WDoherty

I changed the lower control arm bushings to Daizen since the internet told me i should with the mileage and after inspection i could see deterioration on the rear ones. I ran into a problem during removal, the camber bolts were seized into the bushing sleves. I ended up torching the camber bolts to remove the control arm. 2 problems with that. Slight damage to the rear suspension crossmember, and the remainder of the bolts were left in the sleeves. I tried to weld, and grind my best the make the slots in the suspension crossmember the best i could and match the same clearance of the fronts and thought i did a good job. I carefully milled the bolts out of the sleeves to where there was a fine layer of bolt left and i tapped the rest out. I checked the way the bolt felt in the rear sleeves i milled vs. the front which i didn't and they feel just i tight. Also the the cross member the camber bolt is tightened in place so it shouldn't move at all right? I get a slight clunk over bumps and its quite annoying. I didn't like the way the lower balljoints spin without much effort and the book states a good amount of torque to turn them. Also, would ball joints go out immediately before and after work, it doesn't seem right. Also the car only had 110,000 miles. One friend said it was because i haven't had an alignment yet, did notice the front left wheel has postitive camber. Help! I'm really frustrated with this project, almost wish i hadn't messed with it. Any ideas or tests i can do?
thanks in advance

KidPandJ

An alignment would definetly be my first step, ask the shop that does the alignment to check it out for anything else out of the ordinary. Its kinda hard to diagnose (for me anyway) considering the one off creative repairs you had to do. Sorry, i know that's not much help.

vipsoarer

remember that you may have to re-torque the bolts about 100 miles after the install as the parts may have loosened over the drive time. an alignment is always a good idea to do after you work on the suspension even if you dont think it is necessary. check those two things and get back to us.

LexusFiend

Tomorrow go to an alignment shop and get your lex aligned immediately !! I installed poly bushings on one of my past cars and made the mistake of not trying to get aligned for a month later. When I took it in the tires were unevenly warn resulting in me having to replace four 6 month old tires and an alignment to make sure it didnt mess up the new tires. So even if an alignment doesnt solve your problems it will save you $$ to get it aligned.
-LexusFiend

WDoherty

i think that's what i'm going to do, just worried that i i'll have the alignment done and have the problem and have wasted the alignment. Note: i live in a small town in rural West Texas. I don't drive over 45mph unless i go out of town, haven't yet because of problem and i have to drive 2 1/2 hours to get to an alingment shop, so these are all factors.

B1TEM3

some shop offer a lifetime alignment, which is good if you change rims often or knows that you are trying to diagnose suspension.

Jonathan o

Chaeck your rear stablelizer end links. I had a similar problem with my SC but in the front. GL and post when you find what the problem is.

WDoherty

thanks it is the front suspension, and i replaced both end links.

Jonathan o

Then go back and make sure everything is tight to spec. GL

WDoherty

thanks jonathon, i disassembled and reassembled everything on the passenger side and made sure it was all tight, will probably redo the driver side too before i go to the alignment shop on Monday.

Jonathan o

You are welcome. Did you find the problem?

WDoherty

well i went to get it alinged and they said they couldn't because i need new strut mounts, struts, a leaky caliper (one which i replaced a few months ago and i don't buy) and they said i needed like 1700 work. It was midas by the way, so i am going to take a look at stuff once it warms up. But what doesn't make sense to me is how a strut mount or worn struts would make a diff. whether you could align the car or not since we have upper and lower control arms that control everything vs. a strut/ and lower control arm only arrangement, then that would make sense.

Jonathan o

Midas will try to BS you like that. Take it to another shop.

WDoherty

that's what i figured, and i'm going to look over everything next week provided it warms up. So i'm in west texas and screwed for trusty auto places. I like visiting austin, can anyone recommend a place where they had a good alingment experience in Austin?

mitsuguy

iTrader: (2)

Um, considering our cars don't even have struts, and have shocks, that wouldn't affect the alignment, I would definitely take it somewhere else...

I used to be from San Antonio... There is a company in Austin called SoulSpeed that does just awesome work suspension wise - everything from corner weighting to installation, to suspension tuning... They might not be the cheapest, but they are probably the best in that area...