Okay, so about two weeks ago I had an alignment done on the STR cause I replaced toe links and control arms on the rear. Anyway, the first day everything was fine, but since then things have gone down hill. At first, every now and then when driving it would suddenly pull to one side, then jump back. Okay, so that's not normal, but the roads aren't great and sometimes this happens. However, its gotten much worse since then. It started constantly jumping around all the time regardless of the road. Now I'm in Ottawa right now and my wife just told me its so bad that she can't drive it. It's completely messed up. So, I think that they messed something up or didn't tighten something right while doing the alignment since everything was perfect before. Any ideas? If I was home, I'd be right back at the dealer telling them to fix it. I'm kinda pissed off at the moment, since I can't even take a look and see if something is loose since I'm a few thousand km's away and I just had them look at it to make sure its all good before I left and obviously they screwed something up.
Thoughts? Ideas? What could be wrong and what to look at exactly. I'm thinking something loose on the front end, but could this be rear too?
Thanks

 

Mmmmm, very concerning to say the least.

If the car is not able to be driven, and dangerous, then a I think a phone cal to the people concerned would be my first suggestion.

Yes, you are not there, and remote control of these things sucks seriously, but it can and does happen.

It also sounds like the links etc were either not set correctly, and/or tightened correctly.

I too would be annoyed.

 

Had something similar.
The bolt from the lower vertical balljoint was loose on one side.
These should be really tight.

Regards,
Peter Jan

 

I second Peter's suggestion on the lower ball joint loose. This joint takes brunt of the side loads and road jolts. Suggest go in there with wrench and check for tightness as first round. If loose, properly tighten with a torque wrench.

 

Thanks for the input! At least she has another car to drive and I'm home on Friday. I actually had my dad take the car for a quick spin and guess what, everything was fine! (always happens that way doesn't it). But, I trust my wife on what she felt, as I noticed it to before I left but didn't think much of it until she noticed it too. Also, it only really happens at highway speed. I'm thinking if something was loose, it may kind of slip back into the right spot, hence nothing seeming wrong, and then at speed the vibration and bumps shake it loose again. The other thing she noticed is when turning around a bend at speed, it will suddenly understeer, diving for the inside of the curve, but only sometimes, then its fine when corrected. Anyway, I can't worry now. She's got the other car, I'll be home soon to check it out and I've got to give a talk tomorrow so the car isn't really on my mind at the moment!
First thing I'll do is check all the nuts and bolts, make sure their tight, then if that doesn't do it, its back to the dealer. I would be thinking ball joints too cause when one went bad on me a few years ago at the front, something similar was happening. Turned out to be the one on the upper control arm, but still replaced the vertical links and that upper arm. The only thing left to replace at the front would be the drivers upper control arm. Do you think that the lower control arms would do this if the bushes were on the way out? But then again, shouldn't the dealer have noticed this when trying to align it? I specifically told them to take a good look at everything and they told me its all good.

 

Could a bearing going bad cause it? (Just asking, I don't actually know.)

Tyres are a suspect - sizes & pressures.

But alignment is #1 I suppose.

 

Well, you can take tires and size off the list. They are brand new, correct size and put on well before this alignment and no issues. I'll have a look on Friday and make sure everything is tight or there are any obvious signs of something wrong.
If anyone has any more ideas, feel free to share!
Thanks

 

But do check the pressures. Just in case.

 

Get thee back to that alignment shop asap. This is not something to speculate on till you get an inspection and verification of their work. I'm just saying.

 

Update:
So, got home early this morning and first thing I did was check the car out. Well guess what, whoever did the alignment neglected to tighten the left rear toe link bolt. When I jacked it up to have a look, the nut was about 1/4 inch from being tight. I actually could finger tighten it at first. So the link was just bouncing around back there causing the car to sway all over the place. So, tightened it an all was good, but now I questioned the alignment I had done. Went to the dealer, had a polite but pissed conversation with them and to their credit they were concerned to hear this and are realigning the car on Tuesday and looking into who dropped the ball on this one. How careless do you have to be to send a car out with a major suspension component loose!

 

Yikes.

 

Well it happens and good on you that no permanent harm was done.

On a side note, did you know that most airlines contract out their maintenance work to 3ed party, low bid service companies?

 

Ya, complicated projects built by the lowest bidder. Makes you feel safe and sound doesn't it.
I have always told my wife if she ever thinks something isn't right with her car, just stop, turn around and park it until I can check it out. The ironic thing about this situation is that because of this problem, she was late for work, and she works for the auto group that includes the Jag dealer. Their sloppy work is making their own employees late!