I'm starting to hear a metallic sound going over bumps. Also my camber on the right (passenger) side is off -4 degrees, even with camber bolts adjusted as far as they will go. Also my right side (front) is half of an inch lower than the drivers side. Will a bad front lower control arm cause all these problems or do I have more things going on. Any help is appreciated

 

Bad control arm bushings can cause alignment issues, but to get metal on metal sound and to be off that much the bushings would have to be really far gone. I am thinking the upper strut mount may be bad causing the strut to tilt.

 

Thank you. I hope your right. I won't be changing them until it warms up in a few months.

 

yeah my first thought would be the strut mounts also; or could be a failure in the strut itself

how many miles are on the car?

my front end is getting pretty clunky at 100K+ miles, I already did the bushings and ball joints and I think my next move will be new struts and mounts

 

Around 30,000 miles on the orange Koni struts and GT500 strut mounts (33,000 miles total on the car). I ordered the 05-10 struts and shocks when I did this. I just ordered new GT500 strut mounts and 1 new orange Koni Strut. I'll order another one 'if' this fixes the right side problem.

 

hmmmm . . . 30K miles does seem a bit premature for the GT500 mounts to fail . . . I have heard about some early failures of the Koni struts but I don't know if it is common. . . . your approach sounds good to me, interested to hear what you find out

 

I would be careful about ordering parts without getting under the car to see what is going on. Any number of things can cause noises and alignment issues. 33,000 miles is nothing on these cars. I would look for obvious signs of loose/worn parts. Don't be afraid to pull and pry on things to see where you get movement. Good luck on finding the cause.

 

I looked everywhere for something damaged. Everything looks fine except the strut looks like it has a crack in it. Not sure if it was made that way, so I ordered a new one to be sure. I should know something by next Friday, it's supposed to be in the 50's (warmer temperatures) Thursday. I don't like cold weather

 

It is East Tennessee if you don't like the weather wait a day or two.

 

True. It had been in the 60's for the last several days. Today the high is 44 degrees and going to be colder for the next few days

 

Hopefully this rain moves out, so we don't have to deal with wet and cold.

 

I installed my new (1) orange Koni strut and new GT500 Strut Mount. The Strut wasn't cracked but looked bad (paint flaking and a little rusty) and the GT500 Strut Mount looked ok but the rubber was starting to dry rot. Only around 30,000 miles but they are over 10 years old. I loosened up all the bolts on the front lower control arm and beat the crap out of it with a hammer. The ball joint and everything else checked out ok, and nothing bent. I put it all together and I'm -2.5 degrees off. I got to thinking, I went the wrong way with my camber bolt, so after I rest for a few days ( I'm old ) I'll adjust it and I'm sure it will be fine. I'll order the other strut in the next month or two. The Strut Mounts are sold as a pair so I just have to buy a new strut. I drove it yesterday and everything feels good and tight and the steering is straight with no pulling. The steering was fine before but it feels a little bit better.

 

Something else to consider is the the orientation of the GT500 mount. If I remember correctly, you can turn them 180 degrees to give a little more negative camber. Some people do this after lowering instead of camber plates or camber bolts. If you have the mounts turned and the camber bolts the two combined may be your issue. Good luck and hopefully it warms back up around here soon so you can get back at it.

 

I'm wrong on the age of my Struts and mounts. They are over 9 years old and would have been 10 years old in August of this year, so they are around 9 1/2 years old. I think you are right. When I installed my GT500 strut mounts I installed with the arrows pointing toward the engine instead of the arrows pointing to the fender like they say on the Strut Mounts. I guess I'll reinstall the strut mounts with the arrows pointing toward the fender. You think doing this will give less negative camber? I'm at almost -1 degree on the other side with all the adjustment I can get from the adjustable camber bolt. Thanks for something else to try and check out

 

It has been a few years since I changed out the struts/springs/mounts on the front of my 2011. I remember that some people were using the GT500 mounts with the 2005-2010 struts and reversing the mount to get camber back within spec. I think this set up also caused a little more drop in the front end. The arrows pointing toward the engine was supposed to help keep the camber in spec with lowering springs. I did not go this route. I stayed with he 2011-2014 struts and the Steeda HD mounts that are camber adjustable. I didn't want anymore drop in the front end and wanted to stay away from camber bolts. I have been running this set up for around 5 years now without issue.

-1 degree of camber is about right for a street car. If you have this on one side you should be able to get it on the other with the same set up. It may be in your camber bolts. Have you tried the GT500 mounts reversed with stock bolts to see where your camber is at? Also, what are you using to measure camber?

 

I'm lowered 1 inch in the front. I have the GT500 strut mounts with the arrow pointing toward the engine. The right way is the arrow pointing toward the fender. I bought a Amazon special $15 camber bubble magnetic base tool . I know it isn't perfect but it gives me a rough ideal on the camber degrees. I checked the camber with the factory bolts and it was off 3 or 4 degrees on both sides. I bought some adjustable camber bolts (Eibach) and got the drivers side less than -1 degrees, maybe -1/2 of a degree. I do have the 2005-2009 struts and mounts. First I'm going to try adjusting the camber bolt, if that doesn't work I guess I'll put the strut mount with the arrow pointing toward the fender and see what it does. Thanks

 

How level is your floor? Uneven ground can throw off the reading on the magnetic camber gauges. If I remember correctly the camber spec is between -1 to -1.5 degrees. I run a little over -2 degrees on mine to keep from chewing up the outside of my tires at the track. Good luck on figuring this one out.

 

I've been working on my problem. All the youtube video's on "how to install adjustable camber bolts" I've seen, they have the 'tab' facing the inside toward the engine. Then they tell you to take it to an alignment shop to finish up. Well, I ran across a video that said "if you have to much negative camber, have the 'tab' facing toward the outside. I had to buy 2 front tires because the cord (steel belt?) was starting to show . I guess they don't make the Cooper Zeon RS3-A's anymore so I bought the new (2) Cooper Zeon RS3-G1. I've been wanting to try them anyway. I'm also going to go back to the factory size 235/50-18. I'll be buying two 235/50-18 for the rear when they wear out. The 255/45-18 is just a little too wide for an 8 inch wide wheel. That next morning I put the tab for the camber bolt facing the outside, I got it to around -2 to -3 degrees. It looks perfect to the eye. My bubble level is messing up and your right, my carport concrete floor is a few degrees off from 'level'. I'm going to say it's fixed because by the eye, the camber looks perfect. I even had my wife to eyeball it and she said it looks good. I know she is **** eyed and doesn't have any sense but if something doesn't look good to her she will be the first to ***** about it. Thank you all for your time and help, I think I've got it fixed

 

Glad to hear that you have it worked out. I am close to you (Lenoir City) and I have a digital angle gauge that may help. You can use it to check camber with a straight edge across the wheel vertically.

 

I was thinking you might live near me. I've been to Lenoir City a few times. In a couple months or so I'll go over to my mom's garage, after I install the new strut and mount on the other side. Her garage should be level. Thanks for the offer but I think I've got it. I let my wife read all the bad things I posted about her and she had a good laugh. I won't let her read this post because everything I said about her is true