Cant do alignment. Please help. All info inside.

[hun6over]

Hi, I recently hit a curb and messed up my passenger rear allignment big time. I sort of fixed that and the angle is a little better so i brought it in to get the car alligned at Firestone, but they told me the angles are too off to do it. They also told me that the front passenger allignment is also messed up.

Can anyone tell me if this is still fixable? I already fixed the passenger rear by changing the crossmember, knuckle, trailing arm, upper control arm, and strut. I also replaced my stock 16" rims with 18" rims. However, it is still off so i know there is something to be done. The only part which i havent changed is the lower control arms that connect the crossmember to the knuckle. Here is the link to my post when the car was first messed up. This is just to give you guys an idea of what happened by looking at the pictures. It is much better now but you can tell the back is still off by just lookin at it from the rear. http://www.dsmtuners.com/forums/showthread.php?t=262533

Here are the readings from the allignment shop:

Front Left
Current Camber: -0.1 Specified Range: -0.8 to 0.2 Status: Good
Current Caster: 3.5 Specified Range: 3.2 to 6.2 Status: Good
Current Toe: 0.67 Specified Range: -0.12 to 0.12 Status: Bad

Front Right
Current Camber: -0.9 Specified Range: -0.8 to 0.2 Status: Bad
Current Caster: 1.0 Specified Range: 3.2 to 6.2 Status: Bad
Current Toe: 0.04 Specified Range: -0.12 to 0.12 Status: Good

Front Total
Cross Camber: 0.8
Cross Caster: 2.5
Total Toe: 0.71 Specified Range: -0.24 to 0.24 Status: Bad

Rear Left
Current Camber: -0.6 Specified Range: -2.2 to -1.2 Status: Bad
Current Toe: -0.31 Specified Range: 0.00 to 0.24 Status: Bad

Rear Right
Current Camber: -1.2 Specified Range: -2.2 to -1.2 Status: Good
Current Toe: 1.77 Specified Range: 0.00 to 0.24 Status: Bad

Rear Total
Current Camber: 0.7
Current Toe: 1.46 Specified Range: 0.00 to 0.47 Status: Bad



Thank you to anyone who has taken the time to read this. Much appreciated.

 

[jessicas gst]

Looks like the struts are bent from the info you posted.
Replace those and take it to a shop that does semi Trucks. They usually have better equipment for alignments and can usually compensate for bent suspension geometry.
Good luck

 

[hun6over]

Changing the struts might help with my camber and caster. Thanks for the input.

However, my biggest problem is the Toe angle. I already changed the strut with a brand new one for the Right Rear wheel and the toe is still very off. I dont think a strut affects toe angle because it is made to swivel like a door nob.

 

[jessicas gst]

Any shop that does alignments can adjust toe for you its quite simple.
If a Tie rod is bent it will toe in or out badly.
You can always take it somewhere else and show them the print out and ask if they can fix it.

 

[hun6over]

I just went to another alignment place called Tire Pros and they said they couldnt align my car because the Toe is too off.

 

[97 4G63]

Well if you hit the curb hard enough you most likely bent something in your suspension this happend to me when i had my eclipse gs on a rainy day i hit the curb in a parking lot doing dum stuff and my lower control arm got bent you might want to take a look at that ..

 

[hun6over]

Any shop that does alignments can adjust toe for you its quite simple.
If a Tie rod is bent it will toe in or out badly.
You can always take it somewhere else and show them the print out and ask if they can fix it.

I already replaced the tie rod aka trailing arm. The only thing i didnt replace for the rear right wheel is the control arms. I will be doing that next.

Theres something i dont get though. I never hit anything on my front Left wheel, yet the toe is so off. I know i hit the front right wheel to the curb, yet the toe is fine. Could the alignment shop have positioned my steering wheel incorrectly and mistaken the left toe for the right toe? Also, is it possible to adjust the caster and toe angles back to normal without replacing anything, considering how off the angles currently are?

 

[wret]

Looks like the struts are bent from the info you posted.
Replace those and take it to a shop that does semi Trucks. They usually have better equipment for alignments and can usually compensate for bent suspension geometry.
Good luck

The struts on a 2g are not the Macpherson type struts found on a 1g DSM and other cars. They are a "strut" in the sense that they support weight but they do not affect the car's alignment. For that reason, moving the top mount around will not change caster/camber the way that it does on a 1g.

The hardware that affects caster and camber on a stock 2g does not have moving mounts or adjusting mechanisms. It sounds like you have bent a couple control arms and the best option would be to replace them.

 

[hun6over]

Hey Wret, thanks for droppin by. I just want you to know that you're my hero and i hope that one day my car will be almost as nice as yours

On another note, Can you please tell me if my front suspension could be adjusted back to normal specs based on the info i layed out? I just inspected my front right suspension and i cant really notice anything thats out of shape except for the fact that my strut is bending a little towards the back.

I noticed that most of the front suspension has joints that are made to swivel in different directions so that made me wonder if i can just adjust it back to normal specs.

Thanks for everyones input

 

[wret]

I would start with the front lower compression control arm (the curved one). That's the one that would most affect caster. It wouldn't need to be off much to create the 2 or more degree change.

In the rear, I would start with the lower control arm at the point where you cracked the subframe. That's likely the one that took all the stress. You might still have to replace the toe control arm.

i hope that one day my car will be almost as nice as yours

Your's just might be nicer. It's running.

 

[hun6over]

Thanks wret. I still think your car is nicer

Ok so after all my research and the help from the Dsm community, I now know that the Toe is the only thing that can be adjusted on a stock 2g and it is easily doable by any competent person with a wrench. Camber and caster is not adjustable. However, camber can be adjusted by using a camber kit. Caster on the other hand can't be adjusted no matter what so if it is out of spec then chances are something in the suspension is bent. Rim size doesnt affect any of the three. I hope this info helps other people

P.S. Dont go to Firestone for allignments, they are dumbasses.