Deamon2002

iTrader: (3)

Well guess what I wrecked my TA. Damn tire seperated from the rim inward in a turn. Slid off the road and hit a gravel driveway entrance mid body and tire. Be sure when you get new tires guys to have the tech clean the rim!!! Mine was covered in crud and gunk and they say thats what did it. Well it damaged it in the middle of the body underneath on the passenger side, and bent the passenger side axle. I swapped out the axle and I'm working on the body now. But when I drive it now, I don't get any vibration, no noise from the breaks no nothing. I get sway in the body. Yes body sway, like I have no panhard rod. I scoped everything out and the LCAs are fine and the PH rod. I titened them and greased them and it still does it. I plan on changing the bolts this weekend. I'll be driving and if I see an imperfection in the road ahead and hit it with the rear tires its like the rear end pulls into the imperfection while the front end stays straight. The front end is fine but the rear seems to drift in to the low spots or potholes in the road. This usually happens above ~50-55. Has anyone encountered this before? I'm at a loss as to what to do. And I hate to say it but if someone wants to buy a slightly damaged 02 TA in DFW, Texas, email me. I just can't afford to keep her anymore. See pics at my web site below and if you want I can send pics of the damage. Thanks a bunch guys, help me get my baby road worthy again, please.

Deamon2002

iTrader: (3)

Wow................I feel pretty dumb. Let me also note that it's a good idea to start with the simplest thigns first..................like checking your tire pressure and making sure that one tire is at 35psi, 2 at 20psi, and one at 12psi....................

Foxxtron

iTrader: (1)

No problem, it's just that you learned the hard way, sometimes at your expense for someone's negligence. Those tire workers (I don't like calling them techs if they haven't been through extensive training) should've checked for you, but I don't know what, if any, recourse you may have.

I'll say if you are going to put it up for sale, thuroughly check the rear suspension. I am aware that you checked the LCA's and PHB, however did you check the stabiliser bar and their respective bushings? Just a thought since you have replaced the rear axle.

styles2769

iTrader: (3)

Ok, so what about me. I get the same feelling at about the same rate of speed but my back 2 tires are at 35 psi and the front 2 are at 32 psi. I just got new tires in the back and i've really noticed it afterwards. The car always did this a little bit before the tire change but now it is like hell on the highway. I had the wheels aligned. Does it have anything to do with the car being lowered 1.25'' front and 1.5" ine the back without have LCR's?

Deamon2002

iTrader: (3)

Well here's a little update, the tire pressure thing wasn't it, it helped some but it still does it. I guess this weekend while I'm doing body work I'm going to swap the blots on the LCR and PHR. What is this stabiliser bar you are refering to? The sway bar? Am I just having a "duh" moment? You think maybe the alignment could have something to do with this? It's fine going straight or in turns but as soon as the road itself leans or rolls to one side the car tries to go that way, rear end drifting into the roll.

styles2769

iTrader: (3)

Really need some help on this issue........

Carlos01SS

iTrader: (4)

This has been happening after the accident and not before???

2K2WS6TA

iTrader: (2)

Styles what kind of tires did you put on the back, and did you change widths some brands like to follow the road imperfections alot more than others, especially wide tires, it may be just the brand of tires, or the size

Deamon2002

iTrader: (3)

For me this happened after the accident, it didn't do it before. I havn't put on any new tires rims, they are the same as before the incident. Friday I'm putting my stock lower control arms and bolts back on and the stock panhard rod as well as do another inspection of the rear suspension. Then work on the sagging doors and then work on the body.........

styles2769

iTrader: (3)

I switch to sumitomo hrt, but it did this before I swap the tires....I dont think the car has ever been in a accident.....I think I just need to redo the suspension......It actually started doing it after I put my rims on but the wheels have been balanced and are perfectly fine......I noticed it sometime after I put the wheels on.......they are 9.5" in the back

Foxxtron

iTrader: (1)

Yes sir, the stabiliser bar is the "sway bar" or rather anti-sway bar. They are pretty tough, so I doubt it would be screwed up, but it wouldn't hurt to be thurough. No need to worry about the "duh" moment because were here to help you and you're handling it really well by being objective.

The alignment could good as well as the tire pressure, but so far if you changed the rear axle and it's straight, checked your tire pressures, and didn't replace the rims, then they might be rear suspension items, however I would like to know if the chassis was bent during the process. A bent chassis will definitely put all of your good condition suspension items out of whack. Another thing would I'd like to ask is do the rear wheels ride true? As you know about our cars, they have a solid rear axle so they really cannot be adjusted as concerns with alignment (well, they can, but you don't want to try that yet.)

I would like to ask whether your rear LCA's are some sort of aftermarket "boxed" or "tubular" like your website mentions? If you are using those and they have the poly bushings, then your cornering abilities will be greatly compromised as the poly binding in those areas is less than desirable, and sometimes downright dangerous. They're great for the drag strip, but horrible for high performance corner carving. I say if you have the stock LCA's still, hold on to them, and replace their bushings with Moog higher durometer replacement bushings.

styles2769

iTrader: (3)

the guy who did my alignment said the rear tires were off a little bit. camber on left is 0.2 and the right is -0.3.....

front says camber left -.04, right .05 caster I cant read.

toe looks like it read front left & rear right 0.05, front right and rear left 0.00

it is a little hard for me to read this reading though. Does this look ok

If not, then what should the specs be and I will go down and have this guy re-do the alignment

Give me the specs for front caster, camber, & toe and specify fronts, left right and rears......I really know nothing about this stuff. I am just tired of riding around and having the rear feel like it is going to slide out.

Deamon2002

iTrader: (3)

Yes I still have my stock arms and I am putting those on tomorow, ugh, I hate not having a worthy jack for our heavy *** cars. I'm going to swap out the LCAs and the PHR for the stockers, I did have UMI poly/ rod combo LCAs and PHR. I'll inspect those and if worthy I'll put those in the sell pile as well. I'll inspect the sway bar and its associated brackets and end links and check the torque on them. I doubt the body was bent any more than aesthetically, but as is rides I can deal for a little while till I start my new job and trade it in. I also plan on tackling the sagging door issue and that easthetic situation of the body. I wish our cars were a little more thoroughly engineered, I find things like sagging doors in a 3 year old car unerving as well as the high quality window motors. Ah well, the price of speed. I'd like to thank everyone for there support in this issue, I hope this all works out in my favor. Woo-Sah, Woo-Sah...... Styles, best of luck to you, maybe in my endeavor I can find a "cure-all" for our ailment, doubt it but maybe.

Foxxtron

iTrader: (1)

I guess if you are selling the car, you could part out the LCA's and PHR, or you might want to see if a rubber bushing could fit the UMI poly side. FWIW, UMI Stuff is pretty good, however any brand with Poly bushings in the LCA will have an undesirable effect of binding where the poly is, thus making cornering a bit dangerous and/or undesirable.

The sagging doors mystify me. I've lifted at the correct jack points, even when I didn't have SFC's installed (when I did I still tried to lift near the factory jack point) and still don't have the sagging door syndrome. I will say that if you could get a quality jack, and reach from the front under the K-member, then you could prevent more of the sagging, that's if you aren't changing tyres in a hurry.

Apprarently your suspension parts must be okay, and if they aren't bent or damaged from the accident, then I guess the rear half of the monocoque (unti-body) must be okay, but you still might want to check it out if that could be the cause.

Foxxtron

iTrader: (1)

So far, your specs appear within stock range, however you mentioned you lowered the vehicle and by the language in your posts, my assumptions would be either the alignment tech didn't notice, and/or you didn't notify him. As harsh as it sounds, lowering changes the specifications needed for a proper front end suspension geometry, but I will approach that as I go along.

Since you lowered the vehicle, did you get the properly valved shocks to go along with your ride height and your spring rates? If one is to just install springs or install springs with shocks that aren't properly valved, you can get some problems with the shocks working okay.

I also noticed you have aftermarket LCA's and PHB. Not so much in the items themselves, but their bushings. Do they have poly bushings on both ends? Are you trying to get the vehicle to corner better? The reason I ask is because if you have poly bushings in your LCA's they're much better suited for dedicated drag racing than cornering. Not to encourage you to change anything, however for information purposes, go to this link, then click on the poly bushings section located in the frame on the left:

http://www.geocities.com/MotorCity/1701/

I am assuming that your PHB is adjustible? the reason I ask is an adjustible PHB will help you centre the rear wheels properly behind the car, especially when it comes to lowering.

Deamon2002

iTrader: (3)

Well i swapped out the UMI hardware for the stockers tonight, I'll take it out tomorow and see how that works out. I also fixed the doors i think their larg sizes and weight causes them to sag over time. I just loosened the bolts holding the door to the hinge and jacked up the end of the door and retightened. Hope this helps if anybody as the same issue. Well I'm out for tonight ya'll, happy new year.

Foxxtron

iTrader: (1)

Happy new year.

As far as the door goes, I think that some will sag, some won't. I can tell you that mine has yet to do so, so I could believe that the weight on the end of the hinges might be the cause as you mention.

styles2769

iTrader: (3)

I noticed that the clearence on my right wheels to the wheel well is closer then on the left......so my car is sitting lower on the right rear, then on the left rear.....I think this maybe my problem.....I have poly bushings which my mech. re-grease's all the time. He road races so when it comes to suspension he knows what he is doing....I haven't seen him lately but I think that my shock would need to be re-valved. I am swapping to a Qa1 set-up and getting some weld on brackets....I am tring to set-up the car for drag racing.

Foxxtron

iTrader: (1)

I agree with almost everything except for the RR part. Bear in mind that too much stiction (static friction) in the LCA bushings will harm the cornering needs of the F-body on it's solid rear axle. No matter how much you grease them, they still bind too much for optimal cornering. It's more down the the durometer of the material than the lubrication.

Please also bear in mind that I and several others here have AXed and RRed. Their consensus is pretty much proven as we have used poly and discovered performance losses for our apps. Therefore, we prefer higher durometer rubber (a la 1LE) or flat out rod ended LCA's and PHB. When it comes to AX and RR, I and certain members here participate in a forum called FRRAX, which is a serious RR and AX forum (usually bettered for those who are experienced or have a more than decent rudimentary knowledge of their F-body and their RR and AX apps.)

As far as that shocks goes, FWIW you'd best hold out and opt for the QA1's as you'll be alble to get them to adjust for better weight distribution when you launch and brake.

Marc '99T/A

iTrader: (22)

Did you ever fix the swaying? How's the tightness of the nuts/bolts on the sway bar? Just an idea; couldn't hurt to check. It seems that you checked out the PHR pretty good but I didn't see much on the sway bar.