really starting to think my car is twisted. how to check for car being straight?

fivespeedsteed · Apr 7, 2010

so this weekend i put on new springs, shocks, lca's ect.

the rear lca's are adjustable, and my car sits just about perfect in the front, the drivers side is slightly lower than the passenger side, but i mean slightly.

the rear still sits with the driver side about a 1/4 inch lower than the other side. if i put my ratchet on top of the wheel and then against the fender, the ratchet is flat on the passenger side, and pointed down on the driver side, and the kicker is thats with the weight jacking bolt (spring perch) being about a half to 3/4's of an inch higher on the driver side. the driver side lca has about 2 or 3 threads showing on the bottom of the lca , and the passenger side has about 9 or 10.

only thing i can think of is that when the subframes were welded in it froze the car twisted.

i know its a mustang, tolerances arent great, the front left is lower, ect. but come on really? look through the pics on page 3 of my build thread, even with c springs and stock isos it was worse. the new poly iso's are in and it sits allot more even, but the back is still off. i want to wash my car one day and not have water puddle on the driver side of my wing.

is there any way to put the car on stands or check for it being level orsomething in relation to the rest of the car? im 99 percent i have all the iso's correct and springs are sat in there right.

any ideas?

fivespeedsteed · Apr 7, 2010

i could probably get it to sit level, but im pretty sure that means im going to have one lca bottomed out and the other maxed out, which affects corner weights.

oh and i rear ended someone a while ago, it cracked a fender apron, but i doubt that ****ed with the rear cause its always sat like this.

im gonna try to measure and see if my axles centered or not.

TrophyHead · Apr 7, 2010

Mine is exactely like this also. Maybe the driver front is lower because of the battery?

I replaced alot on the rear. My driver tire sticks out about 2 inches more than the passenger side. The new upper control arms helped this somewhat but not fully.

tannerc91gt · Apr 7, 2010

If the roof has waves in it, or seems "dented", it's a good indication that the unibody is tweeked

Repostyle · Apr 7, 2010

TrophyHead said:
My driver tire sticks out about 2 inches more than the passenger side.

HOLY CRAP! That is NOT normal.

wildstang90 · Apr 8, 2010

Mine sits about 1.5" lower on the driver side front and about the same only higher on the passanger rear. I have replaced shocks springs caster camber plates and every bushing in the rear of the car nothen helped.

2000xp8 · Apr 8, 2010

TrophyHead said:
Mine is exactely like this also. Maybe the driver front is lower because of the battery?

I replaced alot on the rear. My driver tire sticks out about 2 inches more than the passenger side. The new upper control arms helped this somewhat but not fully.

That's a pretty severe number.
Make sure the offsets on all the rims are the same. Sometimes they look alike, but aren't the same.
Next make sure your torque boxes aren't torn out.

5speedsteed, take it to an alignment shop, a good one, not pepboys.
I have one in our area that will tell you anything you want to know, they also do alot of race cars. Costs more but it's worth it.

Also if your car's frame was that screwed up because of the subs, trust me your doors wouldn't open and close too easily.

fivespeedsteed · Apr 8, 2010

oh okay, ill have to look for a shop like that. i called maximum and they said it could be the upper control arms, they said because the rubber doesent turn, they can get loaded and twist the axle wierd. they said to loosen all 4 upper ca bolts, push up and down on the back end (ill be in the hatch jumping up an down) and then tighen them back down. that way the axles not being twisted.

7upstang91 · Apr 9, 2010

2000xp8 said:
Also if your car's frame was that screwed up because of the subs, trust me your doors wouldn't open and close too easily.

****, this could be my problem in the vert. One doors bottom corner sits in more, and the other one sticks out more.

THOR74 · Apr 9, 2010

I have seen cases where a heavy guy drives a car for a few years and the car ends up sitting lower on the driver's side. Every time the car is used the driver has to be in it, but not every drive has passengers aboard. So maybe you and/or the previous owner (if you are heavy) have helped cause this. It could be that you need new springs.

For truly precise alginments, especially on luxury cars with soft suspensions, it is not uncommon for the alignment mechanic to fine tune the alignment of a car with the owner sitting behind the wheel if he is a heavy guy.

That being said, I weigh over 300 pounds and have been driving my '91 GT for 13 years, putting about 50 000 miles on it and the car sits perfectly level. Currently, my car weighs exaclty ten times more then I do - driver's weight matters. The previous owner was a light guy.

Also, the springs on my GT seem pretty hard. Maybe your springs are a bit softer.

As well, how does everything line up when the car is lifted off the ground? If it all gets straight when lifted, then your springs are on the hit list.

fivespeedsteed · May 3, 2011

thread revival.

getting ready to come home for the summer and i really want to fix this. the car looks twisted when im looking at it from a distance.

my friends dad races mustangs, and has built many cages, done lots of subframe installs, ect, and he says that the back halves of foxes will sag sometimes. i think were going to jack it up and put it on stands that are all even and see what we can figure out.

this problem really bugs me.

thor, the car has done this with stock springs, c springs, and now my road and track springs. one time when it had c springs i swapped springs in the rear (driver to pass, pass to driver) , and it sat more level before i drove it home, then it was back to being sagged to the driver side.

the car measures anywhere from a 1/4 inch to a half inch lower on the driver side, and thats with my mm adj. control arms maxed out on one side and bottomed out on the other.

also did the upper ca bushings and that didnt help.

i think i might get mm xl subframe connectors, and have my buddies dad do them with it on stands that measure right. the car was definatly sagged to the driver side when the griggs subframes that are on there were installed.

also got in an accident (rear ended someone) a while back so i need to call shops and get it on an alignment machine to see what were looking at here.

any other advice ? i think for good measure im going to relocate the battery to the back passenger side also.

fivespeedsteed · Jul 7, 2011

might have found it. back axle seems to be almost a half an inch (probably 3/8s of an inch) more to the passenger side.

i took a level and pushed it against the tire straight up and down, then put a measuring tape across the top, and with one eye, looked till i had the side of the level straight up and down, then looked at the measuring tape. half an inch to the passenger side, meaning its shoved over.

panhard bar the only way to fix that?

2000xp8 · Jul 7, 2011

fivespeedsteed said:
might have found it. back axle seems to be almost a half an inch (probably 3/8s of an inch) more to the passenger side.

i took a level and pushed it against the tire straight up and down, then put a measuring tape across the top, and with one eye, looked till i had the side of the level straight up and down, then looked at the measuring tape. half an inch to the passenger side, meaning its shoved over.

panhard bar the only way to fix that?

Well, that depends on why it's crook'ed.
My first thought would be damaged torque boxes.
Uppers or lowers. Pull the rear seat out and look for the uppers tearing the floor.
Also check the upper bushings and arms.

While i'd bet the panhard bar works, it will be under pressure to goto one side as soon as you put it in, as forcing other suspension parts in directions they don't want to go.

Half an inch may not be that much, but i'd see if you can get it straight before putting on a panhard bar.

fivespeedsteed · Jul 7, 2011

good call. i will do that and try to figure out whats going on

fivespeedsteed · Jul 12, 2011

got it on the lift to see what was going on. see anything out of the ordinary? looks like torque boxes to me.

I candy · Jul 12, 2011

Maybe the car has been in a accident or slid into a curb and it pushed every thing over.

Check both socks and see if the ankles are the same, vertically to the ground.

I.m painting my car and found damage to my rear quarter under the paint.

Most foxes has/had damage to the front or the sides from sliding into things.

RangerJoe · Jul 12, 2011

Is that a crack in the 6th picture? It looks like the subframe is cracked. Maybe its just the pic, but looks like your frame is broken.

fivespeedsteed · Jul 12, 2011

no thats just where the subframe is welded. i did spin it out and hit a 45 degree curb once with the car, and the odd thing is that i hit the passenger side, so if anything that should have shoved it back towards the driver side right? the axle is too far to the passenger side.

i did rear end someone a while back, but the car had these ride height issues before that happened.

i plan on taking this car to the best frame shop in town and getting their opinion on it, just wondering what torque boxes look like when they get screwed up, and what can cause my axle to be so out of whack. car has had stock LCA's in it till i put extreme duty maximum lowers in it.

cardudeusa · Aug 15, 2011

Did you ever find out the cause of this? My 87 Gt has a similar issue. The drivers side rear sits about an inch to 2 inches lower than the passenger side. The front is only about 1/4 inch off. I thought changing the springs may help its had Steeda Ultra Lights on it since I got it.

fivespeedsteed · Jan 8, 2012

Just gonna start setting aside money for a bodyshop to go through this car and fix it, it is twisted I can see it. I think the back half is sagged to the driver side and the subframe connectors froze it there. I got all the springs and iso's all straight and it sits a half inch higher in the right rear. If you look at it though the entire cars twisted

I think it is because I have my adjustable lca's set even and at stock height and its still nose high by a little, the whole back end is sagged down. When your standing in front of it you can just see how the whole thing is warped. Ill keep you guys posted .

I also found that the rear axle is pushed over to the passenger side by 3/8ths of an inch, I dunno if I mentioned that before, but maximum told me that wouldn't cause this

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really starting to think my car is twisted. how to check for car being straight?

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