Rear Toe Adjustment Cost

[mikewags]

Can someone throw me a quick figure as to how much a rear toe adjustment should cost. This is referring an earlier post about one of my tires being angled inwards, and needs to be adjusted.

Ball park. My car is in the shop and need to decide based on the cost.

Thanks!

[twsutt]

Mike,

The rear toe isn't adjustable on our cars.

It sounds like something is bent out of wack. Hopefully its just the control arm or the strut assembly - those are pretty easy to replace.

I'd suggest that you try to get either a mechanic that's familar with our cars, or one of the many other Florida Z owners to look at it to diagnose where your problem lies.

[mikewags]

I've got the car at the shop now with a guy who's a Z specialist. He's been working on Z's for over 30 years. I really just wanted an idea as to what i'll end up spending.

I'll update this later.

[Jeff G 78]

What exactly did he tell you it needs? If the rear toe is off, he could offer anything from control arm replacement to eccentric delrin bushings, to "bend it back straight". Why is the toe off? Unless the car was hit in the rear, toe doesn't go out of whack on its own. We need more info before we can guess what it might cost.

[John Coffey]

If I install the adjustable aluminum/Delrin inner LCA bushings I charge about 4 to 5 hours to get the car squared, the rear tracked, and the rear toe set correctly. If I had a $35,000 Hunter laser alignment rack it would take 1/3 of that time.

[mikewags]

This is the initial post about my issue.

http://classiczcars.com/forums/showthread.php?t=33281

The car wasn't hit. I eventually just noticed one day that the back right tire was angled...i'm not sure how it happened (maybe a pothole?)

[mikewags]

Verdict is in...somewhat.

Right rear is angled in and left rear is angled out. Some sort of "plates" are bent. I'll know more later.

Control arm bushings need to be replaced as well. Worn out and cracked.

:/

Edited March 5, 2009 by mikewags

[zbane]

I've got the car at the shop now with a guy who's a Z specialist.

What did your Specialist quote you to repair/replace?

Edited March 5, 2009 by zbane

[Seppi72]

Mikewags:

If what you've said about your rear toe condition is accurate, your car's rear wants to track to the left. Does it?

There are no "plates," per se, in the rear of an S30. There are two points where each A-arm gets fastened to the unibody. If these are out of square, that means your entire rear had to have been whacked at some point in time. It seems more likely that there's something messed up with each A-arm, but that still would imply a great thwacking at some time in the past.

This whole "toe" thingy sounds fishy to me. Keep us updated.

[jmortensen]

There are no "plates," per se, in the rear of an S30.

What about the big plates in the back??? These "uprights" or plates bolt to the frame rail and hang down in the back locate the rear of the rear control arms. I've heard of them cracking on ITS cars, but I haven't heard too many other problems, as I think they're generally so flexible that they don't break, even though is a really weak design in terms of positively locating the control arms.

There have also been various reports on the internet, I think first identified by John Coffey, where the strut spindle pin hole is bored at an angle, throwing off the rear toe.

And then of course you've got your bent suspension parts scenarios too.

I'd be inclined to do as Coffey suggested, get some Aluminum/Delrin G Machine bushings and deal with it that way. I'd take a real close look at the uprights back there if he want's to replace them. They just aren't a problem that I've seen come up on the forums very often, and I don't know where you'd get a set other than used or buying a Suspension Techniques rear anti-sway bar (the sway bar mounts right to the modified uprights that come in the kit).

[mikewags]

I haven't had any work done yet, but I did get a breakdown of the issue.

The way he described the issue, was that there were 2 plates that mount the suspension to the car itself - he said that they were slightly bent and needed to be replaced or machined. This was causing both rear tires to be off. (left rear slighty aimed out - right aimed right <in>) this is causing the car's rear to drive at an angle. Not dangerous, but will eat up the rear treads quicker.

Looking through the FSM, the only plate I see in the rear of the car is the Traverse Link Mounting Plates. Jmortenson: The plates you listed sound like the ones. Do you know the name of those?

I'll just ask him what the name of these 'plates' are in the AM. I'm a bit puzzled.

Edited March 6, 2009 by mikewags

[jmortensen]

It has to be the transverse link mounting plates. Here's a picture I found in the gallery:

The two black vertical plates that are about 4" wide and locate the rear control arm bushings are the parts in question.