well i just argued with crysler aboutthe ball joints, then i said fuckit and just bought the ones that were recalled for 50 a pop, now after i did that my car is shaking like somthin terrible, i checked all the bolts and such and ther all tightend to factory specs via my torque wrench and 2gnt...lol...so what else could be wrong here? the tires and rims are bran new, see my post in Interior/Exterior. i called satan aboutthe other ball joints and they want 380 bux each side for them, i just checked them tho and they did not have and play in them at all, i also checked my front sway bar too and everything seems good.....elaborate please
#28856, "RE: damn front end" In response to Reply # 0
When you're driving, does the car feel like it's floating at all? Sorta like the wind is just pushing the car in whatever direction it wants. If you feel that at all...I would take a guess and say that your toe got thrown off somehow.
#28871, "RE: damn front end" In response to Reply # 5
i thought only after shit like struts and shit....maybe ill take it in when i get off....but if its still all alighned what else could be doin this crap?
#28872, "RE: damn front end" In response to Reply # 3
Originally posted by clips3kid Would you mind explaining this toe? My car feels like that at times...
There are three terms that you should know when it comes to alignment. They are camber, caster and toe.
Toe: As diagrammed above, toe is how much the tires are turned into the center, or turned out. Look at the car from on top. If the front part of the front wheels are turned in so they form a / \ then it's called "toe in". If they're like this \ / Then it's called "toe out". Now, these are extreme examples, and your tires would never be off that much unless something was seriously wrong, but you get the idea.
Camber: Now sit down in front of the front wheel, facing it, like you were going to take it off to do a brake job. Imagine you could move it. Push the top part of the wheel in so the wheel is slanting away from you. This is called "negative camber". Now pull the top of the wheel out towards you, beyond vertical. The tire is now slanting towards you. This is called "positive camber".
Caster: Now return the wheel to the original vertical position. Put on your special X ray glasses and look at the strut behind it. Imagine taking that strut (and the wheel along with it) and tilting it towards the front of the car. This movement is affecting the caster and is called "negative caster". If you take it and tilt it backwards, then it's called "postive caster".
I know that went a little bit beyond your question, but I figured I'd share.
Brian
Red 97 Eclipse GS (420a) MTX Custom Garrett T3 Turbo system Megasquirt w/52 lb/hr injectors & a Walbro 255 Kicker/Alpine Audio (3 amps, 2 subs) 90 Cav 2.2 TBI auto (winter) <- yeah, it's fast
#28875, "RE: damn front end" In response to Reply # 7
I just want to say one thing about my above post. When I referred to the caster, I wanted to clarify that the reference for the caster is not actually the strut assembly. It's actually the steering pivot axis. I used the strut as an example simply to show the direction in which caster is applicable, since the strut is a tangible object by which you can imagine manipulating, and the steering pivot axis isn't.
Brian
Red 97 Eclipse GS (420a) MTX Custom Garrett T3 Turbo system Megasquirt w/52 lb/hr injectors & a Walbro 255 Kicker/Alpine Audio (3 amps, 2 subs) 90 Cav 2.2 TBI auto (winter) <- yeah, it's fast
#28878, "RE: damn front end" In response to Reply # 8
Okay, last thing (once I get started.....)
Better explanation of caster:
Caster is the hardest to explain of the three commonly used alignment angles. I like to use the motorcycle analogy. Lots of positive caster is like the forks on a chopper; the wheel is far in front of the support for the wheel. No car that I know of uses negative caster, so I'll describe less positive caster as like the forks on a regular street bike, the wheel is only slightly in front of the support for the wheel. Caster will not affect tire wear, but it can cause a slight drift if it's not equal on both sides. Caster is an angle that only applies to the front (steering) wheels of a car. The more positive caster is, the more stable the car feels, especially at higher speed. More positive caster also improves steering wheel return. To help understand what steering wheel return is, try this experiment: next time you turn a corner, let go of the steering wheel when you are done turning. You will notice that the steering wheel spins back to the centered position. Without positive caster, the steering wheel would stay turned until you manually turned it back to the center position. The only downside to lots of positive caster is it make the car hard/slow to steer. The reason positive caster adds stability, steering wheel return and increased steering effort is the weight of the car is trying to straighten the wheels. You may notice on some luxury cars with lot of positive caster (and powerful power steering) that the front of the car will rise when the wheel is turned to the side, and sinks as the wheel comes back to center.
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