Do it yourself alignment

Yes, there are a number of models available at various price points. Might be a good idea to get turn tables to make setting caster easier.

You'll need camber-caster plates to make the mustang adjustable. There is a tiny bit of range after drilling out the rivets but that's it. You shouldn't need to adjust camber/caster after replacing struts and the steering rack on that car. Only toe would need to be adjusted due to the steering rack replacement.

Well, I recently replaced the tires and the inside edge of the driver's side front tire was wore down, in one area I could see the steel belt. I just figured the castor or camber needed adjusted.

Is there a place to find the factory settings for cars?

The factory shop manual definitely has it, a Chilton's or Haynes manual probably has it, and I bet if you get on a Mustang specific forum you will probably find the information you want as well as some DIY instructions - probably the best place to go, actually, as you know that there the people will have pretty much the exact same car as you.

Good luck,

nate

Likely either a ball joint or tie-rod end is worn out. Check.

Use your favorite search engine to turn them up for a specific make and model or buy a shop manual.

Well, if he's replacing the steering rack, I'd say it would be false economy not to just put two new tie rod ends on at the same time... but that's just me.

But yes, might as well make sure the ball joints are good as well. Also LCA bushings, not sure how common it is for them to go bad on that chassis though. Fortunately being a popular chassis a full bushing kit, if you need it, is probably not grossly expensive.

nate

1990 Mustardcan - Caster - 1.90 degrees Positive. (1.15 - 2.65 degrees positive range) Camber - .50 Negative (2.3L) .60 Negative (5.0L) (1.25N - .25Pos. Range) Toe - .12 Negative

I replaced the lower control arms on my '97 at ~190K miles. Ball joints were still good, bushings had decayed however. Thanks Chicago weather... Given how inexpensively I was able to buy updated OEM cobra LCA assemblies at the time it didn't make sense to screw around replacing bushings.

Its strange how manufacturer think. Ford had a limited recall on breaking springs on some years of taurus that would puncture tires and cause a very real issue of loss of control and accident. There solution? Not to replace the spring, but put a shroud around it so it would supposedly not puncture the tire Go figure...

Sounds like the current Jeep recall, Lets fit them with tow hitches to protect the gas tank.....

no, it's entirely consistent with frod's 'cut every corner and screw the public" philosophy. recall's more expensive then compensation to the families of the deceased and political squeeze to shut up the nhtsa? don't do a recall!

when you can find a place that sells you a diy thrust angle gauge, go ahead and buy all this stuff. otherwise, stop deluding yourself and pay someone that knows what they're doing. please.

Various makes have had issues with coil springs rusting and/or breaking, but don't let that get in the way of your brand rants.

Meanwhile many people can successfully do it themselves.

broken springs can be effectively eliminated for the cost of just a few cents more. and broken springs can kill people. but frod simply won't spend the money, they just "assess the risk" and balance the cost of killing people vs. the cost of business.

you can call that a "rant" if you want, but it's still a fact, and people will continue to die as a result of frod's management culture. it'll never change unless someone sufficiently important gets killed and their family know enough to know when they're having smoke blown up their ass about it.

if they have solid axles, don't care about thrust angles and are prepared to waste money in tire rubber learning through their mistakes then sure, they can diy. just like people that cut corners on getting tires balanced.

but it's also a symptom of not knowing what the don't know. people that /do/ know what they don't know pay to get it done right.

You're simply irrational, illinformed, and have not a freaking clue what Ford's or any other manufacturer's internal culture is because you haven't worked at any of them.

Here's a quick search result:

Nice bit of projection there.

au contraire. as with certain others, you get distracted by the way i say stuff, not what i'm actually saying.

when i say that frod could make non-failing springs for just a few more cents, that's simply fact. springs fatigue because of surface defects and to a lesser extent, residual stress. you can prevent surface defects occurring if you make them properly and coat them properly. you can also mitigate surface defects with shot peening. you can mitigate residual stress with heat treatment. if you study materials and manufacturing, and you analyze a frod spring, you can see that they don't heat treat, they don't shot peen, and they don't even coat properly. all because it saves them a few cents per vehicle.

as to the failure pattern, if frod had an isolated event, maybe it's one individual line manager making a mistake. but when you have long term consistent policies that permit known fatal failures like rollover, cabin crush, ignition failure, springs, killer f150 crumple zones, lug nuts, etc., etc., which are long term, consistent, persistent, multi-vehicle, and multimodal, that is a management culture, plain and simple.

No, it's clear you're very biased and irrational, it's not just your presentation.

Now show me Ford's engineering drawings you have. When did you work there? In what capacity? Oh wait, you have no drawings, no inside information of any value, you have just your own irrational biases, assumptions, and bullshit. You also don't live in road salt country and repeatedly show you don't have a clue regarding what that does to cars. Living in a state where cars are recalled or TSB'd for suspension corrosion issues shows me that any make or model may have a part that doesn't quite hold up.

Here's your beloved Honda:

It's interesting how you only selectively notice product field failures, are prone to accepting manipulations of the mainstream media when it suits your own biases. What's worse is then you extrapolate further from your distorted, incomplete, and biased data set. One could construct the same sort of paragraph for any auto manufacturer if they wanted to...

Flaming Hondas:

Honda coil spring failure: Hondas rolling away: Hondas braking on their own: (scroll down)

Should I go on?