| Message |
This type of tension rod design requires extreme care when installing or performing the alignment. If the mechanic doing the install or alignment does not take the care to make sure the orientation is correct, the ball joints will fail.
The ball socket on this design will only rotate a certain distance in each rotating direction. When the car is raised up they are at the maximum rotation in one direction and as the car is lowered they rotate. Care needs to be taken that the joint is rotated in such a way that the joint is not forced into a bind when the car is lowered.
I find it amazing how many times I have looked under cars with this type of joint to find the joint was not orientated correctly and has been put into a bind by the alignment shop.
The installer/alignment tech needs to understand how the part works rather than just simply tighten after getting the alignment reading wanted without looking how the rotation is positioned.
It is actually likely the part will be oriented wrong when tightening up if the installer does not try to orient properly.
That said we have been running the Powertrix parts in our own cars and customers cars for years. Powertrix did have a bad batch of ball joints a couple years ago and Powertrix did take care of all the problem joints at their expense and also used a different manufacturers joint that was stronger to insure they did not have issues in the future.
The parts used since the change in ball joints I have not seen any problems with when installed and aligned correctly. Evan, I would like to see how the tension rod joints are positioned....If you could bring the car by or shoot me some pics of the position with the car on the ground I would appreciate it.
 |
 |
