SWAY BAR LINK CROOKED

You didn't mention anything about an alignment. With any of the parts you replaced, an alignment is necessary. What do you mean you adjusted both tie rods equal? There is no way to get close to the correct toe setting without an alignment computer. When the mechanic inspects the steering and suspension prior to doing the alignment he will be able to determine if anything is wrong with the anti-sway bar.

When only one tire is wearing on the outside edge, it has too much positive camber. When both tires are wearing on their outer edges, camber could be too high positive on each one or total toe could be too high meaning the front of the tires are closer together than the rear of the tires.

Yup, start with an inspection at the alignment shop, then the alignment. Measuring the tie rod ends will just get you close to the proper toe setting. To get more accurate, especially if you're starting with a straight steering wheel, just replace parts on one side, then make small fine tuning adjustments during short stops on a test drive until the steering wheel is straight again. You'll find that 1/4 turn doesn't make a big change in the steering wheel position but it makes a huge change on the alignment rack. I replaced the first front end part, the right outer tie rod end, on my '88 Grand Caravan at 213,000 miles, then tweaked the adjustment over several days. The steering wheel is straight again and tire wear is respectable.

Any chance you can post a photo of the anti-sway bar link you're concerned about? Can you see if the bar is centered in the mounting bushings? Do you have any reason to suspect damage to the suspension leading up to the need for new parts?

That link doesn't look so unusual but unless the directions tell you different, you might want to run the nut down a little more. Normally the nut is tightened enough to just squeeze the bushings until they expand out to exactly the same diameter as the washers. Over-tightening the nut is worse because the bushings can't flex.

As for the tire wear, there are two angles to look at. "Camber" is the tilt of the wheel as viewed from in front or the rear of the car. This wheel could have too much positive camber meaning it's leaning out on top more than specified, but if it is, it isn't by much. Camber that's much too high will cause the wear spots circled in red, (those are down to the last layer of rubber just before the steel belts start poking out), while the left side will look almost like new yet. Here both sides of the tire are worn out fairly evenly so if camber is off, it isn't by much.

Incorrect total toe can cause the same wear pattern that you have but it will look quite different before the wear gets this far along. First it's important to understand the difference between toe and total toe. Suppose you start with a car that has a 100 percent perfect alignment and the steering wheel is straight. Almost all cars call for a very slight amount of toe-in meaning the fronts of the tires are closer together than the rears of the tires, commonly by 1/16". That is so they will be perfectly parallel when road and braking forces tug them back while driving. Now suppose you adjust only the right wheel even more to the left. The left wheel wants to go straight ahead and the right wheel wants to go to the left. The car finds the happy medium and goes a little to the left so you have to counteract that by turning the steering wheel to the right. You will end up turning the steering wheel until both tires are turned toward the center of the car exactly the same amount. That means both tires are scrubbing down the road equally even though you only misadjusted the right wheel. Toe is wrong on the right wheel but total toe is also incorrect, and it's that total toe that affects both tires.

Another condition is where both wheels are misadjusted equally but in the same direction. Suppose each one is adjusted 1/2" to the left. Both tires are steering to the left so you have to turn the steering wheel to the right to make the car go straight. In this case total toe is perfect and there will be no tire wear. The only symptom is the steering wheel is off-center when driving straight ahead. Total toe is good but each individual toe is incorrect.

Here's where the alignment mechanic will "read" the tire wear. Camber affects just that one tire. It causes that tire to want to pull in the direction it's leaning so it's important that it be correct on each wheel for proper wear and it's important it's the same on both sides so the two pulls balance each other out and the car goes straight when you let go of the steering wheel.

Toe is a different story. It's the total toe that is responsible for tire wear. It doesn't matter if one or both tires are set wrong or which way. When total toe is wrong there IS going to be equal wear on both tires. The steering wheel could be straight but only if both wheels are misadjusted an equal amount and in opposite directions.

Toe wear looks totally different than camber wear, (except in your case). First you have to understand what is meant by the "leading edge" of the tire. Lets use your right tire and exaggerate it for clarity. It is toed-in too much meaning it is turned to the left. Now imagine it turned even more, ... And more. It's turned so far it's turned 90 degrees and pointing straight to the left of the car. Obviously you can't really turn it that far, but now it is easy to see that the right edge of the tire tread is in front so we call it the leading edge.

Next, take a pencil, stand it up so the eraser is down and resting on the table. Now put slight downward pressure on it and drag it sideways. You'll see the leading edge makes eraser crumbs but the trailing edge bends and lifts up off the table. No wear takes places on the trailing side. Do that long enough and the eraser will be worn at a slant. THAT is exactly what happens to each block of rubber on the tire's tread. If that wear is bad enough you'll be able to see it easily. If it's not so bad you'll be able to feel it by rubbing your fingers across the tread left and right or around the circumference. You're feeling the raised and lowered sides of each block of rubber. You can also determine whether the total toe is too much toed-in or toed-out by which side of the block is higher. That toe wear is always going to appear on both tires, as long as all other alignment angles are correct and equal.

Your tire is the exception to this explanation because it is worn too far. There are no blocks of rubber on the tread left to flex so while the same increased wear takes place on the leading edge, the entire tire has only the one leading and trailing edge and the result can look like what you have. If the left tire is not worn as far, you'll see and feel the feather edge when you rub your fingers over the tread.

Up to now all wear from misalignment assumes only one angle on one wheel is incorrect. Things get complicated when camber and toe are both off. The easiest to remember is when both tires are worn more on both inner or both outer edges, total toe could be off on either or both wheels, or camber could be off but it would have to be on both wheels. Incorrect and equal camber happens more often that you might think but some vehicles are well-known for it. Look at the very poorly designed Ford Bronco 2 with twin I-beam front suspension. When you raise it on a hoist, the suspension droops down and the wheels tilt out on top, ... A real lot. The opposite happens when the coil springs get weak with age as they all do. Those wheels move through a wild arc as the vehicle goes up and down over bumps in the road and the tires wear excessively on both edges. Making adjustments to camber only affects the readings when the truck is sitting on the hoist. The wheels still go through the wild camber changes during driving so nothing is going to solve their terrible tire wear.

Many front-wheel-drive cars do not have provisions for adjusting camber because it changes very little with changes in ride height as the springs get weak or as the car bounces up and down going down the road. On those cars, if camber is off on one wheel, something is usually bent, and if it's off equally on both wheels but one's positive and one is negative, the cross member is likely shifted to one side. That pulls both lower control arms and ball joint to one side.

Off-center cross members is a common problem on General Motors front-wheel-drive cars because it is often removed to remove the engine or transmission for service. It can be reinstalled in the wrong location very easily. Chrysler fwd cars use special bolts to locate the cross member so this isn't a problem. The cross members on most import cars are a welded part of the structure and can't be mispositioned. When a cross member is mispositioned, either by careless reinstallation or from being bent, simply readjusting camber on both front wheels will make the numbers look good on the alignment computer but other suspension angles will be changed and make for a very miserable car to try to control. That would be "steering axis inclination" and is a topic of discussion for another time.

If there's only two bolts on your cross member, it likely isn't what the lower control arms are bolted to so its position isn't critical. If it was critical, as with the GM cars, those can easily be shifted 1/4" which will make the car real miserable to drive even after an alignment. If you didn't notice a change for the worse in handling, he either got it on right or its position isn't important. When it's wrong, either the steering wheel will oscillate left and right a little or the car will steer left and right a little as it goes up and down over bumps.

The angles of the anti-sway bar links is not important in itself, in fact, you can take the bar and links off and throw them away, and it will have no affect on tire wear or alignment. The car could even ride a little smoother but it will have a tendency to lean more on corners, that's all. The angle of the links though could be considered an indicator that something is mispositioned. I suspect if you looked at a dozen new cars that use the same style links, you'll find one or two where they aren't exactly the same.

There's two ways to make camber adjustable. The aftermarket world has developed "problem solver" parts for this type of thing. Here's some photos from rockauto. Com showing your strut and the eccentric bolt that can be installed in place of one of the original bolts. Note the narrowed section in the middle. That allows movement so the knuckle can be shifted in and out a little. That lets it pivot on the lower ball joint stud and changes camber.

An easier trick is to simply grab a die grinder with a carbide bit and grind the upper mounting holes oblong, shown with my sad red arrows. That lets you retain the original bolt which is larger in diameter and presumably stronger. The advantage of the eccentric bolt is if you turn it so the wheel tilts in on top too far, THEN turn it the other way to bring the camber back up right to where you want it, and tighten it there, the knuckle will be resting against that bolt. That gives it added support to resist shifting position when you bounce through a large pot hole. By grinding the hole oblong to create the adjustment, you'll usually make it bigger than necessary and the knuckle will likely not be resting against the bolt. The only thing that prevents it from shifting when you drive over bumpy roads is the clamping force of the two bolts. This is how most GM front-wheel-drive cars have to be modified, and there are a few Chrysler models that don't have other provisions for adjusting camber and I've modified them the same way without experiencing any shifting problems. The only thing I ever ran into was another fellow thought he was doing me a favor by coating the knuckles with anti-seize compound. That was on a Dodge Dynasty. No matter how hard I tightened those two bolts, both wheels flopped in on top as soon as I let the car off the jack. Just could not build any friction. In fact, after that happened three or four times, I got frustrated and tightened the bolts so hard by hand that I snapped one by stretching it apart. When I took it apart to replace it, THAT'S when I found the anti-seize compound and had to wash it all off. A little grease doesn't hurt but even that isn't necessary.

As for the tire wear, why are the two worn to different depths? The one in the photo doesn't appear to have much of a camber problem so the wear would have to be attributed to toe or simply high mileage. Toe wear would show up on the other tire too.

At the risk of making this more confusing, on most cars changing camber changes toe too but changing toe doesn't affect camber. In this magnificent drawing, the top picture shows the relationship of the outer tie rod end stud with the hole it bolts to in the steering knuckle, (two blue arrows), and they are lined up. If you look back from in front of the car, you'll see that tie rod end is a lot higher off the ground than the lower ball joint. When camber is adjusted out on top as shown in the lower left drawing, the steering arm moves out with it. Now you can see the red and blue arrows aren't lined up. On most cars the tie rods are behind the center of the wheels so you would have to turn the wheel and spindle to the right to line up the arrows and install the tie rod end. All that means is once camber is set on that wheel, you have to readjust toe. The tie rods have to be lengthened to compensate for moving the top of the spindle outward.

Some cars, particularly older rear-wheel-drive models had their steering linkages lower down like in the right drawing. Tilting the wheel had relatively little effect on the position of the steering arm so adjusting camber didn't change toe very much. This also caused little toe change regardless how much camber change occurred as the suspension traveled up and down on bumpy roads. Made for more stable steering.

Manufacturers are always trying to design in improved handling and raising the steering linkage is one way to do that. During cornering, as the spindle goes up into the body, camber changes and causes toe to change too. That might cause the steering to respond more aggressively for a sportier feel or it might dampen the steering response for a more relaxed feel. Fortunately we don't have to worry about all of that. It's just helpful to understand what is taking place and how all the geometry ties together.

Woops, forgot the drawings.

The axle shaft shouldn't matter. The inner cv joint is called a "plunge joint" because the shaft can move in and out of it to change length as it turns and the suspension goes up and down.

From the tire wear, it sounds like you have a toe problem affecting both and a camber problem on the right side. Remember, tires want to roll in the direction they're leaning so besides being in specs for good tread wear, they have to be nearly equal side-to-side so their pulls counteract each other and the car goes straight. If the right tire is leaning out too much on top, that will make the car pull right when you let go of the steering wheel, and it will add to the toe wear.

The camber will typically change with the new lower control arm because no two are ever exactly alike. You can't really blame that on the aftermarket manufacturer. That can happen with original parts too. It's why we have to align cars when those parts are replaced.

I would like it if you could list the numbers from the alignment printout when the car is done. Most computers record and print the "before" readings from when the mechanic goes through the setup procedure, and it records and prints the "after" readings when he tells it he's done making adjustments. The manufacturer's specs will be listed too. I can interpret those numbers to explain the tire wear and pull.

There's one more primary angle that will be listed called "caster". It has very little or no effect on tire wear but it does have a big affect on pulling on rear-wheel-drive vehicles. I don't know why but it rarely causes a pull on front-wheel-drive cars even when it's off by a lot. Of main concern is it is the same on both sides. Think of a teeter totter. You want both people to be of the same weight but most importantly, they have to be the same distance from the pivot. Their distance from the pivot doesn't matter; it just has to be the same.

There's at least five ways to describe how caster does its thing. I went through one description with my students on Monday, then a different one on Tuesday. By Thursday, everyone understood the angle and by then all the descriptions made sense. Basically WHAT it does is causes the wheels to want to come back to straight ahead when you let go of the steering wheel after going around a corner. You can think of it as the rake of a fork on a bicycle or motorcycle. The fork goes forward as it goes down. It doesn't go straight down. On a bicycle that's what allows you to ride no-handed. It's your weight that pushes the wheel straight ahead. On a car, since the pivots, (the ball joints or upper strut mount) are off to the side of the wheel, caster makes the wheel want to flop in or turn in toward the center of the car. Like that teeter totter, when the caster on both wheels is the same, they both want to turn in equally hard. It's when you connect the steering linkage between them that they counteract each other and stay straight.

More than likely caster is not adjustable on your car and that's okay since it's not going to cause a problem, but it is nice to see what you have. I had a Chrysler LeBaron convertible that was crashed into a parked truck at 50 mph, then rebuilt and I aligned it. Found 3.00 degrees difference in caster side-to-side but the car drove perfectly straight. 3.00 degrees difference on a heavy rear-wheel-drive car would just about tug the steering wheel out of your hand.

Here's a tidbit you might find interesting when you look for a shop and mechanic to do the alignment. All alignment computers I'm familiar with can be set by the mechanic to display caster and camber to either one or two places after the decimal point. I always set mine to display two places, such as 3.25 degrees. Many mechanics set theirs to display 3.2 because it makes for faster alignments when they don't have to be so picky. What I found on the many Chryslers I aligned when I worked for a very nice dealership was they almost all called for 0.30 degrees camber meaning the tires were tipped out on top an amount too small to see, but it made for perfect tire wear. What I found though was they needed exactly 0.06 degrees more on the left wheel than on the right one to make up for "road crown". That's the tilt to the right of the roadway so rain runs off. The 0.06 degrees higher on the left provided a barely negligible pull to the left to offset the effects of that road crown. A full 1.00 degree was too much in many cases so I had to be very precise. If the computer was set to read to tenths of a degree, there could be 0.34 on the right, rounded off and displayed as 0.3 degrees, and there could be 0.36 on the left, rounded off and displayed as 0.4 degrees. The actual 0.02 degrees isn't enough difference to offset road crown but the 0.1 degree difference displayed would be too much difference. The bottom line is it may not be that critical for your car, and the proof is in the end result in how the car drives and wears tires. That's due in great part to the mechanic's experience and his familiarity with his computer. The only reason for even bringing it up is that given the opportunity to see the computer or the mechanic in action, you can tell if he values speed or accuracy more. With old heavy cars of the '70s and early '80s, some old alignment equipment measured caster and camber to 1/16 degree accuracy and that was plenty sufficient for those cars. Today's cars can be measured to the hundredth of a degree. Sneezing next to the car changes some readings!

Also, don't panic if you see some numbers that are out of specs after he's done with the alignment. All specs include a tolerance. A typical camber spec for my Chryslers would have been 0.30 plus or minus 0.25 degrees. There's a couple of issues here. First of all, at the allowable limits of 0.05 and 0.55 degrees, there is going to be noticeable uneven tire wear by the time the tires are worn out so no mechanic would leave them close to those limits. The reason for publishing such a high tolerance is as long as the numbers fall within that range, the manufacturer will pay to have it checked if it's under warranty but they will not pay to have it adjusted. You're expected to leave it alone. It is rare to have a car new enough to still be in warranty and to have the alignment off that little. Normally there would be a worn part, then the manufacturer WOULD pay for everything including necessary adjustments.

For those of us who understand that tighter tolerances are needed for good tire wear, there is a button on the computer to "reduce tolerances". On a typical car that will change the plus or minus 0.25 degrees to plus or minus perhaps 0.10 degrees or even 0.08 degrees. There's only two times that is noteworthy. One is on the computer screen during the alignment. For quick reference from a distance, numbers in the acceptable range are highlighted in green and numbers out of specs are highlighted in red. That's just to let the mechanic see at a glance when the adjustment is getting close. The second time it shows up is on the printout that you get. The mechanic may have hit the "reduce tolerance" button for more accuracy but that could make one or two readings fall outside those new tighter limits. The problem is that on some computers you only get one shot at pressing that button. You can reduce the tolerance but there is no button to go back to "expand tolerance". To do that he has to go through the entire setup procedure again which takes a long time so they just leave it as it is. THAT'S why you might find some measurements that appear to be not set to specs, so don't panic or complain over that until I see the actual numbers.

For reference, 0.00 degrees camber means the wheel is perfectly straight up and down. That is usually not desirable for best wear. If you could imagine a wheel laying flat on its side, that would be 90 degrees. Cars that call for a real lot of camber might call for 0.75 or even 1.00 degree. That is barely enough to see but it is what the manufacturer found to result in the best tire wear. Ford has always been the notable exception. Their Escorts and Tempos from the '80s called for over 2 1/2 degrees on the front and very high negative on the rear. Those tires looked like they didn't know which way to go. Ford tricked a lot of people into buying those "killer cars" because they rode much smoother than other small cars because they were riding on just the edges of the tires. What they didn't want you to know until after you bought it was they shredded front tires in as little as 15,000 miles. The aftermarket industry came up with a fix to stand the rear wheels up straighter but due to the design of the front struts, there was no way to fix the horrendous front camber and tire wear. Many tire stores refused to include a warranty on replacement tires for those cars because they knew they couldn't solve the problem.

As a side note, the proper camber setting tilts the spindle and places the vehicle's weight right in the center of the wheel bearing. On rear-wheel-drive cars and trucks it puts the weight right over the larger inner bearing. The smaller outer one is just to hold the wheel straight. This is one of the many things people mess up when they lower cars or put lift kits in trucks.

Other angles I can explain include steering axis inclination and thrust angle. Those are considered secondary angles and do not affect tire wear or handling directly. They are merely indicators that something else is wrong that needs to be looked into. Camber and toe will be measured on the rear wheels too. If there's no objectionable wear on those tires, expect that no adjustments will be made on the rear. Thrust angle is the direction the two rear tires, taken as a whole, are steering. As long as it's not too high, all that is necessary is the two front wheels must be adjusted so they're perfectly parallel to the rear ones to make the steering wheel straight. The computer takes that into account when it shows the mechanic where to set the toe for the front ones.

I'm sorry for getting so long-winded again, but if you get the opportunity to watch the alignment being done, you'll have an idea of what's taking place. As for keyboard problems, I have o go back now and pu in all the "t"s that my compuer forgo!

Every city has their share of rude business people. Sorry you found one, but I bet it's a long time before you go back there. Most shop owners don't want customers in the dangerous work areas but there are polite and tactful ways of saying that.

One very nice dealership owner I used to work for knew that it takes more advertising dollars to get one new customer than it takes to keep ten happy customers coming back, and every business owner wants more customers. What possible goal does that guy think he's going to meet by being rude?

I used to work for a crabby fellow at a tv repair shop in the '70s. He treated many of his customers the same way. Keep in mind that in both situations, the employees are not of the same attitude. Many of us are / were just as put off by the boss as the customers are.