I've had my car dropped quite a fair bit, has been for a fair while now. It's about 4 to 5 inches lower in the back now than what it was standard, aswell as pretty damn low in the front-end too. Not a problem at all. I've got 18's fitted, and there's not one bit of scrubbing out or banging or anything (though the strut-braces would be keeping the car pretty solid). Now I've recently went and had a wheel alignment and balance. The camber is at the max. apparently. If you look at my front wheels from the front, they are on a pretty big lean, not massive, though they are on a lean. I've had my wheels machine-balanced and aligned. It's not the alignment that's giving me the headaches. It's the balance. As soon as I hit 80km/h the steering wheel starts shaking and shuttering pretty badly, though once I get to about 120km/h, the shaking is completely gone. The steering wheel only shakes and goes on between speeds of 80km/h and 120km/h. The tyre specialists at the shop reckon "your wheel is still gonna have a slight shake in it as your car is just so low". Obviously, I can understand that. I'm just after a few ideas on how I can fix this. --Camber-kit? Coil-overs? What would be the best option for me to go with? ...or is this just something that can never be fixed? As in, my wheels are just ****ed. ...I've got my doubts about it, as I'm pretty sure there'd be something on the market somewhere for this kind of problem, but then again, I could be wrong. Thanks for any help.

When I had the same problem it was because my 18's were a generic fitment. The wheel shop had not supplied the correct hub locator rings to centre the wheel properly (the hole in the centre of the wheel was slightly bigger than required for a commodore hub), so they weren't sitting exactly right on the hubs. It's a problem that doesn't show up when doing a balance/wheel alignment. I don't know what wheels you have fitted and it might be a long shot, but worth looking into if they aren't factory commodore rims

Put up a pic, I wanna see how low this thing is! Some original photos have not been recovered yet.

I'd be looking more at your rack ends, tie rod ends... The knuckle on the rack end may be buggered... Caused mine to shake pretty violently... have your wheels rebalanced by another tyre shop and see what happens...

Thanks for the help, I'm pretty sure it's play in the rack. All the nuts and bolts are done up tight, the tie-rod ends are fine. I jacked the front up and pulled out the rack and had a look. To me there seems to be a bit of play, a bit too much. I've had it looked at by a mechanic and by a suspension centre here, and they both reckon I should get it adjusted out. I did run the pump dry a while back, the hose from the fill-up bottle down to the rack tore and completely fell out from both ends, causing a bearing in the pump to go dry and **** itself. I was moving it in and out of the shed with no power-steering fluid as I planned to get a new rack and pump, but it never happened... I dare say running it dry could have played a part in the problem I'm now facing. Anyway, thanks for the help guys. Appreciate it.

if they are on a lean it could be just tracking and its pretty violent up at those speeds and not very noticeable under. Do you have standard VL strut top or have you got aftermarkets? If you have standards I would probably recommend some VP adjustable strut tops to allow for the tyres to sit flat on the ground

Tell me more abouts these VP strut tops bud????

First time I hear of these VP strut tops. Straight bolt on are they?

Fit in snuggly on mine. Also give you a heck of a lot more adjustment than stock VL ones.

VB - VP Run the same strut top assemblies. Are you refering to KMAC tops as opposed to the std type. If it is a camber and caster issue KMACs will give you the adjustability. If you have a bad caster issue you could also look at adjustable lower front control rods/arms!

They are different than the VL ones because I was given 2 different prices.... The VL one was roughly $90 different.. I think they were $204 Just looked them up on nolathane... Standard ones are 44000/44001 the ones I have are the 44016

Quote: Originally Posted by ı.н8.υ. It's not the alignment that's giving me the headaches. It's the balance. As soon as I hit 80km/h the steering wheel starts shaking and shuttering pretty badly, though once I get to about 120km/h, the shaking is completely gone. The steering wheel only shakes and goes on between speeds of 80km/h and 120km/h. I'd say you've got cheap chinnese wheels by the sounds to that. Check to see if tight hub locators are fitted and if plastic get steal ones made up as the plastic ones go off over time. I have had this problem on many cars and ended up either buying factory wheels or decent quality wheels (BBS, Simmons, Rial etc) Cheap wheels never balance up well ***If you have genuine Holden or HSV rims disregard this post***

I've only got the standard struts in now; used to have adjustable coil-overs in but I wrecked 'em completely when I had the accident a while back. I'll whack in the pair of adjustable strut-top mounts I've got here, get them adjusted up right and what-not, and see what happens. It makes sense... If that aint helping, I guess I'll check out these wheels. Quote: Originally Posted by NZ EVLHSV I'd say you've got cheap chinnese wheels by the sounds to that. Check to see if tight hub locators are fitted and if plastic get steal ones made up as the plastic ones go off over time. I have had this problem on many cars and ended up either buying factory wheels or decent quality wheels (BBS, Simmons, Rial etc) Cheap wheels never balance up well They're BSA man. I paid 2 and a half grand for them brand-new, they don't wanna be some soft overseas bull****... Got me thinkin' now lol. Can you buy the steel hub locators straight out of a shop? Or am I gonna have to make them up? I've never seen them before...

You can buy them, but you may not be able to get them in the size you need. They need to be really tight, like when you undo the nuts the wheels still stay on tight I bought off the shelf ones for my IS300, but had to get ones made up for my Holden. They improved it heaps, but in the end I sold the wheels and bought German made Rial wheels for the IS300 and factory HSV 19s for the Holden... all good now!

the best thing you can do your vl is too add more castor, this can be done with either adjustable strut tops or radius rods or both, this alone was the best mod i have made to my vl, makes it want to drive straight and true at speed