Al, Skid, et al;

I always stand behind the technician to watch the wheel balancer when it is running to make sure it is zero/zero when they finish spinning each wheel.

It is easy for them to pass on a wheel that is a quarter or an eighth of an ounce out thinking "the driver will never notice".

I always do notice and if I have to I take it back.

And I always ask for the best technician in the shop.....hey it's my time and money too, right?

Skid I am sure your watched them do that right?

Is there more than one speed that you get vibrations at?

A balance issue will occur usually in a range of a couple of MPH....but can also occur at doubles of the first vibration...ie 40mph and 80mph.

Just want to make sure you really did eliminate balance before you spend all of that money.

Understand the desire to get it right but if you change/repair all of those at the same time you will never know what the cause was.

Or if they were all necessary.....

Not all alignment techs or wheel balancers are created equal....did you say you had tried a different tech or shop?

The Roadforce is good in the right hands but I preferred the old spin balancers that spun the wheel on the car...because sometimes it is the hub or disc assembly that is out of balance even if the wheel is balanced off the car...and those could be corrected when wheel tested on the car.

The other advantage of the older types was you could ask them to take them up to speed...100, 120mph where even the smallest deviation was magnified and is where you usually 'feel' them.

The new balancer's don't look like they even get up to 30mph.

Yeah, yeah, yeah spiffy laser's etc. but again they are only as good as the tech using them and the allowable variation programmed into them.

Anyway good luck and I sincerely hope all of this work resolves the problem and that it is all necessary.

And I second Brutal's advice if you are going to go all the way, then go all the way and get everything done at once for the reasons he said.

cheers,

jj

 

I'll take a look at them soon, but at $300 for all four, there'll have to be a real problem there. I paid that much for the two shock mounts already, but there's obviously something bad going on there. The lower control arm bushings don't really look that bad, but helping the eccentric bolts help us is the justification for that anyway.

 

JJ- I had the 17's re road balanced due to the shimmy, and it helped. The 18's wobble at 50, good at 60, bad at 70, good at 80, ad nausium.

 

Jamjax makes a good point about the man and the machine. After a RF balance the top of my steering wheel danced back and forth at 50 mph. Took it back and they put a different man on the machine with the original tech standing by. He got completely different results and fixed the problem.

Also, I had a situation on an unevenly worn ZR Falken. The tire gave me fits re attaining and holding a balance. An experienced balance tech balanced it the old non RF way and fixed it. The man said some crewed up tires do not respond well to RF balancing.

 

I pulled the left wheel off and took these.

Off center shock stud entering mount bracket....


Forward upper control arm bushings from the top...


Rear bushings from top...


View from underneath of the forward one...


And the other one..


Bushings themselves look ok to me, Bill, but I'm no expert. I do see some brown around them, is that the rust? No clunks from them, all the clunks were from the sway bar. Look ok to you?

 

skid whatever you posted the pics with i cannot see them at work

 

Here you go Bill. Let me know what you think.

 

Theyre fine as far as not the rust staining im talking about. But have them check for play once the ball joint is unbolted from the knuckle. Also can you shoot a pic of the upper shock mount at the outside of the top of the spring, not up in the center like that shot.

 

That's good news. I'll be sure to have them check it when everything else is getting done. Here's the left mount pic, the right is off center also, but not as much, barely noticable....

 

I was reffering to taking a pic up from the bottom inside the wheel arch area showing the mount ontop of the spring. You can readily see if the mount is collapsed from that point. You had taken a good pic from the bottom, but only the center of the mount where the shock goes into it. If you pan out and get the outer most top of the coil where it seats against the mount

 

OK, here you go...Also wondering how the lower spring support looks...seems ok...

 

lol, your upper mounts are GONE, Theres almost nothing left. Wait till you compare the new to old. Thaat is your camber and ride height issue right there. I would also venture to say your can see where the tires have been hitting in the top of the wheel arch liners when hitting bumps and potholes. you tech should have been replacing these instead of a bandaid eccentrics. but youll have alittle adjustabilty in the front now

 

Ah ha, as we suspected! Thanks Bill! When I give him the car and the parts for the job, should I have him put back in the origional bolts for the lower rear control arm since he's replacing those bushings?

 

no just leave them in and watch for no concession for overlapping times. You Could even ask for alldata printouts for shop times, and pay that realizing that some is overlapping and should be reduced alittle depending