analysing a car for a bent frame

delphis · Post by **delphis** » Sat Jan 21, 2006 12:49 am

well I just took my car in to have the rotors and brakes pads replaced and the guy says I might have a bent frame. I was hoping there might be some things that I could look for to diagnose my hard pulling to the right.

could it possibly be the tire balance, alignment and rotation? I haven't had the alignment done in a while because when I went and got my new last time the jackass told me that "you can't do an alignment on a FWD vehicle." I thought to myself that is bullshit because when I had my stratus I had an alignment done multiple times.

Could it be my shocks/struts? The car is just shy of having 100k miles on it and could it be time for new shocks and struts?

well I am going to change my oil tomorrow and hopefully I can see what the problem really is.

DomWoo · Post by **DomWoo** » Sat Jan 21, 2006 1:11 am

go to a frame alignment shop and see what they tell you....

delphis · Post by **delphis** » Sat Jan 21, 2006 1:27 am

well I just called around and most of them say they want 85 and hour just too look at the car and most of them have a minimum of 2 hours.

DomWoo · Post by **DomWoo** » Sat Jan 21, 2006 2:05 am

wow... the place here will look at it for free.. then charge to do the work..

does it feel like it drives funny?

delphis · Post by **delphis** » Sat Jan 21, 2006 2:50 am

well it pulls to the right and while braking it shakes. I am not sure if it still does thise while braking since I got the new rotors and pads put on. but the tire is worn down on the inner side of the tire more than the outer side of the tire. I usually only rotate my tires from front to rear and vice versa. I will see more tonight when I am driving around and post some mroe, and I think I will call some more body shops tomorrow.

Post by **PrecisionBoost** » Sat Jan 21, 2006 7:21 am

My Acura 3.5RL was doing the same thing.... it turned out to be the tire.... the tread separated from the belt.

It was really weird.... it cause all kinds of shaking.... pulling to the left.... even at low speeds.... brakes acted funny....ABS kicked on all the time when it was slippery.

Generally.... the car felt like there was something very major wrong..... I even had the tires rebalanced.... helped slightly but still had problems.

MMamdouh · Post by **MMamdouh** » Sat Jan 21, 2006 11:43 am

you won't be able to judge it correcly unless you replace the faulty tire(s) and get the car alligned... only then you can start diagnosing the car's behaviour and i am sure it will be OK afterwards.
from what you discribed you got too much toe out on your right wheel.

MMamdouh

TheGreatAndPowerfulOz · Sat Jan 21, 2006 5:51 pm

It sounds like the alignment and possibly one of the struts may be soft on one side causing uneven body lean.

Agreeing with MMamdouh, chage the tires, get an alignment and if that still does not cure it, change the struts & shocks; they do not last forever.

If after that, the car is still pulling to one side, then have a garage look to see if you have a bent control arm or A arm or even a bad ball joint. If those are fine, then you may possibly have something bent in the frame.

Have you hit anything with the car? A big hole, a curb, a ditch or even a big object in the road?
Do you have any cause to think that you may have caused something to get bent under the car?

The more you can remember (if you did hit something) and the more information you tell us, the better chance of someone helping you remedy the problem.

Cliff

delphis · Post by **delphis** » Sat Jan 21, 2006 6:12 pm

well in the bay area the roads aren't top notch and we do have a fair amount of pot holes, I did hit a big one a long time ago. The thing is though that when I went and got my brakes put on yesterday the guys specialize in brakes and suspension and they said they didn't notice anything wrong, but I don't really trust them, I will take it to some place like pep boys and see what they say.

is there an easy way to judge a bent control arm?

I did just recently put on a strut bar too.

MMamdouh · Post by **MMamdouh** » Sat Jan 21, 2006 9:08 pm

just to take it out of the equasion... try the car wuthout the strut bar.

also my car started to pull hard to the left one day after i hit a big ass pot hole... the impact was strong enough that it caused the side wall of the tire to collaps and develop a "bubble" and that caused the tire to be not circular and made the car pull to the right.

you said you are going to replace your tires so probably you might have on with bad side wall or so... try putting the rear ones at the front and test it... i feel this is all usless as you are going to get new tires anyways so as i said before, hold all the diagnosis till you get new tires and an alighnmet + balancing... try to inspect the old tires througly specially if they have bad side walls or so.

MMamdouh

DaewoLeganza · Post by **DaewoLeganza** » Sat Jan 21, 2006 9:12 pm

probably when u removed the rotor u pulled to hard to cause the spindle or which to come from the part where the axel connects to the tranny

probably only 1 axels movin the other ones not

MMamdouh · Post by **MMamdouh** » Sat Jan 21, 2006 9:19 pm

DaewoLeganza wrote:probably when u removed the rotor u pulled to hard to cause the spindle or which to come from the part where the axel connects to the tranny

probably only 1 axels movin the other ones not

do you have any idea about rotors replacment?? if you do then you should know their is no force applied in removing a rotor whatsoever.

MMamdouh

DaewoLeganza · Post by **DaewoLeganza** » Sat Jan 21, 2006 9:28 pm

MMamdouh wrote:
DaewoLeganza wrote:probably when u removed the rotor u pulled to hard to cause the spindle or which to come from the part where the axel connects to the tranny

probably only 1 axels movin the other ones not
do you have any idea about rotors replacment?? if you do then you should know their is no force applied in removing a rotor whatsoever.

MMamdouh

there could if ur strong enough

and if thats the problem then ...

MMamdouh · Post by **MMamdouh** » Sat Jan 21, 2006 9:30 pm

it has nothing to do with my strenth... a 5 year old can take off the rotor after you remove the retaning screw, please don't start this again, i work on cars for the past 18 years so i know what i am talking about.

MMamdouh

CustomLanos · Post by **CustomLanos** » Sat Jan 21, 2006 9:39 pm

You should just figure out if the frame is straight...search online for how to do X measurements on cars to see if the frame is straight....you basically have to measure from point A to point B with certain spots on the car and you measure from left side to right side to make an X with the two measurements. Its not really easy to explain but if you dont have a tram gauge then you can use a broom with two pencils at each end. just look it up and read about it, it will be a lot easier.