question about out of spec alignment

[spolcyc]

About a month back, I had an incident that left me with a blown out right rear tire and a massive vertical scrape about 6x6 on my rear left rim. I am not exactly sure what happened (irrelevant, I know I made a mistake getting behind the wheel)


The next morning, my steering wheel was misaligned to the left and the car had a noticeable pull to it. I went in to get an alignment along with a new set of tires (25,000, so it was due anyway) went with cheapo Federal super steel 575's) and got the car aligned. The right rear could not get within spec (-2.0) car is lowered 7/8ths of an inch, I had the camber set to -1 after I lowered it.


The issue now is the car feels extremely "floaty" when driving down the road at speed, I also seem to have lost the complete feel of the car in twisties. and when I lightly tap the wheel clockwise, the car will accept this and enhance my movement, pulling hard to the right. It doesn't do this when I go to the left. Would one think that this is more a product of the crappy tires? I've also heard a few loud pops from the back right, the Subaru guy said it could possibly be a bent strut, but I cant verify that right now as I don't have the tools for it. A visual inspection yielded no visible signs of any kind of scrapes or bends on the under carriage or LCA's.


Any thoughts on whether I may have bent a strut? I don't want to take it to the dealership and get ripped off, or randomly throw money at new parts. I'm semi familiar with cars but a high mechanical aptitude, just not exactly sure what I'm looking for.

[ducky106]

I sounds like you've blown a shock. The unequal turning wouldn't be from tires, and the floaty sounds like blown shocks.

If you just push down on each corner of the car and there is a noticeable difference in one side, or the car wants to keep bouncing, then you've blown a shock.

To be sure you could also take it to a second shop and just have it looked at. I wouldn't tell them you've already taken it to subaru. Make them discover the problem on their own from what you describe and see how it lines up to what subaru said.

And most local shops tend to be willing to show you exactly where its broken/bent while its on the lift.

[lead82]

Personally, I would first check rim runout and perform shakedown to make sure everything is tight. I would then measure suspension links and compare to left rear. I would probably skip lower arms since you have a negative camber issue, not positive. So basically I would check upper arm and strut, those 2 are my primary suspects.

[lead82]

ducky106 may also be right, but a blown shock by itself would not cause camber issues.

[spolcyc]

Rim runout? whether its still straight or has been bent? also, what is shakedown.


Thanks for the advice guys, this has really been bothering me and definitely a lesson learned.

[lead82]

Yes, rim runout can be measured on most newer tire balance machines. It will check both lateral and radial runout. I don't suspect the runout to be the cause, but it is best to check to make sure that your wheel is still good to go after an impact hard enough to cause that camber change.

Shakedown is just grabbing the wheel at 12/6 o'clock positions and shaking back and forth, and then again at 3/9 o'clock positions. This is to make sure nothing in the suspension is loose. Again, I don't suspect this to be an issue, but after any impact, I check every part of the suspension.

Your description pretty much excludes the other 3 corners, so assuming those angles are still good, the right rear camber is the only issue. All boiled down, your symptom is only a pull. Negative right rear camber will cause your car to pull to the right (assuming all other angles are in spec), which will make you turn your steering wheel to the left to compensate. Then when you do want to turn, turning to the right comes easy because the car already wants to turn right, whereas turning to the left is more difficult because the alignment of the car is trying to force it the other way.

If you can shine a light into the wheel well or jack it up and remove the wheel, check the suspension arm and strut. You can measure the suspension arm with a tape measure from one bolt center to the other, then compare with the left side (be precise). You can't really do this with strut, since you just have to see it, but from what my experience, it's most likely the strut. Especially since you have a popping sound during suspension travel.

[CSG Mike]

Something on your car is bent. You need to go to an *expert* alignment shop that can inspect your arms/knuckle/subframe for damage.