Hey everyone,

I recently rebuilt my '03 MCS. I put in a Quaife LSD, and replaced the LCA's with powerflex, inner ball joints, 27mm front sway, new end links front and rear. I left the shocks (no damage to the top hats), outer ball joints (neither the inner or outer looked bad - i just knew how hard it was to pull the inners without the subframe dropped) and had a local Midas fix the alignment, but they were unable to give me a print out of the change in suspension numbers. On occasion, with the 17 inch wheels, I'd have to hold the steering wheel to prevent it from tracking to the left, and then other times i'd have no issues at all. Now with my snow tires, when I'm WOT in 3rd to 4th gear on the highway, I'll get some serious pulling left to right. Reading lots of threads on this, it seems it could be a loose ball joint, possible alignment problem, or maybe its my LSD locking up and pulling me left to right ( i had that issue in the rain hitting the center line when at WOT). It could be the camber of the road too, i guess. I'll check the tightness of the bolts, but i know that i tightened all the bolts with a torque wrench when i installed the suspension. Any insight?

 

I would fault the alignment from Midas. Find a competent shop, and make sure you get a print out. You want the camber and toe to be the same as close as possible from side to side.

 

Yeah, that is definitely the one part that's sticking out to me. I will have to find a more reputable place. It's not like there's really much to change with the stock suspension R53... literally caster and toe.

 

Also remember our cars are very prone to wandering side to side because of ruts and the crown in the road. There are some roads around here I don't dare go full throttle simply because the ruts in the pavement are such that it tries to stay in one side or the other rut.