igo4bmx

attn to all: philadelphia streets SUCK

anyways I hit a pothole two days ago, totally ******* up my steering (to stay straight i had to keep wheel at a slight turn). Also, my car does not want to stay straight- it wants to move toward the right and i can feel that when i hit bumps.. also my suspension doesn't feel like it absorbs bumps right anymore- hard to explain but it feels like it has less travel.

got it checked today at an alignment shop, where they said the toe was in spec (camber obviously out) and couldn't figure out why.

i had another mechanic look at the underbody- no signs of damage to the arms, tie rods etc etc and the wheels were not bent, and spun straight (lugs nuts are on tight too)

the only thing my friend mechanic found was the rack and pinion may be loose or completely fucked cuz it makes noises when i turn the steering wheel. Would this cause my strange steering issues (car trying to turn)???

i'm going back later and he wants to try to tighten up the bolts to the R&P hoping to fix this issue

any thoughts of opinions or ideas would greatly be appreciated!

igo4bmx

bump i need help

MasterKwan

What kind of help are you expecting? You're doing the right thing. Something's bent. Shouldn't be that hard to figure out. Compare the messed up side to the non-messed up side.

For the camber to be off, there's only so much that can be wrong

1) Upper arm is bent.
2) Ball joint is bent (lower or upper)
3) Mounting bolts for upper arm are bent.
4) Lower arm or arm attachment point is bent.
5) Subframe could have shifted (should affect both sides though).

What kind of and how much wrong camber do you have? You should be able to take a tape measure and compare one side of the car to the other.

Maybe you blew the shock out and that's why it doesn't bounce right. Is the car slammed? If I suspected the shock, I might swap strut cartridges from one side of the car to the other (spring/shock unit). See if the problem follows the shock.



Modified by MasterKwan at 6:33 PM 11/11/2004

igo4bmx

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by MasterKwan &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">What kind of help are you expecting? You're doing the right thing. Something's bent. Shouldn't be that hard to figure out. Compare the messed up side to the non-messed up side.

For the camber to be off, there's only so much that can be wrong

1) Upper arm is bent.
2) Ball joint is bent (lower or upper)
3) Mounting bolts for upper arm are bent.
4) Lower arm or arm attachment point is bent.
5) Subframe could have shifted (should affect both sides though).

What kind of and how much wrong camber do you have? You should be able to take a tape measure and compare one side of the car to the other.

Maybe you blew the shock out and that's why it doesn't bounce right. Is the car slammed? If I suspected the shock, I might swap strut cartridges from one side of the car to the other (spring/shock unit). See if the problem follows the shock. </TD></TR></TABLE>

thanks for the advice
however after careful inspection with a mechanic, we could not locate a single bent piece in the suspension... i was hoping to see if anyone who has had rack and pinion issues can tell me if the issue i'm having happened to them too

MasterKwan

If the rack is messed up, you should have a toe problem. Say a tie rod is bent or something. The rack won't affect the camber any. You said the suspension feels like it doesn't want to cycle up and down. Again, the rack shouldn't have any affect.

gsrswapdcivic

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by igo4bmx &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">thanks for the advice
however after careful inspection with a mechanic, we could not locate a single bent piece in the suspension... i was hoping to see if anyone who has had rack and pinion issues can tell me if the issue i'm having happened to them too</TD></TR></TABLE>

i bent my lower control arm on a pot hole and could not tell it was bent. but then i replaced it and did NO alignment and it was back to normal then i did an alignment just to be safe outcome was i didnt eve need the alignment just wanted to be safe

igo4bmx

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by gsrswapdcivic &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">i bent my lower control arm on a pot hole and could not tell it was bent. but then i replaced it and did NO alignment and it was back to normal then i did an alignment just to be safe outcome was i didnt eve need the alignment just wanted to be safe </TD></TR></TABLE>

how was alignment beforehand?
strangly, my alignment shop said my toe was in spec