TireSmoke.org

The replacement subframe was installed with the R/T swaybar. With this setup the weird suspension wiggle in the back was eliminated. Sadly I was not out of the woods with this project. I could not get the rear end to track correctly behind the front. One issue was the LR was at max adjustment on the toe link but it was not straight. First I changed the toe link, then the lower control arm. Both of these were from the 2017 Charger parts car, but it had been hit on the left rear wheel. Still the problem was not resolved, but at least the rear wheels could line up with each other. A few days back I made some final adjustments of the rear frame relative to the car - and now the distance from the front of the rear tire to the fender is within 1/8" from left side to right side. At this point I think its close enough I'm going to call this done.
The only issue I see now is the LR tire sticks out of the wheel well just a bit more than the right side - 1/2" maybe ? I can't tell if this is the fender or what.

During this process I tried to find the center of the car left to right. This was surprisingly difficult, being a wreck just makes it worse. Well I think the antenna on the roof and the backup camera on the spoiler are centered, and I think the windshield is centered, so I tried lining up these with a laser level. The vertical line can line up with those three but then does not line up with the center of the grille.
There's a stack of other things I want to do so maybe I'll revisit this at a later time.

Go put a tape measure to some of your "straight" cars. They will be off by at least as much as your wreck, or more. My S10 is so crooked. Paul Carson brought it to my attention years ago when he went to do and alignment. Says it's pretty common that cars are not the same on one side as the other, and front to back.

-BP

I’ve been driving this car regularly since the salt washed off the roads. Finally went over 4000 miles. Trip B odometer has most of them. The steering wheel is just a bit off when the car is going straight and there is a rattle in the windshield area when it’s below like 50 degrees but other than that I’m just driving it.

Almost everywhere I go it’s the boldest color car in the lot. If this car was silver I would have passed on it.

The other day I washed the car and shortly after it started complaining one of the backup sensors was dirty. Turns out it actually popped free of its mooring and slipped inward.

I had to loosen the black trim from the bumper cover to get inside and snap it back into place. Pretty sure I never removed those from the trim so this might be a leftover from the accident.