Hey guys, I feel like I've tried everything... I need ideas. front left tire, correctly inflated, no belts or bulges....is worn on both outers. Camber issue right? We'll none of my checks pan out... I have a busted boot on the upper ball joint and my sway bar connect is rotted out but I can't get any play out of them...loaded and unloaded. The car ran fine with the exception of a slight rubbing sound up front. Took a corner the other day and heard a metallic pop... Now it rides rough up front....I limped it home and took a look under...nothing obvious. pulled the outer and inner wheel bearings...they look fine, no metal shavings etc. everything is caked in mud from the previous owner going mudding in it (joke)... any ideas are appreciated.
Check your upper and lower bushings. Make sure the bolts are centered in the bushings and not chewing a key-hole into the outer shell and arm. Mine did this. Also check the bolts that attach the upper arm shafts to the frame and make sure you didn't lose your alignment shims.
First thing I'd do is pressure wash some of the grunge off so you can get a better look. The sway bar should have 0 impact on the tire wear in most circumstances. Check the lower ball joints and idler arm. Those are the fastest wearing items on my car. I replace them 2-3 times more than upper ball joints and tie rod ends, which you should also check. I replaced my first drag link a few years back but it was beyond needing it. The ball for the idler arm was so sloppy I don't know how I was able to steer at all. Then the upper and lower A-arm bushings. I've had the upper bushing wear out so bad it was metal on metal. I kept hearing an odd clink when I hit the brakes. Finally, depending on how you drive, your outside edge on your front tires may just wear faster due to the poor geometry of our cars. For 20 years I wore the front edges off even though I get increasing negative camber and adding positive caster at every alignment. It wasn't until I went with aftermarket uppers and long upper ball joints that I finally started to see improved tire life with +5 caster and -1 camber.
Adam, swapping the tires is not something I even considered ou: I gues it's a smart first choice though. I just figured since the tires were a few years old and the suspension was all original, that it was more likely the suspension. Greg the "gunk" is so thick that I've actually been chipping away with a flathead and rubber mallet to get it off. I'm to the point to where I think I might just need to dissassemble it all and have it sandblasted. My message the other day was brief, the wife was actually on my ass to get on the road (we spent the weekend out of town) and I wanted to post something quick to get some ideas churning. When I first purchased the car, the tires were all really new, I noticed right away the wear on the outer edges of the front driver-side tire (inner and outter). I checked it immediately for inflation and found that it was not under inflated (a normal cause for this kind of wear). So then once I got home with it and got it on jacks, I tested for Toe and Camber by prying up on the tire with it off the ground and then pushing at the 3-9 and 12-6 sides of the tire. I found no play back then with the tire and since it rode fairly nice I just put it on the backburner, since it was still cruisable I knew I didn't need it immediately because I had plans to redo the front and rear suspension towards the end of this project. The car always had a slight shimmy noise coming from the front, it almost sounded like the fan was hitting the shroud but the speed was consistent with the tire rotation and it was only really apparent at slow speeds (possibly the engine drowned out the noise at higher). Again, it was nothign scary, so I let it be and still drove the car when it was nice out, all the while my 455 is on a stand at home getting worked on and prepped for a swap. The 350 drives good so I keep cruising. Then one day after coming off some hard throttle and making a right hand turn into a merge I hear a metallic "pop" and now the front left has a definate wobble, not something you feel comfortable ignoring. I limped it home, pulled the wheel off and saw nothing obvois (granted I did not get under the car at that time). The car sat for several weeks as life just got too busy for it. Then this weekend I get some time so I jack up the car on the fram, take the tire off and I look with a shop light for anything noticable. Nothing. I loaded the front suspension and checked for play and then unloaded it and checked (I really only checked the ball joints by manipulating the steering knuckle). As Tim suggested I still need to look at the upper and lower control arm bushings. I guess a question I have with that is, can I really mess anythign up by unbolting the upper arm? I know there are some shims in there that are for camber adjustments but it's just a matter of me putting everything back in it's place, right? I havnt looked at the idler arm at all, since it's on the other side of the car... I did notice that the pitman arm (drop pitman?) is wet with oil. I assume it's just from a leaky power steering pump and isn't the issue. Also the front inner and outter wheel bearings were pulled. I found nothing that stuck out to me, but I'm no expert with this kind of stuff, nothing was obviously out of place. The upper ball joint sticks out as being the problem, even though I can not get any movement out of it (I could be very well doing it wrong). .. it has a busted boot on it... I'll know more when I remove it. From my readings in the service manual, it's spring loaded, so that could be whats stopping it from moving. I wanted to put this all down in writing in case somebody else had this problem down the road. If anybody has any other thoughts on something I should check, please let me know and I'll report back later this week. Thanks
I did not check, since typically a balance issue shows up at higher speeds, like around 40mph. Since my issue is apparent at even 5mph, I'm sure it's not a wheel weight. Thanks though.
Has to be tread separation or a bent wheel. There are no steering or suspension parts that can cause a wobble at 5 MPH. Then again, many years ago one of the local hooligans put weights half way around the inside of one of the front wheels on a guy's car. Also, there was the time when that same guy left his car in that same gas station lot overnight, uninvited. That same hooligan took a tire off, put a brick in it, and reinstalled it. Talk about out of balance.:shock:
Nice, sounds like a good trick to play on somebody that doesnt destroy their property at the same time. This must of happened years ago... kids today would just key a car or clip off a valve stem with wire cutters to get him back. I plan to look over the control arm bushings this weekend as well as replace the upper ball joint and repack the wheel bearings. I'll let everybody know if it fixes the problem. Supposed to be in the upper 50's here next week... time to cruise!
It was a rotten thing to do, and I can only report what happened, as hearsay. I would never do such a thing. This happened in the late '60s/early '70s, as I recall.
Could be a worn rubber bushing in your lower control arm. A friend had one so worn that the bolt started cutting into the arm. The entire front end wobbled and would shift around every time he hit the breaks. You could actually feel it move while driving the car. Duane
Hey guys, for continuity I thought I would update this post with the outcome and what it took for me to fix this issues listed in the original post. The "shimmy" sound that I had and the wobble and rough ride I was getting was essentially two different problems. The shimmy was there from the time I got the car and I had noticed that I probably had a camber issue since I had rounded edges on both the inner and outter tire (front driver). That tire was shot, moving the rear tire fwd to the front, temporarily, fixed that issue....the tires were 26 years old anyway, so their time had come. ....long ago. (I had originally assumed they were newer tires since three had great tread and the fourth was only problematic on the outer edges). The wobble was more of an issue, since I wasn't able to cruise with it and couldn't ignore it. I unfortunately changed a few things at a time (since I had her opened up) so I cant tell you exactly what the problem/fix was but I can tell you what I feel like it was. What I did was I replaced a slightly worn lower control arm bushing (the rear one) it was worn and I changed it more out of a preventative maitenance type of thing instead of me actually being concerned with it. It didn't seem to have any play in it (see pic) But could of been the problem. The upper ball joint gave me no play when mounted to the steering knuckle, but once removed it was much easier to move. I had figured it was the problem since I had a busted boot on it. (I feel it was the actual problem). I repacked both the inner and outter bearings, they looked fine, but since I had them out I figured I might as well. I replaced the rear grease seal as well. I replaced the passenger and drivers side control arm link, they were rotted to hell and I also replaced the two CA frame bushings. (don't feel they were an issue either). I also greased every zert fitting I could find on the front end. Car rides fine now, if anybody has issues with this in the future, feel free to PM me. View attachment 281303
