I ran over something ridiculous. I don't know what it was. It was dark and I didn't notice it. It killed my Left Rear tire. Hole in the sidewall. The wheel was fine.

So I got new tires, and when I first drove it since the pothole I found my steering was off-center. I didn't notice anything else at first. So they done an alignment at the tire shop.... they informed me my Left Rear was wayyyy out of wack (both TOE & CAMBER), but since it's not adjustable there was nothing they could do... So I took a look after they were done with the front... this thing looks horrible.


At home I took the wheel off and drum and inspected everything. I seen no damage to studs, bearings, drums, or the axle. I think the hub mount on the axle or something in that immediate lineage is what lost its permanent set or bent... I seen no separate welds or anything else of obvious failure.

Compared to before, the car now feels like it wants to oversteer, and sometimes feels unstable. But I am not sure if that's because of the misalignment, new tire needing break-in, or the taller sidewall (225/50R17) on these new tires.

Now I have to take this into my own hands. What you you reccomend? I'm guessing I need to put a shim between the axle and wheel hub bearing assembly.

 

Something must have gotten bent back there check over everything

 

If the wheel is put on a tire balance machine you should be able to tell if it's bent. Other than that I say your rear axle could be Bent.

 

Yeah I think the wheel is okay. They had to put on a new tire and balance it. If it were bent they would have noticed and I'd notice a vibration. When I roll the wheel and car I don't see anything wobbly going on. These wheels are troopers for sure!


I agree, something had to have gotten bent, but, I did check and there is nothing a naked eye can see.... It likely is in the axle or the mount for the wheel bearing. I think I'd have to CMM the axle to find out where it is bent... there is enough geometry, curved weldments and angled brackets that there is no telling....

 

the rear axle is bent. if the car has rear disc brakes you cannot use wedge shims to correct the alignment. reason for that is because the shim goes under the wheel bearing, but the caliper bracket is part of the axle beamso the rotor would be out of wack compared to the rotor.

gonna need to get a new rear axle beam.

 

I have rear drums.... No disc brakes in back.

I think I'm buying a shim to get me through the winter... Then I can do a rear axle swap to get discs and make this into some type of wannabe project track car.

 

Start with an SS for a project.

 

SO here is the question guys:

Do I:

• Shim to get LH Camber/Toe to match RH?
• --or-- Shim to get it to the middle of the range or the preferred setting?

I'm going to look up to see if there is a single preferred setting within the range.

 

id try and get it close to the other side