I recently went to get the 85 NA aligned and was told it probably wouldn't hold well due to a loose condition in the struts. When grabbing the tire and rocking top to bottom (with things jacked up and the tire off the ground), some movement was definitely there and it appeared to come from the upper strut bushings. These were original with 215K miles so I wasn't too surprised. The strut inserts were replaced about 5 years ago with OEM Boge and have only about 40K on them. I just replaced the upper strut bushings with KLA mono *****. When doing the rocking test now, the movement is definitely less than before but a slight amount is still there. (I did re-adjust the wheel bearings too). There seems to be a slight rocking in the strut itself. That is, the strut rod seems to rock in/out slightly relative to the strut. I find it hard to believe that these relatively new struts would have already gone bad (no leaks, bounce test OK). Is this normal?

 

Have your ball joints ever been replaced?

 

No but they check out O.K. doing the pry test.

 

Here is a response from Markus Blaszak that makes sense:

What you are seeing is common. You have your struts hanging in a
non-standard condition. Rarely is anyone driving around with the struts at
full extension. Because of that, there is very little piston in the strut
tube. This allows rocking or movement of the strut piston in the housing at
the internal top bearing. Want to test it? Compress the strut 1/2 way with
a small ratchet strap etc. and now check for movement. You will find that
you have none... if you did, it would be leaking...

 

I think Marcus is right, the question now is, will you go back to the same alignment guy?..B ;]

 

Good question. I'd rather find a better alignment guy but there aren't too many places where you can get an alignment on Saturday. Until I get an extra car, it's better than nothing (I think)...