Mustang guys...help

[03LightningRocks]

I need some advice on a 2003 Mustang GT. It's my daughters car and she is the original owner. No Mods have been done on it. The problem we are having with it has to do with the front end alignment. It has been aligned no less than 4 times in the past three years. She only has 22,000 total miles on the car. The car keeps eating up front tires. The wear always seems to be on the inside of the tires. Why can't anyone get this thing to align and stay that way?

[Chris94L]

My guess is lower control arm bushings.

[L8 APEX]

All the good front end shops are across town. I would get it in to Dallas Frame and Alignment. Or Gary's Alignment off Royal and 35.

[03LightningRocks]

All the good front end shops are across town. I would get it in to Dallas Frame and Alignment. Or Gary's Alignment off Royal and 35.

Yeah..that's great. What about the alignment is so special? I have had many vehicles aligned on "this side" of town before with no issues. What about going into the ghetto is going to make the alignment suddenly take?

Any Mustang guys out there with any input about Mustang Alignment issues?

Not really looking for recs on places to take it at this point. Looking for constructive input on what may be causing the thing to pop back out of alignment so much.

[03LightningRocks]

My guess is lower control arm bushings.

More info???? Could they have been bad from when the car was new? Could they have been damaged somehow by something?

[yeti575]

is she good at hitting curbs?that'll do it!

[Chris94L]

Mustang control arms have soft bushings. When you turn they will deflect and cause the alignment to be off. or some such bullshit like that. Anyway people fix this by using stiffer bushings or aftermarket control arms. My truck the camber is at ~ -1.1 to -1.2 IIRC, and the tires are wearing evenly at ~15K miles. I could waste sets of tires on my mustangs in well under that amount.

[03LightningRocks]

is she good at hitting curbs?that'll do it!

I thought about that too, but I don't think she is. Her wheels and tires have no signs like you would normally get if you where wacking curbs. I really think there is some sort of BS going on with the design. Sort of like whats in the post below....


Mustang control arms have soft bushings. When you turn they will deflect and cause the alignment to be off. or some such bullshit like that. Anyway people fix this by using stiffer bushings or aftermarket control arms. My truck the camber is at ~ -1.1 to -1.2 IIRC, and the tires are wearing evenly at ~15K miles. I could waste sets of tires on my mustangs in well under that amount.

That's the kind of info I am looking for. Thanks. I will check this out. Anyone else heard of any issues?

[TXLIGHTNING]

Well Rocks, my old pony car was a 93 5.0 LX coupe. I had many problems with alignment with it until I had all the bushings in the front replaced with polyurethane bushings. Had it realigned after that it had even tire wear from then until I sold it 30k miles later.

[L8 APEX]

The shops I listed are good at diagnostic work. Aligning a car with a mechanical problem doesn't fix the problem. Those shops will find the problem.

[03LightningRocks]

Well Rocks, my old pony car was a 93 5.0 LX coupe. I had many problems with alignment with it until I had all the bushings in the front replaced with polyurethane bushings. Had it realigned after that it had even tire wear from then until I sold it 30k miles later.

Hmmm...another bushing problem:confused:.


The shops I listed are good at diagnostic work. Aligning a car with a mechanical problem doesn't fix the problem. Those shops will find the problem.

Problem is Terry, I have been told that it was fixed by every Ford dealer that has done an alignment. Keep watching the news, I may be on it because I am about to go down to Town East Ford and whip the sum bitches ass that told me he fixed it 7 months ago. No..it won't be a "put up your dukes" kind of fight. It will be me hitting him in the head before he knows it's coming...LOL. JK of coarse...but this is pissing me off and I need to know what to tell the place that does work on it what the deal is. She has been through 3 sets of front tires...It is getting real damned old.

[98Cobra]

When you get an alignment done at a dealer, it has a warranty with it - so if you paid 7 months ago, you should still be able to get it looked at again for free.

[toddwarren]

Easy does it 'Mike Tyson" :evil Hey even if it is under warranty at Town East and they never fix it you might be better off going to one of those places Terry recommends if they are that good!
Good luck things like that do piss you off dont they!!:flaming:

[03LightningRocks]

When you get an alignment done at a dealer, it has a warranty with it - so if you paid 7 months ago, you should still be able to get it looked at again for free.

This is true...but they won't take responsibility for the tires. I really don't even care about the tire part. I just want the damned thing to be fixed right.

Money or paying for an alignment aren't my issue. Trust is. I need to know what I am dealing with so I can know if it is fixed this time.

[03LightningRocks]

Easy does it 'Mike Tyson" :evil Hey even if it is under warranty at Town East and they never fix it you might be better off going to one of those places Terry recommends if they are that good!
Good luck things like that do piss you off dont they!!:flaming:


Yes they do. The girl hardly drives the darned car. It is a 2003 with 22000 miles on it...and three sets of tires eaten through. Like most women, she doesn't keep an eye on stuff like this, so by the time I realized what was happening, the tires are ruined again. You would think she would notice the car driving odd. Nope...she just drives right through...:cool:.


By the way...I am off this week but will get that paperwork and check to you next week. Call me if you need it quicker.

[99WhiteBeast]

Tires over inflated? Chicks are not good at monitoring tire pressure

[03LightningRocks]

Tires over inflated? Chicks are not good at monitoring tire pressure

I've called her out on this more times than I care to think about. She is real bad about letting the tires get low.

[L8 APEX]

Excessive city driving eats up front tires from all the turning. Girls also tend to wrench the wheel lock to lock all the damn time instead of doing slower gradual turns. I always make it a point to turn while rolling and take the widest turn i can to keep from eating up tires. Eating the insides is usually a toe out I think.