olie05 Posted July 18, 2005 Share Posted July 18, 2005 Heres my story, I hit a curb a while ago, messing up my aluminum swastikas, and bending some of the suspension. I'm running the stock 14" steelies right now with some no name tires, but on the right front there is an excess of negative camber... I'm guessing that since I can tell there is alot of negative camber it must be somewhere More than -3* When I hit the curb, the right front wheel was the first thing to hit anything. Now that I have to funds to replace my broken swastikas and get better tires, I want to Correct this suspension problem. The right side of the car also sits about .5" lower than the left side. (hopefuly that will help someone make a diagnosis of what needs to be fixed.) Question section: I want to know If the camber is off because of a bent control arm, bent hub, bent shock absorber rod or anything else that could be going on. Should I replace the shocks first or just get camber plates or camber adjusting bushings? I want my new tires to not get lost in 300 miles because of the bad camber angle. What is causing my car to have such a bad camber angle? -Oliver Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JMortensen Posted July 18, 2005 Share Posted July 18, 2005 While I have no personal experience here, I did hear a guy recently say that the spot welds that hold the strut tube to the spindle at the bottom can get knocked loose and tweaked which causes a big change in camber. He also said that he had fixed them by realigning and rewelding the tube in place. If you look at the suspension components you should be able to see a bent control arm. I don't think that's your problem though, because a bent control arm wouldn't bend out, so I think a bent control arm would be more likely to reduce the neg camber. Bent struts are also possible, not sure if you could see that problem visually. Seems like it would be really hard on the strut though, so I'd expect to see some leakage around the top of the strut if that were the case. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
quicker240 Posted July 18, 2005 Share Posted July 18, 2005 Happened to me before too.Usually either bends the TC rod or bends the saddle it mounts to WAY in,this accounts for the height drop also.Take a close look at rear Tension Compression rod rear mount saddle on the frame rail.The whole wheel assy is moved back causing severe positive camber as well as toe problems.Its usually pretty easy to spot the bent stuff from underneath the car.Unfortunately,the rear TC saddle is a welded on part and if its bent up,you'll be headed to the body shop.Good luck with it! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mom'sZ Posted July 19, 2005 Share Posted July 19, 2005 Oliver: I worked in body shops as a heavy collision tech for twenty five years. Although I never saw this on a z and don't know the specifics for a zcar, most cars have an area on the spindle that necks down to a smaller diameter to purposely create a weak spot that will allow the spindle to bend in the event that the wheel hits something. The purpose of this feature is so the frame or other suspension components doesn't get bent. This is, pretty much, a universal feature on all cars. When a car would come in with the wheel like that I would just write for a new spindle. On a Zcar, I would guess that the spindle is part of the strut (anyone?) but anyhow, look at that first. Then, if that isn't the case, here is a tip when inspecting for other damage. Generally if a suspension component (a steel one) is bent, at the point where it is bent, you can see a little flaking of the surface. Not the paint finish, but the component itself, like paper thin flakes, a disturbance in the suface texture. If you see this, the part is junk. Hope this helps. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
olie05 Posted July 21, 2005 Author Share Posted July 21, 2005 ok so i guess through this post i have somewhat narrowed it down. Its not the shock piston rod (according to jon), and i don't think its the TC rod from what quicker240 mentioned, so I should either replace the whole strut assembly, or just get some kind of camber correction kit, or a combination of the two, right? Mom'sZ, wouldn't there be an insane binding problem if the spindle was bent? from what I remember, the spindle is shaped smaller at the outer end, but the taper occurs within the hub. So after an accident that would cause the outside part of the hub to go out of alignment with the inside of the hub... basically what i'm trying to say is, wouldn't a bent spindle be an obvious problem? Like not being able to spin that wheel at all? I need to decide what to do since I will be getting tires soon and I don't want a mad camber problem with new tires. -Oliver Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mom'sZ Posted July 22, 2005 Share Posted July 22, 2005 Oliver: The spindle does taper between the two wheel bearings, but this is not what I was talking about in the earlier post. If it's built this way, it necks down inboard of the two wheel bearings. The wheel still spins on the spindle just fine. I'm going to be rebuilding my suspension next week so I will have it apart and can tell you if Z's are built this way. But usually, just inboard of the inner wheel bearing a little bit, is a spot where the spindle's diameter is smaller by maybe 1/4 - 1/8". Unlike the gradual taper between the two wheel bearings, this is more of a groove with a raduis at the bottom. It's hard to explain, if I have time at work I'll try to find / draw a picture. Sorry I didn't see your post yesterday, I was busy all day. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BlackBeaut Posted July 22, 2005 Share Posted July 22, 2005 Here's a close up of the spindle area I took when I did my front suspension last year, if that helps. There are a couple more shots in that gallery. http://www.zclub.net/gallery/showphoto.php?photo=886&size=big&sort=1&cat=500&page=2 Cheers, Rob Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mom'sZ Posted July 22, 2005 Share Posted July 22, 2005 after looking at the factory service manual and black beauty's pic, I don't think the Zcar spindle incorporates the feature of which I spoke. I apologize Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
olie05 Posted July 22, 2005 Author Share Posted July 22, 2005 ok now I know what you're saying Mom'sZ. I guess the only way to check that is to take everything off and take measurements around the spindle? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.