Front suspension problems

[plethaus]

Car is a '92 MTX with about 288,000 on it. I've had the car since September 06 and ever since I've had it there was an alignment problem (car pulled to the right, driving straight required steering wheel pointed left). It wasn't that bad so I didn't worry too much about it given that it is my winter beater and nothing more.

Well, over the past couple weeks I noticed that the car would squeal the front tires going around corners (left or right) at greater than 15mph. The front tires were worn but the driver side was definitely more so.

Then last weekend the car developed a bad shimmy in the steering. I've had many cars that blew a belt in the radials do that so I figured the tire was shot. I put two new ones up front, 215/60/16, the stock size. The old tires were 205s. I went to take the car for a drive after I put the wheels back on and I didn't get out of the driveway - the new tires are rubbing something on the suspension really bad, it's like the brakes are dragging.

I'm not that knowledgeable with suspension stuff.. anyone have any ideas where I should look next?

edit: Also I'm not sure if my car is lowered, it appears it may be lowered a little by the previous owner but I'm not sure. If it is I'd say it's not more than 1.25" drop. Would that be enough to make the stock tire size rub?

 

[Toul]

Only thing I can think of that the tires could possibly make contact with would be the strut. but 215s should fit, unless you have aftermarket rims I guess.

 

[plethaus]

Only thing I can think of that the tires could possibly make contact with would be the strut. but 215s should fit, unless you have aftermarket rims I guess.

Yeah, that's all I could think of too... it was getting dark and was cold and rainy so I didn't have a chance to see for sure what was rubbing for sure. I guess I'll just have to look at it some more this weekend.

 

[Shoaz]

If the car was lowered with aftermarket springs like Eibach or Intrax, nothing should be rubbing in the front. If it was lowered by dropping the strut in the knuckle, the new tires could be rubbing on the spring perch, which should be pretty easy to tell. (Just stick your fingers toward the top of the tire and see if you can put at least a piece of cardboard between the top of the tire and the perch.)

If it rubs all the time it should be fairly easy to spot if the car is on a lift with the suspension compressed. If that's not possible, a mirror and a flashlight may be revealing.

Also check the front hub bearings. With the appropriate front corner jacked up, try to wiggle the tire top and bottom. If there's clunky play the bearing is bad...although it'd have to be pretty bad to make the tire rub.

Definitely worth checking out, though, since the front wheels on these cars do everything.

BTW, love the new avatar.

 

[Storm-Chaser]

I've run different brands of both 215/60 and 225/60 tires without ever having a problem with rubbing.


There are a number of things that can give the "feel" of dragging.

Given your description, the first thing that came to mind is a broken spring. Depending on which way the spring shifts, it can come into direct contact with the tire in a location where it is very difficult to see.

When I bought my current SHO, I drove it out of the prior owner's driveway knowing both springs were broken, one in multiple locations. During the short drive to SHOBam's house to replace both strut assemblies, one of the springs began rubbing the left front tire. And even though Bruce later said he could clearly see smoke coming from the left front due to the rubbing, I could only tell that it was dragging.

The other likely causes - bearings, brakes, struts - have all been mentioned.