I need MAJOR MAJOR help with this stupid suspension!!!!

[*Y*]

First let me begin by saying that I am sick and tired of all the vibrations, all the noise and all the stupid chatter in the car. I hate it. Anyway the rest of the post will be about my alignment woes and ways to fix my suspension overall, get rid of the noise e.t.

Here is my car specs relative to this discussion:
160000 miles on the body
17 rims with 40 series tires Conti ExtremeContact
recently replaced struts and mounts with zx-2 struts and dropzone springs
Lowe's Camber Kits


Anyway I got the alignment done after I changed the struts and springs. The camber was negative and they couldn't adjust the rear passenger toe. I made some camber bolts and went to get the alignment done again. This time everything turned out to be fine. I drover for a month and the car started feeling weird, the rear tire would vibrate when making a hard or fast right turn. Today I look at the front tires, and they are slick on the outside, and I just got them brand new about 8000 miles ago. So I went to FireStone to get the alignment done again. Well they had a really nice surprise for me. They said the toe was out 1.49 degress on the front drivers side and there was no more adjustment. Here is the complete spec sheet:
Front:


Rear:



Anyway the technician kept insisting that I hit a curb or something like that. I am 110% sure that I didn't, although we do have a ton of potholes around here. The thing thing I am wondering is could this have been caused by hitting a pothole or jacking up the car in the wrong place while taking out the engine mounts. The other, more important thing I am wondering about is how do I diagnose the problem and fix it. What would I need to replace?

Now while we are on the subject of suspension, I want to ask what main bushings and other parts (I can't affored everything at once) I need to replace to cut down on the unbearable suspension noise. I especially hate the noise in the rear passenger side wheel well. Based on my reaserch I though it was the mount making that sound but that is out of the question now. So folks, any takers on my woes?

If any additional info is needed I will gladly provide it.....

[wytbishop]

Hmmm...sounds serious.

I think the first thing I would do in your place would be to get a second opinion on the alignment and the quality of the previous alignment work...just to be certain the guy who's done it did it right and that it is as far out as they say it is.

If the outer section of the tires is badly worn, that indicates a camber problem. Although I'm sure that can be cause by incorrect toe adjustment to some degree, I don't think toe alone can explain it. Also, toe adjustment is accomplished via the outer tie rod ends. If the drivers wheel is toed out and they can't bring it in that means the tie rod end is screwed all the way out and screwing it out any further would remove it from the tie rod...for the wheels to be pointing in even the remotely similar direction, that means the passenger tie rod end must be screwed almost all the way in and you would have way less steering lock to the left than the right. I have never heard of any situation in which there was insufficient toe adjustment...again I'd want a second opinion.

I'm no alignment expert, so if I'm way off base anyone feel free to say so. This is my top-of-the-head, seat-of-the-pants assessment of your post.

[95 rs]

so if the alignment iis that whacked you would be ble to notice it by putting the steering wheel straight and get out nd look at the tires from the front. the drivers front tire you should see the front portion facing in and the passenger side wouldnt be as bad. you camber is really whacked to i bet you that if you get the camber adjusted properly the toe might go out a bit more. to me i bet the guy just didnt wanna screw with it anymore. you should get your front end checked out cuz hitting pot holes will do damage to the front end if hit enough and will cause this to happen. definately take it to a different shop and get a second opinion first.

[Mooneggs]

I've found that after people have done alignments on my car they don't want to fool with it again like the others have said, definately get a second opinion.

as far as the toe thing the others have covered what I was thinking as well... especially if you know you haven't hit any curbs! I doubt potholes would make a tie rod adjustment impossible