wheel alignment

[joeb]

I checked my rear wheels today since the chamber looked uneven. 1 wheel is vertical. the other leans in about 1/2" at top. i jacked up car and both feel tight. i am thinking the wheel should be leaning in and the vertical one is off? maybe they are both off? is the tension being applied by the coil spring stiffening up the a-arm assembly so play is hard to detect?

[MAC]

Are the tires wearing unevenly? Do you feel anything odd when driving? If alignment needs to be adjusted, I would bring it in and have it done. Of course, replace any worn parts first.

[joeb]

got some used summer HP tires. original tires are gone. car has always had funny rear end hop. took it too shop several yrs ago. they said alignment was ok. if i can see tilt, than it is not ok. much talk about worn rear end bushings. my wheels have no play. cannot feel any movement in tire. top-bottom, left-right. rear is level. height sensor arms are ok.

[joeb]

i read a story on replacing the knuckle bushings. you have to remove knuckle and the process is the same as on typical a-arm cars to relieve the load from the coil spring. removing the knuckle seems like a bit of work but is that the only way to inspect the knuckle bushings? i could have a bent knuckle or even a-arm though that is pretty rare. just seems odd that the tire leans in so much. anyone here with a similar aged car that can verify the lean in on both tires?

[BodybyFisher]

You 96 is a prime candidate for the rear knuckle bushing problem. There are bushings at the top and bottom.

Bad bushings give a skippiness to the rear of the car over bumps. No doubt they could cause alignment problems

See this thread, I replaced my knuckle with one from the scrap yard

http://caddyinfo.ipbhost.com/index.php?showtopic=15332&st=0&p=112147&hl=knuckle&fromsearch=1entry112147

[joeb]

BBF, did you remove the knuckle at the boneyard? bushings are $160/side for the nice metal/rubber version. would be fun to beadplast the knuckle first. are they aluminum or steel? lots of rust in picture.

[BodybyFisher]

BBF, did you remove the knuckle at the boneyard? bushings are $160/side for the nice metal/rubber version. would be fun to beadplast the knuckle first. are they aluminum or steel? lots of rust in picture.

The scrap yard had a box of them, they are in demand as you can imagine. It is steel.

[joeb]

rockauto has dorman bushings which look like both upper and lower for $35. there is another listing for raybestos. $25 for each or 50 total. are both sets similar? they look alike.

[BodybyFisher]

rockauto has dorman bushings which look like both upper and lower for $35. there is another listing for raybestos. $25 for each or 50 total. are both sets similar? they look alike.

Kevin (KHE) did this job, check his posts he gives info on which ones he used

[KHE]

I replaced the cross-axial ball (referred to as bushings by the parts stores) joints on my STS - one side almost a year and a half ago, and the other side back in July. At first, only one side was bad so I used the kit from Last Shot Auto Parts. It appeared to be a cross-axial ball joint from another vehicle manufacturer that was machined to fit into the Cadillac knuckle. There were copper/bronze washers that were used to take up the additional clearance.

After replacement, the car handling was restored but the opposite side (that was still tight) quickly wore out. I used the Dorman kit for that side and the handling is back to normal. The only complaint I had with the Dorman kit was the lower bushing was about 1/16" too long to fit into the knuckle. I machined the inner sleeve on the bushing to the dimension on the original part and reassembled the knuckle.

These cars will handle very poorly with the knuckle bushings worn - they wander all over the road and the rear end will hop sideways on bumps in the road.

I sandblasted and repainted the knuckle on the first side but not the second side - you can't even see it even if you're underneath the car.

[joeb]

i took off wheels, placed jack under a-arm to partially relieve load and both sides are tight. no looseness to speak of. both bearings seem tight. been told the toe rod needs to be loosened to really see bushing looseness. if the knuckle bushings are ok than i would suspect a bent component. a shop tech that i talked too said the strut was probably the issue but the car does not have a strut setup. its upper/lower a-arms. he was just talking without seeing it so i can see him making a general statement.

[KHE]

No need to remove the tire or tie rod. With the car parked and the rear wheels on the pavement, grab the tire at the 10:00 and 2:00 position and push in and pull out. If the knuckle bushings are bad, you'll feel play.

[joeb]

your are correct sir. both my wheels clunk. now, whether or not to change bushings? and make sure wheel bearings are tight also.

[joeb]

decided to check bushings. pretty easy to do. the lower bushing is pretty mushy. but still has rubber so the metal sleeve is not hitting the knuckle. i am going to order some bushings from rockauto and put them in. the inner a-arm bushings are rubber. the outer bushings are also rubber. when i unbolted the toe bar, the knuckle had a good amount of wiggle.

[KHE]

decided to check bushings. pretty easy to do. the lower bushing is pretty mushy. but still has rubber so the metal sleeve is not hitting the knuckle. i am going to order some bushings from rockauto and put them in. the inner a-arm bushings are rubber. the outer bushings are also rubber. when i unbolted the toe bar, the knuckle had a good amount of wiggle.

When you reassemble the toe-bar, you need to get the suspension at the normal ride height before tightening the fastener on the toe brace as not to wind up the bar too much. Use blue threadlocker on the bolt threads for the toe bar.

[hjb981]

No need to remove the tire or tie rod. With the car parked and the rear wheels on the pavement, grab the tire at the 10:00 and 2:00 position and push in and pull out. If the knuckle bushings are bad, you'll feel play.

I want to stress this, because it is exactly what I have found also: The knuckles can wear in such a way that it can very easily be felt when pushing/pulling the wheels back and forth with the car sitting on the ground, and yet everything still feels completely tight if you lift the car and push/pull the wheels. It has happened to mine, and a Cadillac tech has confirmed that it is the knuckles. I am planning on fixing it as soon as I can - I just need to find out if I for example will have to change my shocks with built-in leveling or not (some of you have probably seen my thread about that). Mine is a '97 DeVille.

Joeb, if you write about your experience with changing the knuckle bushings, I will appreciate reading it. It has been described before, but the more experiences from others to read the better if you do it for the first time (like I).

/Jonas

[joeb]

i used a 2' level and attached a 3" bolt on each end about 16" on center so i can pick up the edge of my rims. don't want to skew the measurement by hitting the bulge on the tire. both rear wheels are darn close to equal, both lean in about 1/8" at the top of wheel. the pass front was the same and the driver side was way off. i loosened the knuckle bolts and adjusted the wheel so it is the same as the others. the rear wheels have no camber adjustment. only the front wheels can be adjusted. the lower hole on the strut is slotted while the top hole is round. newer sevilles have no camber adjustment on the front. according to sources. so 3 wheels are ok and 1 needed to be adjusted. pretty good. now, my rear knuckle bushings should be in the mail this week.

[joeb]

i will get the alignment checked soon when i get new tires this fall. i have summer hp tires now that are due for replacement. i would not risk ruining new tires with my yardstick measurements. got the knuckle bushings today. turns out my friend sold his press. seems the balljoint knuckle tool is somewhat shaky? anyone here use it without issues?

[joeb]

did bushings today. took off knuckle but had to separate bearing from knuckle to use ball joint press. both wheels have a slight clunk but bushings did not look too bad. not sure where noise is coming from. bolt thru bushing has slight bit of play. could that be the sound?

[KHE]

When the bushings are beginning to wear out there will be a creaking noise at the rear suspension. Is your car still making noise after replacing the bushings?

[joeb]

my car never made noise or rattled while driving. i had slight play in both rear wheels. not a lot. they are tight now. 1 of the front bearings is about the same looseness as the rear wheels used to be. the bushings are fairly cheap and not hard to change.