CV Joints and front end alignment

[chaparralv8]

@Rick

Again sometime you can get the lower control arm down far enough without disconnecting the sway bar other times not. In neither case is this a reason to realign the car. Even if the sway bar breaks, it is not a reason to re-align the car.

Yeah, but the pounding on the swaybar link at the attachment may knock the lower control arm around a bit… besides, if the suspension’s so rusty and creaky that the swaybar or swaybar link breaks, an alignment may be one of the items on the bill…

[Dog80]

@Schuyler

Thanks for asking - since you insist ( ), the front-drivers were a Honda Civic and a Toyota Celica. I did a lot more work on the Honda, which had a torsion-bar/strut front-end. Breaking apart the ball joints was always a pain, and always tore the rubber grease cover, which I would replace. But the work that I would do never effected the steering geometry, unless is was a consequence of the general banging around down there. The exception was lowering slightly the front ride height, but I didn’t mind the small increase in toe-out beyond that of the original autocross alignment (about 1/8" toe-out). But don’t get me started - I still miss that car. /

Both cars are not well suited for racing, except the latest Civic Type-R (not imported in the US AFAIK). Some really good front wheel cars (if you can find them in the US) are the Fiat Coupe, the Peugeot 306 GTI and of course (my favorite) the Ford Focus RS. How I wish I had a Focus RS