[marglar]

Hey everyone.

I just had a new sway bar (hotchkis) put in the front of my nova and the weirdest thing has happened.

The drivers side tire is now so close to the fender that it rubs on every little bump, where the passenger side has a big gap between the tire and fender that wasn't there before.

The clearances were tight before but nothing like the drivers side is now. Its almost un-drivable.

How the heck did they do that? What could they have changed to make that happen? Its like the whole front end clip was moved to the left (drivers side) inside of the cars framework. I can't for the life of me figure it out.

 

[NOGO]

It sounds like the sway bar put enough load on your control arm to move your alignment. Try re-aligning the car and tighten the control arm down properly and you shouldnt have any further problems.

 

[marglar]

moving the control arm could shift the entire wheel base to the left or right?

 

[NOGO]

moving the control arm could shift the entire wheel base to the left or right?

It definitely could:yes:

 

[Ryan V64SS]

The lower control arms where the swaybar attaches on the 3rd gens are fixed so I can't see that happening.

 

[marglar]

Thanks a million! I'll definitely make sure that they realign the front end and properly tighten down the control arm tomorrow.

 

[3DTim]

It definitely could:yes:

What he said. X2

 

[Professor Fate]

I agree with Ryan. His problem is something else. The sway bar can't move the lower control arms or alter the wheel base on a 3rd gen.

 

[marglar]

Could the mechanics have loosened or moved something during the install that could have changed the wheelbase?

In your opinions, what CAN be done that can cause a problem like this? That would be the place to start looking.

thanks for all the help!

 

[Professor Fate]

They removed the front wheels when the install took place. Did they take off the rears too? Are your wheels and tires the same size all the way around? Do the rims all have the same backspacing? Just throwing this out there as something to check that is simple and doesn't cost anything as a starting point.

 

[74 hatchback]

Only thing i could think of is they jurked the subframe around trying to get that thick bar in, may be your bolts are loose and/or bushings are wasted.

 

[marglar]

looks like the camber was somehow thrown off significantly. We all should have seen that sooner.

Thanks a million for all of the feedback everyone!

 

[Professor Fate]

Camber doesn't get "thrown off" by putting in a sway bar. Somebody has hit something with your car, like a big pothole or a curb. We weren't testing the new sway bar a little too aggressively were we?:devil:

 

[NOGO]

Camber does not change the position forward or rearward in the wheelwell, caster does. If there is no adjustment on your LCA (sorry Im not a 3rd gen guy) then something caused your alignment to move that is likely unrelated to your sway bar.

 

[bowtie0069]

If there is no adjustment on your LCA (sorry Im not a 3rd gen guy)

We don't have that crap to deal with Fargo--3rd gens are when they got away from that Falcon style junk!!
Something sounds fishy; there really isn't anything you could do to cause things to shift around that much....well, I could during one of my past performances, but I haven't had that much to drink in a long time!

Maybe this Mustang driver got near your car!