strut bearings....

[Roa, Greg]

Typically what I have heard is to drive the car for a thousand or two miles to let the shocks settle, before getting the car aligned, for exactly the reason you described.  Not saying that it is the only reason your tires wore the way they did, but I'm sure it's not helping anything.

I've got a protractor that I use to set the camber and a harbor freight laser level I use to set the toe.  That will usually get the alignment within pretty close tolerances, so I can drive for a while without burning up the tires.  I think last time I was within .5 degrees on everything, and that was a quickie.

Good Luck!
Greg Roa
Cincinnati, OH
86' 4kcsq
93' 90 CS
83' 944


>From: "Stacy Anable" <qturbo at skynet.tj>
>To: <quattro at audifans.com>
>Subject: strut bearings....
>Date: Wed, 19 Mar 2003 01:16:25 -0800
>
>This is a multi-part message in MIME format.
>--
>[ Picked text/plain from multipart/alternative ]
>Just got back from sears. was going to get my 86 5ktq aligned....they calle=
>d me back shortly after getting the car on the lift. "strut bearings are sh=
>ot" showed me the sound they were making.  i watched the spring kind of stu=
>tter while it was turning.  I had known they were going for awhile now bee=
>n making a kinda growling/popping noise when turning the wheel while statio=
>nary.
>
>My question is...could this affect the cars ability to hold an alignment? a=
>nd also, a friend who is a mercedes tech said it was odd that we could see =
>the strut moving (watching the nut at the top of the strut) when we turned =
>the wheel. is this normal?
>
>Also what should it cost for a independant shop to replace the strut bearin=
>gs? would do it myself, but i don't have any good spring compressors.
>
>
>and one more thing...my cars camber is enough off that over the last year m=
>y tires have gone bald on the insides. last time i had an alignment it was =
>2 days after installing new boge turbo gas struts. i am thinking that the c=
>amber is off because the struts have "broken in". i notice that now the car=
> is a bit lower then right after i changed the struts.


thanks

Stacy