Folks,

I hit a mail box post on a recent icy morning and got the car back after repair yesterday. Right after the accident, the car was not drivable. The right front wheel hit the curb as well. With the steering straight, the car would go in some arbitrary direction.

I had it towed to a body shop. The right front fender and the right lower control arm+balljoint as well as the wheel were replaced and I got the car back yesterday. Now I feel a hesitation in the steering once I reach about 30 MPH. It turns smoothly when the car isn't moving or moving at low speeds but no longer turns smoothly like it used once it reaches about 30-35 MPH. It feels like the steering is going over blocks of resistance, so to speak. The replacement lower control arm/balljoint came from a 2009 Camry with 50K miles on it. Mine is a 2007 TCH with 98K miles.

I had the wheels balanced and rotated this morning and that didn't seem to make much difference to the issue.

Another wrinkle to this is that, the alignment sheet the shop gave me shows the following to be out of spec AFTER Alignment.

Rear left toe: 0.04 (0.08 to 0.24)
Rear right toe: 0.34 (0.08 to 0.24)

- cross-caster at -0.9 which is noted as outside of specs on the sheet (spec: -0.8 to 0.8 according to sheet). Here are other caster values:

Left caster: 2.7 (spec: 2.2 to 3.7)
Right caster: 3.6 (barely in spec after the lower control arm and balljoint on this side were replaced).

According to the below page, caster side-by-side shouldn't be more than 0.75 and that the only way to fix this is to replace the control arm.

http://www.brakeandfrontend.com/alig...-toyota-camry/

Should I demand that they replace the right lower control arm again with something more midrange in the specs? Could this be causing the steering issue?

I would be grateful for any advice on what could be causing the issue.

TIA.

 

Toe in at the rear and cross caster in the front will not cause what you are experiencing. Have a front end shop check the front suspension for a bent rack and pinion or any other component that will cause the suspension to bind up. It might be the control arm but I doubt it....

 

Thanks. The body shop set up an appointment for the Toyota dealer (the same dealer that purportedly did the zero-point calibration) to look at the symptoms to see if "what they worked on could cause the issues I am seeing".

I am going to request the dealer to inspect the steering rack and pinion and suspension for damage as suggested.

Independent of the issues I am seeing (I have a feeling the dealer will say what I am seeing is normal and that any pulls are being caused by road crown), should I be concerned about the cross-caster in the front being -0.9?

Also, I am a little confused by the "negative sign" in front of 0.9 for cross caster and the specified range on the alignment sheet showing the -0.8 0.8. If I subtract the right caster (3.6) from the left (2.7), it would be -0.9, but if I subtract the left caster (2.7) from the right (3.6), it would be 0.9. Which way is it normally subtracted to determine the cross-caster value?

Also, the below page says "If the caster when compared side-to-side is greater than .75º, chances are that the lower control arm has been damaged.", which seems to be my situation right?

http://www.brakeandfrontend.com/alig...-toyota-camry/

Thanks.

 

Also, the Rear Thrust Angle is shown as -0.15 degrees after the alignment (-0.16 before the alignment). Can the Thrust Angle be corrected simply by adjusting the Toe (currently left: 0.04 and right: 0.34, both out specs of 0.08 to 0.24)?

Thanks again.

 

All of the values are given in degrees. Most computers at alignment shops use the left side of the car as a base and show you the correction to make the other side the same with cross caster. In your case, the right side would need to be reduced -0.9 degrees to match the left side. In reality, you are 1/10 of a degree out of spec. I wouldn't lose any sleep over it......

If the shop finds out the replacement control arm is bent or the other side was bent, they will fix it. The rear thrust angle is basically the toe adjustment of the rear end of the car. It will change as the front of the car is adjusted.

 

Thanks for the info. Do adjustments in the front really impact the rear thrust angle or did you mean to refer to adjustments in the rear?

TIA.

 

An update: The local Toyota dealer took a look at the car and says they haven't noticed anything abnormal and the faint hesitation might be caused by tires. They also re-performed ZPC (zero-point calibration) after I complained I didn't see signs of the battery having been disconnected before performing it the last time round. They said usually Techstream would prompt them for doing that but didn't do it in this case.

I did get to talk to the tech and he also said while the rear thrust angle is primarily determined by the rear toe, the front also plays a part. Can someone explain the front's part in the rear thrust angle?

Thanks.

 

The rear thrust angle is the angle of the rear axle from perfectly perpendicular to the cars front to rear axis. This will cause a car to track slight off of center one way or the other in the rear. In other words, the car will look to be "crabbing" sideways when seen from the rear in extreme cases.

The front toe in can be adjusted in minor differences to track with the rear of the car and eliminate the sideways crabbing. Think of it this way, set the toe in correctly and turn both front wheels to the right with additional corrections that will keep the total toe in correct but have the car driving slight to the right.

Dirt track cars are set up to extremes with caster, camber and toe in and you will need to turn them to the right to continue to go straight. If you let go of the steering wheel, they will make a rather violent left turn......