Front end allignment and other stuff

I have the usual problems. I have the front end snap when turning after slowing down for a turn. I have read that this could be from the control arm bushings. I have looked at mine and they appear O.K but I guess they could be bad and I am not noticing it. I also had sears and firestone look at it and they could not find anything; but gave me a TSB printout that talks about the steering having a snap in it. They suggest this is from the upper bearing spring and can be replaced with a stiffer one. Is this the bearing plate that is on the top of the strut or is it something different? I really do not think this is what my problem is but you never know.

Now for the alignment. I have had years do the alignment four times and it still pulls to the right pretty good. I have new tires, rotors and pads. When I got the car it was the straightest driving car I have ever owned but it needed struts. Since I put struts on it has never been the same. I am wondering if the struts have to be assembled in a manner that will affect the alignment if it is not done correctly or in a certain way. Does anyone have any experience with this setup?
I did have an Olds service manager drive the car and he thought the clunking noise might be something in the subframe. Anyway, I sure would appriciate any advise on these matters. I hate to let the dealer put it on thier rack, that could end up costing big money.

Thanks In advance
Dave A.

What year car? You need to hold the shop responsible for fixing it to your satisfaction. If I drove off from an alignment and it pulled, I would go right back. Are you getting all four aligned? There are camber/caster adjustments that can be made also. Make sure you're not just getting a simple toe-in, toe-out job. My Caddy dealer charges $99 for a four wheel. That's only $25 more than Pep Boys. 98% chance the "pop" is the strut plate bearing.

I've seen struts assembled incorrectly in a way that can make noises .Can you get it to snap while sitting there and not driving ? If go to the noisy side open the hood and put your finger on the upper strut nut and see if you can feel it while someone turns the wheel . Another thing is while someone is turning look above the tire to see if the spring is turning freely with the strut or if is binds then snaps trying to catch up with the strut. As far as the alignment front camber can be done with slotting the struts or camber kit. I don't think caster can be done unless you want to whack away at the strut towers. Make sure the air pressure is o.k. and swap the front tires side to side to see if it pulls the other way. A car will pull to the side a bad tire is on

Thanks guys,

The car is a 95. I can not get it to pop when it is sitting still. Depending on how hard I turn is a direct relation to how big the pop is. This only happens when I am going very slow (5-10 mph ) like making a 90 degree turn where you do not have to stop, just slow down. I guess when Ithink about it , it could be that coil spring popping because there is to much tension on the bearing plate. I assume that is what the tbs is addressing when it says "install new upper bearing spring". English is a funny language, I would have called it "upper strut bearing plate " like they do at the parts store. The alignment thing is funny, when you shut the car off the steering wheel relaxes to the right about an 1/8 turn to the direction it pulls. When I drive in the left lane the car goes straight as an arrow (the road is crowned that way) I do not think it is the tires because I put the struts on when I had the old tires on and it pulled after that, just not as bad as it did after the second set of struts and new tires. I had to put two sets of struts on this thing because the in the first set one ended up being froze up. you want to talk about frustrating. Try and figure out why the car rides worse with new shocks on it. everytime I put money into this thing I get it back and it is worse then when i started. Today might be the day I go in an do some serious bitching. I hold shit in for awhile then when it comes out it is not very pretty and I usally don't get much accomplished. any more Ideas would be nice. I will go see I can tell if the Coil spring is slipping or something.
Forgot to mention that in the TSB it says the snap can be felt in the steering wheel. I do not feel it and this makes me think that they are not talking about the same bearing thing. It also says something about replacing the cancel cam and upper bearing race I can scan this TSB and email it to you if you would like to see it.

Dave A.

Up through 96 are the MacPhereson style replacement cartridge struts, correct? 97 and up, the whole strut housing w/ lower spring base is replaced as a unit. With either, the housing to spindle bolt carriers(bushings)are eccentric and thats what adjusts camber. These have to be right on or the excessive positive/negative setting will cause the pull.

So it sounds like they put the struts in wrong. If this is the case should I go back to Sears and demand that they contact the Olds dealer so they can learn how to put them in properly? Also, Indy could you be alittle more specific on what spindels, housing and the bushings are? I know this is a 95, but the struts I put in and the ones Sears put in had the base plate that the bottom of the spring sits on as one unit. Let me know whatI should do about Sears as they were the last ones to touch it and I have spent over a $1000 with them on tires and then struts. I basically had to pay them twice for the struts because the first time they took the ones I put in off to see if i did it right. The second time was to replace the one froze up gabrial with two new monroes.
Thanks
Dave A.

What is that a picture of when you post? I know it is the strut tower but it looks so much nicer than mine.

G.M.'s W body had replaceable cartridges that came up through the hood and some older ones I think J body that you had to take the assembly out and cut the top off with a pipe cutter.The spindles are the assembly the bottom of the strut bolts to lots of cars used to have eccentrics as one of the bottom bolts. Now you have to buy them or a camber kit. Whenever I get the bug up my ass I'll align mine again (haven't done it for 2 years) and I'll probably slot the strut to add some camber.

I slotted mine over a year ago when I out in sensatracs. I haven't had any abnormal wear on the inside tread. I also gresed the bearing plate because the spring strut bearing was starting to bind (That was the main reason I decided to do the struts) on sharp left hand turns. The bearing wasn't scored but it was completely devoid of grease on that side. The other side was okay but I cleaned it out and greased it anyways.

I have read that some owners installed KYB struts on their pre-97 cars. I wish I could. KYB's are the best ones out there. Since they are not available for 97-up, I assumed the early cars were the old MacPhereson style. On these, there is a threaded cup that holds the strut cartridge in the tube. The "cartridge" is just a bare shock. If this is not the case with your car, then I don't know what the difference could be that would cause KYB to not make any for the later models. So this doesn't mean Sears was wrong, it's just another example of someone not attending to the same details as you would working on your own car. The coil spring needs to be installed firmly against the molded spring stop in the base plate and greasing the rubber spring bumper so it won't squeak. Sounds simple right? You would be shocked at how many are not! Just like taking the time to clean and grease the plate bearings as stated in the above post. You think a shop is gonna do that? Any shop that performs an alignment should provide the customer with the printout that shows factory settings AND what they set and measured your car at. Standard for most cars is around .5-1.0 degrees negative camber(leaning in at the top). My avatar is the passenger side strut mold on my 97. Kept clean with polished stainless acorn nuts, lock and fender washers.

Just like some people like me don't double check their poor typing before posting! My 98 takes a complete strut (minus the spring) which also has a slightly longer wheel travel than the earlier style. I would have preferred KYBs.