skizzle84

Hey guys heres the story... a while back my car was wrecked into a curb, and both control arms along with endlinks were replaced, but my camber is screwed. I have toe-in and toe-out on both wheels so rather than them being straight, (like this-> I I) they are at the wrong degree(like this-> / /) ...make sense?
I was told that my struts need to be bent back, or replaced. Any suggestions on what to do?

Siraniko

iTrader: (13)

buy used and bare 84-85 strut housing.

aussiesmg

iTrader: (1)

also check your struts, I have bent these on a race track before....

Kentetsu

Are the tires out of line as in, turning left to right? Or is it that they are "leaning", like the top of the wheel is not lined up with the bottom of the wheel? The latter is referred to as camber, while the first is referred to as toe.

aussiesmg

iTrader: (1)

I think he is showing us his tires from above, so one has toe in and the other toe out, this indicates a damaged strut or strut housing....

Kentetsu

Yeah, but it seems to me that if one was toed in and the other was toed out, you would just turn the steering wheel and all would be good. Right? Doesn't make sense to me. Besides, even if that was the case, how would that point to a strut issue? Toe is adjusted at the tie rod ends, not the strut. What am I missing here?

skizzle84

I'll get more info later to be more specific, but from what I was told was that the struts need to be bent back in order to fix the camber. The wheels are bent like this-> / / , rather than normal and straight like this-> l l
The tie rods weren't tampered with, but do you think I could fix the camber by adjusting them?

skizzle84

I'll get more info later to be more specific, but from what I was told was that the struts need to be bent back in order to fix the camber. The wheels are bent like this-> / / , rather than normal and straight like this-> l l
The tie rods weren't tampered with, but do you think I could fix the camber by adjusting them?

trochoid

iTrader: (6)

I'm wondering the same thing. Is he talking about toe or camber? If it's toe, and can't be adjusted in spec, look for more bent steering components. If it's camber and can't be adjusted up top, look for more bent suspension components.

If camber is off on both sides, it would need to be a pretty solid side impact on both wheels. I wasn't aware you could bend strut tubes, but I suppose it is possible. What I can't picture is how the tube can be bent without another strut assembly part also being bent, i.e. hub or spindle. Is that what i am missing?

Kentetsu

I think somebody's been smoking too much of that Australian home grown.... Bending struts? Your going to have to explain that one a little better to us noobs aussiemg. .. .

As for the original issue here, he must mean camber. If that's the case then some adjustment may be had by rotating the plastic mounting collar at the top of the strut. But if something got bent in order to throw it off like that, you really need to identify the part and replace it.

aussiesmg

iTrader: (1)

Hell yeah, I bent a strut in a racing incident, actually bent the rod that slides inside the damper tube to use correct terminology, caused the Koni to rub on the side and fail very quickly. Sent the front strut to Koni and they confirmed the bend, had to get it fully rebuilt with a new rod.

I have also seen a bent strut housing after a serious wreck inot a wall on turn 1 at Phillip Island, that was thrown away.

If the strut, or housing, is bent the alignment will never be right as the affected wheel can be forward, back or to the side of the correct position, you can adjust this to some extent but the geometry isn't going to be correct after a certain point.

I've had a car aligned with a bent tie rod and it ran fine at straight ahead but gained toe out when turning corners, go figure.

Kentetsu

Okay, I see now. At first I thought you were telling him that he had to bend his struts in order to correct the issue. If his struts were bent in the accident, then that could definitely cause some alignment issues. Sorry for my confusion.

aussiesmg

iTrader: (1)

lol, now bending them to fix alignment would be a strange method of repair........rofl

trochoid

iTrader: (6)

Stranger things have been done, thanks for clearing it up.