DoubleWhoosh

Yes, if you can get the bolt and arm and everything back together so they aren't all frozen together or twisted in a weird position, you should be ok. Sometimes there might be an issue with the arm not holding the position under side loads when turning though, as the eccentric bolt normally takes care of this. More often than not it can't hold it without some sort of side guides to hold it in place.

Best bet to fix it correctly is to buy a crossmember from the junkyard, maybe the arm you need as well, and swap it out.

Figure anywhere from around $500 up to $1200 to do this.

STONER

UPDATE

I went to the dealership. The guy said he's been doing alignments for 12 years, and pointed out a whole bunch of things. The damage was not restricted to the toe adjustment. The eccentric washer thing for the camber adjustment was turned completely upside down on both rears. He gave me an estimate of $520 just to try and fix the existing parts. This included taking both of the arms off and trying to bend the flange back. No guarantee that it would even work. It looks like I am stuck with it how it is for right now. I don't think I can prove that Merchants did the damage, and I'm scared to take it any place else and risk paying for someone to tell me it can't be fixed.

BLAZE

iTrader: (2)

Why can't he just cut out the old nut and bolt, put in a factory new one, set the alignment and then tack weld the bolt so it stay's within specs. After u got the allignment then weld a couple more spots.It would take a couple tries to get it exact, but it can be done.That's what I would do, no way I'd change out the crossmember.What is this dealer bending back into shape? Is he just simply turning the bolt untill it's in the right possition? That is an awfull lot of money to "try" and fix it.

STONER

The dealer I think was going to bend back the flange that holds the bolt in place. I asked him why he couldn't just turn the bolt back around, and I think that his answer was that it wouldn't stay. I didn't think about welding, but

there's a bomb threat in my building, so I'll get back to you.

BLAZE

iTrader: (2)

I truley hope that is just a prank, not that it is at all funny. Better safe than sorry. Keep us posted

STONER

Not a prank. But police gave us the all clear. I am going to take it to someone to look at on Monday, and will inquire about the tack weld route as a last resort. I'm not really trying to get into replacing all that stuff down there. I hate spending money on my car that doesn't make it go faster or look better.

sockfocks

iTrader: (1)

i've messed with this frame before and the steel is mild...nothing hard to bend....you can get in there and use a bar to "massage" them back into place...i think my car hit a sharp edge to hard and kicked my left rear out of alignment so i had to mess around and get it bent back to where it was supposed to be...the black part of the suspension.
EDIT...after looking at the pic again..the toe adustment part, the edge of the frame is flattened. you might be able to loosen the bolt where it moves freely and rotate the eccentric washer away from the edge, take a ball peen and roll the edge back up so the eccentric washer has something to hold it in place..if you take off your wheel...you'll know what i'm talking about...

gs4rocks

Look at my post about this particular topic:
https://www.clublexus.com/forums/sho...d.php?t=152235
Mak sure to read the quoted article at the bottom.

I had it at a dealer fixied it and redo alignment for $350. Mine was just damage to camber adjustment on one side. If $520 is including alignment and all the damages you have, it's not way off. The lip on the flange is not that hard but it won't get flattened by hitting big pot holes according to many experienced mechanics I spoke to. It's due to improper alignment work.

You should report this to the consumer agency. The virginia state government website will tell you whether you need to report to the state or local agency depending on the address of the business.

STONER

I actually read that and all the others I could find using the frozen / toe / alignment search. I am convinced the Merchant's tire and auto did the damage, I am not sure how I can go about proving it. I will look into the state agency thing on Monday. The $520 would suck, but if were a guaranteed fix, I'd almost be able to bite the bullett. But I'm not going to pay to have the guy take the whole thing down, beat it with a hammer and then say "Hey, imagine that, it broke. Sorry"

gs4rocks

Are you in Northern Virginia? The guy that fix mine was head mechanic and referred to as GS expert, especially for suspension related. He guaranteed the fix.

STONER

Yea, I live in Centreville. I talked to Hawkeye at Pohanka. He said he's been doing alignments for 12 years.

BLAZE

iTrader: (2)

I read the other posts and still come up with the same conclusion, if the metal is that thin it would only make sense to tack weld it to hold it in place , since your suspension is new , u shouldn't have to worry about it until it settles in. They could then cut the welds with a cut off wheel, reset proper specs, and re-weld. If the suspension was so poorly designed, this would only enhance the situation. To me this is the easiest way out and also the cheapest. There is no way in hell I would pay anywhere near that much for an alignment. Just get it welded and call it a day.Just my 2 cents.

chuckb

good luck Andy. reading this makes me glad I pay the $100 for the dealer to do my alignments.

Nevada3

This was an incredibly helpful thread to me, thanks to everyone who contributed. I have the exact same problem and not suprisingly the problem arose at my first alignment after my L-tuned S/S were installed. Can anyone post a picture of the end result of their repair for this problem? That would complete a great thread and give me an idea of my repair should be done.