HALP! 86 Coupe Front end

[Ed Armstrong <earmstrong@CSC.NOAA.GOV>]

>
>1) After a week, the car started to produce  front end & steering wheel
vibration.  Gradually 
>became harder to control, lane changes became nightmarish (esp. over a
crown or rut in the 
>road).  These bad characteristics began to present themselves at all times,
not just during 
>braking or slowing. 
>
>2) Wheels were balanced only 6 weeks ago.  Rims are the 16 spoke OEM (and
pretty darn straight), 
>and tires are newish Yokohama directionals (less than 15k on them).  The
KYB shocks & struts are 
>fair-to-good (<25k on them).
>
>3) Last week I had new control arms, bushings, tie rods & ends, and ball
joints put in.  The 
>only obvious omission was inner sway bar bushings, as they were unavailable
when he was (present 
>ones not too bad).  You may have seen my joyous post (short-lived victory
dance). 
>
>4) I had the car aligned (on a Hunter machine) and drove away, anticipating
happiness. 
>Improvement was vast and immediatetly noticable, but certainly not perfect. 
>
>5) There is still a vibration in the front end, slight but more pronounced
when braking.  The 
>car still wanders some, and there suddenly seems to be what feels like
excessive body roll in 
>turns, and it is producing more and more road noise.  Going into turns
feels like a tire is low 
>(not so) and is loading up very quickly. Conditoins are worsening,
apparently every day of 
>driving. 
>
>6) The rear bearings do have a bit of play (about 1 mm) and need eventual
replacing, 
>but this definitely feels like all in the front end.  


               ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
        Definitely replace those rear bearings as they could contribute to
"looseness" and they are cheap and easy to replace.

        Sounds like you have looked for and replaced the obvious culprits.
Warped disk rotors and poor tires could contribute to your problems though.
Strut bearings could be shot as well
  	- ed

~~~~~~~~~~~
Edward M. Armstrong     	  	email: earmstrong@csc.noaa.gov
Coastal Remote Sensing  		phone: 803 974-6265
TPMC/NOAA Coastal Services Center	fax:   803 974-6224
2234 S. Hobson Ave.
Charleston, SC 29407