Out of alignment again after 2 weeks

[akak1997]

I'm having some problem with the car's alignment, the steering wheel seems to be always ~5degree to the left even when the car is going straight.

Here's the whole story. It has been happening for a while, I start noticing it a couple months ago. The steering wheel is like 5-10degree to the left when going straight. But I never go and get an alignment done. Until 2 week ago, I ran into a curb when I's making a right. The front cleared, but the rear passenger side wheel ate the curb . Can't remember how fast I's going but it's quite brutal. The rear wheel went out of alignment big time, actually I thought I broke something. So, I took it in and the shop and they said it's just my alignment is wacked. They manage to set it DEAD ON STRAIGHT. The car feels SO much better, accelerating if much smoother, going around corner is nice and smooth. Before when the alignment was out of wack (before the accident), the car "gallops" when going around uneven corners. With the alignment set straight, I took those corners again, no "galloping", I'll feel the bump, but the car keeps going. When I get my car, the owner of the shop told me my swaybar bracket/end links was loose, and it took them 4 times to figure out why they couldn't get the alignment straight. I'm not sure if he ment the bracket where the bushings are or the endlinks. How does the sway bar affects alignment??

Also, I notice shifting is a bit more notchy than when the alignment is dead straight. Sometimes, when I'm rolling real slow and want to down shift to 1st (to get up those ramp into parking lot) I can't put it in first. The car needs to be pretty much dead stop to get into first. I just don't know how alignment could affect shifting. I'm pretty sure this is not just in my head. During the 2 weeks when the alignment is dead on, shifting is SO smooth. Before the curb accident, I just thought it's my short shifter, but since it's "Fixed" after the alignment, I think it might have something to do with it.

So 2 weeks later, my alignment is wack again. I have not hit any porthole or bumps during that period. It wasn't as bad as before the I ate the curb, it's just about 5degrees to the left. All those annoying symptoms came back. Galloping around uneven corner, super notchy shifting and accelerating straight isn't smooth. So, this morning I jacked up the car and examine all the bolts to see if they're tight, everything seems fine and tight. The alignment shop marked all the nuts/bolts and the marking still matches.

I notice my hotchiks endlink boots were torn (a long time ago, they lasted like a month...) could that cause the aligment issue? Shall I just get some stock endlinks? I'm only lowered at most 1" stock endlinks should still fit right?

I've the front hotchiks swaybar and adjustable endlinks, and KW V3, everything else, suspension wise is stock.


Thanks

[ignote]

Sounds like something is still broken. Try another shop.

[fancyfl1ght]

Originally Posted by akak1997

I'm having some problem with the car's alignment, the steering wheel seems to be always ~5degree to the left even when the car is going straight.

Here's the whole story. It has been happening for a while, I start noticing it a couple months ago. The steering wheel is like 5-10degree to the left when going straight. But I never go and get an alignment done. Until 2 week ago, I ran into a curb when I's making a right. The front cleared, but the rear passenger side wheel ate the curb . Can't remember how fast I's going but it's quite brutal. The rear wheel went out of alignment big time, actually I thought I broke something. So, I took it in and the shop and they said it's just my alignment is wacked. They manage to set it DEAD ON STRAIGHT. The car feels SO much better, accelerating if much smoother, going around corner is nice and smooth. Before when the alignment was out of wack (before the accident), the car "gallops" when going around uneven corners. With the alignment set straight, I took those corners again, no "galloping", I'll feel the bump, but the car keeps going. When I get my car, the owner of the shop told me my swaybar bracket/end links was loose, and it took them 4 times to figure out why they couldn't get the alignment straight. I'm not sure if he ment the bracket where the bushings are or the endlinks. How does the sway bar affects alignment??

Also, I notice shifting is a bit more notchy than when the alignment is dead straight. Sometimes, when I'm rolling real slow and want to down shift to 1st (to get up those ramp into parking lot) I can't put it in first. The car needs to be pretty much dead stop to get into first. I just don't know how alignment could affect shifting. I'm pretty sure this is not just in my head. During the 2 weeks when the alignment is dead on, shifting is SO smooth. Before the curb accident, I just thought it's my short shifter, but since it's "Fixed" after the alignment, I think it might have something to do with it.

So 2 weeks later, my alignment is wack again. I have not hit any porthole or bumps during that period. It wasn't as bad as before the I ate the curb, it's just about 5degrees to the left. All those annoying symptoms came back. Galloping around uneven corner, super notchy shifting and accelerating straight isn't smooth. So, this morning I jacked up the car and examine all the bolts to see if they're tight, everything seems fine and tight. The alignment shop marked all the nuts/bolts and the marking still matches.

I notice my hotchiks endlink boots were torn (a long time ago, they lasted like a month...) could that cause the aligment issue? Shall I just get some stock endlinks? I'm only lowered at most 1" stock endlinks should still fit right?

I've the front hotchiks swaybar and adjustable endlinks, and KW V3, everything else, suspension wise is stock.


Thanks

Bench. Insure you get a before and after alignment read-out so you know on all four corners, whether you alignment is dead on.

This is your benchmark for anything else that might be wrong on your suspension.

If after doing a 4-wheel alignment, the problem does not disappear, then we must assume a suspension component is bent and will need to be replaced.

If indeed it is indeed the passenger side rear wheel that hit the curb, consider inspecting the strut tower itself.

Other than suspension, I would hate to think it has anything to do with the differential and drive axles themselves, although this could be a possiblity from impacting the curb.

[raldenlee]

Regarding the steering wheel being off center, I once had a similar problem with a Camaro my daughter owned. Took it into a shop where they told me an end link on the after market sway bar was missing on one side. Once they replaced it, steering was dead straight again. At the same time I had to replace the front struts as well. Don't know if this was the cause or effect of the missing end link, but the worn struts did cause the front wheels to bounce resulting in what they called "cupping" of the tires - uneven where patches that caused a vibration at highway speeds.

[romak47]

Had this exact same problem after my front and rear wheels hit a reflector base going 40mph. It took a few visits to the shop and a couple alignments for them to notice my shock was bottomed out. They finally replaced the shock and my alignment was good again. no problems for around 15k miles now.

[akak1997]

Oh, I forgot I did hit some porthole at speed at almost a year ago. the front shock's bump stop was torn on both sides... I think the reason why it's torn is because the dust cover broke and cut into the bump stops. But maybe I did bottom out bad and screwed up something inside the shocks.

Sigh, I might have to pull the front shocks and have them examined. Man, this is gonna suck...

[fancyfl1ght]

Originally Posted by akak1997

Oh, I forgot I did hit some porthole at speed at almost a year ago. the front shock's bump stop was torn on both sides... I think the reason why it's torn is because the dust cover broke and cut into the bump stops. But maybe I did bottom out bad and screwed up something inside the shocks.

Sigh, I might have to pull the front shocks and have them examined. Man, this is gonna suck...

Once you find out what the problem is and it's fixed, it's golden.

[akak1997]

Last week I installed the Front M3 control arms kit, replaced my front shock dustboot and bump stops, replaced my front adjustable sway bar endlink with a pair of stock ones and got an alignment, here's the spec:


after a week of driving my steering is still pointing slight to the left while going dead straight. the alignment numbers looks good, so what could this be?

Please help, this is really driving me crazy...

[kgaler]

Could it be the tires?

[akak1997]

Originally Posted by kgaler

Could it be the tires?

What do you mean? tire pressure? I checked tire pressure, and they're even on all corners

[DriveHard]

Where you in the car, or at least the drivers seating area weighted with your weight when the car was aligned ???

[kgaler]

Originally Posted by akak1997

What do you mean? tire pressure? I checked tire pressure, and they're even on all corners

It's possible that a tire look good but still cause a problem. Maybe you can swap the two fronts and see if the symptoms change.

[akak1997]

Originally Posted by DriveHard

Where you in the car, or at least the drivers seating area weighted with your weight when the car was aligned ???

As far as I know, nothing is in the car when the alignment is being done. The tech did climb in and turn the steering wheel a few times (as indicated by the alignment machine) during the whole process.

Originally Posted by kgaler

It's possible that a tire look good but still cause a problem. Maybe you can swap the two fronts and see if the symptoms change.

Thanks for the tip, I'll give that a try tonight.