I have a 1992 cavalier that I started oval racing this year. I hit the wall in practice and had to replace the lower control arm and axle on the right side. Bought both from a junk yard. I drilled both front wheel hubs to add larger wheel studs in them. Raced two weeks ago and now the camber is messed up. When the car rolls forward I have positive camber, when I go in reverse the camber goes back to where it should be. I replaced the ball joint and replaced one of the broken motor mounts, still the same. Any suggestions to fix this?
Thanks
I would think that either the control arm bushings are shot or loose, or the inner/outer tie rods are bad.
If you jack the front of the car up, does the wheel still have the same amount of movement?
What do you mean by same amount of movement? If you mean the same amount of camber then yes it does.
Thanks
Where are you jacking by? Don't use the control arm. Jack it up, then try to move the wheel back and forth. If you can see a camber gain when rolling, you're going to see whats moving when you jack it up and move it by hand. The first thing I would look at is the strut to knuckle bolts.
Both of the wheels have positive camber when is goes forward and goes back to normal when it goes in reverse. I can watch the wheels do this while my son drives the car. The only thing I changed on both sides was the larger wheel lugs in each hubs.
have you tried tightening the bolts on the strut it self?
I've seen a grand am do the same thing when we rocked it back and forth, It was the rear control arm bushing. Though It didn't do it on both sides.
Are you sure your strut-to-knuckle bolts are tight? I really cant think of what else would allow the wheels to camber in.
