pontiac truck

installed 14'' aluminum wheels and Hakkapeliitta LRR tires. cleaned the interior, glass, and lights. checked all the lights. not much going on-its getting hot out (+35 or more) so hiding in the cooler shop is always nice.
 
It has been about the same temperature here and I did the stereo install under the shade of a tree to make it much cooler install. Are those tires winter tires?
 
yup, winter tires. paid $20 each for them- will run them out.

finding 12, 13 &14 inch tires is getting to be a challenge- unless i buy new, which is a rip off. worked in the tire industry 20 years, the markup on tires is over the top !!!
example- had a tire warehouse call the shop. buyer backed out of a purchase- a 20 foot c-can full of new tires, one size- $35 each.

we re-sold them for $74.99 INSTALLED-
another shop in town, selling exact same tire, from the same warehouse-$115, + mount n balance....

i felt sick when just recently i paid over $600, for 13'' winter tires- ugh
 
had a small coolant hose under the intake develop a pinhole leak yesterday , on my way to work- drove back home, grabbed the kids toyota and went to work.
wifey fixed the coolant hose while i was at work. new hose and non-marring fuel injection hose clamps.
try again today- its been hot, and any little weak spot will fail !!
 
car has had a clunk in the suspension, since all the work done- put it over the pit at work yesterday, found the culprit- the new sway bar bushings are loose!!! clunk clunk clunk the bar moves inside the bushing-
pretty sure i ordered the correct size. but the brand i have never used before- prothane brand poly bushings-

will look for energy suspension stuff. car sure sticks to the road.
 
nope- still has a clunk in the front-end. still handles like poop when the road transitions from pavement to gravel- as soon as i hit the gravel, the car pitches me sideways and all i am doing is a constant rowing of the steering wheel to keep the car straight-

this is annoying.

looking for a different alignment shop. something isnt right with the last wheel alignment. if its the offset bushings causing the problem, they may come back out, and oem bushings / suspension parts put back in.

it shouldnt be that hard , to get the car to handle properly-i still think its in the rear alignment, after installing the new rear toe bars the car was goofy (of course) but the alignment SHOULD have fixed that-

other than that, it is running fine.
 
kids been driving it all week, he hasnt said if there are any issues-

still handles weird when on gravel. will look for a different alignment shop. something isnt correct.
 
When I did the addition of rear sway bar and all new front poly with an offset bushing for control arm I was starting to think that something was screwy until I realized that I didn't fully torque down one of the strut nuts. I drove it to work and it ran alright on the way to work, but was pouring down rain on the way home. Every time I hit a puddle I was being pulled violently to the right. Check the strut top nuts! After finding the nut I missed it was night and day difference. I had already planned to replace the tires but the ones on it were eaten up by combination of the lose nut and not having it machine aligned.
 
will be looking for a different alignment shop. may call around later today. something just isnt right. will crawl around under it today and check the nuts and bolts...
may install a different (brighter) led light bar.
 
found an air gap between the new oem sway bar bushings and the body-so installed some rubber belting strips in there to take up the extra room. nice and tight now.

found the bolt for the drivers lca (ball joint pinch bolt) stripped smooth, allowing the ball joint slide up and down in the knuckle- making for a popping noise-
tapped the hole, installed longer oem bolt with red loctite AND a nut on the other end, to keep it from backing off.

now for a road test to work and back.
 
nope still clunks.
have a wheel alignment booked for next week, at a frame and alignment shop.

if its those whiteline bushings causing the issues, they will be removed and oem bushings installed.
 
Did you put the Whiteline bushing on the correct side? The offset should be further to the outside on both sides. I have had no issues with either a 1 degree and 1.5 degree offset control arm bushings. Did you take off the front bracket that the front lower control arms slides onto? It is possible to flip those guys upside down. They will fit but the alignment will be all way off if you do.
 
i made sure the bushings were the correct way. but it doesnt hurt to double check- if i had it wrong you think the alignment guy would have said something?
its to the point that the car fish tails on wet roads. getting really annoying. good thing the alignment is next monday.

still clunky as f under there...this has to be resolved before winter. the car will not be safe to drive all twitchy the way it is. almost went in the ditch when driving home in the rain the other day- and no, it wasnt hydroplaning-just the typical ''rear steer'' sway and then you try to correct for it.....and the car shoots off the other direction-
and other times the rear goes wherever it wants, with no steering input-left or right- so its not dragging brake drums-
 
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