Hi all, not sure whether this is better in DIY or Suspension so here we are.
I finally got my car aligned this week and the front right camber couldn't be brought into spec. I knew the lower FR had been repaired from an impact at some point in the last 30 years but I hadn't noticed an issue with steering before (besides the horrible "before" alignment specs across the board).
Could someone chime in and confirm/deny my thinking that my right-hand compliance pivot is bent? I spent some time under the car to study and compare the L/R suspension and all I've seen so far is that the "ear" of the pivot where the lower control arm ball joint connects to seems to be pointed slightly further inward compared to the other pivot. The connection between that "ear" and the rest of the pivot is relatively thin and I could see how an impact could bend the ball joint cup inboard -> pulls the lower control arm inwards -> pulls the bottom of the knuckle inwards -> excess positive camber.
Further evidence would include that the right wheel has too much positive camber even with the eccentric bolt maxed out to the negative end, so there's something wrong on that side. I can't see any visible damage on either of the control arms but presumably it would be difficult to see by eye.
Here's my alignment before/after.
My theory of what happened. Might not be that pronounced. The eccentric bolt cam hole is also stripped out...
Best comparison I could get. Pic is looking towards the rear.
Could I please get a sanity check on this? All the suspension parts are uber expensive and I really don't want to drop $1000+ on new control arms if it's not needed especially if it won't fix the problem. Any other solutions like using eccentric camber bushings only on the right side? Better methods of verifying the arms & pivot are OK? Is it possible to replace just the lower bracket piece with the ball joint cup?
I finally got my car aligned this week and the front right camber couldn't be brought into spec. I knew the lower FR had been repaired from an impact at some point in the last 30 years but I hadn't noticed an issue with steering before (besides the horrible "before" alignment specs across the board).
Could someone chime in and confirm/deny my thinking that my right-hand compliance pivot is bent? I spent some time under the car to study and compare the L/R suspension and all I've seen so far is that the "ear" of the pivot where the lower control arm ball joint connects to seems to be pointed slightly further inward compared to the other pivot. The connection between that "ear" and the rest of the pivot is relatively thin and I could see how an impact could bend the ball joint cup inboard -> pulls the lower control arm inwards -> pulls the bottom of the knuckle inwards -> excess positive camber.
Further evidence would include that the right wheel has too much positive camber even with the eccentric bolt maxed out to the negative end, so there's something wrong on that side. I can't see any visible damage on either of the control arms but presumably it would be difficult to see by eye.
Here's my alignment before/after.
My theory of what happened. Might not be that pronounced. The eccentric bolt cam hole is also stripped out...
Best comparison I could get. Pic is looking towards the rear.
Could I please get a sanity check on this? All the suspension parts are uber expensive and I really don't want to drop $1000+ on new control arms if it's not needed especially if it won't fix the problem. Any other solutions like using eccentric camber bushings only on the right side? Better methods of verifying the arms & pivot are OK? Is it possible to replace just the lower bracket piece with the ball joint cup?
