[s-cars] Alignment and suspension questions (long-ish)

[Dave Ellis]

When it comes to suspension and alignment issues, I've not done any of 
my own work in these areas (yet) so I'm a bit of a noob in this area, 
so please bear with me.  

My '93 S4 is still on it's orginal suspension components, and as you'd 
expect the control arm bushings, tie rod ends, sway bar bushings, etc. 
are all very loose and in need of servicing.

Over the past two months I've noticed the car is tramlining more and 
more on some roads with ruts on ths road, and that the steering has 
become quite loose, inaccurate, and sometimes "darty" when hitting 
bumps or chaning lanes on rutted roads.  I've also noticed that the 
front driver's side wheel is being worn away on the inside edge, so I 
know that a front alignment is badly needed.

At the moment money's tight (it's after the holiday's after all) so I 
can't afford to have all the suspension bits replaced at the moment, 
and would like to fix the alignment issue for as little as possible for 
now until I can afford to address the suspension proplerly later this 
summer (and finally put those Eibach springs I have sitting in the 
basement on).

My question is will it be possible to do a front end alignment with the 
various suspension and steering bits so loose and worn?  Or should I 
just park the car until I can afford to do everything right? 

For the S-car listers in the Ottawa area, what local shops have you used 
to do alignment or suspension work you've been happy with, or have any 
of you done the work yourselves?  If you've done suspension work in the 
past yourselves, are you planning any suspension jobs in the (near) 
future I could help out with to learn the correct methodologies?  While 
the Bentley is o.k, it assumes a basic level of familiarity with the 
suspension systems that I don't have, and I'd rather not have any 
"learning experiences" if I can avoid it.  :o)

Thanks!

Dave Ellis
'93 S4
Ottawa, Canada