Went to get my front tires balanced cause of some somewhat moderate "tires out of balance" sounds.

To my surprise when the guy pulled my tires off the inside tread was about 70% worn down. By inside i mean, the inside edge to about 2 inches in.

The place i took it to is a mom and pop auto repair. "Apparently" they can only get the lower control arm and the other necessary parts for a repair from the dealership. The control arm alone they say it 350 a piece. Holy christ. Thats 700 just in parts not to mention labor.

I havent gotten a quote from another place yet, but before i drop 1K to fix the front end, i wanna see if anyone else has done this and do i need any special kind of tools to complete this?

Im not a pro mechanic but i have done and still do basic to intermediate auto repair jobs; head gaskets, rotors, power steering pumps alternators. I have no problem with that, i have not ever done any kind or front end alignment job before.

 

Rockauto.com

 

Are the control arms bent or are the bushings just bad? Replacing the control arms is fairly simple. I had the bushings in my lower control arms go bad so I just bought a set from Z1 and just replaced those instead of spending money for complete control arms.

 

i dont think they are bent, just worn down, i guess that would be the bushings? I got 90K on her.

I can physically see both tires are cocked in at the top. How would i be able to tell if the bushing are bad? and where would i be looking for them?

 

I just looked at those bushings on rockauto, 15 bucks. thats cheaper than what i was thinking.

Would replacing just the bushings make the tires perpendicular again or is there something i am missing here?

 

Do you have an alignment reading/printout? Could be camber wear/toe-out wear?

 

I could be wrong here, but i dont think its an alignment problem, as soon as the mechanic took the tire off he was like damn, looks like the lower control arm is goin. When i drive the car doesnt pull to the left or right, which would BE and alignment right?

the alignment is fine, but the top of the tire is pitched inward and the bottom is kicked outward, making the bottom inside 2 inches wear down.

From what i learned in the few seconds i talked to him he said when the lower control arm goes, the top pitches in and the lower kicks outward, when the upper control arm starts to go the top get kicked out and the lower gets pitched in. ill throw up some pics later tonight when i get home.

the driver side is worse than the passenger side is. but they are both having the same problem.

 

From what you're describing, you have negative camber. Negative camber does cause the wear type you described. Uneven camber does cause pull, but if you have even camber on both sides, it won't pull, yet still wears out your tires.

 

Like others have said, could be bushings too. If that's the case, you can get Whiteline or SPL bushings. If you have an alignment printout, it will tell alot.

 

The bushings seems cheap enough, is that something i should just do anyway is it an easy enough job to do?

In the mean time ill look into negative chamber.

 

simply taking it to get an alignment would fix the problem?

Do you think that the place i took it to who told me "the lower control arms are going" were trying to squeez some money outa me?

 

First, get a flash light and look at the bushings on your lower control arms. Are you lowered at all? If you're not familiar with chassis inspections, then you need a good mechanic to give you a chassis inspection to see if the bushings are shot, or bearings, etc. Then get an alignment reading. From that, you determine what to do. New bushings can't hurt, but I can't guarantee it'll fix your problem because I don't have anything to go on, ie your alignment reading, chassis inspection

 

$130ish for a full front end bushing kit from energy suspension. Simple to do yourself.

 

My car is not lowered.

Ill make it a point to try and get it checked out this weekend, when i get an alignment, do i need to reuqest for the alignment readings or are they given to you normally?

 

Good to know, thanks for that dude!

 

they always give it to you. ask them to weight the driver seat to match approx. your weight. they should quickly give your suspension a once over inspection too

 

This might sound funny, i dont think i have ever owned car long enough to need an alignment. Thats why i wasnt totally sure what the delio is.

So i dont get flamed, im not a 19 year kid whos daddy takes care of all that, im 26 and i guess i just own cars long enough for me to fhuck it up. Ive been riding the Z pretty agressively though, that maybe the root cause for all my problems.

Thanks again for the advise, ill keep everyone posted.

 

The Z does not hold alignment very well, it will probably require an alignment once a year. Of course more if you change any suspension component.

 

im expecting to get a chassis inspection tomorrow 7/5/2011. i took a loot at the bushings and they appear to be in bad shape. from snooping around it looks like the lower control arm has two of the same type and size bushings. is this correct?

I would need a total of 4 bushings for the front?

i know its hard to say, but does anyone have a general idea of how much time i need to replace all the bushings if i bought the Front Control Arm Bushing Set?

 

it can take a while and might require a press depending on the condition and
state of wear. i just finished replacing everything up front including lower ball
joint (the real source of my ****ed up alignment)... i think my buddy spent 10
hours all told. my car had 100k miles though.