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Joined: May 2000
Posts: 574
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OP
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Joined: May 2000
Posts: 574 |
Originally posted by PA 3L SVT:
If I buy myself a spring compressor, will I avoid all the disassembly and reassembly you needed to do? No - you'll still need to use the hydraulic jack method. I actually borrowed a spring compressor from Autozone (they loan them for free, just leave a deposit). But I quickly realized compressing the spring didn't help me. The problem is the spring will compress inside its housing on the strut assembly, but you need the strut to compress too. And it won't if you just compress the spring. You don't need to do all the disassembly I did (I only did all that on one side anyway, until I figured out I could do it without taking the strut off). But you will need a hydraulic floor jack, and a come-along or winch to hold the assembly straight while the control arm is disconnected. If you are carful to not pull the drive shaft outwards too much, you can avoid having to reassemble the tripod bearings inside the inner CV joint.
'96 Contour SE, black / opal grey, MTX, every option, KKM intake, resonator removed, Flowmaster Series 40 DeltaFlow, GoodYear Eagle HP's, 115k miles, new paint 7/01. Driven cross-country 4 times.
'70 Corvette Stingray Coupe, Cortez Silver, 454 bored to 462, Muncie M21, too many mods to list, lots of fun. 335 rwhp / 365 rwtq
'02 Corvette Z06, Electron Blue / Black, every option. Stock for now...
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Joined: Dec 2001
Posts: 594
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Joined: Dec 2001
Posts: 594 |
If you know the car is straight and everything is in order then it is the tires. my wheel is off set to the left. it was straight until I did a tire rotation, when my father switched to snow tires we put his good, straight set of wheels and tires on my car and the wheel went straight, then we put my wheels and tires back on with a tire rotation and the wheel went to the right, we found the car is very sensitive to tires, make sure yours set is good
Michelin Pilot XGT H4 are my suggestion, they wear kinda fast but handle great
Son - 1995 Mystique LS Zetec 5-spd --> newest "mod" -> a girlfriend by my side Father - 1995 Contour SE Duratec 5-spd Mother - 1999 Contour SE Sport Duratec 5-spd My CEG Registry My Car My Home Page
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Joined: May 2000
Posts: 574
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OP
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Joined: May 2000
Posts: 574 |
Yep, the tires are good - I bought them new 5 months ago, and they have about 14k on them now.
I got my car aligned 2 days ago, after I finished the control arm replacement. The car tracks totally straight now - like new.
So it was definitely the control arms that were bad. Once I saw the bushing torn on the left side and the way the mount moved with ease, I knew right away that was the problem.
'96 Contour SE, black / opal grey, MTX, every option, KKM intake, resonator removed, Flowmaster Series 40 DeltaFlow, GoodYear Eagle HP's, 115k miles, new paint 7/01. Driven cross-country 4 times.
'70 Corvette Stingray Coupe, Cortez Silver, 454 bored to 462, Muncie M21, too many mods to list, lots of fun. 335 rwhp / 365 rwtq
'02 Corvette Z06, Electron Blue / Black, every option. Stock for now...
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