New Suspension but Rear Toe Problem

[JoeSeppe]

I had a shop do essentially a complete suspension replacement on my '92. Parts included Tokicos, Eibachs, new strut mounts, endlinks, swaybar bushings, eccentric bushings for the rear, and all of the strut rod bushings.

The problem is the rear toe is way out of spec on the alignment rack: -1.34 (driver side) and -1.30 (pass. side). I know the Eibach's can affect camber (it did, -1.6/-1.7), but why is the toe so far off ? The front end is fine.

If the rear strut rod bushing were put in wrong, could this cause the toe-in ? It had all the original components before the install and the rear toe was not a problem before the install.

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92 Emerald Green
ATR 2.5" SST Cat-back
Romar SFC
26mm RSB

 

[RStalveyARFF]

yes, a strut rod bushing could cause this, but also installing the eccentric control arm bushings could do this. Some bolts could have been frozen etc, or the bushings could have not even been adjusted. After this suspension work was it aligned or no? After installing eccentric bushings and any type of strut/spring, you need an alignment, because precise points that were once there will be moved when things are bolted back together. that would be why you are seeing measurements that are way off.

 

[sdpatt]

Even if they didn't replace the eccentric bushings, they should be able to get the toe in spec withthe Eibachs. Did they say that they couldn't align it properly or just not do it right?

Scott

 

[JoeSeppe]

After the susp. install, the car was taken to an alignment shop. The toe-in numbers I listed above were after an alignment and with whatever tweaking he could do.

Since the rear strut mounts are essentially fixed as well as the control arms, what can you adjust to correct the toe ? My brother had the same shops do the same work on his '89 SHO without this toe problem. This makes me think the alignment guy knows what he's doing and something might have happened during the install.

Thanks for the feedback - any more thoughts ?

Joe

 

[DeaconBlue]

When I had the complete suspension upgrade done last spring, Koni's, Eibach's, ES strut rod bushings, etc... I also had the Moog 2 degree ecentric bushings installed in the forward trailing arms and the TRW 4 degree ecentric bushings p/n 13235A (2 required) installed in the rear trailing arm. That way they can adjust both the rear toe and camber more easily.

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95 MTX
with a few mods

 

[drivinhard]

GM p/n# 10296341. Adjustable tubular rear arms for the GTP, work like a charm on the taurus with SHO NUT's sleeve and washer kit. I put these on my 92 so I could set my rear toe/camber exactly where I wanted. A lot easier than messing around with bushings, and trying to "tweak" the inboard mounting points with the factory pieces. They use rubber on the ends, so it's friendly for the street. (some of the SHO aftermarket arms use rod ends with alum tubing.)

It's like having 4 tie rod ends back there, you can set it to exactly where you want it. Throw it up on the rack, loosen the jam nuts, rotate the adjuster till you see the numbers you want, tighten the jam nuts. Cake.

Plus the stock pieces are flimsy, you can just about bend one of those cheap stamped steel arms with your bare hands.

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White 92
SR71SHO - racer '89

 

[89 Gary]

Originally posted by drivinhard:
GM p/n# 10296341. Adjustable tubular rear arms for the GTP, work like a charm on the taurus with SHO NUT's sleeve and washer kit. I put these on my 92 so I could set my rear toe/camber exactly where I wanted. A lot easier than messing around with bushings, and trying to "tweak" the inboard mounting points with the factory pieces. They use rubber on the ends, so it's friendly for the street. (some of the SHO aftermarket arms use rod ends with alum tubing.)

It's like having 4 tie rod ends back there, you can set it to exactly where you want it. Throw it up on the rack, loosen the jam nuts, rotate the adjuster till you see the numbers you want, tighten the jam nuts. Cake.

Plus the stock pieces are flimsy, you can just about bend one of those cheap stamped steel arms with your bare hands.

Of all the mods on my 89 I admit that they rank right there on top. It gives a nice stable attitude to the rear with it's stiffining and the car seems to tract much truer and quicker because you can set those specs unlike before were we only got close to the max limit. My alignment guy was very impressed with it's ease and the stock arms were a joke. Highly recommend the re-inforced "H" bracket if you get the new control arms.