not get it any better than that they say. The driver's side is -.50. Something obviously is wrong. Now I notice that I rub on the passenger side to the point of feeling it in the steering wheel when I do a full-lock left turn. It never rubbed that bad before. Is my outer-tie rod screwed, or the control arm? The control arm is new by the way, but I replaced it just prior to the brick incident.

[gronberg]

It could be that bad that the control arm pushed into the engine subframe.
My car is so bad that I can see that the pass front tire is tilting out and it is eating the outside like no tomorrow.

[javadoc]

I still think tie-rod buddy. However, your man did an alignment and I would hope that he'd have noticed a bad tie-or or end at least. Could be your ghetto control arms. 1.10 is really too far man. Did you find out anything about bolt adjustments? Not sure about the 850s, but other macpherson cars that I've had used an offset kind of head on one bolt on the strut, that would control camber.

[beachnut]

Thanks guys ...

Any other opinions before I start replacing the tie-rod or control arm on that side? I'd rather not have to use camber bolts.

[PullMyFinger]

I don't really understand why the tie rod would affect camber anyway. Seems like that would only adjust toe in or out.

If it were me, I would drop the control arm out the bottom and look closely for any damage. I'm wondering about the ball joint area. The stud could possibly be bent or it might have slipped some in the pinch clamp. Or the bushing to chassis bolts might be bent also.

Taking it apart and putting it back together might even solve the problem if something slipped on impact. At least worth a try and it won't cost anything. Since you've just replaced the control arm...you are very familiar with the procedure and it shouldn't take long

[KLS]

Find a body shop or really good frame shop that can find the damage and tell you what needs to be done to correct it.

Nothing wrong with camber bolts, I really like the result on my car, but you need to fix the real problem.


Ken

[MrWinkey]

Find a body shop or really good frame shop that can find the damage and tell you what needs to be done to correct it. 

Nothing wrong with camber bolts, I really like the result on my car, but you need to fix the real problem.
Ken

I agree....where did you take it Sears or something like that?...if you had a tie rod issue it would have play..if the steering mechanism was bent then you would have a toe issue not camber. But if it's within tolerance than so be it....sounds to me like you just grossly knocked out the toe

[beachnut]

Well it was grossly out on toe, ironically more on the driver's side than the passenger side that took the hit. The toe was corrected and is well within spec. The shop is a trusted tire shop that I've used for several years, all top of the line Hunter equipment. I first started going there because they were one of the few shops in the area that had a GSP 9700 road force balancer. Their guy that runs the rack there seems very knowledgable. He didn't believe the tie rod had a problem either, but he did say it could've bent something in the subframe just like you guys have mentioned. I've checked for play myself and there is none. Now I'm starting to seriously consider the camber bolts again rather than mess with a frame shop. It's not that much out of spec, and maybe with the bolts I could dial in about -.75 on each side, hopefully eliminate most of the rubbing, and call it a day.

Do you guys have any camber bolt kits you prefer .... Ingalls, Eibach?

[prasamin]

i think eibachs are pretty standard and good, though I haven't used them....come to think of it, my pass side front seems a little higher than the drivers, and i was looking at it, and it seems the bottom of the wheel is inward and the top is outward more than the drivers side...maybe why my drivers side rubs and not my pass side....is that camber, where the top of the wheel is kind of tilted outward and the bottom inward or visa versa?

[beachnut]

....is that camber, where the top of the wheel is kind of tilted outward and the bottom inward or visa versa?

Yes, but in your case you have too much positive camber ... not really a good thing for handling, cornering, etc.

Actually I don't mind having a decent amount of negative camber. I'm running -2.00 on my Protege up front and it corners like a dream with no noticeable tire wear. I've got bolts on that one, but not sure what brand since the shop did it for me, probably Ingalls tho. The only thing I have to watch out for is running cut lines on the freeway or uneven pavement, just gotta keep my hands on the wheel

[bernao]

Any other opinions before I start replacing the tie-rod or control arm on that side? I'd rather not have to use camber bolts.

I once hit a HUGE rain-filled pothole and bent my strut, preventing proper alignment. So, you could have either bent your strut or spindle. Something you may want to have your alignment guy look into.