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

[Aaron]

Hi Dave

For a baseline I just had both control arms, all bushings, 1 tie rod, 
shock tower bearings and a steering damper and 4 wheel allignment done 
for a 700 $ US bill.  
Car drives like new. All I had to do was help my local allignment shop 
find the parts.
Aaron

Dave Ellis wrote:

>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
>
>
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