Steering All Over the Place at 55mph+
6 hours to install offset bushings and do an alignment is a lot of hours for a shop to do that job. You already have new ball joints by the looks of things, the offset bushings are the only thing they'd be installing. The UCA's have been recently replaced so the camber bolts shouldn't be seized up either. And it definitely won't take you 12-15 hours.
Your procedure should look like this:
Done!
Here's your UCA bushing remover/installer. It's just a 2" pipe coupler, 4" long. A 7/16-20 bolt, 6 to 7" long, a couple of very heavy duty washers (at least 2" in diameter and a good 1/8" thick) and an assortment of standard washers. When I made mine I think it was around $10, probably more now but hopefully still under $20.
Tool works by putting the pipe over the outside end of the UCA bushing, running the bolt with an HD washer on the outside through the pipe and bushing, putting a standard washer and nut on the inside of the bushing, tightening the bolt/nut until it pulls the bushing inside the pipe. To install, you just put the pipe on the inside of the UCA and pull the bushing into the UCA.
Even as a novice with basic hand tools you should be able to do this in under a day, realistically this is a job that should take a couple hours as long as no major hang ups are encountered. Then have the car aligned at the shop. They should be able to do the alignment in an hour for labor cost, if they want more than 2 hours they're up to something.
As far as going to tubular UCA's, it really depends on the car. For a weekend cruiser with 15" rims the caster you can get from the offset bushings (should be around +3.5°) will be just fine. If you're planing on more "spirited" driving, canyon carving, AutoX etc then you might be better off going tubular now.
6 hours to install offset bushings and do an alignment is a lot of hours for a shop to do that job. You already have new ball joints by the looks of things, the offset bushings are the only thing they'd be installing. The UCA's have been recently replaced so the camber bolts shouldn't be seized up either. And it definitely won't take you 12-15 hours.
Your procedure should look like this:
- Put the car up on jack stands
- Loosen the torsion bar adjusters completely, count your turns on the way out so you can put them back in the same place
- Remove the wheels
- Support the lower control arm with a block or stand (doesn't need to be fancy, doesn't need to lift anything, just keep the LCA from moving further when you do the next step)
- Remove the camber bolts
- Pull the UCA away from the frame, spin it around on the ball joint so the arms face out
- Use your UCA bushing removal tool to remove the UCA bushings
- Reverse the operation and use your removal tool to install the new offset UCA bushings (for max caster, not by the included instructions!)
- Put the UCA back in the mounts, install the camber bolts for max caster and snug the camber bolts (do not torque yet)
- Remove whatever was supporting the LCA, return the torsion bar adjuster to its original position, put the wheel back on
- Do the other side
- Put the car back on the ground, and then fully torque the camber bolts
Done!
Here's your UCA bushing remover/installer. It's just a 2" pipe coupler, 4" long. A 7/16-20 bolt, 6 to 7" long, a couple of very heavy duty washers (at least 2" in diameter and a good 1/8" thick) and an assortment of standard washers. When I made mine I think it was around $10, probably more now but hopefully still under $20.
Tool works by putting the pipe over the outside end of the UCA bushing, running the bolt with an HD washer on the outside through the pipe and bushing, putting a standard washer and nut on the inside of the bushing, tightening the bolt/nut until it pulls the bushing inside the pipe. To install, you just put the pipe on the inside of the UCA and pull the bushing into the UCA.
Even as a novice with basic hand tools you should be able to do this in under a day, realistically this is a job that should take a couple hours as long as no major hang ups are encountered. Then have the car aligned at the shop. They should be able to do the alignment in an hour for labor cost, if they want more than 2 hours they're up to something.
As far as going to tubular UCA's, it really depends on the car. For a weekend cruiser with 15" rims the caster you can get from the offset bushings (should be around +3.5°) will be just fine. If you're planing on more "spirited" driving, canyon carving, AutoX etc then you might be better off going tubular now.