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shitbox alignment tech in CC

arse_sidewards said:
Lazy assumptions like that are why I can't fucking get a proper alignment. :mad3:

I've taken all this shit apart and put it back together before myself. I have camber adjustment. The top strut bolt is a camber bolt. My other two Legacy wagons of the same year have the same bolts so I'm fairly confident saying that it's not aftermarket and that it should be in their service literature. They're not rusted. I've taken them in and out and when I put them back in they got anti-seize. I replaced ball joints last month so they had to come out so it's not like they've been there for years. The whole car is basically rust free below the floor pan anyway thanks to all the oil leaks.
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If it has camber bolts then you should ask them why they didn’t adjust the camber to spec. If they don’t have a good reason, then they should redo the alignment for free.
 
DMG said:
If it has camber bolts then you should ask them why they didn’t adjust the camber to spec. If they don’t have a good reason, then they should redo the alignment for free.
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That's pretty much the plan for Thursday.
 
Turns out the problem was that the guy punched in '98 for the year the last time around and a 1st gen doesn't have enough travel in the camber bolts to move all the way to '98 specs. :laughing:


It drives way better now.

It's got a weird dead spot in the steering when you turn the wheel between 12:30 and 1:00 for a right turn there's barely any resistance and the car moves left as if the wheel is still pointed at 12:30 (well I guess it's moving right, but less so than the curve in the road you're turning in for so it feels left). Once you turn the wheel to 1:30 or so it's normal again. Then when you go to straighten out it does the same thing but in the other direction, car steers right as you go from 1:00 to 12:30 as if the wheel is pointed at 1:00.

I'm thinking that the bushing on the control arm I bought may have been sitting around dry-rotting since the second bush administration. Hopefully doing just the rear is enough to solve it since the fronts are hard to do. Everything else on the front end is new or within a year of new and after all these alignment shenanigans I've checked and re-checked everything.

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I’m glad they got it more or less aligned. That dead spot sounds like a rack.
 
DMG said:
I’m glad they got it more or less aligned. That dead spot sounds like a rack.
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I can't recreate the dead spot if I'm just sitting at a stop turning the wheels if that makes any difference. It isn't totally disconnected in that dead spot but it's like the amount of resistance you get on ice. That's why I think it's bushings. You turn in, side load the suspension and a control arm is sliding around under the car when you get to a certain amount of side load and the net effect is visible in the wheel.

That's my theory at least. :homer:



I guess I should stick it in the air sometime this week with the engine off and see what it does.
 
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Your theory is as good as mine. I have seen a sticky steering joint between the column and the rack do weird shit like that too.
 
DMG said:
Your theory is as good as mine. I have seen a sticky steering joint between the column and the rack do weird shit like that too.
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I mean it was sitting for the better part of a month while I repaired crash damage. Weird shit happens when you let old cars sit. :laughing:
 
DMG said:
Your theory is as good as mine. I have seen a sticky steering joint between the column and the rack do weird shit like that too.
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Yup, it's almost always the U-joints in the steering coupler. Spray some penetrating oil on them and it will free up for a while. It's like $80 for a new one from the dealer.
Ball joints are worth buying from the dealer too, aftermarket are shit and barely last a year.
 
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