1996 Taurus wagon w/ alignment problem @148,000 miles...

my Firestone mechanic tells me that the alignment is not able to come into spec and that he needs to modify the strut mount to make a camber modification possible. Is this the best method or the only method? Is strut replacement more appropriate? What other approaches are there?

Keith

A strut is an assembly that combines the suspension spring with the shock absorber. Is it mounted by 2 connections, 1 at the top and 1 at the bottom. The top connection consists of 3 studs on the top of the strut that protrude through the body and have nuts attached to them. You can see this under the hood, on both sides of the car, near the firewall and fenders. The bottom connection is at the steering knuckle assembly where there are 2 bolts. The 2 bolt assembly is such that the strut can be bolted to the knuckle at different angles so that the knuckle camber can be set correctly. The camber is the tilting in or tilting out of the top of the tire. The amount of "play" in the bolt assembly allows for this adjustment (hard to explain exactly how this is done - just take my word for it).

Now then...to your problem. The mechanic is telling you that he cannot set this correctly because the amount of "play" is not sufficient to properly adjust the camber. You ask if strut replacement is more appropriate. No. When struts wear out, it is because the shock-absorber part of them is worn out. The strut itself has nothing to do with its adjustability. One possible exception would be if the strut's spring is broken or very very weak such that the front end of the car has sagged down substantially. I have never seen this happen with struts, so I'm going to exclude it as a possibility. The other 2 possibilities are: 1) that front end parts have worn so much that adjustment is not possible, or 2) the car has had some suspension damage of some sort from an accident or "hitting the curb". This kind of damage is common and can require an alignment, but usually does not get so bad that the available adjustment travel is insufficient. Furthermore, the steering knuckle assembly on this car is aluminum (it is on my 98 anyway). And I am sure that if this guy was "trick" enough to be welding aluminum, he wouldn't be working at Firestone. Besides that, I know Firestone and any other big outfit - they would never attempt to modify suspension parts. Think of the liability!!!! So, actually, I think this guy is bullshitting you. At least about modifying the mount. If car/suspension damage has put the alignment this far out of specifications, then the car/suspension damage should be fixed first.

Take the car somewhere else and get a second opinion. Seriously. And just for grins, have a buddy call that same Firestone and ask if they can do some custom modifications to your lower strut mount. Tell them you want to set the camber negative more than the factory parts will allow on a 96 Taurus. I'll bet they'll say they can't do it. Good luck.

Thanks for the info, I will go for the 2nd opinion (and maybe a 3rd just for grins).

Thanx.
KK